Gerald A. McDermott, Associate Professor, Sonoco International Business Department, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina

Mark Baskin, senior associate and research professor, Center for International Development, Rockefeller College, University of Albany; Paula Pickering, associate professor of government, College of William and Mary

Julie Mostov, associate vice provost for international programs and professor of political science, Drexel University

The economic, political, social, and moral transformation in Central and East Europe remains unparalleled in terms of the depth of the reforms and the speed with which they were carried out. Among these reforms, these countries adopted European minority rights standards (as determined by the Council of Europe) in order to become European Union members. Nevertheless, although legal norms have been adopted to the highest degree, Michal Vasecka argued that minorities throughout Central and East Europe do not enjoy equal status with the titular nation and are not integrated socially or politically. Minority policies, Vasecka asserted, have failed, and it is important to address this failure in order to stem growing nationalism in these states.