Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989.

• Author: Zatagic, Senada
• Position: Book review

Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989

By Sabrina P. Ramet and Christine M. Hassenstab

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, 618 pages, $39,99, ISBN: 9781108499910

Now in its second edition, Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989 aims to keep readers updated on the troublesome issues the countries of region have dealt with in their transition process from communism to democracy, and the present and future challenges they will have to handle in order to become democratic countries with full respect for the rule of law. This more than ambitious goal is not an easy task, first because of the nature of the analyzed regions; the authors themselves describe their aim as "both an ambitious and necessary" endeavor (p. 563). There is no doubt that this book is exactly that. Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989 represents a valuable introduction to the process of transition from communism to democracy; it includes all of the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe and offers an analysis of their brief post-communist history; the fall of their communist regimes; the establishment of democracy and the ensuing challenges including war, economic transition and the privatization process; and their accession to the EU and NATO. The book presents each country's unique path to democracy, along with its own specific problems, which makes it also a kind of comparative analysis of the democratization and transition processes in the analyzed regions. An introductory explanation and analysis of these important topics is given in the book's first two chapters, which form a basis for better understanding the subsequent chapters. These, in turn, discuss each country separately and explore the aspects analyzed in relation to each of the countries' specific dynamics.

Although they share certain common characteristics--a communist past, democratization, and an EU/NATO membership goal--it is hard to consider the diverse countries spreading from the Baltics to the Mediterranean as a single region. The glossary itself sounds confusing as some of the terms are overlapping--Central Europe/Central and Eastern Europe/East Central Europe/Eastern Europe/Southeastern Europe. That might explain why, although the introductory chapters (part one and two) briefly mention and analyze all of these countries, the middle chapters focus on Central Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), the ex-Yugoslavian states (Slovenia...