Chances for Democracy in Europe

The New Wave of Illiberalism in Post-Communist Countries

Mária Bordás

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781978782310
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

At the turn of Twenty-First Century, no one could have believed that by a decade later, the prime minister of Hungary would roughly declare his political and government system as an illiberal democracy. Chances for Democracy in Europe: The New Wave of Illiberalism in Post-Communist Countries explores the scenarios of building illiberal democracy as followed by Putin in Russia, then how it spread in the post-Communist Europe. It will be showing how a full-born illiberal democracy has unfolded in Hungary since 2010, during the last four Orbán governments, and the similarities it shares with the Russian illiberal state. If the Treaty of Maastricht, that laid down democratic principles of the European Union, has the sufficient political and legal tools to enforce them, when they are not respected by the member states. While the EU failed in this effort with Hungary, it seems to be successful of a sort in Poland and Slovenia. The author analyses why developed Western European countries with long traditions of democratic traditions and values, have been resistant to illiberalism, and remained strong liberal democracies, but what about the countries without long traditions of democratic values?

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Divergent Approaches to Democracy in Europe from Ancient Times until the Late 19th Century
• Chapter 2: Challenges of Liberal Democracies in Europe in the 20th Century: Fascism and Communism
• Chapter 3: Issues of Liberal Democracy after World War II: The Emergence of Populism
• Chapter 4: Erosion of Communism since the mid-1980s in Russia and Hungary
• Chapter 5: Democratic Way or Illiberal Turn in Post-Communist Europe
• Chapter 6: Emergence of Illiberal State in Russia: The Putin Regime Since 2000
• Chapter 7: Fall of Liberal Democracy in Hungary: Replaced by a Fully Fledged Illiberal State
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Further Reading
• Index
• About the Author