As they seek to join the West, the Central and East European states face challenging expectations for domestic and international political behavior. Key Western organizations, especially the European Union and NATO, hold out the promise of membership in return for adherence to specific European norms and standards. The benefits of membership are high, generating equally high pressure on governments to adopt Western norms. In this first comprehensive volume on the subject, contributors examine how this process operates in a variety of domains, including civil-military relations; social, labor and regional relations; economic and information policies; and foreign policy. Each author considers, inter alia, what norms are generated by (or absent from) European international organizations; how they are communicated to prospective members; and, most important, what impact they have had on the policies and actions of individual countries as well as on the region as a whole. Drawing from both Central and Southeastern Europe, these on-the-ground studies provide the empirical foundation needed to support theories of norm diffusion, constructivism, and liberalism in international relations and comparative politics alike.

Contributions by: Pavel Cernoch, William R. Clark, Annette Freyberg-Inan, Alex Grigorescu, Mark Hallerberg, Geoffrey Harris, Elena Iankova, Wade Jacoby, Andrew Michta