Perpetually “partly free”: lessons from post-soviet hybrid regimes on backsliding in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

This article discusses the lessons that can be drawn from post-Soviet experiences of democratisation in hybrid regimes for debates on Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) "democratic backsliding". Focusing on Moldova and Ukraine, the article investigates the ebb and flow of post-Soviet democratisation in hybrid regimes. It explores factors that have hindered democratisation, namely state and media capture by business-political interests, and factors that have hindered authoritarian consolidation, namely civil society and citizens' potential for mobilisation. The article reflects on how these factors can inform debates on backsliding in more consolidated democracies, such as CEE states.

Between the Minor and the Intimate: Encountering the Authoritarian (Extra)ordinary in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine

“…Despite an alarming intensification of authoritarian practices, ordinary life continues in Russia and Belarus -even if I am not permitted to participate in person, and can only witness from afar. Conversely, Ukraine's democratization and liberalization is more uneven and halting than presented (Knott 2018), illustrated here by the continued practices of police patrols and random document checking in the Kyiv airport. In this way, the encounters speak to the complexities and instabilities of multiscalar geopolitics, the dangers of essentialist thinking, and are a continued argument for nuance and humility (Koch 2019a).…”

Messaging Apps: A Rising Tool for Informational Autocrats

“…While the implications of social media usage in autocracies are better understood in terms of the state exploiting social media for both survival and strength (King, Pan, and Roberts 2013b; Owen Jones 2022; Pearce 2015; Uniacke 2021), in less authoritarian states these dynamics are under-researched—with an exception of post-Soviet states (Bozóki and Hegedűs 2018; Cianetti, Dawson, and Hanley 2018; Knott 2018). An extensive body of literature (Tucker et al 2018) has developed pushing back against optimistic interpretations (Clarke and Kocak 2020) of social media and democratization (Hindman 2009; Morris 2014; Moss 2016; Nugent 2020)—with some discussing the broader role of the internet in democratic backsliding.…”

Moldova’s First Quarter Century: Flawed Transition and Failed Democracy

“…Lucan Way termed Moldova’s experience as “pluralism by default,” suggesting that elite factions held each other in check in the absence of a strong state but that they never became democratically accountable to the broader population (Way 2002). Eleanor Knott (2018) suggests that this pattern of “democratic backsliding” in Moldova is the consequence a shifting balance of factors that support democratic progress and those which favor authoritarian consolidation.…”