Europeanization of Governance in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

The fall of the Berlin wall marked the beginning of massive multiple transitions in the countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia were all caught in a process of turbulent changes that would leave no aspect of their societies undisturbed. The omnipresent totalitarian state was to be replaced by a liberal democratie government and uncoupled from the structures of the Party. The free market was to re-emerge from the ashes of the centrally-planned economies. The very identity of these nations was called into question and re-defined. New borders were drawn between nations; between state and society; between public and private.