Hybridization of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe : between imported democratic model and inherent political culture

english

2011

volume 4, issue 1

Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

In the last two decades, Central and Eastern Europe has gone through an intensive transformation process in which the adopted global neo-liberal political-economic model, the specifics of the Europeanization and the traditionally non-liberal corporate political cultures in the region merge/d to produce hybrid political systems that bear many features of oligarchies. 'Minimal democracies' of Central and Eastern Europe have not only been established on a state-reductive political system that benefits most the corporate economic sector, the author argues, but also represent a sort of a hybrid that emerged from adaptation of an 'imported' political model to the political culture in the region. The hybridization is the most visible in, yet not limited to, newly founded sovereign states without prior democratic tradition. Thusly 'democratized' specific political culture of Central and Eastern European societies has on the other hand facilitated the efficient implementation of the current global neoconservative economic-political paradigm. In order to support the argument on the hybridization of the 'imported' democratic model in Central and Eastern Europe, the author considers more closely the two presupposed key achievements of the political transition in the region, i.e. political parties and free elections. Also included are theoretical insights in political discourses and oligarchisation.

20.12.2023