Since 1989 the countries of East-Central Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, have radically transformed their national security policies. East-Central Europe after the Cold War provides a detailed analysis of this transformation, highlighting the strategic choices made by the East-Central European states since the collapse of communism.

The book begins by exploring the new European security environment and the security policy options open to the East-Central European states. It then examines how Poland, Czechoslovakia (and after its demise the Czech Republic and Slovakia) and Hungary responded to the dilemmas posed by the collapse of the Soviet bloc, German unification, the restructuring of their relations with the West, the unstable situation on their eastern and southern borders and the need fundamentally to reform their armed forces.

The concluding chapters examine the East-Central European states' relations with the European Union and NATO and assess the prospects for continued stability in the region.