The economic crisis of 2008, starting from the US banking crisis, affected economic and political development in varied ways around the world. This edited volume examines the impact of the crisis on Eastern Europe and Russia, and the resulting policy responses. Taken as a whole, the economies of the former state socialist countries – frequently still referred to as transition economies – were hit hard by the crisis, suffering falls in GDP in 2009 that were deeper than the average around the world. However, there was considerable variety in the effects on individual countries, whilst some continuing to grow, others suffered quite exceptional falls in output. Policy responses were also quite diverse and do not obviously fit with the nature and severity of economic factors. The more general impacts on political life were also varied. In many cases very much the same governments continued in power, while in others there were significant changes and signs of a growing instability in party and political structures. The articles in this book explore these differences between countries and set them in a wider international context.

This book was published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.