"Globalisation is seen by some as a force for social change, that it will help to close the gap between the rich and the poor, the industrialised north and the developing south." Theo-Ben Gurirab. This quote shows that the process of globalisation has major impacts on the traditional economic and political perceptions. Beside new challenges that it entails, globalisation bears also the potential of making the world a better place. The process of globalisation led to the demolition of the Soviet Union and with it to the end of the communist era. Ever since the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have faced not only a wide range of political and economic choices but also various challenges, as for instance problems of state building and definition of its tasks. The wish of "returning back to Europe" clarified in most countries the direction of the transformation process, namely towards the European Union by adopting the acquis communautaire hoping to join the Union someday. Thereby decentralisation of state power, privatisation and increase of efficiency at state level represent very important issues. In this regard public private partnerships (PPPs) turned out to be an adequate mode of moving towards democracy and reforming state governance, as they promise to close governance gaps, create win-win situations and improve the problem solving capacity. In the literature it is often referred to as a "new mode of governance" where the state is "not the sole provider of statehood anymore." Numerous private institutions started to take responsibility for providing public goods, while the state changed its "role of direct operator to one of organiser, regulator and controller." This role could on the other hand be perceived as the diminution of state authority, as the state became more dependent on the radically globalised financial system. Since many countries of Eastern Europe are now fully integrated in the global political and economic arena the regional decision makers are being forced to adjust to the challenges of globalisation. Transnational PPPs represent a recent and highly promoted development in regard to international co-operation, as they feature a high capacity to address global problems and generate benefits for states and societies. Hence, not only state actors may appear motivated to involve in such undertakings, but also international non governmental organisations (INGOs), international organisations (IOs) or even transnational corporations (TNCs) in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). PPPs originate from the Anglo-Saxon region, which offers also the major part of literature, whereby the focus on national co-operation clearly dominates. Furthermore, the research is mainly case based. Scholars from different disciplines such as economics, law, management and political sciences analysed best-practice experiences and elaborated critical success factors. While this research is legitimate and important for the implementation of the projects, a focused research in the field of International Relations (IR) is very scarce. Hence, Bexell et al. call for a combination of normative political theory and empirical research. Furthermore, sources that specially focus on the region of Eastern Europe are practically nonexistent. PPPs are mainly mentioned in discussions about governance, privatisation or globalisation in general. In order to avoid the Northern or Western bias that characterises much previous research on transnational organisation, a comparative study including transition and developing countries is desirable. Transnational PPPs are institutionalised transboundary co-operation structures between private corporations, civil society organisations and governmental agencies that aim to implement standards and rules in order to tackle (global) challenges in the provision of public goods. Hence, they are of a rather political nature, exercising global governance. The important significance that transnational PPPs have achieved meanwhile makes it crucial to understand their nature, especially their formation. The conditions that favour the emergence of national PPPs have been frequently scrutinised by the academia, whereat the construction of infrastructures has been the main focus of research. On the international level though, several approaches aim at explaining why partnerships between public and private actors emerge and what their global effects are. Some authors see the changing global governance structure as the main driver, since governments, in light of the increasing transboundary challenges, are being forced to explore alternative instruments of policy making. Similarly, the constructivist approach argues that in our highly globalised world the private actors have taken responsibility for the formulation and implementation of rules. The incentive or "interest based’" approach though focuses on the actors and their rational motivation to participate in a transnational PPP. Applying relevant normative theories from the IR sciences, this thesis aims at scrutinising defined national conditions in regard to their influence on the emergence of transnational PPPs in Eastern Europe. Therefore, this thesis is about the following research question: ‘Which conditions favour the emergence of transnational PPPs in the CEE and CIS countries?’ The comparative study includes four countries from the former Soviet block, which have been chosen in accordance to their affiliation to the European Union: Hungary as EU member, Croatia as actual EU membership candidate, whereas Moldova represents an EU neighbour. Although Azerbaijan is included in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the country does not share any border with the EU. Both regions, Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are being represented each with two countries. Subsequent to the introduction an appropriate theoretical framework will be outlined. Thereby the nature of PPPs, and in particular the role of transnational PPPs within the governance debate will be addressed. Furthermore, a brief insight into the ongoing effectiveness and legitimacy discussion will be given. The selection of IR theories, which are regarded as adequate for explaining the emergence of transnational PPPs, constitutes the foundation for the discussion in the third chapter. The first part ends by shortly defining the chosen independent variables, which are presented in the second part of the study: governance performance, PPP related legal and institutional framework, and international relations. Hereby it is worth mentioning that the development during the last two decades will be explored, but with a special focus on actual developments. In the third section the hypotheses that accompany the independent variables will be tested: Hypothesis 1: Weak governance performance increases the emergence of transnational PPPs. Hypothesis 2: PPP-conducive policies and institutions favour the emergence of transnational PPPs. Hypothesis 3: High international integration reduces the emergence of transnational PPPs. In order to be able to make statements about the effects of these factors on the emergence of transnational PPPs, the normative theories described in the first part will be applied to the findings from the second part. The results are theoretical argumentations regarding both the likelihood of transnational PPPs to emerge in the chosen countries and the potential initiators of the partnership, whereby the focus is set on the state perspective. The conclusion provides a brief summary of the key findings and draws general arguments for the emergence of transnational PPPs in CEE and the CIS
