by Cassandra Fitts | Feb 12, 2025 | Boston University
Former Soviet satellite states that were once poster children for democratization following the decline of European communism have been making drastic pivots towards autocracy in recent years. In 1989 following the fall of the USSR, previously Soviet-occupied Hungary,...
by Sam Levine | Dec 5, 2024 | Brown University
Protecting and fostering democracy has been a cornerstone of the European Union project since its founding. Yet the recent rise of antidemocratic regimes in countries like Poland and Hungary has invited many questions about the EU’s effectiveness in preventing...
by Sophia Janssens | Oct 9, 2024 | Brown University
Before October of 2023, Freedom House described Poland as having “the swiftest democratic decline in the [European] region.” The far-right, nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) had been in power since 2015. The years of their rule were characterized by recognized...
by Jocelyn Hayes | Apr 25, 2024 | William Jewell College
For any country, democratic backsliding can happen suddenly and, seemingly, unpredictably. The case for Poland, however, demonstrates predictors of erosion unseen anywhere else. These unique signs of democratic erosion include near-total media manipulation, the...
by Ceszar Santos | Nov 21, 2023 | Northeastern University
After almost 50 years of communist rule, Poland solidified itself as a stable European power with bright outlooks in terms of promoting and instilling a strong democracy in the country. In one of the fastest turnarounds of post-communist Europe in 1990’s, Poland made...