On December 16, 1991 Poland signed an Association Agreement with the European Communities which came into force on February 1, 1994. The remaining countries of the Wyshegrad Group (Hungary, and the Czech and Slovak Republics) also signed such agreements with the European Union. It is...

The postcommunist transitions produced two very different types of states. The "contractual" state is associated with the countries of Eastern Europe, which moved toward democratic regimes, consensual relations with society, and clear boundaries between political power and economic wealth. The...

Shows how the cumulative result of multiple big and small battles between state coercion and societal capital gave rise to postcommunism's variant political and economic institutions. - Publisher's Web site