The key argument of the volume is that post-1989 transformation deeply affected states and societies on both sides of the former Iron Curtain and was mutually constitutive. While post-communist Europe had to re-invent itself to be 'admitted' to the EU, the old member states and the EU changed too – less visibly, but no less profoundly. This volume examines these transformations from a new perspective, defined by scholars from post-communist Europe, who set the agenda of the volume in a series of workshops. Their colleagues from the 'West' were invited to reflect on the experience of their countries in the light of the questions and concerns defined in those workshops.
The authors include scholars from a variety of backgrounds: established and young, coming from all parts of the continent and having different views on the politics of European integration.
