Politicized Property analyzes the under-researched phenomenon of renationalization—the return of previously privatized firms to state ownership. Highlighting the evolving relationship between political parties and firms, the book demonstrates that renationalization of newly privatized firms is influenced by varying patterns of their embeddedness in political and ownership networks operating within the context of political and institutional uncertainty. These ownership reversals underpin the construction of new political and social orders and have far-reaching consequences for democratic governance. By placing renationalization at the center of postcommunist transformation, Miloš Resimić also links it to contemporary processes of democratic backsliding.

Using Serbia as a case study, Resimić tests the argument with an original administrative dataset tracking political affiliations and ownership structures of 125 strategic Serbian firms privatized through tender sale, complemented by in-depth case studies and interviews with oligarchs, politicians and bureaucrats. Tracing over a decade of political and ownership ties among strategic Serbian firms, the book uncovers the micro-level foundations of renationalization. To demonstrate that these dynamics are observable across the postcommunist world and beyond, comparative chapters extend the analysis to Hungary under Viktor Orbán, Poland, Montenegro, and Argentina, showing that reversals of privatization are integral to the political economy of postcommunist capitalism.

Miloš Resimić is an independent researcher with over a decade of experience working at the intersection of academia and the nonprofit sector.

Table of Contents
Figures
Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I NETWORKS AND RENATIONALIZATION
Chapter 1 – Renationalization as a network phenomenon
PART II CAPTORS OF TRANSITION
Chapter 2 – Transition in reverse in post-Milošević Serbia
Chapter 3 – Political-business networks and renationalization: Establishing the link 
PART III HOW POLITICAL-BUSINESS NETWORKS REVERSE PRIVATIZATION
Chapter 4 – Political embeddedness and the logic of extraction: The micro-level foundations of a macro-level change
Chapter 5 - Ownership embeddedness and the logic of reciprocity
PART IV POLITICAL CAPITALISM OF RENATIONALIZATION
Chapter 6 – Networks, embeddedness, and renationalization on Europe’s periphery
Chapter 7 – Conclusion: political economy of renationalization on Europe’s periphery and beyond
Appendix
References