 
For most of the post World War II period the eight
EE countries of our concern defined themselves and were most frequently referred to as
socialist. This designation is somewhat controversial, because of different interpretations of the word socialism, as discussed bellow.
The Soviet Union was the first socialist country (from
1917) followed by Mongolia (1921). After the World War II in addition to East European countries three socialist countries emerged in Asia namely
China, North Korea and North Vietnam . Cuba became socialist in
1959. During 1960s and 1970s several others Asian, African and Latin American countries converted to socialism (see Kornai: The Socialist System p. 6). |
The term socialism applied to these countries means Soviet-type socialism. It is characterized by a combination of
totalitarian political system dominated by the rule of Communist party with the
centrally planned command economy in which most of the firms are owned by government and private ownership is almost nonexistent. |
Many other countries - in Western Europe and elsewhere in the world - were, at least for a limited time, also ruled by "socialist" governments. The
West European socialism, however,
differs
from the Soviet-type socialism significantly: |
1) its political system has been consistently
democratic (socialist parties came to power, or lost power, in free elections); | 2) its
economic system has been based on market coordination and private ownership, although frequently combined
with partial nationalization (banks, some large industrial firms etc.), strong intervention of the government and some kind of
"indicative" (nonobligatory)
planning. |
|
More generally, the term
"socialism" has been traditionally used in
three related but distinct meanings: |
a) as a set of
socialist ideas; | b) as a political
movement; | c) as a
socio-economic system. |
|
