Capital, Coercion, and Postcommunist States
Gerald Easter
The postcommunist transitions produced two very different types of states. The "contractual" state is associated with the countries of Eastern Europe, which moved toward democratic regimes, consensual relations with society, and clear boundaries between political power and economic wealth. The "predatory" state is associated with the successors to the USSR, which instead developed authoritarian regimes, coercive relations with society, and poorly defined boundaries between the political and economic realms. In Capital, Coercion, and Postcommunist States, Gerald M. Easter shows how the cumulative result of the many battles between state coercion and societal capital over taxation gave rise to these distinctive transition outcomes. Easter's fiscal sociology of the postcommunist state highlights the interconnected paths that led from the fiscal crisis of the old regime through the revenue bargains of transitional tax regimes to the eventual reconfiguration of state-society relations. His focused comparison of Poland and Russia exemplifies postcommunism's divergent institutional forms. The Polish case shows how conflicts over taxation influenced the emergence of a rule-of-law contractual state, social-market capitalism, and civil society. The Russian case reveals how revenue imperatives reinforced the emergence of a rule-by-law predatory state, concessions-style capitalism, and dependent society.
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About Gerald Easter
Reviews for Capital, Coercion, and Postcommunist States
Kathryn Hendley
Slavic Review
The way capital and coercion intersect constitutes the core of Easter's explanation for why and how some postcommunist countries emerged with a 'contractual’ state and others with a ‘predatory’ one.... Whether a state follows the path to one type or the other depends heavily on the outcome of battles over taxation, Easter argues in this lucid, well-argued book. Tracing the complex interplay among politicians, bureaucrats, corporate interests, and labor in the struggle to shape the state’s capacity to finance itself is no simple task, and Easter does it deftly.
Robert Legvold
Foreign Affairs
This book offers a rich analysis of the development of postcommunist fiscal systems, offering focused examinations of the Russian and Polish state-building experiences.... There is great elegance in Easter's prose and good humor behind his many insights.... Perhaps the book’s greatest strength is in its use of fiscal sociology to shed light upon the pathways by which tax systems developed and the evolving relationships between the state, society, and capital. It is a must-read for students of taxation regardless of regional specialization or methodological stripe.
Hilary Appel
Russian Review