One of the key questions posed in the context of some post-socialist countriesentering the European Union is, whether it is realistic to expect that (at least some) new EU member states are going to make a developmental breakthrough into the developmental core, i.e. the group of the most developedEuropean countries. In the contrast to the approaches based on extrapolation or forecast of the developmental trends in the future, the author attempts to find out if the mentioned countries have sufficiently developed conditions for developmental successfulness. The article deals with the analysis of the role of the intangible socio-cultural factors of developmental performance in order to verify the hypothesis that a specific complex of socio-cultural factors is necessary and sufficient condition. The article starts with systematic classification of European countries into the developmental core, semi-periphery and periphery. The following part of the article deals with defining developmental factors within the heuristic model of socio-cultural factors of development. The model is verified by the application of "fuzzy-set" analysis, which confirms the basic hypothesis. Onlythe semi-peripheral countries have the realistic possibility for the developmental breakthrough, while in the peripheral countries the socio-cultural factors of development are too weakly developed. In the European context, and especially in the countries of semi-periphery and the developmental core, the hierarchical or "top-down" approaches in formulation of developmental policies cannot give satisfactory results. More developed countries of Central and Eastern Europe must attempt to formulate policies aiming to create conditions for development of socio-cultural factors of development.
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