Article 7 Process and Democratic Backsliding of Hungary and Poland. Democracy and the Rule of Law

Abstract

This paper examines developments in Poland following the 2015 elections and in Hungary since 2010, which included the gradual destruction of democratic institutions, challenges to the rule of law, as well as to the system of checks and balances. The authors consider the Ziblatt–Levitsky model (2018) as a meaningful framework for the analysis of the way in which the power structure was reshaped and have based their research on the classification set out in this model. Our objective is to present the political changes that took place in the two Central-Eastern-European countries during the last decade that resulted in the process under Article 7 being used for the first time in the history of the EU. The paper conclusion is that the path of de-democratization of Hungary and Poland is seen from the perspective of the EU and Council of Europe, as similar one. In actions taken toward both countries, the EU concerns mostly the principle of the rule of law.

Cracking the Nest Egg: Comparing Pension Politics in Post-Communist Russia and Hungary

“…The e ffect of regime type: e xplaining t he divergent Hungarian a nd Russian trajectories A major difference between Hungary and Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s is the type of political regime. When Hungary embarked on pension reforms in the 1990s and early 2000s, it was a competitive democracy with strong protections of civil and political liberties (Zamecki and Glied, 2020). In 2010, Fidesz won a super majority in the legislature and Viktor Orban and the Fidesz party began to consolidate power and erode democratic institutions including a free and open media and an independent judiciary (Grzymala-Busse, 2019).…”

How Right-Wing Populists Influence Citizenship Education—Evidence from Poland

“…10 Radical interference in mass media, the judiciary, and public administration has since then combined with an assertive foreign policy to provoke a bitter conflict with the european Union (eU), to the point where the eU launched its first-ever procedure against a Member State with respect to violation of the rule of law. 11 The actions of PiS and the post-2015 government are viewed widely as characterizing right-wing populism. 12 Recognized violations of horizontal, vertical, and diagonal accountability have in turn explained Poland's decline in several rankings of the quality of democracy, with the country in fact classified as the one de-democratizing most rapidly of all, over the last ten years.…”

European Right-Wing Populist Parties’ Approach toward China: Between Anti-Globalization and Appeal for Diversified International Partnerships

“…Furthermore, the process of European integration has turned a substantial part of member states' 5 Canadian Journal of European andRussian Studies, 15(2) 2022: 1-24 ISSN 2562-8429 previously exclusive domestic politics into a pan-European one. For example, in recent years, changes in domestic politics led by Polish and Hungarian right-wing governments have provoked outcries from the European Union (Zamęcki and Glied 2020). In short, EU member states' autonomy is "arguably constrained as the boundaries defining sovereign states have become blurred" (Balfour et al 2016, 16).…”