The article compares the formal institutionalization of socio-economic (industrial) relations in Poland and the Czech Republic in the period following their regime changes in 1989. Thus it investigates the validity of the transformation theory assumption, that the way of regime failure (type of transition) influences the forthcoming political processes. It is demonstrated that both countries arrived to the constitution of a tripartity, but through different paths. It is argued that the similarity in the outcome occurred due to the identical need of the transformation process of the substitute for absenting system of interest intermediation in the respective political systems, while the most important factor that shaped the distinctive development of the formal institutionalization of the socio-economic relations in Poland and the Czech Republic is the path-dependent way of regime failure, which determined the position (form, capacities, as well as relative importance) of the relevant actors (the trade unions, the employers’ organizations, and the state).