Postcommunist Central Banks: A Democratic Deficit?

Issue Date January 2006
Volume 17
Issue 1
Page Numbers 90-103
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Both proponents and detractors of central bank independence (CBI) view granting central bank independence as a domestic decision made for domestic economic reasons after domestic political consideration. However, postcommunist independent central banks began their lives burdened with a dual democratic deficit. Not only were they predominantly developed by and for international actors, but this rapid process occurred without building significant domestic support for these institutions. This paper explores the problematic implications of this democratic deficit and discusses how central banks might be better incorporated into democratic polities without compromising their countries’ economic health.

About the Author

Juliet Johnson is associate professor of political science at McGill University in Montreal. She is author of A Fistful of Rubles: The Rise and Fall of the Russian Banking System (2000) and is currently working on a volume entitled The Central Banking Revolution: Transnational Networks and Post-Communist Transformation.

View all work by Juliet Johnson