Since 1989, the former state-socialist societies of Eastern Europe have been subject to policy advice and political and economic pressure which assumes that the development of 'free market' economies is the best route to economic growth and prosperity. The contributors to this volume take issue with this proposition.

Though working from different theoretical perspectives, and with different interests, they collectively argue that there are better ways to build dynamic and prosperous industrial economies in Eastern Europe than encouraging the respective societies of the region to ape the contents and swallow the myths of the Anglo-American form of capitalism.

In particular they suggest that the very different versions of capitalism evident in the Asia-Pacific region may well contain 'lessons' that could be of help in the struggles for economic transformation in Europe.