The Bologna process is a comprehensive concept for European higher education reforms of the 20th and 21st centuries. However, it means something else in Central European countries than it does in the rest of Europe. It has been combined in Central Europe with a major social change referred to as the "political transformation" (Johnson 1996). Recent higher education reforms can be understood only if they are put into the context of political transformations in Central and Eastern Europe. The Bologna process in Central Europe is not only a higher education reform but also a part of this political transformation. International literature talks mainly about the extent to which the objectives of the Bologna process have been met so far and how much there is still to do for the individual higher education systems (higher education policies of the different states) to realize these goals fully (Trends I-V). This paper, however, analyzes the Bologna process as a chain of political events. First, it introduces the background, consisting of various narratives. These include a chain of events and reflect different points of view. Then it turns to the actors: international (supranational) organizations, national governments, institutions (the academic sphere) and all those outside these circles. This paper investigates their aims and means in becoming involved in the Bologna process. It also refers to the situation of minority higher education in relation to the Bologna process, since Central Europe is full of national and ethnic minorities.