The end of socialism posed a historical challenge to European societies. The former socialist Central and East European countries were faced with what has been called a "triple transformation" Mutually dependent changes in the political, economic, and social spheres. At the same time, the old EU member states had to develop strategies to react to these developments and integrate former socialist societies.This post-socialist transformation of Europe coincided with a number of broader trends in the political, economic, and social spheres which are often collectively referred to as...