Central Asia and Eastern Europe share the legacy of socialist rule and the search for new models of political order. While East Central Europe took a Western path, the long term perspectives for the other sub-regions (Central Asia, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and parts of Southeast Europe) remain uncertain even twenty years after the change. Some of the predominantly autocratic and neo-patrimonially organised regimes were able to use their natural resources for an economic boom. On the other hand, many countries remained economically unstable and/or politically fragile. Yet even the ‘economic boomers’, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and recently also Mongolia, have yet to prove the viability of their development models and manage the challenge of finding a balance between the winners and losers of the transformation.
Research at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) addresses the following questions: