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theses

With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism in Europe, the various countries in Central and Eastern Europe experienced a radical and hasty political and economic transformation. Shortly after this, many of these countries began to seek a ‘return to Europe’, launching applications for membership of the European Union, with the aim (at least partially) of anchoring and consolidating these changes. Out of these various candidate states, the Czech Republic and Hungary were amongst those that were considered in particular to be leading candidates for membership, and indeed, both of these countries were among the first group of states to open negotiations in 1998, and subsequently to join the EU in 2004. Following their accession to membership, it was widely considered that these countries had become stable, consolidated liberal democracies, and that they had internalized and accepted the various norms associated with membership of the European Union. However, since then, the two countries have experienced very different trajectories in terms of their adherence to EU norms, and specifically those that relate to liberal democracy. Although it has faced several difficulties over the years, the Czech Republic has enjoyed somewhat stable progress towards the consolidation of its liberal democratic political structures. On the other, Hungary has experienced a notable reversion towards a more authoritarian and illiberal form of government, a series of developments that were completely at odds with the expectations of the EU when these countries were granted membership. This study argues that in neither state has liberal democracy been strongly consolidated: however, the reasons for the divergence between the two countries are that a comparatively weaker and more ineffectual civil society in Hungary has been unable to either encourage or develop the societal internalization of the norms of the EU in the state, or to prevent domestic elites from turning the country back towards a new form of authoritarian government. In the Czech Republic, the civil society has been able to play a stronger role in constraining the activity of the elites, and as such, governing parties have not been able to concentrate power in the same manner as has happened in Hungary. Additionally, the normative power of the EU has been enervated in this regard by an over-instrumentalization of membership in favor of the material, economic aspects of the EU and to the detriment of the democratic aspects, and also by a perceived lack of consistency on the behalf of the EU in responding to developments throughout the union over the last decade.

ETD_6193

doi:10.7282/T3H99722

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Michael Toomey

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.