The Long, Long Transition to Self-Governance. How two Hungarian communities of food producers are learning to govern themselves.

Megyesi, Boldizsár and Mike, Károly (2014) The Long, Long Transition to Self-Governance. How two Hungarian communities of food producers are learning to govern themselves. In: UCSIA Workshop on Collective Decison-Making on Complex Matters, 12-14 November, 2014, University of Antwerpen, Belgium. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

How long does it take to build robust institutions of self-governance in a transitional economy? Our study of two local communities of food producers who struggle to build and manage their collective reputation in contemporary Hungary suggests that it may well take more than a quarter century. Frustrating as this may sound, we contend that self-governance is eminently desirable for such communities. The main lesson is not that institution-building fails in such a context but that it takes a lot of patience and time. The key challenge for producer communities is to extricate themselves from situations characterised by both weak social capital among themselves and the insufficient external governing capacity of the state. We show that the conditions identified by Elinor Ostrom as critical for self-governance influenced the fate of the two communities. We also go beyond her analytical frame by exploring recurring features in the process of institutional development under post-communism.

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