Reinventing the politburo: central mechanisms for policy formulation and coordination in russia and hungary

In most economies in transition in Central and Eastern Europe, the senior organs of the communist party—the Politburo, the Central Committee Secretariat, and the Central Committee apparat—played a critical role in the formulation and coordination of government policy. Government ministries served a largely instrumental role in implementing decisions that were arrived at by the party. The collapse of these structures has left a vacuum that countries have attempted to fill in various ways. In many respects, Hungary and Russia represent the opposite ends of the spectrum. After some trial and error, the Hungarians have developed a system that—although not perfect —does a reasonably effective job in vetting proposals for decision and resolving issues efficiently and effectively. At the other extreme, with the exception of the areas of defense and foreign policy, the process of intergovernmental coordination has virtually broken down within Russia. This paper chronicles the efforts of both countries to develop alternative mechanisms for policy formulation and implementation, highlights their existing strengths and weaknesses, and concludes with some observations regarding the reasons behind their relative success or failure.