The malleable homo sovieticus: transnational entrepreneurs in post-communist East Central Europe

This paper investigates the coping strategies of post-1989 East Central Eur opean transnational migrant entrepreneurs. Paradoxically, rather than facil itating transfer into the region of liberal-democratic orientations and pra ctices, the incorporation of East Central Europe into late 20th-century con sumer capitalism based on short-cycle flexible production in sectors unregu lated by legal-institutional frameworks reproduces some of the features of the accustomed homo sovieticus syndrome: in particular, the reliance on the beat-the-system/bend-the-rules orientation on informal/crony patronage and connections, and immediate consumption rather than deferred gratification/ investment-orierated capital accumulation renders effective strategies of e conomic action in the new situation. The effects of so-informed transnation al migrant entrepreneurs' activities on the transformation processes in the ir home-countries are also discussed. (C) 1999 The Regents of the Universit y of California. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.