BEYOND PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

The countries emerging from the former Soviet Union and Bloc and former Yugoslavia are trying to accelerate Iheir development by imitating the West. In law and economics, the common denominator of their efforts is private ownership. But, because of their lack of systemic instead of superficial and one-sided thinking and acting they may fail, which would be critical for the entire world, including the West. This article tries to make this clear by a brief analysis of the development economics viewpoints of the market, democracy, private ownership, and regional typology. Holistic consideration of innovation is found much more neglected in the countries under consideration than in the West. Hence, the prevailing culture may cause the process of making private ownership in Central and Eastern Europe less fruitful than it has been in the West.