The institutional transfer from the European Union member states to the former Soviet Union countries

1991 is a strategic year for former Soviet Union countries, representing the end of a system. A major historical change took place when Soviet Socialist Republics have decided to become independent states. But what happened to the institutions of these countries? Did they develop similar orientations of change or did they keep the previous models? Is it an exogenous induced change? Where did the influence originate? One of the hypotheses is that the European Union is the predominant factor in the external induced change. Another one is that the World Health Organisation had an impact in the transformation occurred. The role of the World Bank should be also emphasized. Another possibility would be that the domestic actors imported from the institutional systems of another countries like the United States or the United Kingdom or France. The studies on europeanisation provide important support for exploring the EU influences. Yet, the phenomenon is insufficient for analysing other potential actors of change. The institutional transfer approach will be adopted to complete the conceptual limits of europeanisation. This paper summarizes initial elements on the research on the institutional change in post-soviet countries. It presents the theoretical framework and the institution to be explored in Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia in order to delimitate occurred institutional change following the USSR collapse. 1 ha ls hs -0 03 45 66 2, v er si on 1 9 D ec 2 00 8