Introduction

Since the fall of communism in 1989–1991, the region we are calling East Central Europe has experienced a remarkable transformation. Civil society has blossomed along with competing political parties, new legal and constitutional systems, and a market economy. While untrammeled commercialism, corruption, deep social inequality, a widening gap between urban and rural sectors, and urban homelessness have also spread through the countries that communists once ruled, these phenomena are part and parcel of capitalism, one could argue. The last decade has witnessed populist authoritarianism take hold in some countries, making democracy look fragile in a region that has known mostly imperial and dictatorial rule over the past few centuries. ¹