ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the theoretical framework and argument of social experiments, and starts with defining democracy assistance, which comprises funding for ensuring human rights, rule of law, elections and political processes, civil society (civic education, free media), establishing democratic political institutions, and supporting civil liberties. It also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book presents how CEE NGOs were embedded into liberal thinking and how they became non-state actors involved in democracy promotion in the post-communist region. It explores the engagement of organizations in supporting young people. The book demonstrates conventional and non-conventional forms of political engagement of young people, interest in politics, whether they share information and contact people and how, whether they participate in social life. It also demonstrates the current developments introduced by the governments of Poland and Hungary that constrain their activity in the field of democracy assistance both at home and abroad.
