The book assesses the democratization and marketization in the Visegrad states. It analyses the effectiveness of these emerging government structures at a regional and local level in terms of competencies and resources, makes comparisons with West European experiences at this level, and examines the role of external factors, especially the EU and international financial organisations, in the development of sub-national authorities in these countries.

NICHOLAS BERNARD Lecturer in the Department of Law at the University of Essex THOMAS CHRISTIANSEN Jean Monnet Lecturer and Director of European Studies in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth LUBOMIR FALTAN Senior Researcher and Director of Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava ANNA ZIELINSKA-GLEBOCKA Professor in Economics at the University of Gdansk and Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Integration JOZEF HEGEDUS Director of the Metropolital Research Institute in Budapest ANDRZEJ KOWALCZYK Lecturer in the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies at the University of Warsaw VLADIMIR KRIVY Senior Fellow Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava JAMES SPERLING Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Akron JACEK ZAUCHA Associate Professor in the Department of Macroeconomics at the University of Gdansk