Who Won the Contest for a New Property Class? Structural Transformation of Elites in the Visegrad Four Region

Abstract

This paper analyses the transformation of elites in the Visegrad Four countries (namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). Drawing on a process-tracing analysis, it argues that the emergence of foreign-led economies in the late 1990s was intertwined with political processes in which domestic forces linked to foreign capital were transformed into major elite segments with considerable influence. This elite segment, the comprador service sector, proved to be politically active within the states in Central and Eastern Europe and organized various mechanisms of representation within the state and beyond.

Keywords: Central and Eastern Europe, class, elites, foreign direct investment