The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain was taken as an occasion to celebrate the successes of transformation in the post-communist region. At the same time negative developments related to democracy and the rule of law have been discernible in central and eastern and south-eastern Europe. Viktor Orbán has affronted many European partners with his notion of »illiberal democracy«, which he regards as a counter-model to regional transformation, oriented as it has been to western European liberal values. Against this background the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Central and Eastern European unit has commissioned a series of analysis of societies in the »new« EU member states to answer some crucial questions concerning the history of post-communist transformation: What lines of conflict characterise these societies and what attitudes and values prevail? How are these phenomena to be explained? What transformation experiences are specific to the respective countries? And in how far is »illiberal democracy« a special feature of the transformation countries or a pan-European development? Finally, what courses of action should be developed for each country that the progressive camp can take to promote the further development of the relevant societies or which political decision-makers in the EU and Germany can use to support corresponding initiatives?