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The Illiberal Turn or Swerve in Central Europe?
[journal article]
Abstract Scholars are coming to terms with the fact that something is rotten in the new democracies of Central Europe. The corrosion has multiple symptoms: declining trust in democratic institutions, emboldened uncivil society, the rise of oligarchs and populists as political leaders, assaults on an independ... view more
Scholars are coming to terms with the fact that something is rotten in the new democracies of Central Europe. The corrosion has multiple symptoms: declining trust in democratic institutions, emboldened uncivil society, the rise of oligarchs and populists as political leaders, assaults on an independent judiciary, the colonization of public administration by political proxies, increased political control over media, civic apathy, nationalistic contestation and Russian meddling. These processes signal that the liberal-democratic project in the so-called Visegrad Four (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) has been either stalled, diverted or reversed. This article investigates the "illiberal turn" in the Visegrad Four (V4) countries. It develops an analytical distinction between illiberal "turns" and "swerves", with the former representing more permanent political changes, and offers evidence that Hungary is the only country in the V4 at the brink of a decisive illiberal turn.... view less
Keywords
populism; Czech Republic; political change; Central Europe; polarization; democracy; nationalism; Poland; Slovakia; political attitude; Hungary
Classification
Political System, Constitution, Government
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 166-176
Journal
Politics and Governance, 5 (2017) 4
Issue topic
Populism and the Remaking of (Il)Liberal Democracy in Europe
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed