Introduction: The State of Democracy 20 Years on

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Rupnik ◽  
Jan Zielonka
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
The State ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
The Eu

The countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) embarked on a democratic transition in 1989 were proclaimed consolidated democracies when they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Today most of the new democracies are experiencing “democratic fatigue” and some seem vulnerable to an authoritarian turn. The EU, seen as the guarantor of the post-1989 democratic changes, is experiencing an unprecedented economic, financial, and democratic crisis with the combined challenges of technocracy and populism. The article explores the different approaches to the study of democracies in ECE, their specific features and vulnerabilities, and tries to provide an interpretation of the premature crisis of democracy in ECE in a broader transeuropean context.

Israel and East-Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-25
Author(s):  
Joanna Dyduch
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Policy ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Further Development

Israel’s policy toward the region of East-Central Europe (ECE) started changing notably from 2004 onward, in response to the European Union (EU) enlargement process. The following years brought a further development of Israel’s position toward the region and substantial changes in Israel’s European policy. This article aims to track this evolution: not only Israel’s position but also the shape as well as the content of bilateral and multilateral relations between Israel and selected ECE states. For the purpose of this analysis, special attention is paid to Israel’s relations with Poland and Hungary, with primary focus on Israel’s approaches and policy orientations. The article argues that while the ideological changes that occurred almost simultaneously in Poland, Israel, and Hungary at first created favorable conditions for the strengthening of bilateral and multilateral relations between all three countries, they soon became a divisive factor and obstacles to cooperation.

Varieties of Capitalist Democracy: What Difference Does East-Central Europe Make?

2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
IAIN McMENAMIN
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
The European Union ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Internal Politics ◽  
Capitalist Democracies ◽  
East Central European

The establishment of capitalist democracies in East-Central Europe raises the question of whether existing accounts of varieties of capitalist democracy need to be revised. This article provides a systematic quantitative comparison of varieties of capitalist democracy in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland with 19 other OECD countries. It finds that the East-Central European cases constitute a distinctive cluster; that they have much in common with Greece, Iberia and Ireland and that they are closer to the continental European than the liberal variety of capitalist democracy. These results have important implications for the internal politics of the European Union, prospects of an East-Central European repeat of the relative success of Ireland and the Mediterranean in the European Union, and debates about the influence of neo-liberalism on public policy.

Russia - European Union: The continuation ofthe sanctions standoff

2017 ◽  
pp. 114-127
Author(s):  
M. Klinova ◽  
E. Sidorova
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
Current Data ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Year 2013

The article deals with economic sanctions and their impact on the state and prospects of the neighboring partner economies - the European Union (EU) and Russia. It provides comparisons of current data with that of the year 2013 (before sanctions) to demonstrate the impact of sanctions on both sides. Despite the fact that Russia remains the EU’s key partner, it came out of the first three partners of the EU. The current economic recession is caused by different reasons, not only by sanctions. Both the EU and Russia have internal problems, which the sanctions confrontation only exacerbates. The article emphasizes the need for a speedy restoration of cooperation.

The state of democracy in the European Union in scenarios: federation, empire and Europe à la carte

2016 ◽  
pp. 90-108
Author(s):  
Marta Witkowska
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Reference Point ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Scenario Development ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Eu ◽  
A La Carte

The aim of the article is to present possible scenarios on maintaining democracy in the EU, while assuming different hypothetical directions in which it could develop as a federation, empire and Europe à la carte. Selected mechanisms, norms and values of the EU system that are crucial for the functioning of democracy in the European Union are the subject of this research. The abovementioned objective of scenario development is achieved through distinguishing the notions of policy, politics and polity in the research. In the analysis of the state of democracy in the European Union both the process (politics) and the normative approach (policy) have been adopted. The characterised norms, structures, values and democratic procedures in force in the EU will become a reference point for the projected scenarios. The projection refers to a situation when the existing polity transforms into a federation, empire or Europe à la carte. The article is to serve as a projection and is a part of a wider discussion on the future of the basis on which the European Union is build.

Considering the Sub-Regional Cooperation in East-Central Europe – Some Conclusions on Integrating and Disintegrating Tendencies in the Sub-Regional Dialogue

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Wieclawski
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
The European Union ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Ukrainian Crisis ◽  
Regional Interests ◽  
Visegrad Group ◽  
East Central European

This article discusses the problems of the sub-regional cooperation in East-Central Europe. It formulates the general conclusions and examines the specific case of the Visegrad Group as the most advanced example of this cooperation. The article identifies the integrating and disintegrating tendencies that have so far accompanied the sub-regional dialogue in East-Central Europe. Yet it claims that the disintegrating impulses prevail over the integrating impulses. EastCentral Europe remains diversified and it has not developed a single platform of the sub-regional dialogue. The common experience of the communist period gives way to the growing difference of the sub-regional interests and the ability of the East-Central European members to coordinate their positions in the European Union is limited. The Visegrad Group is no exception in this regard despite its rich agenda of social and cultural contacts. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict confirms a deep divergence of interests among the Visegrad states that seems more important for the future of the Visegrad cooperation than the recent attempts to mark the Visegrad unity in the European refugee crisis. Finally, the Ukrainian crisis and the strengthening of the NATO’s “Eastern flank” may contribute to some new ideas of the sub-regional cooperation in East-Central Europe, to include the Polish-Baltic rapprochement or the closer dialogue between Poland and Romania. Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v10i1.251  

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