A . Mitchell Orenstein , Stephen Bloom , Nicole Lindstrom ( eds . ) Transnational Actors in Central and East European Transitions

The key question this volume is addressing concerns the role of transnational actors in processes of democratisation in post-communist Europe which, according to the editors, is ‘the dark matter that held the various aspects of post-communist transition together in Central and East Europe’ (2008, 6). The authors represented in this volume, as well as the editors, are scholars that have already made important contributions to the study of post-communism. This makes the task of reviewing this compilation rather unrewarding since I can only briefly touch upon individual contributions. However, since the purpose of this edited volume is to pull together and contrast these various contributions in hope of providing some new insights, this is what I will try to do as well. I will first briefly overview the texts in the volume in order to provide basic information for prospective readers, and then consider the contribution of the volume as a whole.