2003 Vincent Lemieux Prize

Winner: Martin Horak (University of Toronto)

Institutional Change and Post-Communist Government Performance

Excerpt from jury report: The Horak thesis on post-communist government performance is a model for a dissertation in comparative politics. In addressing this extremely important subject, he provides a convincing theoretical argument justifying a middle ground between the “structure of the state” and “post-communist legacy” perspectives on effective democratic governance. The case studies are well-chosen in that they maximize leverage from the study of governance in a single city. The author makes good use of interview material and provides one of the best analyses drawing out implications for other research in his conclusions.