Declining Democracy in East-Central Europe. The Divide in the EU and Emerging Hard Populism (original) (raw)
Related papers
. Ágh, Online Appendix Tables for Decline of democracy in ECE
Decline of democracy in East-Central Europe, 2019
Declining Democracy in East-Central Europe presents the five East-Central European countries as a region in its complexity, in the socioeconomic , political and civilizational dimensions. Going beyond the usual political 'event history' of ECE parties and governments, this book offers a complex analysis of the ECE systemic change described from both the progressive and regressive sides by exploring the deep reasons for hard populism in the societal frustration of the ECE population due to the failure of the catching-up process. It reveals a big turning point around 2010 as a shift from chaotic democracy to authoritarian rule, leading to a perverse regionalization and engaging in conflicts with EU institutions about EU rules and values. Finally, it outlines perspectives for the renewal of democracy and 're-entry' to the EU with the emergence of the young generation already socialized by EU democratic values.
Introduction: From democracy decline to democracy renewal
Declining Democracy in East-Central Europe, 2019
The dramatic decline of democracy in East-Central Europe (ECE) has attracted great interest worldwide, both in the circle of leading politicians and among social scientists. Going beyond the usual narrow spectrum of the extensive literature on this topic, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of the ECE region, covering the three big social subsystemsthe socioeconomic , legal-political and cultural-civilizational dimensions-in their interactions to explain the reasons for the collapse of ECE democratic systems in the 2010s. The book does not deal with the individual ECE countries-the Czech Republic (CZ), Hungary (HU), Poland (PL), Slovakia (SK) and Slovenia (SI)-separately, but outlines the general features and the historical trajectory of the ECE region in last 30 years, from the very beginning of systemic change in 1989 until the end of 2018, in the two big stages of 'chaotic democracy' and 'authoritarian populism', with a turning point around 2010. Finally, starting from the decline in democracy, the book indicates the perspectives for democracy renewal in ECE in the period of the New World Order and the continued federalization of the EU. This Introduction gives the theoretical summary of the whole book, the 'bare bones' or description of its conceptual framework and basic terms in outline, focusing on Europeanization and democratization in ECE. It turns against the 'Western fallacy' as an easy dream of creating a carbon copy of the West through a relatively short and painless evolutionary catching-up process. My earlier books (Ágh, 1998a, 1998b) were written in a rather optimistic mood about the enormous historical progressive transformations in ECE in the years of democratic transition when the focus was on the big legal-constitutional transformations. No doubt the Great Transformation-using the term of Karl Polanyi ([1944] 2001)-in ECE has meant a progressive historical turning point for Euro-Atlantic integration, as has been discussed in a literature of library size. But this
Politics in Central Europe
In recent decades, the most remarkable feature of East-Central European (ECE) states has been their engagement in a deconsolidation process that necessitates the reconceptualising of European Studies and the theory of democracy. In the early ’90s, during the “revolution of high expectations,” consolidation was the key term in the conceptual framework of the transitology paradigm, but this approach was questioned increasingly in the 2000s and rejected in the 2010s. In its place, deconsolidation was introduced as one of a wide array of similar terms referring to the decline, backsliding or regression of democracy and later as one of a whole “other” family of opposite terms like (semi-)authoritarian system and competitive/elected autocracy. Indeed, rather than a transition to democracy, a tendency to transition to authoritarian rule has been observed in the ECE states in general and in Poland and Hungary in particular. In the last quarter century, the twin terms of Europeanisation and ...
The decline of the " deficit democracies " in East-Central Europe has accelerated during the global crisis. Nowadays it is rather difficult to find the proper term for these hybrid polities between democracy and non-democracy. The main tendency is the growing gap between the formal democracy and substantial democracy that has been hollowing out the democracy and deepened into De-Europeanization and De-Democratization. This tendency has been the most evident and visible in Hungary, since after the 2010 elections a genuine Potemkin democracy has emerged in Hungary with a democratic façade and with a quasi " one-party rule " behind that has turned by the 2014 elections into an elected autocracy. In the other ECE countries this decline has been much less marked, but the fusion of economy and politics has still taken place with the increasing public-political role of oligarchies, reaching even the government level. The decline of democracy has generated deep dissatisfaction of the ECE populations in this emptied Potemkin democracy with its elite party politics.
Politics in Central Europe, 2020
This paper treats East-Central Europe as a region and investigates its common historical trajectory in the last decades. After 30 years of systemic change and 15 years of EU membership, it is high time for the re-evaluation and reconceptualization of the Europeanization and Democratization process in ECE. It is the key to understand the false start as the original sin in democratization and the reasons of ECE divergence from mainstream EU developments in order to prepare the redemocratization process. The progress of the Europeanization and Democratization process in ECE has been widely described in official documents, but for a balanced and complete picture it is necessary to present also the De-Europeanization and De-Democratization process from the very beginning. Basically, after the collapse of the bipolar world order in 1989, the Eastern enlargement was an economic and political necessity as a substantial part of the EU deepening and widening policy. The EU needed the extensio...
Political Changes in Central and Eastern Europe in the Context of the Global Regression of Democracy
On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe, 2021
The article describes political changes in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that are members of the European Union against the background of the global condition of democracy. The frame of reference are selected results of the Economist Democracy Index 2020 report examining the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on political changes in the world, considering some conclusions from the previous publications of the ranking. The theoretical premises and methodology of the Democracy Index are presented, including the typology of political systems as a tool for classifying the countries covered by the study into one of the four types of the systems compared: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime. The strengths and weaknesses of the Democracy Index have characterized as well as the symptoms of the global decline of democracy. Changes in the values of the Index indicators in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe between 2006 and 2020 are a...
2013
When trying to identify the deeper roots and interconnectedness of different sorts of global financial, economic and debt crisis, the ecological crisis, the crisis of the EU and the Euro-zone, and most recently the crisis of democracy and legitimacy, the relationship between globalization and democracy needs more careful analysis. Trapped in the logic of the nationstate paradigm, political imagination and analysis remain largely restricted. Even if capable of recognizing problems, without adequate cognitive frames, the capacity to provide solutions or identify alternatives is lost. The identification of the deep roots and interconnectedness of different sorts of crisis (global, financial, economic and debt crisis, ecological crisis, the crisis of the EU and Eurozone, and the crisis of democracy and legitimacy) combined with the decline of public trust raises possibilites for new global and regional perspectives, and stepping out of the iron cage of the nation state. The crisis and transformation may open the way for de facto cosmopolitanism, but the path will be heavily conflict ridden.
The Crisis of Democracy: An East-Central European Perspective
Politics in Central Europe, 2020
Post-communist states of East Central Europe face the authoritarian challenge to their young democracies, the sources of which are both historical and contemporary. Economic underdevelopment, the retarded process of nation-building and several decades of communist rul made countries of the region less well prepared for democratic transformation than their Western neighbors, but better than former Soviet Union. Combination of economic and social tensions, nationalism and religious fundamentalism creates conditions conducive tom the crises of democracy, but such crises can be overcome if liberal and socialist forces join hands.