Abstract:

Regular research in twenty ‘non-western’ but ‘new’ European countries helps decision makers at top political levels (European Union parliament) analyse and better understand the opinion of the general public in their respective countries with regard to their standard of living confidence in the economy respect of human rights and development of democracy evaluation of the European and NATO-membership their respective advantages and disadvantages overall image and evaluation of the European Union and the ways they inform themselves about the ‘west’. In the ten candidate countries of central Europe a parallel study was run with some of the same questions amongst decision makers and opinion formers (1996-1997) thus completing the picture perfectly. Some remarkable differences could be noticed from 1990 on. This paper shows how the results were and are used by politicians and social and economic organisations and put into practice and is an excellent example of how to solve problems (or prevent them) by using data collected through specific market research in emerging markets.