World Politics

This article examines obstacles to economic reform in Ukraine's transition to a market-based economy. Existing explanations for failures of reform in postcommunist states privilege societal actors, as in the case of Przeworski's J-curve, or state actors acting in a private, rent-seeking capacity, as in Hellman's partial reform equilibrium. Other explanations focus on weak state capacity. However, there is evidence to suggest that some groups of individuals who stall or halt market reforms may do so in their capacity as state actors. Their resistance to reform may be sub rosa: state actors may comply with formal institutional requirements of reform even as they seek to preserve the status quo. This tendency is evident in the privatization of land, the focus of this article. This article proposes an explanation for reform failures which suggests that some resistance to economic liberalization may derive from the efforts of state actors to protect the public good.