Introduction

First published in 1999, this volume emerged in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and focuses on a geographical analysis of problems associated with socio-economic changes taking place in East-Central Europe. The idea behind these contributions is to provide a confrontation of two viewpoints. The major chapters are written by East European scholars, followed by discussions held with their Western European counterparts. The idea was to provide depth and clarity to the debate on understanding those geographical problems facing the emerging East European states nearly a decade after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Contributors explore areas including the Polish economy, environmental geopolitics in the Czech Republic and the belt of opportunity and instability in Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria.