Title: Institutional Transfer from the European Union Actors to Ukraine and Moldova: the Case of Hospital Design

This article presents the main points of my PhD research on institutional change in PostSoviet states. Looking at the case of the hospital design in Ukraine and Moldova, I examine the main actors and institutions that induced the process of change following the Soviet Union's collapse. The article consists of two parts. First, I introduce the theoretical framework to study the postsoviet transformations. In line with the historical institutionalism, I present the hypothesis that both Ukraine and Moldova developed similar institutional characteristics following their independence in 1991. The second hypothesis concerns the role of external actors in the observed changes. I challenge in particular the actions of international companies. I use the Europeanization and institutional transfer concepts to explore these exogenous sources of change. Second, I analyse the design processes of two hospital modernisation projects in Ukraine and Moldova. In a comparative perspective, I present the actors involved, the difficulties in modernising the hospital regarding the inherited paths as well as the solutions advanced in order to implement a change. An introduction to these case studies will allow conducting an in-depth study of the involvement of international actors in the post-soviet transformations. This article examines the process of institutional change in post-soviet countries since 1991 to 2010. It uses the growing body of literature on historical institutionalism, europeanisation and diffusion while exploring the presence of exogenous actors in the hospital design transformation in Moldova and Ukraine. ha ls hs -0 05 09 74 2, v er si on 1 16 A ug 2 01 0 Author manuscript, published in "3rd ECPR Graduate Conference, Dublin : Ireland (2010)"