This project wants to fill this gap in the literature and study the interaction between civil society and the political forces operating at different levels of the state. In this respect this research aims at re-charting the relationships between civil society, international donors and the state in order to explore three questions:1) What are the limits of international forces in democracy promotion strategies that target civil society as the main actor in the socio-political transition of a country?2) What are the factors that allow civil society to play a role in effective pluralisation and democratization of a country?3) Is there any mechanism diffusing those factors across regions and continents and what are the reasons for a successful exportation of factors and strategies? Conversely what factors have revealed been revealed to be most important in limiting this diffusion?The project, in addition to creating experts in this field, will also contribute a significant body of knowledge in its own right. The research will explore the way post-Soviet consolidation has been conceived, implemented and applied to different political, economic and geopolitical realities across the region. To this end the interactions between researchers from different research centres will be constructed around two main axes. First, the researchers will coordinate on a joint research project. Second, different organizations will form collaborations between themselves that will lead to a constant and systematic transfer of knowledge between partners.