Populist trend pushes Central Europe back toward socialism

[Strengthandhonour]

Populist trend pushes Central Europe back toward socialism



Central Europe's four-pack of liberated former Soviet colonies — Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — have been drifting away from free markets and democracy and back toward socialism and authoritarianism. According to Marian L. Tupy, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, Central Europe's liberal political parties (i.e., free market parties) have been losing out at the polls to populist parties that combine left-wing economics with right-wing social attitudes.
Q: Generally, how have Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic done economically, politically and socially since the end of communism?
A:I have no doubt that the current social and economic situation in Central Europe is better than it was in the dying days of communism. Standard of living judged by income per capita adjusted for inflation and purchasing power parity is at historical highs. Longevity is up. School enrollment is up. The people of Central Europe enjoy more material goods, and, of course, they are free. So both from an economic and a political perspective, it seems to me that the past 17 years have been pretty successful.

Q: How do you define these new populist parties?
A:Populist parties in Central Europe tend to promise a lot of things which ultimately are contradictory, and which they cannot possibly deliver within the limits of a modern, free-market liberal democracy and also a capitalist economy. ...
What is interesting about the populist parties is that ... they are the opposite of liberals. Liberals, in the classical sense of the word, emphasize the need for economic as well as social autonomy of the individual. In other words, the individual should be able to make independent decisions in his personal life and also be able to — autonomously and free of government intervention — participate in the economic life. Populists have really combined illiberal elements — or the opposite of both. They emphasis religious conservatism and nationalism and at the same time they emphasize socialist economic thinking.
Q: What is causing the popularity of these illiberal populist parties?
A: People in the public opinion surveys still continue to believe generally that free markets and democracy are the best ways to go forward. Some of the most dramatic reforms that have been undertaken by reformist regimes in Central Europe continue to enjoy public support. In Slovakia, which had the most radical reformist government in recent years in Central Europe, some of the free market reforms such as the flat tax and privatization of the pension system continue to enjoy public support. My hypothesis is that the rise of the populist parties has to do with the discrediting of the political elites in these countries and public revulsion at the behavior of those political elites and established political parties.
Q:What Central European country is the best?
A: If I wanted to give the Central Europeans an example to follow, I'd have to go with Estonia.
Q:Why Estonia?
A: First of all, Estonian economic performance has been superior to any other country from the former Soviet Bloc. Estonian income per capita grew at a much faster pace than in Central Europe. From 1995 to 2004, Estonian income per capita grew by 96 percent, which is absolutely extraordinary. Also, the Corruption Perception Index, the measure of corruption in Estonia, is the lowest out of all post-communist countries.
Is it a perfect country? Definitely not. But it is doing better than any other post-communist country in terms of corruption. And why is that? The argument I make in my study is because Estonia has actually made the greatest progress when it comes to limiting the power of the bureaucrats and also in limiting government spending. Estonian spending is on a par with Slovakia but its regulatory involvement is less.
In other words, there are fewer bureaucrats spending less money than anywhere else in post-communist countries — which, of course, limits corruption.
Q: Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about these former communist colonies?
A: I'm very optimistic in the medium to long term. The underlying problem of Central Europe is corruption.
Because the populist parties in Central Europe do not believe in the free market, do not believe in the value of limited government, they are going to maintain and perhaps even exacerbate the problems of corruption. They are not going to stop spending. They are not going to limit the size of government. And as a consequence, in the next few years we are going to see the kind of corruption scandals we have seen before blow up in the face of the populists as well. ...
As these populist parties become discredited, the liberal parties, that obviously I believe have the answers to the remaining social and economic problems of Central Europe, are going to be given another chance.
Bill Steigerwald is a columnist at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Source: Baxter Bulletin - www.baxterbulletin.com -