The Future of Populism in a Comparative European and Global Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 687-705
Author(s):  
Frane Adam ◽  
Matevž Tomšič
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Order ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Supranational Integration ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This article deals with the recent rise of populist tendencies and their meaning in contemporary democracies within the EU, including Eastern Europe. It stresses the importance of two interrelated and interconnected processes that provide a fertile ground for the emergence of different types of populism – crisis of parliamentary multi-party democracy and pressures of supranational integration and globalisation. Populism has the ambition to address both, to solve the political crisis and defend national sovereignty against globalism by personifying politics as a way of concentrating power. This means a tendency toward a (semi)-authoritarian (but still competitive) regime and state-led capitalism. In addition, new allies and protectors in an emerging new, multi-polar global order and outside of the EU and Western sphere are sought.

China's Transitional Economy: Interpreting its Significance

1995 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 963-979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Walder
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Real Income ◽  
Transitional Economy ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Asian Tiger ◽  
Political Foundations

China's post-Mao economic reforms have generated rapid and sustained economic growth, unprecedented rises in real income and living standards, and have transformed what was once one of the world's most insular economies into a major trading nation. The contrast between China's transitional economy and those in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union could not be more striking. Where the latter struggle with severe recessions and pronounced declines in real income, China has looked more like a sprinting East Asian “tiger” than a plodding Soviet-style dinosaur mired in the swamps of transition. The realization that reform measures and energetic growth continue even after the political crisis of 1989 has made China a subject of intense interest far outside the customary confines of the China field. Understood increasingly as a genuine success story, it is moving to the centre of international policy debates about what is to be done to transform the stagnating economies of Eastern Europe, and various aspects of its case now figure prominently in academic analyses ranging from theories of the firm and property rights to the political foundations of economic growth.

scholarly journals Problematics of forming the political space of Ukraine and the EU

2016 ◽  
pp. 32-43
Author(s):  
Bogdan Ferens
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Space ◽  
Policy Space ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Eu

The article is devoted to the issue of political space forming of contemporary Ukraine and European Union. The paper proposes a new classification of the political parties which are represented in Ukraine. It was determined by using different types of analysis the concept of “policy space” and its application in contemporary political science, main trends and relationships that directly affect the integration of Ukraine’s political system into the EU political space, importance of inter-party cooperation in the process of European integration.

Albanian crisis will hold off reform needed for EU

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Elections ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Abroad ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Political Battle

Significance In the political battle between Prime Minister Edi Rama and President Ilir Meta, parliament -- which is dominated by Rama’s Socialist Party (PS) -- wants to impeach the president following his attempt to cancel the June 30 local elections. Meta’s move was prompted by the decision of the main opposition parties, including the centre-right Democratic Party (PD), to boycott the poll. Impacts Failure to resolve the political crisis will delay the opening of Albania’s accession talks with the EU. The political uncertainty will dampen economic growth, which slowed markedly in the first quarter of 2019. A deteriorating business environment will weaken foreign direct investment inflows. If economic performance remains subdued, it could result in more Albanian migrants seeking work abroad.

scholarly journals Europe in the World after the Crisis: A Relational Approach

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Pullano
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Studies ◽  
Relational Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
The Eu

The economic crisis that has invested Europe since 2008 and the political crisis that peaked in the hot Greek summer of 2015 exposed the fractures and conflicts within the EU, but also within Europe at large. Arguably, this has led to a repositioning of Europe in the world, which is still ongoing. This reconfiguration of the internal European space happens in connection with the redefinition of the relations that Europe entertains with its outside (Moisio et al. 2013). Also, the crises have shown that ‘Europe’ means different things in different places. In this paper, it is argued that classical European studies need to be rethought accordingly: it is no longer possible (and perhaps never was) to conceive of Europe in hermetic categories, but European space and politics need to be re-conceptualized as heterogeneous and uneven, and this always in connection with the transformations happening beyond the artificial idea of Europe as a defined continent (Manners, 2012). Following the call of Jean and John Comaroff (J. Comaroff & J. L. Comaroff 2012), this paper argues that there is a need to look at transformations in contemporary Europe as a consequence of restructuring happening in other parts of the world. The uneven development characterizing today’s Eurozone may be read as a return of colonial relations or unfettered capitalism to Europe.

Europe’s Debt Denied: Reflections on 1989 and the Loss of Yugoslav Experience of Direct Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-277
Author(s):  
Svjetlana Nedimović
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Regime Changes ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Democratic Practices

A conscious political erasure of the legacy of socialist revolutions and politics followed the regime changes in Eastern Europe in 1989. The transition moved away from the initial demands for the democratization of socialism, towards capitalism and procedural democracy. In the process, the political experience of the democratic practices of socialism was obscured, as well as the anti-fascist resistance and revolutionary experience of a century-old struggle against authoritarian tendencies and for equality, which was also the driving force of the movement behind the 1989 uprisings.The chapter looks into the case of Yugoslavia and the mechanisms of erasure to argue that a political debt to the socialist past of Europe has been incurred by a deliberate politics of oblivion and discreditation both nationally and supranationally, within the EU institutions. The Yugoslav example is particularly significant given the direct democratic practices it developed despite the bureaucratization of the Communist party in its final decades. The debt thus incurred is however making itself felt in present-day Europe through its political crisis of the so-called democratic deficit and the rising Far Right.

Burundi's ruling party hardliners to consolidate power

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Currency ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Council ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Ruling Party ◽  
Party Congress ◽  
The Eu

Significance The assassination is the latest in a series of violent incidents linked to an ongoing political crisis in the country. Results from a recent party congress of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) suggest that constitutional term limits could be lifted to allow for President Pierre Nkurunziza to retain office -- a key factor driving the current political tensions. Impacts An unresolved political crisis could damage relations with the EU as it pushes for an East Africa trade deal. Prevailing hardliners within the CNDD-FDD may exacerbate historical and ethnic divisions. The political crisis may reduce trading and worsening foreign currency shortages.

The Successful Laggards: Bulgaria and Romania's Accession to the EU

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergana Noutcheva ◽  
Dimitar Bechev
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
The Political ◽  
Eu Accession ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Sociopolitical Context ◽  
The Eu

The article examines the power as well as the limits of the EU's leverage on domestic governance in candidate countries from Eastern Europe through the cases of Bulgaria and Romania. It argues that the reasons for Bulgaria and Romania's lagging behind in meeting the EU accession criteria have to do with a set of domestic factors. Powerful veto players and institutional structures embedded in the domestic sociopolitical context have obstructed reform in the sectors most susceptible to political influence and least likely to be reformed without external pressure. The EU's leverage helps explain why the two laggards did succeed in breaking the vicious circle of semireforms and in ultimately qualifying for EU membership. The EU conditionality has tilted the political balance in favour of a consensus on pro-EU reforms, but before these reforms can take root, they need to generate further demand `from below.'

Kosovo's political calm may not last

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Tear Gas ◽  
The Government ◽  
Near Future ◽  
The Eu

Subject Kosovo's temporary political truce. Significance The political crisis has calmed following nine months of steadily escalating unrest, marked by violent street demonstrations and the use of tear-gas in parliament. However, the underlying issues that provoked the unrest -- devolution to Kosovo's various ethnic Serb enclaves and a border treaty that cedes 2,500 hectares of disputed land to Montenegro -- are far from resolved. Accordingly, there is a high risk of a return to unrest in the near future. Impacts Failure to agree a common border with Montenegro will complicate bilateral relations at a time of growing regional instability. Unilateral devolution of power to Serb-majority municipalities risks creating a disputed breach in Kosovo's territorial integrity. Under EU pressure, the government will try to resolve the two key political issues, but with only limited success. Resumed violence will have damaging consequences for the economy, implementing the Brussels Agreement and Kosovo's passage towards the EU.

The 2013 OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Kyiv: Addressing persistent dividing lines

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
Stephanie Liechtenstein
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Cyber Security ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Council Meeting ◽  
Security Measures ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Ministerial Council ◽  
The Eu

Against the larger international relations background, this article analyses the outcomes of the 20th OSCE Ministerial Council (MC) meeting, which was held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 5 and 6 December 2013. The political crisis – related to the non-signing by the Ukrainian government of the EU Association Agreement - which erupted in Ukraine in the days prior to the MC meeting is also taken into account. An analysis is made of adopted decisions in the three security dimensions as well as of drafts that failed to reach consensus. The main documents include declarations on the ‘Helsinki+40 process’ and the protracted conflicts as well as innovative cyber security measures.

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