ABSTRACT
After the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989, the post-communist transition in the former Soviet Union and East Europe demonstrated sheer diversity, rather than convergence, in the transition path. By 2014, of the twenty-nine post-communist countries in Europe, the governments of ten were classified as consolidated or semi-consolidated authoritarian, thirteen as consolidated or semi-consolidated democracies, and six as transitional or hybrid regimes (Freedom House 2014). The progress of marketizing reforms, as well as economic performance at large, also varied in a wide margin (EBRD 2014; IMF 2014). The transition experience of Asian authoritarianism in China, Vietnam, and North Korea for the past three decades adds to this diversity.
