Albeit each in a different end, the post-Communist societies have many aspects in common. In particular, they need to reconcile the alleged need for academic (research) freedom and the independence of the judiciary with the ‘must' of internal reforms.

The proposed research project examines a series of questions related to the transformations of the professions, including self-administration versus external administration issues, funding and resource control, the renewal of the profession, entry and exit conditions, foreclosure, questions of hierarchy (elites and oligarchy) within each profession, as well as the ways, in which authority is generated.

The project adopts a comparative and interdisciplinary approach. It draws on a comparative analysis of the situation in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and hopefully, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. It subscribes to the assumption voiced by the Shaken Order Project that ‘the common totalitarian past does not predetermine a common present'. Hence, it hopes to build a working hypothesis in the course of research on trust in the process of transformation of self-regulated (self-contained) professions, thus avoiding overreaching conclusions.