External Forces, Partisan Competition, and Preferences for Economic Redistribution in Central and Eastern Europe

How do post-communist citizens view the state 35 years after the start of the transition? How has European integration affected their demands vis-a-vis their governments? Recent decades have brought growth and relative economic stability to a region that faced remarkable turmoil after the fall of Communism in the late 1980s. Although Central and Eastern European countries remain vulnerable to external shocks, improving economic conditions have raised living standards, addressed some social deficits, and deeply overhauled labor markets. How have these transformations affected citizens’ relationship with the state? Specifically, what do individuals demand from their government in an age of deepening globalization, accelerating structural change, and extensive deregulation? This project examines post-communist citizens’ evolving understandings of the role of the state in socio-economic life. Drawing on original surveys and conjoint experiments in Czechia and Poland, it focuses on individuals’ perceptions of the state’s responsibility for alleviating economic inequality, providing protection from socio-economic risk, and generating economic opportunities. In particular, it explores how emigration prospects, access to remittances, and perceptions of partisan convergence on socio-economic matters shape preferences for economic redistribution and labor market interventions. In doing so, it not only identifies the specific policies that different constituencies embrace in a context of rapid change, but also highlights the enduring importance of external forces for political behavior and policy outcomes in Central and Eastern Europe.