Post-Communist Transition: The Thorny Road treats the historical endeavor to transform state-controlled economies to new institutional arrangements of free market economies. This ongoing transition is an indispensable part of globalization. The recession created by the transition has lasted much longer than expected, contraction was deeper than earlier assumed, and the recovery was not - and in some cases still is not - as smooth as envisaged by both the relevant governments and international organizations. Instead of recovery and robust growth, the lasting recession has turned out to be the Great Transitional Depression, continuing in several countries over the entire decade ofthe 1990s. It is important that the effects have been felt most severely in the two countries with the largest economies - Russia and Ukraine. The author presents a series of articles that examine the underlying roots of these processes, especially from the viewpoint of policy options for the future and their political and technical constraints.