POSTCOMMUNIST TRANSITION OF LOCAL-GOVERNMENT IN HUNGARY - MANAGING EMERGENCY SOCIAL AID

Tensions are embedded in post-communist transitions. Public policies e xhibit the disharmony between two different and often competing object ives: (1) developing a fully operational market economy within a democ ratic context and (2) maintaining social protections in the form of a wide array of social benefits. One challenge for post-communist regime s is the management of this tradeoff. This challenge is observed throu gh an analysis of the administration of emergency social aid in Hungar y. The analysis shows that post-communist transitions, as exemplified by the efforts to build local government capacity in Hungary, experien ce problems of sequencing. In particular, equity decisions are difficu lt to manage not only because they have their roots in socialist ideol ogy and the policies of the former regime, but also because the increa sing number of vulnerable populations makes welfare considerations a p olitically sensitive task now more than ever before. Meanwhile, the in stitutional processes needed to manage tensions are fluid and immature . Ultimately the success of the post-communist transition in Hungary ( and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe) will be measured by the a bility to build institutions that can manage and consolidate political pressures.