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The Illiberal Turn or Swerve in Central Europe?

Author

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  • Lenka Bustikova

    (School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University, USA)

  • Petra Guasti

    (Democratic Innovations Unit, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)

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 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Lenka Bustikova & Petra Guasti, 2017. "The Illiberal Turn or Swerve in Central Europe?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 166-176.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v5:y:2017:i:4:p:166-176
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v5i4.1156
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Helmut K. Anheier & Béla Greskovits, 2015. "The Hollowing and Backsliding of Democracy in East Central Europe," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 6, pages 28-37, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lenka Buštíková & Pavol Baboš, 2020. "Best in Covid: Populists in the Time of Pandemic," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 496-508.
    2. Anna M. Meyerrose, 2024. "Building strong executives and weak institutions: How European integration contributes to democratic backsliding," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 307-343, April.
    3. Petra Guasti, 2020. "Populism in Power and Democracy: Democratic Decay and Resilience in the Czech Republic (2013–2020)," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 473-484.
    4. Lars Rensmann & Sarah L. de Lange & Stefan Couperus, 2017. "Editorial to the Issue on Populism and the Remaking of (Il)Liberal Democracy in Europe," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 106-111.
    5. Ľubomír Zvada, 2022. "On Gender and Illiberalism: Lessons From Slovak Parliamentary Debates," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(4), pages 108-120.

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