Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the political history of central and eastern Europe has mainly been the story of the rise, consolidation, transformation, and struggles of new democratic regimes and societies. The Handbook of Direct Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 offers an instructive approach to that history focusing on the relevance of the practices and institutions of direct democracy. It collects twenty political analyses of direct democracy in twenty central and eastern European countries after 1989.

The aim of the book is the holistic and interdisciplinary political analysis of direct democracy since 1989. The case studies make diagnoses of the state of democratic processes in these countries and present and analyze institutions of direct democracy. In addition, the book provides an analytical and comparative examination of the implementation processes of direct democratic practices and solutions at the national and local levels. The collection of case studies shows the significance of direct democracy in the formal-legal and practical dimension of central and eastern European countries and points at the use of direct democratic instruments as expressions of political awareness in these societies. The case studies emphasize the significant connection of the accession process to the European Union and the development of direct democracy in these countries.