Governing “Transition”

Abstract

Even though the changes in governance arrangements of postcommunist countries have received considerable attention from the observers of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, “transition” as the prevailing paradigm for governing postcommunist societies has rarely been questioned. More than 20 years, it has served as the guiding framework for thinking about and practicing postsocialist transformation. By using Estonia as a critical case among the CEE countries, this research employs Foucauldian discourse analysis and deconstructive reading for exploring how public administration has been constituted by governing postcommunist change as “transition” and the limitations of, and the alternatives to, this approach.