In an interview with Al Jazeera Balkans, iASK Research Associate Sanja Tepavcevic discussed her book, published by Palgrave Macmillan in English in 2023. The book explores the role of post-Soviet migrants in European capitalism. Titled Diversity of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Varieties of European Capitalism: Post-Soviet Entrepreneurship in Austria, Spain and Hungary, the book investigates the impact of entrepreneurship on the immigration and integration of migrants from former Soviet Union countries into the European Union (EU).
Tepavcevic’s work tracks the emergence and development of market economy models and migration policies in Austria, Spain, and Hungary, analyzing their influence on the immigration and entrepreneurship of citizens from former Soviet republics. This need was identified through her previous research projects, which focused on the connection between the external policies of post-socialist European states and direct foreign investments in and from these countries.
She highlights the separation of research fields related to this topic, noting that empirical and theoretical knowledge often remains confined within narrow academic circles, leaving many significant practical and theoretical questions unanswered. One such question is the function and role of entrepreneurship in the immigration and integration of migrants in the EU. Her research led to encounters with numerous entrepreneurs from former Soviet states who have settled and operated within the EU, prompting her to examine the similarities and differences in their entrepreneurship depending on their location and country of residence.
Most immigrants from the former Soviet Union enter the EU as citizens of ‘third countries,’ not part of the EU, except for the three smallest former Soviet republics – Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia – which have become EU members. The book suggests that immigration regimes vary across EU member states, and post-Soviet immigrants, through entrepreneurship, adapt to these regimes. This adaptation is a key characteristic of post-Soviet entrepreneurship in the three countries studied. The book also discusses the restrictive nature of the EU’s overall immigration regime towards non-EU citizens, contrasted with its openness towards EU citizens, which defines the legal-social context in which post-Soviet entrepreneurship emerges and evolves.
Read more about the book HERE.
The full interview is available HERE in Bosnian.