Law and Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Rule of law challenges in EU member states have become a central topic of EU research. Numerous studies on Hungary and Poland analyse the reforms that aimed to fundamentally change the relationship between politics and the judiciary. This panel complements these works with empirical papers that broaden the perspective by going beyond the usual suspects, by covering a longer time period and by considering actors who have been largely ignored. Studies on rule of law backsliding predominantly focus on the most prominent cases and often attribute rule of law backsliding to proximate causes such as the electoral success of populist actors or rent-seeking behaviour. Such accounts were criticized for their focus on the extreme cases and their ‘presentist’ bias, i.e. their inattention to the historic context and the underlying long-term conditions (Cianetti & Hanley 2020). They overlook that in many Central and Eastern European member states the formal introduction of rule of law institutions has not resolved the constitutional conflicts concerning the role of the judiciary. Besides, they do not yet take into account how courts react to rule of law backsliding and how they can enhance judicial resilience. This panel, therefore, brings together longitudinal studies on the conflicts concerning the right balance between politics and law and the role of constitutional courts as well as studies on current judicial reforms and the counter strategies courts can develop to slow down or even prevent rule of law backsliding.

Title	Details
Failing political integration? Political polarisation and judicial authority in Romania	View Paper Details
Repoliticization of the Constitution? Constitutional Politics in Hungary 1990-2022	View Paper Details
Rule of Law Under Pressure: How is Judicial Resilience Created?	View Paper Details