There are ways of explaining regional development paths in Eastern Central Europe in terms of regulation and transformation theory. However, both methods are lacking in a sufficient elucidation of the function of institutions, in particular political institutions, for the formation of economic structures and the action concepts of regional protagonists. The concept of political capitalism, a tried and tested approach in terms of institution theory, is discussed as a possible way out of the dilemma of explanation. The possibility this opens up to depart for a while from the level of macro-theoretic explanation, which is based on regulation theories and transformation theories, and to deal with the social and economic activities of the actual protagonists on various social meso- and micro-levels in its inherent, transformation-specific dynamics, appears particularly attractive. These concepts can be seen to be more realistic as the previous macro-theoretic approaches; at the same time, the macro-level remains relevant to explanation due to the discussed links between the micro-and macro-processes.
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