After writing my doctorate in 1991 on Soviet political and economic institutions (published as Industrial Power and the Soviet State by Oxford University Press in 1993 - Ed A. Hewett Prizewinner), I have spent the last 20 yearsstudying post-Communist politics and society via mass surveys conducted repeatedly in 13 post-Communist countries. On the way, I became interested in the character of post-Communist and now West European political parties, which I am also investigating (with Robert Rohrschneider at Indiana University, Bloomington) via expert surveys of their stances towards European integration and social inequality. These interests have expanded recently to include an Egyptian election study (in November 2011) and a study of how parties differ among themselves and over time in their emotional appeals to voters.