From Accession Euphoria to Radical Backlash: An East-Central European Sonderweg?

Abstract

This panel brings together comparative perspectives on different dimensions of the developments in East-Central Europe 30 years after the fall of the Wall and 15 years after the first wave of eastward EU enlargement, especially in relation to the manifold changes that have taken place since the turn of the millennium. A key objective of the panel is a critical (re-)assessment of the distinctive character ascribed to these developments, addressing questions such as: Is there a specifically post-communist ideology of “illiberalism” or “new conservatism,” from Hungary and Poland to Russia (Bluhm/Varga)? Is neo-liberalism – or “embedded neoliberalism” (Bohle/Greskovits) from a Polanyian transformation perspective – a suitable analytical category for the post-communist space? How do post-communist iterations of and responses to neo-liberalism in the wake of the Great Recession compare in relation to other parts of the European periphery? What are the key issue divides in the electoral and protest arenas and how have they changed over time? What kind of explanatory status should be given to “legacies” or path dependencies of various historical lengths? The panel integrates paper proposals with a comparative focus (including within-country, across-time) from a wide range of fields such as party politics, social movements studies, and political economy.