Authoritarian or Simply Disillusioned? Explaining Democratic Skepticism in Central and Eastern Europe

We investigate post-communist redistributive policies in Serbia, focusing particularly on the period after 2000. Our main argument is that market fundamentalism, which posits that the market is the most efficient solution for the postcommunist transition, has failed to deliver on its promises. The expectation was that, after a temporary transitional sacrifice, the worse-off would benefit equally with the better-off by reaping the rewards of market economic reforms. The anticipated faster growth was supposed to generate more quality jobs as the most effective means to alleviate poverty. Unfortunately, growth has been sluggish, while inequalities in Serbia have experienced rapid and persistent growth since 2000. We look into redistributive reform measures to understand the reasons behind this outcome. Our approach combines applied political philosophy with economic policy analysis - a unique intersection of two social science disciplines. Firstly, our research explores the implicit and explicit normative foundations of postcommunist economic reforms. Secondly, we identify and analyse a pivotal juncture of policy reform in the early 2000s. During this period, the newly-adopted neoliberal taxation and social policies were combined with class- and ethnic-based discriminatory approaches inherited from the pre-1990s socialist era and the post-socialist 1990s, respectively. This combination resulted in distinct, notably pro-rich redistributive patterns in Serbia.

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When legitimacy becomes the object of politics: the politicization of political support in European democracies

van Ham,

van Elsas

2024

Front. Polit. Sci.

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Democratic legitimacy is essential for democratic stability, as democracies rely on citizen support to survive. However, perceived legitimacy gaps can also be an important catalyst for change and potential democratic renewal, begging the question when challenges to legitimacy become problematic for democratic survival. Easton distinguished between citizen support for political authorities and the political system, and argued that if support for political authorities declined, such declining support could either be resolved by the current political authorities changing course, or by citizens electing new political authorities at the next elections. However, if dissatisfaction with political authorities would not be resolved, lacking support had the potential to eventually “spill-over” and undermine support for the political system as a whole. In most empirical research on legitimacy, the assumption is that such “spill-over” is visible only if declining levels of political trust and satisfaction with democracy start to undermine support for democracy as a political system. In this paper, we argue that “spill-over” can also manifest in a different way: through the politicization of political support. When politics is no longer (only) about substantive policy decisions, but rather (increasingly) about the system itself, agreement on the rules of the game, or even on democracy as “the only game in town”, is no longer self-evident. In this paper we further develop our theoretical argument about the connection between legitimacy and politicisation, and argue that European democracies appear to experience growing politicization of political support, in terms of the association of political support with citizens’ substantive issue positions and voting behaviour. The paper demonstrates empirical evidence of such politicization of political support in 17 European democracies with European Social Survey data from 2002–2022. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of the politicization of political support for democratic stability and renewal.

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Authoritarian or Simply Disillusioned? Explaining Democratic Skepticism in Central and Eastern Europe

Cited by 3 publications

References 76 publications

Is Tunisia’s democracy on its deathbed? Social capital, economic insecurity and attitudes toward democracy

Is Tunisia’s democracy on its deathbed? Social capital, economic insecurity and attitudes toward democracy

Egalitarianism and redistributive reform in Serbia after 2000

When legitimacy becomes the object of politics: the politicization of political support in European democracies

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