The development of democratic and effective government at subnational levels remains one of the central tasks of transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The sharing of expertise between countries can contribute significantly to the reform process in the region. Pursuing this goal, the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative (LGI) has launched a series of discussion papers, which will be distributed widely throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The series will report the findings of projects supported by LGI and will include papers written by authors who are not LGI grant recipients. LGI offers assistance for the translation of the papers into the national languages of the region. The opinions presented in the papers are those of the authors and do not necessary represent the views of the Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative. Manuscripts for publishing should be sent to LGI e-mail address (lgprog@osi.hu) with “Discussion Paper” in the subject. There is no specific deadline for sending the reports and studies, they are continuously reviewed and evaluated by the editors. LGI reserves the right to accept or to reject any papers for publishing in this series. (Introduction to the Series)