The article which was originally written for Anglo-Saxon readers, describes the position of East and Central Europe after 1945 as one which was characterised by a dual dependence (depending on the empire and the market) from the very beginning. The article shows how market dependences gained ground step by step as against the dependence on the empire in the Kadar regime. In the interpretation of the change of system he joins those views according to which the transformations linked with the change of system are much more the result of external causes (those of the world system), than that of the inner, organic development stemming in the social relations of the given countries. At the same time, the increase in the external links evidently played a role in the development that the external, world system influences could exert their impact without difficulties.
