After 1990, Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries started on a rapid path of democratization. Multi-party elections took place in these formerly state socialist states and in the following two decades governments of different political persuasion followed each other in a fairly peaceful order. The situation was different on the war-ridden Balkan peninsula and in many of the post-Soviet republics. But in most CEE countries, civil liberties were codified in new constitutions, political information, previously strictly censored, became widely accessible, social movements and civil organizations sprung up. Eight of the post- socialist countries joined the European Union in 2004, another two in 2007 and Croatia in 2013. As soon as the transition was considered “completed,” research, policy making as well as funding interest waned in the region: the end of history loomed large.