The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics

In its second edition, The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics offers a comprehensive and analytically sophisticated account of a region that has undergone profound transformation over the past four decades. Bringing together 24 chapters authored by eminent scholars from both the region and the wider international academic community, this volume spans key debates in comparative politics, international relations, and public administration. It advances a cutting-edge interpretation of contemporary Eastern European politics by moving beyond the orthodoxies of the transition paradigm and demonstrating how post-communist trajectories have generated a striking diversity of regime outcomes. It examines the reconfiguration of political authority, the evolution of democratic and illiberal practices, and the complex interplay between institutions, identities, and socio-economic structures. Particular attention is devoted to perspectives of gender and sexual identity as lenses through which power and authority can be more fully understood, alongside analyses of democratic resilience and erosion. This handbook also addresses how citizens engage with major contemporary challenges, including climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s war against Ukraine, thereby capturing the lived realities that shape political life across the region. This handbook serves as an essential reference for advanced students and scholars of East European politics, as well as for those working more broadly in comparative politics, democratization studies, European politics, and international relations.