Both the regional and country studies that comprise the volume serve the useful purpose of reminding us, and perhaps the now discontented East Europeans who are tempted to recall the last decade of Communist power as the good old days, how fatally flawed that system had become. -- John R. Lampe Journal of Comparative Economics This book comprises several extensively researched and well-written chapters that trace political (both domestic and international), economic, environmental, and social developments in the countries of East Central Europe and the Balkans since the collapse of communism. It also includes a number of essays that treat each of these themes from a regional perspective. -- Michael Bernhard American Political Science Review