Central and Eastern Europe focuses on the challenges and dilemmas posed to stability in the former USSR, and Central and Eastern Europe by the radical changes brought about by the collapse of Communist rule. Recognizing the need to adopt an approach that does justice to what is unquestionably a momentous process of change, it focuses on the security implications of continuing developments in the political, social, economic, and military spheres.

The heart of the book is a set of case studies examining in detail the situation in a number of countries: Hungary, Poland, the Czech and Slovak republics, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states, the Balkan region, and the former Yugoslavia. By way of introduction to the case studies, a further section of essays assesses developments in Central and Eastern Europe from a broader thematic perspective, focusing on such important issues as the role of European organizations in the ethnic conflicts currently much in evidence throughout the region.