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.