This text makes the case that several East Central European countries have emerged as full consolidated democracies. As such, they may be integrated into the mainstream of political science research, and not consigned to a transitional category encompassing countries that are not democratic at all.

Chapter 1 Going Beyond Post-Communist Studies; Chapter 2 The Study of Post-Communist Politics; Chapter 3 The Missing Agenda; Chapter 4 Reformulating Democratic Consolidation; Chapter 5 Imagining Post-Consolidation Studies; Chapter 6 Further Extending the Post-Consolidation Agenda; Chapter 7 Some Further Theoretical Considerations, Jan Weiss;