Post-Communist Transition in Europe and its Broader International Implications

Even though the Cold War was over, the 1990s were still fairly dramatic years in the European continent - with armed conflict waged in the Balkans and in some areas in the periphery of the former Soviet Union, and with most former Communist countries struggling through a difficult economic and political transition.
As the new century began, however, such a transition appeared largely accomplished.
The Balkans had largely gotten over violent conflict and in most countries the graph of economic recovery was moving steadily up.
Most importantly, Western countries had increasingly devised means for interventing in that transition process.
That meant even military intervention in the Balkans, and mostly economic and political integration for many countries in transition.
Perhaps no other factor was as reassuring about the transition of the former Communist countries as the fact that the process was now firmly anchored to Western institutions and progress.
This book explores different issues that were part of the transition in Central and Eastern Europe and looks at the experiences and developments the whole continent went through in that period of time.

Mario Zucconi is a Senior Fellow at the "Centre for International Political Studies" (CESPI) and Professor of International Relations at the University of Urbino, Italy. He has recently edited the volume The International Response to the Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia. Reorganizing multi-lateralism after the Cold War (New York, St.Martin's).