Issue published: 30 April 2015

Download full issue

The Bumpy Road of Civil Society in the New Member States: From State Capture to the Renewal of Civil Society

Attila Ágh, p. 7–21

Abstract: This theoretical paper discusses the controversial development of civil societyin the new member states (NMS) over a quarter century of systemic change and after 10 years of EU membership. In doing so, it attempts to elaborate a new conceptual framework for the decline of top‑down democracy and the return to democratisation as a bottom‑up process. This study of the bumpy course of NMS civil society analyses the gap between large formal legal institutions and small local informal ones and emphasises the need for participatory democracy if democracy in the NMS is to be sustainable. In fact, in this quarter century, two faces of informal institutions have emerged, reflecting the tension between genuine civil society organisations and large corrupt clientele networks. The mass emergence of these “negative” informal institutions has led to a situation of state capture and a democratic façade often analysed in the NMS academic literature. The study concludes that after the political and policy‑learning processes of the last 25 years, there are now some signs of a participatory turn in the bottom‑up process of NMS democratisation.

Keywords: decline of democracy, formal and informal institutions, state capture, democracy‑supporting civil organisations, social activism, participatory turn

I Do It My Way: Analysis of the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union

Johana Galušková and Petr Kaniok, p. 23–48

Abstract: This article analyses development of the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union (PermRep) from 2004, when the Czech Republic joined the European Union, until 2013. Its main aim is to test four concepts related tothe three neoinstitutionalist theories – firstly, the path dependency and critical junctures models related to the historical neo‑institutionalism, secondly principal‑agent relation typical for the rational neo‑institutionalism and the concept of the logic of appropriateness related to the sociological institutionalism. The authors try to determine which of these four models have the best explanatory potential when it comes tothe development of the Czech PermRep. After analysing three independent variables (changes in executive, EU Council Presidency, EU strategies), and their impact on the dependent variable (character of the Czech PermRep), the authors conclude that particularly historical institutionalism and sociological institutionalism models have the greatest explanatory power while the contribution of rational institutionalism model of principal‑agentis relatively weak.

Keywords: permanent representation to the EU, neoinstitutionalism, path dependency, critical junctures, principal‑agent, logic of appropriateness

Hungary and the Distortion of Holocaust History: The Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Year 2014

Henriett Kovács and Ursula K. Mindler-Steiner, p. 49–72

Abstract: This paper deals with the Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Year 2014 and the ongoing debate about how to assess Hungary’s involvement in the Holocaust. By introducing the Holocaust Memorial Year 2014, erecting the Monument on the German Occupation and initiating a Memorial to Child Victims of the Holocaust (the House of Fates), the Hungarian government tried to establish a common narrative about the Holocaust in Hungary. For various reasons, however, this attempt failed. Instead, it turned out that the anniversary year 2014 fostered the emergence of diverse new cultures of commemoration at different levels of society. This study discusses the reasons for these developments and provides an overview of the (public) events surrounding commemorations in the Holocaust Memorial Year, thus exploring Hungary’s process ofcoming to terms with its past. The events in 2014 were accompanied by disputes at multiple levels that were held in the public domain and involved all types of traditional and modern media. This study highlights the reactions to several statements and explains how they came about. Our aim is to engender interest in further scholarly examination.

Keywords: Hungary, Budapest, Holocaust, memory, memorial, museum

Attitudes towards the Government ’s Remembrance Policy in Poland: Results of an Experimental Study

Patryk Wawrzyński and Ralph Schattkowsky, p. 73–94

Abstract: The paper presents the results of an experimental study of Polish students’ attitudes towards their government’s remembrance policy (or, in other words, the intentional narration and interpretation of the past by the government). It includes four parts: a justification of why remembrance is a significant political asset in post‑Communist Poland; a classification of remembrance policy instruments; a presentation of general results of the study; and a discussion of participants' attitudes to particular policy instruments. In our assessment of the general results, we discuss three types of collected data: the results of the initial measurement of attitudes; the results of measurement after the manipulation of emotions (neutral vs. positive vs. negative) and commitment (no commitment vs. low commitment); and the results in terms of attitude change. In the section on attitudes to particular instruments, we compare participants' support for different commemorative actions with their support for the governments’ dominant role in the popularising of remembrance narratives. The study’s results lead us to formulate three conclusions about the relationships between attitudes to the policy and Polish political culture.

Keywords: political attitudes, government remembrance policy, politics of memory, political culture, politics in Poland, experimental political science

The Personalisation of Politics at the Local Level in Poland and Selected Central and Eastern European States: A Contribution to the Research

Pawel Antkowiak and Łukasz Scheffs, p. 95–108

Abstract: Images about politics take a specific form in the imagination of the electorate, eliciting specific associations and thus becoming a source of attitudes and influencing election preferences. At the same time, the increasing importance of politicians’ perceived personality traits and images has been observed. Empirical studies of politicians’ personalities provide one of the more effective tools for studying the basic features of the personalisation of politics, including at a local level. Such studies involve the measurement of citizens’ perceptions of politicians’ personality traits. This article seeks to systematise key concepts and provide an introduction to conducting advanced empirical research in this area.

Keywords: personalisation of politics, political image, local politics, political leadership, local government

DISCUSSION

Andrej Stopar: In the Eyes of the Collapsing Empire: Yugoslavia’s Disintegration and Slovenian Independence as seen through Russian Diplomatic Sources (1990–1992)