ABSTRACT
More than a decade ago, the former communist transition countries of Eastern Europe started a far-reaching political and economic reform process. With the fall of communism the East European trade system, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, came to an end. As well as facing the challenges of democratization and economic stabilization, transition countries had to re-integrate in global trade. Quick integration into world trade, however, was risky, yet indispensable given the dire state of post-communist economies. Opening economies for international trade generates losers which can put in danger the whole political and economic reform process and even stall democratization. The transformation literature, therefore, focused on the question of how to reconcile economic change and world market integration. In retrospect, the transition countries have chosen quite different solutions to this, mirroring different degrees of foreign economic openness after a decade.
