Parties, Power and Policy-making
This book explains the conditions under which political parties in government were able to influence economic growth in post-communist European countries. It highlights higher education and international investment as the two essentially related areas that have been steered by governments.
The book illustrates how these countries have become reliant on multinational companies (MNCs), given their governments strategy to attract foreign capital, how political and economic factors are intertwined and how political parties in power can have a strong influence on the growth prospects of these economies. Furthermore, it illuminates the extent to which political parties use their space for manoeuvres when enacting policies and how they respond to their constituencies when doing so. It shows how structural conditions such as the dependence on MNCs influence policies, and how this pattern varies across Central and Eastern Europe. The book brings political parties back into the discussion on political economy and back into the analyses of welfare politics, varieties of capitalism, and democratic capitalism.
This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative politics and comparative political economy, European policy-making, Central and Eastern Europe, trade, welfare and development, and higher education.
Silvana Tarlea is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for European Global Studies and in the Political Science Department at the University of Basel in Switzerland. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Oxford, Nuffield College.
Routledge/UACES Contemporary European Studies
Edited by Chad Damro, University of Edinburgh, UK, Elaine Fahey, City University London, UK, and David Howarth, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, on behalf of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies.
Editorial Board: Grainne De Brca, European University Institute and Columbia University; Andreas Fllesdal, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo; Peter Holmes, University of Sussex; Liesbet Hooghe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; David Phinnemore, Queens University Belfast; Ben Rosamond, University of Warwick; Vivien Ann Schmidt, University of Boston; Jo Shaw, University of Edinburgh; Mike Smith, University of Loughborough and Loukas Tsoukalis, ELIAMEP, University of Athens and European University Institute.
The primary objective of the new Contemporary European Studies series is to provide a research outlet for scholars of European Studies from all disciplines. The series publishes important scholarly works and aims to forge for itself an international reputation.
Parties, Power and Policy-making
From Higher Education to Multinationals in Post-Communist Societies
Silvana Tarlea
Competitiveness and Solidarity in the European Union
Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Edited by Paolo Chiocchetti and Frdric Allemand
Changing Borders in Europe
Exploring the Dynamics of Integration, Differentiation and Self-Determination in the European Union
Edited by Jacint Jordana, Michael Keating, Axel Marx and Jan Wouters
Citizenship, Nation-building and Identity in the EU
The Contribution of Erasmus Student Mobility
Cherry James
First published 2019
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2019 Silvana Tarlea
The right of Silvana Tarlea to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-04723-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-17099-2 (ebk)
This book has benefitted from the generous support and advice of many people throughout the years. It has developed from the DPhil thesis that I wrote at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College. I was guided by David Soskice whom I would like to thank for his generous support. He gracefully shaped my thinking while teaching me to stand on my feet. His disagreements were always kind but firm. This is excellent work, but now lets forget about it was just one way in which hed argue differently. And when it seemed like the end was nowhere in sight, he knew how to make it more manageable. Having him on my side is such a privilege.
Gwendolyn Sasse at Nuffield has been much more than a college advisor. She is a role model who has made it all seem less intimidating despite being so intimidatingly successful herself. She was kind and crisp at difficult stages of the research. Bob Hanck and Ben Ansell provided critical feedback at various stages for which I am very thankful.
Earlier on, while a graduate student in Amsterdam, I was fortunate to be guided by Annette Freyberg-Inan. She taught me how to write and how to embrace analytical thinking. At the University of Bucharest, where I was an undergraduate student, Cristian Preda, Silvia Marton and Catalin Avramescu were highly inspiring. Their intellectual rigor, the dedication to their students and to their profession have been a guiding light for me and for many of their students.
At the European University Institute, Laszlo Bruszt, Doro Bohle and Bela Greskovits have known the project in its various stages and have been warm and helpful. Their knowledge of the region and their curiosity continue to inspire me. Much of this book has been presented at conferences and seminars where I received much useful feedback. I would like to especially thank Marius Busemeyer. Many others offered their time and support, I am sure that I am forgetting many.
In Basel, I have found a prolific environment for research and I could not have wished for a better place. Stefanie Bailer and Ralph Weber have given me the opportunity of working with them and of becoming part of a growing department. I am very thankful for these exciting times.
I would also like to thank friends and family. Nehal Davison at Oxford and later on in many places in the world has been a wonderful friend who has made navigating British society and life in general more enjoyable. Dingeman Wiertz has been a great friend. I have been fortunate to meet them both. And the many friends in every place where I lived I stopped counting after the fifth move they all know who they are, thanks.
And last but not least, my family. My parents, Rodica and Ioan, have been there whenever things got difficult. It has not been clear where this was going to lead, but they trusted me without asking anything in return. I hope to be such a parent for our sons as well. My parents-in-law, Virginia and Alin, have been there for us whenever the road got bumpier. And it did. My sister, Brindusa, for being the kindest person on earth.
