Amazon.com description: Product Description: Since the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, two major schools of thought have wrestled with how the reforming states can best break with the old system and join the West. The dominant school, the so-called "big bangers", has advocated abrupt, sweeping moves towards a Western-style market economy. In contrast, the "gradualists" school has endorsed a slower pace to economic reform. The economists, political scientists and sociologists represented in this book question the validity of the "big bang" concept, and the wholesale privatisation of the industrial sector that serves as the centrepiece of its grand design. Arguing instead in favour of a gradualist programme - one less costly economically and more feasible politically - they analyse the diverse strategies for privatisation and restructuring being adopted in various states. The cautious approach to economic liberalisation successfully implemented in the PRC is suggested as a relevant model for Eastern Europe.