Book Description
Immediately after 1989, newly emerging polities in Eastern Europe had to contend with an overbearing and dominant legacy: the Soviet model of the state. At that time, the strength of the state looked like a massive obstacle to change; less than a decade later, the state's dominant characteristic was no longer its overweening powerfulness, but rather its utter decrepitude. Consequently, the role of the central state in managing economies, providing social services, and maintaining infrastructure came into question. Focusing on his native Bulgaria, Venelin I. Ganev explores in fine-grained detail the weakening of the central state in post-Soviet Eastern Europe.
Ganev starts with the structural characteristics of the Soviet satellites, and in particular the forms of elite agency favored in the socialist party-state. As state socialism collapsed, Ganev demonstrates, its institutional legacy presented functionaries who had become accustomed to power with a matrix of opportunities and constraints. In order to maximize their advantage under such conditions, these elites did not need a robust state apparatus--in fact, all of the incentives under postsocialism pushed them to subvert the infrastructure of governance.
Throughout Preying on the State, Ganev argues that the causes of state malfunctioning go much deeper than the policy preferences of "free marketeers" who deliberately dismantled the state. He systematically analyzes the multiple dimensions, implications, and significance of the institutional and social processes that transformed the organizational basis of effective governance.
Back Cover copy
"In Venelin I. Ganev's reading, the state does not disappear overnight. Rather, it is gradually gutted of its most important functional capacities by members of the state itself or by powerful economic elites with old state connections and knowledge. This development leaves postsocialist society with institutions that are distorted, incapacitated, or both. This exceptionally readable book will enjoy a broad audience among political scientists, sociologists, and political economists interested in transition issues, and also among students in those areas."--Mieke Meurs, American University, author of The Evolution of Agrarian Institutions
"This is a wonderfully provocative, thoughtful, articulate, and learned book. Venelin I. Ganev's interpretations will appeal to scholars not only of postcommunism but also of the state, informal institutions, and institutional transformation."--Anna Grzymala-Busse, University of Michigan, author of Redeeming the Communist Past
