Problems and chances of the East enlargement of the EU

Recognized social scientists from different countries discussed the chances and problems of the forth-coming enlargement of the European Union to the East during a conference organized by the Sektion Ost- und Ostmitteleuropa-Soziologie of the German Society of of Sociology and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Target of this volume is to consider the enlargement of the European Union not only as a bureaucratic pro- cess but to demonstrate also the so- cial and cultural chances and tensions arising from the process of integration. The East-Enlargement is analysed in four sections from the point of view of the European Union as well as of the candidate countries. The examination of the global process is completed by detailed case studies.