C 2022

Moving towards EU membership and away from liberal democracy

STOJAROVÁ, Věra

Basic information

Original name

Moving towards EU membership and away from liberal democracy

Edition

London, Illiberal Politics in Southeast Europe : How Ruling Elites Undermine Democracy, p. 214-228, 15 pp. The Southeast Europe and Black Sea Series. 2022

Publisher

Routledge

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Kapitola resp. kapitoly v odborné knize

Field of Study

50601 Political science

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Publication form

electronic version available online

Organization unit

Faculty of Social Studies

ISBN

978-1-032-07689-8

Keywords in English

Western Balkans; illiberal politics; stabilitocracy; EU membership; captured states

Tags

International impact, Reviewed
Změněno: 22/11/2021 13:48, Mgr. Blanka Farkašová

Abstract

V originále

The chapter concludes the Special Issue, Illiberal Politics in Southeast Europe, on the retreat of liberal democracy in the region. It focuses on the central themes that link all the papers together: free and fair elections, media freedom, judicial independence, privileged access to public resources and the role of civil society. It seeks to disentangle the causes and consequences of illiberal politics in the region and explores the similarities in the illiberal practices and strategies incumbents use with the aim of staying in power indefinitely. The main argument is that democratic backsliding in Southeast Europe is deeply rooted in the unfinished transitions of the 1990s, which gave rise to new political and economic elites and that blending those two into one resulted in the dominance of the executive over the judiciary and legislature. These new elites became entrenched during the wars and conflicts that affected the region. The enabling factors were of societal origin - clientelist practices, corruption, nepotism and mistrust in politics accompanied by external factors - as well as international pull and push factors (from the EU and Russia) along with a domino effect of democratic backsliding in the region.
The chapter was originally published in a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.