This book investigates the effectiveness and quality of democratic governance in post-communist Eastern Europe. It defines democratic quality by the extent to which citizens can hold leaders accountable and align policy with their preferences. The author, Andrew Lawrence Roberts, utilizes extensive statistical analyses and detailed case studies across multiple countries and policy areas to assess this quality. The book's central argument challenges common assumptions by concluding that citizens in Eastern European democracies exert significant control over their leaders, despite the challenges posed by economic transitions and the legacies of communism.

The book presents a novel framework for assessing democratic quality, applying it to Eastern European nations. Its surprising conclusion, derived from rigorous statistical and case study analyses, is that citizens in these new democracies exercise considerable control over their rulers. This challenges prevailing notions that the legacies of communism and the difficulties of transition inherently weaken popular control. The work offers a nuanced perspective on the state of democracy in the region.