{"title":"Does the state of emergency create an opportunity for democratic erosion? Lessons from post-communist Central and Southeast Europe","authors":"Dušan Pavlović","doi":"10.2478/pce-2023-0029","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper’s key puzzle is the variation in lockdown-related democratic decline in the region of Central and Southeast Europe given the incumbents’ ideological and regime (dis)similarity. Why did similar regimes not respond to the pandemic in the same manner by using the opportunity to grab more executive power and diminish the authority of other institutions? While some argue that a state of emergency provides an ideal opportunity for democratic decline due to reduced costs, others believe that autocratic regimes with a ‘pre-existing condition for autocracy’ are more vulnerable. To contribute to this discussion, I examine three examples from post-communist Central and Southeast Europe (Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia) during the pandemic-related state of emergency and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. I consider several relevant factors, the most important of which is the prospect of winning the next election. To erode democracy, autocratic incumbents must feel insecure about the outcome of the next election to use the opportunity created by the state of emergency. If they are uncertain of victory, they may prefer to expand their executive powers during the state of emergency, thus undermining democracy.","PeriodicalId":37403,"journal":{"name":"Politics in Central Europe","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Politics in Central Europe","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2478/pce-2023-0029","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract The paper’s key puzzle is the variation in lockdown-related democratic decline in the region of Central and Southeast Europe given the incumbents’ ideological and regime (dis)similarity. Why did similar regimes not respond to the pandemic in the same manner by using the opportunity to grab more executive power and diminish the authority of other institutions? While some argue that a state of emergency provides an ideal opportunity for democratic decline due to reduced costs, others believe that autocratic regimes with a ‘pre-existing condition for autocracy’ are more vulnerable. To contribute to this discussion, I examine three examples from post-communist Central and Southeast Europe (Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia) during the pandemic-related state of emergency and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. I consider several relevant factors, the most important of which is the prospect of winning the next election. To erode democracy, autocratic incumbents must feel insecure about the outcome of the next election to use the opportunity created by the state of emergency. If they are uncertain of victory, they may prefer to expand their executive powers during the state of emergency, thus undermining democracy.
期刊介绍:
POLITICS IN CENTRAL EUROPE – The Journal of the Central European Political Science Association is an independent and internationally peer-reviewed scientific journal in political science and international relations. The Journal was established in 2005 as the scientific review that publishes scientific essays, book reviews and information about conferences and other events connected with Central European issues. POLITICS IN CENTRAL EUROPE publishes politics, policy analysis, international relations and other sub-disciplines of political original, peer-reviewed manuscripts that provide scientific essays focusing on issues in comparative science, as well as original theoretical or conceptual analyses. All essays must contribute to a broad understanding of the region of Central Europe. Our goal is to give scholars from Central Europe and beyond the opportunity to present the results of their research.