proposals and funding, an additional series of conferences, and a further iteration of the research agenda.

Scientific judgment is inherently imprecise, whether one is quantifying the risks associated with nuclear reactors or identifying the effects of imposing stabilization strategies on transforming societies. Reasonable assumptions and widely accepted theories can and have been proven false, and strategies that have succeeded in one set of circumstances may fail in others. Important work needs to be done on the post-communist economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States. At present, the processes and mechanisms are poorly understood, theory is deficient, and methodologies are uncertain. The research program outlined here represents a major step toward improving both the analysis and understanding of the political economy of the post-communist transformation.