Democratic Backsliding from the Perspective of Europeanization

Since the 2010 Parliamentary election, in which the conservative-nationalist party Fidesz achieved an overwhelming victory, the Hungarian government has enjoyed the support of a Constitutional majority in the National Assembly. The government headed by Viktor Orbán has swiftly and single-mindedly passed a large amount of legislation, including a new Constitution. Many of these developments have been described as having an erosive effect on the rule of law, the quality of democratic rule and due observance of human rights in Hungary. They have also raised pressing questions as to the capacity of the European Union to exert a positive influence on its member states in terms of democratic rule – especially so as democratic backsliding is witnessed to be taking place in a democratic front-runner state that has recently undergone a strong Europeanization process in the form of EU accession. This book explores the role of the various EU institutions in the developments leading up to the current situation and analyzes the case of democratic backsliding in Hungary from the perspective of a middle-range theory of Europeanization.