This 5th volume of the series is concerned with the regional aspect of the social and economic development, emphasising the role of public administration in the post communist region of Europe, especially in Hungary, with a few comparative outlooks onto Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. The chapters contain surveys and case studies that can be recommended to anyone interested in the regional development of this huge region of Europe that is joining the Union in 2004. The studies in Chapter1, entitled Regional Development, describe the changes of the regional structure and the regional processes undergoing in the Eastern half of Europe and in Hungary particularly, brought about by the emergence of the multiparty democracy, the market economy and the integration to the globalising world. The studies included in Chapter 2 intend to present how the governments in different levels like local, regional and national, try to react the above changes and processes in the form of Regional Policy, in Hungary and in the Eastern Central European Region in general. The studies of Chapter 3, entitled Regional Administration, present the institutions of the regional public administration resulting from the above governmental reaction to the territorial changes of regional development. Finally, the studies in Chapter 4 aim at showing how the above institutions are influenced by the penetration of information society and the information communication technologies of E-Government, as part of a modernisation process.