Review of European Integration Research in Eastern Europe

The trends prevailing in Central and East European (CEE) social science research at the time of the collapse of communism were markedly different from those in the West. First of all, social science disciplines in the former Soviet bloc were dominated, to varying degrees, by Marxist-Leninist ideology. By definition there was almost no work at all done on ‘capitalist’ integration. Prior to the collapse of the communist regimes, only a very few studies, mainly in economics, had addressed (Western) European integration. Political science in general was underdeveloped, and ‘European integration’ and/or ‘European studies’ were truly terra incognita . Since the, an ongoing dialogue between several groups of scholars has led to numerous research projects investigating European integration. This article aims to provide an overview of the research in this area in Eastern Europe. Identifying CEE research on European integration is no easy task. First of all, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches prevail, and it is very difficult to draw clear boundaries between political science and the other social sciences.