This volume--the first in a series of books on democratic consolidation in Eastern Europe--examines the constraints and opportunities of institutional engineering in Eastern Europe. The aim is to contrast a set of democracy theories with empirical evidence accumulated in Eastern Europe over the last ten years. Avoiding complex debates about definitions, methods, and the uses and misuses of comparative research, this book instead tries to establish what has really happened in the region and which of the existing theories have proved helpful in explaining these developments.