BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POST-SOCIALIST TRANSITION IN COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE

Abstract

At the end of the nineties of the 20th century, the socialist countries of Central and Southeastern Europe faced the collapse of the centrally-planned economic system, but also territorial and political disintegrations that led to the creation of new states. The basic economic problem that led to the aforementioned phenomena is the rigidity of the existing system to respond to the modern challenges of the global environment and new needs within the countries themselves. This resulted in a deep economic, social and political crisis arising from the need for market-oriented reforms that could not be implemented within the framework of a centrally-planned economy. The elements of the crisis were reflected in the increase of internal and external debt, hyperinflation, corruption, high unemployment and macroeconomic instability, the elimination of which has become the primary goal of former socialist countries that are on the way to market economies, called countries in transition.