<scp>leader</scp>, a New Social Order, and the Central‐ and East‐European Countries

The paper considers the relevance of leader to the context of the ceecs and, in particular, to Hungary. The main argument is that the leader approach represents one of the most likely paths for socio‐economic development. The theoretical approach of paper adopts political economy and actor network theory to conceptualize leader as a move from direct intervention towards a new indirect regime of market relations interpreting leader as participative redistribution. The paper analyses the major disparities that exist between conditions in the ceecs and the eu rurality and the consequences of post‐socialist transformation. It is argued that, in the ceec context, the strengthening of civil society, its institutions and their control (monitoring)over development system are necessary components of a leader ‐type approach so as to offset power of bureaucracy and the economic elite.