Is Hungary the Future of Poland or Is Poland the Future of Hungary?
Is Hungary the Future of Poland or Is Poland the Future of Hungary?
Author(s): Josef C. BradaSubject(s): National Economy, Economic history, Political history, Economic policy, Government/Political systems, Economic development, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: Hungary; Poland; Soviet reform of economic system; economic reforms; difficulties facing reformers; legalization of private entrepreneurship; market economy;
Summary/Abstract: The promulgation of a radical reform program in the Soviet economic system by Mikhail Gorbachev in June of 1987 signaled a major change in the attitude of the Soviet leadership toward the viability and the desirability of the orthodox system of central planning. East European leaders will be forced to respond to this major policy change even before the ultimate fate of reform in the Soviet Union is determined. Evidence from similar events in the past-the New Course of the 1950s, de-Stalinization, and the formation of industrial associations in the 1960s and 1970ssuggests that East European responses will be neither uniform nor will they run their course at the same pace in all countries. In countries such as Hungary, where the pace of economic reform traditionally has been viewed as being slowed by the need to avoid raising Soviet concerns, the new Soviet attitude would seem to create the possibility for more rapid and far-reaching reform. [...]
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 02/1988
- Issue No: 03
- Page Range: 466-483
- Page Count: 18
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF