„CEE Reserach“ is the working title of an international research project, conducted in cooperation with the ERSTE foundation.

It focusses on the development of civil society, including future trends and influential institutions, in 15 central and eastern European countries. Various renowned researches from the region have contributed country reports, drawing a distinct picture of the respective civil societies:

For instance, while in the four Visegrad countries there have been vivid and influential civic movements already during communist rule, other countries lack such structures to a certain extent. Therefore, civil societies on the Balkans are to a much greater extent shaped and influenced by foreign donor institutions and international organizations than e.g. in Poland. There is a variety in how the relation between the state government and civil society is constituted. Only in very few countries in the region this relationship is described as frictionless. More often the central governments are perceived as autocratic and corrupt, the European Union being an important counterpart.

The institutional and legal framework, the level of civic engagement as well as the public perception of civil society organizations vary significantly across countries. Thus, the project shows once more that “CEE” is neither a homogenous region, nor that the joint communist past is a sufficient criteria for such a classification.