Democratic Backsliding and Resilience in the EU

Abstract

This panel examines how democratic backsliding in the European Union is politically contested, governed, and responded to across domestic and supranational arenas. Bringing together five papers, it explores how parties, institutions, and EU actors frame, enable, resist, or manage democratic erosion as a slow-burning crisis. Several contributions focus on party politics in backsliding and non-backsliding member states, analyzing how government and opposition actors frame democratic decline, EU countermeasures, and rule-of-law reforms in parliamentary debates, media, and election campaigns. These papers shed light on the tension between normative commitments and strategic interests, demonstrating how ideological positions, government–opposition status, electoral incentives, and polarization shape political discourse on democracy and EU intervention. Special attention is paid to Poland and Hungary, including opposition strategies toward EU financial sanctions and the shifting framing of constitutional reforms following changes in government. Other papers broaden the perspective by examining corruption as both a product and instrument of democratic backsliding, and by analyzing the European Commission’s responses to the rule-of-law crisis in comparative perspective with climate governance. Together, the contributions highlight the multilevel nature of democratic erosion in the EU and reveal how political framing, institutional weakening, and differentiated crisis responses interact. The panel advances debates on the domestic foundations and EU-level management of democratic backsliding.

Title	Details
On Crisis, Values and Competencies. Party Political Framing of EU Actions Against Backsliding in Six EU Member States Between 2010 and 2024.	View Paper Details
Corruption by Design? Democratic Backsliding and Corruption Practices Under Law and Justice in Poland	View Paper Details
Framing the Freeze: Civic Platform and Tisza Party Discourses/Strategies on the Rule of Law Conditionality	View Paper Details
How Deep is Your Love? Ideology and Party Interests in Parliamentary Debates on Reforming the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland	View Paper Details
The European Commission’s Responses to Slow-Burning Crises – Identifying Different Types of Action in the Climate and the Rule of Law Crises	View Paper Details