Democratic Backsliding and Autocratization within the EU: A Comparative Analysis of Hungary and Poland

Abstract

The present thesis has the aim to analyze two contemporary phenomena, democratic backsliding and autocratization, that are increasingly relevant for the international political equilibrium. However, they are not new to the world arena: as a matter of fact, waves of democratic reversal have already happened during history. What is relevant nowadays is the trend of established democracies to lose gradually democratic accountability from within. What is more is the fact that the two processes are spreading constantly faster in the last decade, both globally and within the EU, threatening the survival and health of democracies. The research question that will guide this thesis and that will be answered throughout this piece of work would be: Are Hungary and Poland cases of democratic backsliding or autocratization? After a brief theoretical explanation of the notions of democratic backsliding and of autocratization, the thesis will go more into details showing past occurrences and cases of democratic reversal. However, the main focus will remain on the present relevance of the phenomenon particularly within the EU. Therefore, the thesis will also analyze in depth the cases of Hungary and Poland, two members of the European Union that are showing clear signs of democratic backsliding and autocratization. The methodological approach employed in this work would be mainly qualitative, characterized by the employment of the case study research design, accompanied by a comparative analysis of the two study cases. The aim would be to discover not only which of these processes of democratic backsliding and autocratization are occurring in Hungary and Poland, but also why they are happening there, despite the strict surveillance of the European Union.