Bücher der Reihe Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe

This volume explores informal structures and practices in Eastern Europe and whether these are different from informality which can be observed in Western Europe. The authors discuss the scientific relevance of the distinction informal/formal across different disciplines.

20 Years after the Collapse of Communism

What is the state of democracy in the region? Are the countries of the Western Balkans stuck somewhere between authoritarianism and genuine democracy? What are the remaining obstacles to state building? What effect has the crisis had on young people in the Western Balkans? This title deals with these questions.

The volume addresses the crucial role of knowledge and innovation in coping with/adapting to socio-economic and political transformation processes in post-Soviet societies. Unique are the bottom up or micro-sociological and ethnographic perspectives offered by the book on the processes of post-Soviet transformations in Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus.

The volume deals with different aspects of the crisis governance during the floods in 2014 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia. It highlights the specific crisis responses in each country, influenced by the existing institutions, crisis leadership, social and economic capital, media and the role of international financial aid.

Even though the democratic decline has been deemed a global phenomenon, the question of how it manifests itself in the postcommunist world and how it varies across different regions with divergent levels of democratic consolidation has not been sufficiently addressed yet. This book tries to fill the gap and examines the causes and nature of the deteriorating quality of democracy in Central Europe as well as the reversal or stagnation of democratization processes in Southeastern and Eastern Europe. The political elite plays a key role in initiating legislative changes that may lead to democratic backsliding. Its constant commitment to the rule of law and to the practice of selfrestraint in securing the independence of judiciary and the rights of political opposition appears hence indispensable for sustainable liberal democracy.

The authors of the collection of articles treat of the question of modernization in Georgia, discussing both theoretical and historical dimensions of the issue. Related questions of civil society, social capital, Soviet heritage, Europeanization, statehood and geopolitics are also discussed in the same context.

This book contains collection of articles which provide policy implications related to the problem of achieving substantive reform on the basis of harmonising legislation in Western Balkan (WB) countries with the standards of the European Union (EU).

Although the Soviet empire no longer exists, old and new relationships between centres and peripheries still shape realities in the region. The case studies presented in this volume analyse the relevance of the centre-periphery distinction for the understanding of the post-Soviet space.

In this book are presented and analysed local scholarly perspectives on contemporary political, legal and societal developments in Kosovo and how path-dependent historical legacies set in motion prior to and during the war for independence, coupled with dependence on and interdependence with external actors shaped society and institutions.