The eastern enlargement of the European Union has received much attention in political discussions and studies throughout the 1990s. This book concentrates on the democratic aspect of EU enlargement and thus connects the two processes that have been of central importance in Europe after the Cold War: democratisation in Central and Eastern Europe and the eastern enlargement of the EU. The role of the European Union in democratisation of its eastern member candidates is studies here in the light of the case of Estonia. The analysis is based on a wide, substantive concept of democracy and highlights both direct and indirect, positive and negative impacts of the EU on the democratic development of Estonia. The role of the democratic aspects in the eastern enlargement in general is also critically examined.