East European Academies in Transition

The political and economic transformation of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries has also affected their research systems. The radical regime change in these formerly state socialist societies made major reforms of their research systems possible. But the implementation of these reforms was constrained by the economic and fiscal crisis following the transition to a market economy. Scholars from post-communist CEE countries have studied in close co-operation how the major research organizations of these countries, their academies of sciences, have reacted to the new opportunities and problems. Based on a preliminary series of country reports, in-depth case studies of selected academy institutes in all major CEE countries were conducted to trace the effect of these changes on scientific research. This volume analyzes the case study material in a comparative perspective, highlighting both general trends and significant differences between countries and disciplines.