This book intends to be a contribution to the varieties of capitalism paradigm. The theoretical background is Weber 's theory of legitimacy. Was communism ever legitimate? What kind of legitimacy claims were made in the transition from communism to capitalism? Central Europe was closer to the Western liberal model. Russia built capitalism in a patrimonial way. China followed its own unique way; some called it socialism with Chinese characteristics. Putin experiments with an innovation for post-communist capitalism. He confronts the oligarchs and reallocates property from those who challenge his political authority to old and new loyal ones. This book asks to what extent such forms can serve as generic models for post-communist capitalism?