For the past decade in many countries in Europe and its close neighborhood we have observed different types of processes which can be named as "de-democratization". The aim of the article is to analyze the state of elections as the crucial democratic institution which fairness and competitiveness have a substantial impact on the political regime. While Turkey as a "role model" for our analysis remains a main focus of the article, three European countries were selected for a comparison based on their relative similarity to Turkey-Hungary, Macedonia (FYROM) and Serbia. The following questions are posed: Are elections in these countries free, fair and competitive? Can some types of electoral malpractice and irregularities be identified? How does the state of elections in terms of their fairness and competitiveness influence the political regime? The main hypothesis is that in the analyzed countries elections competitiveness limited by incumbents can become a factor deciding about the change within the political regime in the long run (loss of democratic quality) and also change the regime (to a less democratic one).

Basing on the idea of freedom brought by I. Berlin we can derive to classical models of democracy: liberal and republican. Refl ection on postmodern theories of democracy – radi-cally plural and deliberative – points that they do not strongly differ from the traditional ones, but rather give them new challenges. Radical democracy of Ch. Mouffe and E. Laclau praising pluralism and negative freedom is a deconstruction of a liberal model, while delib-erative project of J. Habermas, praising community and negative freedom, remains in a republican tradition. In the end of the article the author also presents the understanding of the educative role of society and tradition in both classical and postmodern models of democracy.

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Na podstawie koncepcji wolności według I. Berlina, można rozróżnić dwa klasyczne mo-dele demokracji: liberalny oraz republikański. Pogłębiona refl eksja nad wolnością w ponowo-czesnych koncepcjach demokracji – radykalnie pluralistycznej oraz deliberacyjnej, pokazuje, że nie są one zdecydowanie różne od teorii tradycyjnych, a raczej stawiają im nowe wyzwania. Ra-dykalna demokracja Ch. Mouff e i E. Laclau, z aprecjacją pluralizmu i wolności negatywnej, jest dekonstrukcją modelu liberalnego, a demokracja deliberacyjna J. Habermasa, ceniąca wspólnotę i wolność pozytywną, pozostaje zakorzeniona w nurcie republikańskim.