Central and East Europe is a large, extremely diverse region, encompassing full-fledged EU members—the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Slovakia, followed later by Bulgaria and Romania—as well as nations of the Western Balkans that are progressing at various speeds along the EU path—Croatia, about to join; Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, with EU candidate status; and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, struggling to keep up. The region also includes the East European states of Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. In this collection, leading authorities examine how these heterogeneous nations have fared since the collapse of communism. The contributors look at executive leadership, elections and voter behavior, parliamentary systems, political parties, citizen engagement in civil society, the effects of neoliberalism, and the quality of life in postcommunist democracies. Most of the essays are new to this edition; the rest have been thoroughly updated.

Contributors. Judy Batt, Sarah Birch, Nathaniel Copsey, Terry Cox, Rick Fawn, Tim Haughton, Krzysztof Jasiewicz, Paul G. Lewis, Frances Millard, David M. Olson, Mitchell A. Orenstein, Andrew Roberts, Ray Taras, Stephen White, Andrew Wilson

Stephen White is James Bryce Professor of Politics at the University of Glasgow, a Senior Research Associate of the University's School of Central and East European Studies, and a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Applied Politics in Moscow.

Paul G. Lewis is Emeritus Professor of European Politics at the Open University in the United Kingdom.

Judy Batt holds a Jean Monnet Ad Personam Chair in the European Integration of South East Europe. She is an independent consultant on Balkan affairs.