[The editors have designed the book] to help students come to terms with the quick pace and sheer scope of political changes throughout the communist and post-communist world today.... Comparative analysis focused on countries and political systems, for comprehensive treatment of institutions, political behavior, political economy, and the policy-making process.... The text includes comprehensive country studies of the most significant communist and post-communist states.... [The book] emphasizes historical patterns of state formation, political economy, domestic politics, and the politics of collective identities as they relate to the international political and economic system. -Pref.