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.