Directly relates to current Ukraine crisis. Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in Ukrainian port of Sebastapol (Crimea). This work brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines on a region vitally important in current international relations for Europe, Russia and the Near East, offering fresh perspective combining regional 'insiders' and 'outsider' international experts. If ideas of 'civil society' democratisation are Western in nature then how should one examine these trends in a non-Western society? This book presents a variety of experiences of civil society, looking at representation, participation and power relations in countries such as the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Caucasus area. It is a rare combination of 'insider' perspectives of regional experts and the 'outsider' views of international experts.

Ayse Ayata is Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Center For Black Sea and Central Asia at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara. Ayca Ergun is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Middle East Technical University. Isil Celimli is at the Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York.