Political and social transformations are currently reshaping the European neighbourhood. Numerous countries in Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East as well as Central Asia are experiencing increasing social conflicts and economic problems. In recent years, mass protests have challenged the non-democratic regimes and revealed their inability to fulfil the promise of stability.

Tensions between democratization efforts and the persistence of authoritarianism generally polarize societies, deepen the economic crisis and frequently result in on-going violence accompanied by significant flows of refugees and migrants. The long-term objectives of both the Arab Spring and the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine - democracy, human rights and prosperity - appear today more distant than ever.

In light of this political and social context, issues of regime change and the transformation of the political systems are of great interest to public debate. For researchers specialized in these regions both the events of the last years and the very recent developments represent an important opportunity to formulate new research questions and redefine areas of the social science inquiry. With its scholarship programme “Trajectories of Change”, the ZEIT-Stiftung seeks to address historical and current transformation processes at Europe’s margins, each year focusing on a different topic.