This edited volume seeks to understand and explain the pattern of varying national and regional success in post-communist political and economic transition across the post-communist world. Despite widespread hopes for the development of vigorous democratic political systems and vibrant market economies, the outcomes of a quarter century of post-communist transition in the countries of the former communist bloc in Eurasia have been widely variant. Some have matched these hopes, including becoming full members of the EU; others have fallen far short, with political and economic systems little changed from the communist era. This collection, with an internationally respected list of contributors, addresses some of the pressing issues in political science and transition studies, ranging from theoretical overviews to the more specific nitty-gritty of contemporary politics.

Introduction: Steven Fish, Graeme Gill, Milenko Petrovic.- Chapter 1. A Quarter-Century of Postcommunism: what have we learnt about democracy, social change and economic reform?.- Chapter 2: Postcommunist Transition under the Umbrella of Uneven EUropeanisation: East Central Europe, the Baltic States and the Balkans.- Chapter 3. Trajectories of Political Development in the Post-Soviet States.- Chapter 4. Postcommunist Corruption: does EU membership make any difference?.- Chapter 5: The V4 Countries and the EU: a comparative perspective.- Chapter 6: China and European Postcommunist Integration: the CEEC Countries and the "16+1" Platform.- Chapter 7: Illiberal Democracy and the Anti-Democratic Backlash: Hungary - a new model in the making?.- Chapter 8. The Shaky Postcommunist Transition in the Western Balkans: Serb-Croat relations and the Kosovo issue.- Chapter 9: Old Paradigms of Ethnicity and Post-Soviet Transition in the Baltic States. Chapter 10: Ukraine's democratization Path Post-Orange Revolution: the internal and external impediments to democratic reform.- Chapter 11. Personalism Rampant: Russian policy-making on Ukraine and the December 2014 economic crisis.- Chapter 12: Post-Communist Russia and the West: from Crisis to Crisis. Chapter 13: Kazakhstan and the Eurasian Economic Union: the dilemmas of alliance-making in the post-Soviet period.