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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...