Editing Post-communism

{{Short description|1980s–1990s period of transition in communist states}}
{{About|the economic and political transformations that occurred in certain countries as a result of the fall of their communist governments|the academic study of the contemporary status of these countries|Postsocialism|the political philosophy that reinterprets Marxism|Post-Marxism}}
'''Post-communism''' is the period of political and economic transformation or [[Transition economy|transition]] in [[post-Soviet states]] and other formerly [[communist state]]s located in Central-Eastern Europe and parts of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, in which new governments aimed to create [[free market]]-oriented [[Capitalism|capitalist economies]]. In 1989–1992, [[communist party]] governance [[Revolutions of 1989|collapsed]] in most communist party-governed states. After severe hardships communist parties retained control in [[China]], [[Cuba]], [[Laos]], [[North Korea]], and [[Vietnam]]. [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|SFR Yugoslavia]] began to [[Breakup of Yugoslavia|disintegrate]], which plunged the country into a long complex [[Yugoslav Wars|series of wars]] between ethnic groups and nation-states. Soviet-oriented communist movements [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union#Consequences|collapsed]] in countries where they were not in control.<ref>David Priestland, ''The Red Flag: A History of Communism'' (Grove, 2009) pp 346–353.</ref><ref>Robert Service, ''Comrades: A World History of Communism'' (2007) pp. 459–460,</ref>

== Politics ==
{{Further|History of communism#Contemporary communism (1993–present)}}

The policies of most [[Communist party|communist parties]] in both the [[Eastern Bloc|Eastern]] and [[Western Bloc|Western]] Blocs had been governed by the example of the [[Soviet Union]]. In most countries in the Eastern Bloc, following the [[Revolutions of 1989]] and the fall of [[Communist state|communist-led governments]] that marked the end of the [[Cold War]], the communist parties split in two factions: a reformist [[Social democracy|social democratic]] party and a new less [[Reformism|reformist]]-oriented communist party. The newly created social democratic parties were generally larger and more powerful than the remaining communist parties—only in [[Belarus]], [[Ukraine]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Moldova]], [[Russia]], and [[Tajikistan]] the communist parties remained a significant force.<ref>David Ost, "The politics of interest in post-communist East Europe." ''Theory and Society'' 22.4 (1993): 453-485. [https://ceses.cuni.cz/CESES-118-version1-5_1_2_OST_Interest_groups_in_CEE.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515201347/https://ceses.cuni.cz/CESES-118-version1-5_1_2_OST_Interest_groups_in_CEE.pdf |date=2021-05-15 }}</ref><ref>Gregory Gleason, ''Markets and politics in Central Asia'' (Routledge, 2003).</ref>

In the Western Bloc, many of the self-styled communist parties reacted by changing their policies to a social democratic and democratic socialist course. In countries such as [[Japan]], [[Italy]] and [[German reunification|reunited Germany]], post-communism is marked by the increased influence of their existing social democrats. The [[Anti-Sovietism|anti-Soviet]] communist parties in the Western Bloc (e.g. the [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] parties) who felt that the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] vindicated their views and [[Predictions of the collapse of the Soviet Union|predictions]] did not particularly prosper from it—in fact, some became less radical as well.

== Economy ==
Several communist states had undergone economic reforms from a [[command economy]] towards a more [[Market economy|market-oriented economy]] in the 1980s, notably [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] and [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]. The post-communist economic transition was much more abrupt and aimed at creating fully capitalist economies.<ref>Charles King, "Post-Postcommunism: Transition, Comparison, and the End of" Eastern Europe"." ''World Politics'' (2000): 143-172. [https://www.academia.edu/download/37200021/King_Post-Postcommunism.pdf online]{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

All the countries concerned have abandoned the traditional tools of communist economic control and moved more or less successfully toward free-market systems.<ref>A summary of the process containing both economic analysis and anecdotal case studies can be found in Charles Paul Lewis's ''How the East Was Won'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).</ref> Although some, such as Charles Paul Lewis, stress the beneficial effect of [[multinational investment]], the reforms also had important negative consequences that are still unfolding. Average [[standards of living]] registered a catastrophic fall in the early 1990s in many parts of the former [[Comecon]]—most notably in the [[former Soviet Union]]—and began to rise again only toward the end of the decade. Some populations are still considerably worse off today than they were in 1989 (e.g. [[Moldova]], and [[Serbia]]). Others have bounced back considerably beyond that threshold (e.g. the [[Czech Republic]], Hungary, and Poland) and some such as [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]] ([[Baltic Tiger]]), and [[Slovakia]] underwent an economic boom, although all have suffered from the [[2009 recession]], except for Poland, which was one of two countries (the other was [[Albania]]) in Europe maintained growth despite the worldwide recession.

Armenia's economy, like that of other former states of Soviet Union, suffered from the consequences of a centrally-planned economy and the collapse of former Soviet trade patterns. Another important aspect for difficulty of standing up after the collapse is that the investment and funding that was coming to Armenian industry from [[Soviet Union]] has been gone, leaving only a few large enterprises in operation. Furthermore, the aftereffects of the [[1988 Armenian earthquake]] were still being felt. Despite the fact that a cease-fire has been in place since 1994, the dispute with [[Azerbaijan]] over [[Nagorno-Karabakh]] has not been resolved. Since [[Armenia]] was heavily dependent on outside supplies of energy and most raw materials at that time, the resulting closure of both the Azerbaijani and Turkish borders has devastated the economy. During 1992–1993, the GDP had dropped around 60% from its peak in 1989. Few years after adoption of national currency, the [[Armenian dram|dram]] in 1993, it experienced [[hyperinflation]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Curtis |first= Glenn |date= 1995 |title=Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia : country studies |url= https://archive.org/details/armeniaazerbaija00curt/page/n11/mode/2up |location=Washington D.C. |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. |pages= 1–77 |isbn=0844408484}}</ref>

As of 2021, most post-communist countries in Europe are generally seen to have [[Mixed economy|mixed economies]], although some such as Estonia, Romania, and Slovakia often adopt more traditionally free-market policies, such as [[flat tax]] rates, than does the Western Bloc. A fundamental challenge in post-communist economies is that institutional pressures that reflect the logic of [[capitalism]] and [[democracy]] are exerted on organizations, including [[business]] firms and [[Government agency|government agencies]], that were created under communism and to this day are run by [[Business manager|managers]] [[socialized]] in that context, resulting in a great deal of continuing tension in organizations in post-communist states.<ref>Tilcsik, A. (2010). "From ritual to reality: Demography, ideology, and decoupling in a post-communist government agency". ''Academy of Management Journal''. 53(6). 1474–1498. [http://ssrn.com/abstract=1494035 Abstract].</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Chinese economic reform]]
* [[Communist nostalgia]]
** [[Ostalgie|Nostalgia for the German Democratic Republic]]
** [[Nostalgia for the Polish People's Republic]]
** [[Yugo-nostalgia|Nostalgia for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]
** [[Nostalgia for the Soviet Union]]
* [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Eurocommunism]]
* [[Fall of communism in Albania]]
* [[History of communism#Contemporary communism (1993–present)]]
* [[List of communist parties with national parliamentary representation]]
* [[Neoauthoritarianism (China)]]
* [[Postsocialism]]
* [[Predictions of the collapse of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Revolutions of 1989]]
* [[World communism]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Bown, Archie. ''The Rise and Fall of Communism'' (2009)
* Fürst, Juliane, Silvio Pons and Mark Selden, eds. The Cambridge History of Communism (Volume 3): Endgames?.Late Communism in Global Perspective, 1968 to the Present  (2017) [https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-History-Communism-3-dp-1107135648/dp/1107135648/  excerpt]
* Kotkin, Stephen. ''Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000'' (2nd ed. 2008) [https://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Averted-Soviet-Collapse-1970-2000-dp-0195368649/dp/0195368649/ excerpt]
* Pons, Silvio, and Robert Service, eds. ''A Dictionary of 20th-Century Communism'' (2010).
* Priestland,  David. ''The Red Flag: A History of Communism'' (Grove, 2009).
* Service, Robert. ''Comrades: A World History of Communism'' (2007).

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20191012214801/http://parties-and-elections.de/ "Parties and Elections in Europe"]
* Daniel Nelson (July/August 2000). [http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/a6t5qx78v7t72w76/ "Dangerous Assumptions"]{{dead link|date=December 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} in the [http://thebulletin.org ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''].
* [http://www.tol.cz "Transitions Online"]. News coverage of post-communist Europe and Central Asia
* [http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/mexico/091014/communism-love-affair "Communism: A Love Affair?: Russians Nostalgic for Soviet Social Services"] by ''[[The Global Post]]''.
* Gerald M. Easter (2012). [http://www.themontrealreview.com/2009/Capital-Coercion-and-Post-Communist-States.php "Capital, Coercion, and Post-Communist States".] Cornell University Press. {{ISBN|978-0801-4782-46}}.

{{Fall of Communism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Marxism–Leninism]]
[[Category:Decommunization]]
[[Category:Eastern Bloc]]