The Routledge handbook of East European politics

摘要

Following the end of the Cold War, East European politics has been subject to renewed scholarly interest. The opportunities for institutional development, state-building and democratic experimentation have largely fascinated those interested in Central and Eastern European (CEECs) and post-soviet countries. The rich variation in terms of regime types, political parties and cultural norms, as well as the interaction of CEECs with the European community has been part of increasing scholarly focus. Nevertheless, the adherence of most CEECs to NATO and the European Union (EU), allegedly, ended a chapter of their transition period. Despite this, following their integration in these 'transformative' structures, a specific set of issues have (re)emerged in the area ranging from a high contestation of Western liberal norms to an unwinding of previous democratic reforms and institu-tionalisation processes. Recent 'illiberal' developments (Dawson and Hanley 2016) or issues of 'democratic backsliding' (Kelemen and Blauberger 2017) have shocked most political and media pundits. Academically, the region still remains a puzzling area for theoretical investigation and a laboratory for diverse and contrasting empirical findings.