Dataset from the ESRC research project on "Elites and institutions in regional and local governance in Central and Eastern Europe 1999-2001"

Abstract

The transformation of the states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) from communist satellites to capitalist democracies and full members of the European Union is a process that is generally understood as one that has been driven by EU conditionality and its impact on the compliance of the CEECs. This project aimed to investigate EU conditionality and evaluate its impact on institution-building in states undergoing post-communist transformation in Eastern Europe. The following were employed as case studies: (i) regional policy and the process of regionalisation and (ii) minority issues. The research was developed around two key and innovative elements. Firstly, how post-communist transition is affected or shaped by actors and structures at the sub-national level, in regions, cities, and localities. Secondly, the effects of EU conditionality and 'Europeanisation' in the CEECs were investigated by examining whether there was a transference of state forms, traditions and administrative practice from EU states. The researchers conducted large-scale systematic interviewing of elites in seven cities in eastern Europe, including states that were first wave candidates for membership, states that were in the second wave, and states that were unlikely to become members. The interviews conducted in five of the seven cities have been amalgamated to produce a dataset for studying the attitudes of regional and local elites to economic and political transition, to the European Union and NATO, as well as sociological data on their career trajectories since the collapse of communism