DOES TRANSITION MATTER?

This article compares the socio-economic determinants of welfare attitudes in the Czech Republic to those in Sweden, using survey data from the 1996 ISSP survey ‘The Role of Governments’. Many theorists of the transition have claimed that the post-communist countries have a different political dynamic that their west European neighbors. For example, David Ost claims that that citizens of post-communist countries during the 1990s were not sure of which class they would belong to and therefore, were not sure of their class interests. Similarly, Zagorski claims that in post-communist countries educational level becomes one of the most important determinants of welfare and socioeconomic attitudes, because the reform process is very complicated. Those with higher levels of education can better understand the complexities of the reforms and are more willing to accept short-term disadvantages for long-term gains. However, many experts have also claimed that the Czech Republic presents an exception to these trends. It is the one country in which party-competition is based on socioeconomic issues and voting is class-based. This study tests these three hypotheses, to determine whether the Czech Republic really does provide an exception to the general post-communist development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]