Barnes, andrew, Extricating the State: The Move to Competitive Capture in Post-Communist Bulgaria , Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 59, no. 1, 2007, pp. 71-95 Barnes notes that, although academic analysis initially stressed the need to end extensive state control of the economy in post-Communist states, there was now increasing recognition that private economic interests can capture the state and prevent full-scale political reform. While no single economic group can control the political institutions, competing groups can struggle to gain leverage for their own economic benefit.