De-Europeanization and De-Democratization in the EU and Its Neighborhood

ORCID: Adam Szymański: 0000-0002-6374-2736

ORCID: Adam Szymański: 0000-0002-6374-2736

Pages: 187-211

Edition: Lublin 2017

DOI: --

Citation method: A. Szymański, ‘De-Europeanization and De-Democratization in the EU and Its Neighborhood’, Yearbook of the Institute of East-Central Europe, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2017, pp. 187-211.

Abstract: The European Union’s (EU) impact on the political systems of its member states as well as countries within enlargement and neighborhood policy has been broadly analyzed, particularly in the context of the democratization process. However, there have been some political changes in recent years that justify the question of whether we still can talk about the continuation of Europeanization and democratization or have started to observe a disruption of these processes, or even their reversal. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the relationship between the phenomena of de-Europeanization and de-democratization, looking at the current political changes in selected “new” member states or candidates for EU membership (Hungary, Poland, and Turkey) to better understand the core problems of their democratization processes and, at the same time, the obstacles to effective Europeanization.