Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the British Academy, which supported (via the East Europe Exchange programme) my research visit to the Czech Republic in April and May 2001, when part of the research for Chapter 3 was carried out. Thanks also go to the Institute of Sociology at the Czech Academy of Sciences, which hosted my visit. In Slovakia my research for the same chapter in September 2001 was facilitated by the Department of Political Science at Comenius University, Bratislava, and especially by L'udmila Malíková. Thanks are also due to the Centre for Contemporary European Studies at the University of Paisley for supporting the April 2001 workshop with which this project began and for providing me with the conditions to continue work on the book. Finally, special thanks go to Jiří Holub and Irena Hergottová for their participation in the workshop.