East European Politics


East European Politics is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the government, politics and societies of the post-communist space, including East Central Europe, the Baltic republics, South Eastern Europe, Russia, and all the countries of the former Soviet Union. It is published quarterly by Routledge . The Editorial team consists of Senior Editors Adam Fagan and Petr Kopecky, Editors Lenka Bustikova, Andrea L. P. Pirro and Maria Spirova, as well as Editorial Asstant David Gazsi.

Journal information

East European Politics publishes original scholarship on political developments in individual countries, together with cross-country comparative analyses and studies relating the post-communist region to other parts of the world.
In addition to research articles and book reviews, East European Politics also publishes thematic special issues. The journal also publishes regular ‘symposium’ sections and review articles devoted to briefer analysis of particular events, political issues and important theoretical and conceptual developments. All research articles published in East European Politics have undergone rigorous peer review, based on initial editor screening and anonymized refereeing by at least two anonymous referees.

Publication history

The Journal of Communist Studies was founded in 1984 by a group of scholars with a shared intellectual interest in communist political systems, successors to an editorial team that had produced Documents in communist affairs and other publications dealing with the communist movement. While the journal set out to reflect the growing complexity of the communist world and movements, in the 1980s, its focus was on the ‘core’ countries and parties that had historically been part of the world of the Communist International. The primary emphasis was on politics, but history, sociology, non-technical economics, biography, and comparative studies also featured.
In 1992, and Transition Politics was added to the title to reflect changing realities. Following the change of title, the scope both widened, to embrace regime change and democratisation, and in practice also narrowed, to concentrate somewhat more on political analysis. The volumes published under the revised title included analyses of the politics and political science of the new democracies, several of which are now considered to be seminal works.
Since 2012, the journal is published under the title East European Politics.

Abstracting and indexing

Articles appearing in the journal are abstracted and indexed in Scopus, EBSCOhost including International Political Science Abstracts Database, Political Science Complete, International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center and Public Affairs Index; Periodicals Index Online, CSA Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences and Sociological Abstracts, among others.