ABSTRACT
The transition process following the collapse of communism throughout East Central Europe in 1989 has been described as a “return to Europe.” The project of “reconnecting” with Europe reflected a desire on the part of elites and at least a significant portion of the publics in East Central Europe to (re)claim a heritage that included liberal democracy and a market economy. At the time of the fall of the Iron Curtain, Western Europe itself was undergoing a transformation toward deeper integration. This process, which had begun in the 1980s and would lead to the formal creation of the European Union (EU) in 1994, initially did not include East Central Europe nor did policymakers envision the possibility of a common system of governance stretching from Dublin to Bucharest. In fact, when the possibility of including the formerly communist countries first arose, it was generally not a particularly welcome prospect because it threatened to upset the carefully calibrated balance of power among the twelve member states of the then European Community (EC).
