The book addresses the dynamics of the post-Communist transition and identity building in Central Eastern Europe. It scrutinizes the formation of geopolitical affiliations and discourses of belonging. It also traces the dynamics of national decision-making, institution-building and changing perceptions of the region by global actors.

This edited collection addresses the dynamics of the post-Communist transition in Central Eastern Europe. Its contributors present a detailed analysis of the events unfolding during the last three decades in the region, focusing in particular on identity-building processes and reforms in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

The contributors outline reasons why some of these states accomplished a decisive break with the Communist past and became members of European and transatlantic structures, while some opted for pseudo-transition and fostered hybrid political regimes, jeopardizing their genuine integration with the West. A group of states which decided to preserve their Communist legacy is also explained.

The collection describes and scrutinizes the formation of geopolitical affiliations and the evolution of discourses of belonging. It also traces the fluctuating dynamics of national decision-making and institution-building, as many of the post-Communist states reconsider and re-elaborate their initial ideas and visions of Europe today.

Finally, the collection brings to light the rapidly changing perceptions of the region by the major global actors—the European Union, People’s Republic of China, Russian Federation, and others.

Part I: “Ideas of Europe” and the Post-Communist Space

Chapter 1: Shifting the Wall Further East. What Has Left of the “Eastern Europe” Thirty Years Later? by Mykola Riabchuk

Chapter 2: The Transition of “Transition”: Assessing the Post-Communist Experience and Its Research by Mikhail Minakov

Chapter 3: Has the Post-Communist Transition Been Completed? Economic Perspective by Assen Slim

Part II: Post-Communist Transition and Identity-Building: View From “Within”

Chapter 4: Societies in Post-Communist Transition: Polish and Hungarian Experience by Adrian Chojan

Chapter 5: Exceptional but Different: Navigating Transition in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania by Li Bennich-Björkman

Chapter 6: Czech Republic and Slovakia – Changing Perception of the European Integration Since 1989 by Juraj Marušiak

Chapter 7: Thirty Years of Post-Communist Nation-Building in Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine by Yevhen Mahda and Margaryta Khvostova

Chapter 8: Thirty Years After Communism – Bulgaria and Romania’s Experience by Spasimir Domaradzki and Robert Rajczyk

Part III. Post-Communist Transition From “Outside”: Neighbors’ View

Chapter 9: Democratic Transition, Europeanization, and Other Metamorphoses of Central Eastern Europe: An EU Member State-Building Perspective by Andriy Tyushka

Chapter 10: From “Well-Understood Self-Interest” to Conflicts of Competence: German Consulting Assistance in Central Eastern Europe by Eva Schäffler

Chapter 11: From High Hopes to Mundane Reality: Swedish Perspectives on Post-Communist Europe Thirty Years On by Bo Petersson

Chapter 12: Institutionally Embedded: Italy’s Response to Transformations in Central Eastern Europe by Serena Giusti and Fabio Parola

Chapter 13: “A Successful Partnership Marred by Brexit?” Britain and Central Eastern Europe Post-1989 by Christopher Lash

Chapter 14: Russia and Central Eastern Europe Since 1992 by Rasmus Nilsson

Part IV: Post-Communist Transition From “Outside”: Global View

Chapter 15: Post-Communist Transition from Japan: How Beneficiaries Became Partners by Manabu Sengoku

Chapter 16: China’s View on the Post-Communist Transition of the Central Eastern European Countries by Anna Rudakowska and Emilian Kavalski

Chapter 17: Middle East, North Africa, and Post-Communist Transition: From Soviet Clientelism to Restoration of Russia’s Power by Nedim Useinow