Elites after State Socialism

This is an interesting book that has many fine chapters and contains some interesting ideas. Seer Elites after State Socialism is an edited collection of informative examinations of elite dynamics in nine East European countries in the 1990s. It is impossible to encompass here all questions and conclusions that readers might find interesting in the book: the relationship between post-socialist elites and democratic advance; the disjunction between elite ideas and practices; the considerable isolation of political elites from the public; the diverging and often clashing interests within and between political and economic elites, the process of elite mobility and so on. Elites after State Socialism adds to a growing body of research on post-socialist politics and society in Eastern Europe. The chapters would be of interest to people trying to understand the process of contemporary economic and political decision-making in the nine individual countries. Balkan Academic News No review can do justice to the wealth of informed comment and detailed analysis of survey and other evidence in this book. Sociology The contributions are, without exeption, thoughtful and accessible. -- William Schonfeld Contemporary Sociology An excellent collection... The essays cohere well, and we are able to hear a number of distinctive 'voices' on the elites question... The scholarship meets the highest standard, and the writing is clear and accessible. A substantial advance in the literature both on post-communism and on elites. -- Thomas A. Baylis, University of Texas at San Antonio Here is a book that actually lives up to its billing. The editors claim that it is "a substantial advance in the literature on postcolonialist politics and societies and in the comparative study of elites" (p. ix). It is exactly that. This book is a welcome and major advance in the study of elites which should stimulate following up and replication. Canadian Slavonic Papers Much of the recent analysis on postcommunist states focuses on elites, and the Higley and Lengyel book is a valuable contribution to this literature. The scope of the volume provides a wide and diverse collection of data and analysis on the region. Canadian Journal of Political Science A very useful volume on postcommunist elites. Slavic Review This book makes for worthy reading. Slavic and East European Journal