Policy Experiments, Failures and Innovations: Beyond Accession in Central and Eastern Europe

'Policy Experiments, Failures and Innovations’ takes a policy studies perspective for considering the EU’s post-communist member states’ experiences since accession. The volume analyses policy transfer processes and expands the new and growing sub-field of policy failure by interrogating the binary ideas of ‘failure’ and ‘success’ in the context of the Central Eastern European (CEE) transition, democratic consolidation and European Union membership. Contributions in the volume consider the extent to which external models have had real traction in the political economies and societies of the CEE countries. The volume also considers the ways external models were adapted, transformed or sometimes abandoned in response to unexpected difficulties in implementation. It is therefore a book about set-backs, real or perceived policy failures, as well as innovations and unexpected outcomes in a number of important policy areas in the ‘new’ member states of the EU.