Hanley, SL;
Vachudova, MA;
(2018)
Understanding the illiberal turn: democratic backsliding in the Czech Republic.
East European Politics
, 34
(3)
pp. 276-296.
10.1080/21599165.2018.1493457.
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Abstract
Democratic backsliding in Central Europe has so far been most acute in Hungary and Poland, states once considered frontrunners in democratisation. In this paper, we explore to what extent developments in another key frontrunner, the Czech Republic, fit initial patterns of Hungarian/Polish backsliding. Our analysis centres on the populist anti-corruption ANO movement, led by the billionaire Andrej Babiš, which became the largest Czech party in October 2017 after winning parliamentary elections. We find that while ANO has more limited electoral support than illiberal governing parties in Poland and Hungary and lacks a powerful nationalist narrative, common tactics and forms of concentrating power can be identified, albeit with crucial differences of timing and sequencing.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Understanding the illiberal turn: democratic backsliding in the Czech Republic |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1080/21599165.2018.1493457 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2018.1493457 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
Keywords: | Democratization, backsliding, Czech Republic, populism, political parties, Andrej Babis |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > SSEES |
URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10050951 |
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