Putting Comparative Capitalisms Research in Its Place: Varieties of Capitalism in Transition Economies

Abstract

This chapter introduces an approach to capitalist variety in transition economies in order to make a renewed case for typological theories of economic performance. We argue that Comparative Capitalisms (CC) research, the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) approach in particular, was a victim of its success. The debate it triggered has made many of its weak points apparent (see also Bruff et al., in this volume), but the added value of the perspectives were lost in a discussion that often blamed the VoC approach for failing to deliver on agendas that were beyond its original aims. Against this background, we argue that the underlying analytical assumptions of the CC literatures remain useful and appropriate for understanding the diversity of economic and political outcomes. Many of the assumptions of the VoC approach proved problematic, but it remains exemplary in pursuing a clearly delimited explanatory agenda. This aim, unfortunately, was obscured in many contributions — from both institutionalist CC and critical perspectives — that aimed to provide more appropriate and comprehensive frameworks for understanding contemporary political economies. We thus make a case for a more sympathetic reading of the VoC contributions. In particular, we consider developing typological theories — that is, using typologies as explanatory tools (cf. George and Bennett, 2005) — the main added value of CC research.