Introduction: The Challenge of Implementation Research in the

This chapter begins by outlining the theme of the book: the practice of European Union (EU) social legislation in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). We highlight the importance of studying policy implementation as a crucial phase of the policy cycle. We outline the empirical and methodological approach we chose to shed light on how accession countries attempt to translate EU social policies into domestic practice. We also give an overview of the state of the art in EU implementation research, and of the EU legislation pertaining to our study. The chapter closes with a brief description of the structure of the book.