Recent articles
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Between Script, Synthesis and Canon: Czech Textbooks on the History of Political Thought in Political Science Education
(Volume 22, Issue 2)Abstract This article analyses Czech textbooks and synthetic texts on the history of political thought in political science education. Using qualitative content and genre analysis, it distinguishes five models in the Czech textbook landscape: the chronological-canonical model, political science-didactic course notes, ideological-theoretical synthesis, philosophical-historical compendium and expansive-cataloguing textbook. The central diagnostic case is the new textbook by Valeš, Květina and...
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European Youth Perceptions of EU Strengths and Challenges: Implications for Optimism About the Union’s Future
(Volume 22, Issue 2)Abstract This study investigates the determinants of optimism about the future of the European Union (EU) among young adults by integrating perceptions of EU strengths and challenges with socio-demographic characteristics and cross-national variation. Drawing on data from the European Commission Flash Eurobarometer 556 conducted across EU member states, the analysis examines how European youth’s evaluations of the EU’s strengths and challenges shape optimism about the future of the EU. The...
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Mainstream Labels, Radical Practice: A Theory of Disguised Parties
(Volume 22, Issue 2)Abstract Disguised parties are electorally competitive organisations that preserve a mainstream label while durably advancing radical-right projects through programmatic shifts, institutional engineering and ecosystemic capture. We theorise disguise as a strategic equilibrium that widens electoral appeal and reduces reputational and regulatory costs by separating audiences and sequencing illiberal change through low-visibility instruments. The concept differs from mainstreaming, rebranding and...
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How Opposition Strategies Interact under Electoral Autocracy: Evidence from Hungary’s TISZA Party
(Volume 22, Issue 2)Abstract Theories on political opposition and democratic backsliding have identified factors associated with opposition success under authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes. Yet, they have paid limited attention to how these factors interact over time. This article applies insights from this literature – focusing on party policy positioning, opposition mobilisation capacity and democratic innovation – to the Hungarian case following the failed opposition coalition in the 2022...
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Democratic Erosion in Central Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Autocratic Mechanisms in the Visegrád Group Countries
(Volume 22, Issue 2)Abstract Central Europe, long considered a model of successful post-communist democratic consolidation, has undergone a dramatic transformation in the early twenty-first century. This study analyses democratic backsliding in the Visegrád Group countries in the period 2023–2026, identifying four key mechanisms of autocratisation: media capture, the securitisation of political repression, the dismantling of institutional checks and economic state capture. The theoretical framework synthesises three...
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Why Does Backsliding Depth Vary? Legal Populism, Abusive Constitutionalism, and the Differential Trajectories of Democratic Erosion in Hungary and Poland
(Volume 22, Issue 2)Abstract Why did democratic backsliding reach fundamentally different depths in Hungary and Poland, two states that shared comparable institutional legacies, European Union membership and right-wing populist governments? This article argues that existing comparative accounts – centred on executive aggrandisement and electoral authoritarianism – are insufficient to explain this variation, because they overlook the decisive role of constitutional design and the specific legal strategy adopted by...