Browsing by Author "Gacener, Ecem"

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Democratic Backsliding within the European Union: The Case of Hungary and Poland
(2022) Gacener, Ecem; Özerim, Mehmet Gökay
Since the article 'Some Social Requisites of Democracy' by Lipset, one of the basic building blocks of democracy literature, discussions have been started on the causes and process of democratization. In today's world, at least most countries have democratized to some degree, but we still see fragilities in democracy practices in some countries due to the complete lack of democracy building in the social and institutional spheres. Another important point at this juncture is that there are also problems in democracy practices in the long run among the member states of the European Union, which are considered to be pioneers in democracy. There are two EU member states that lead the way in this regard: Hungary and Poland. In fact, while it was the two successful countries in terms of democratization in 1989, there are major regressions in liberal democracy practices now. Especially after EU membership, they could not achieve the long-term success in legal and political terms. The democratic backsliding in the EU and the loss of the values of the rule of law started to damage the reputation of the EU in the international order within the framework of the importance it attaches to democracy practices. Visible regressions regarding certain democratic values, especially the rule of law, fundamental rights, fair elections and freedom of the press, not only makes us question the democratic practices of countries. In this regard, the thesis outlines how such authoritarian governments can be formed within a union like the EU that makes democracy the primary prerequisite for membership? And why the European Union is so incompetent in the face of the decline of democracy?