PhD Project : Transnational Forces and Corporate Governance Regulations in Central Europe

Project carried out by Arjan Vliegenthart, MA

This project aims at the analysis and explanation of the influence of external (f)actors on the content and mode of corporate governance regulation in general, and company law in particular, in Central Europe between 1989 and the present.

During this period, Central and Eastern European countries have been engaged in an economic transformation from plan to market, starting with the imposition of financial discipline, through the creation of property rights and attraction of foreign capital, to finally the adoption of a corporate governance system . Although most of the literature on corporate governance in Central Europe ignores external influences on this transition process, the latter cannot be understood as an endogenous one.

This leads to the following research questions.

  • What are the mechanisms through which corporate governance is transmitted to the new market economies in Central Europe, and what are the main (domestic as well as foreign) intermediaries in this process?
  • Do the activities of public and private international organisations lead to a substantial convergence of (internal) corporate governance structures in Central Europe, or do we observe rivalry and divergence between different concepts of corporate regulation?
  • How can we explain the trajectory of corporate governance regulation in Central Europe and how can we theorise the dialectic interactions between domestic forces and transnational influences?


We not only examine the influence of (inter) governmental organisations on the content and mode of corporate governance regulation, but we also include a detailed analysis of the role that private actors play in this process, something which has not been done before.