The contemporary challenges of representative democracies

The historical preconditions of political regimes in the Central-East European countries (CEE) and the specifics of the process of Europeanisation (the EU enlargement in the post-1989 period, the nation-state-transformation, EU technocratic approach in managing emergencies), are important features for understanding the contemporary crises of liberal democracies in the European Union, such as democratic backsliding, the rise of populism or Euroscepticism. This lecture will present a new logic of the mutual reinforcement of abuses of power and the gradual hollowing out of democracy, bound to an unaccountable use of power, in the neoliberal context. We will discuss the specifics of the party democracy in CEE countries, the transformation of state sovereignty under the process of Europeanisation, and how this affects the political culture of account-giving. Finally, this lecture will present why the national parliaments, the party democracy and the law-making processes under the EU legal harmonization are key factors for understanding the contemporary challenges of national democratic embeddedness and its implications on EU democratic legitimacy.

Emilija Tudzarovska is a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, (SOU). She completed her Marie Curie Sklodowska Doctoral Fellowship under the Innovative Horizon 2020 Project PLATO, which investigated the Post-Crisis Legitimacy of the European Union. She has been teaching European Politics at Charles University. Besides her academic background, she holds professional experiences in the EU, UK, German and other foreign best practices by working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (British Embassy) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Skopje. She holds MA in International Politics and MSc in Educational Management. Her work appears in the Routledge edition, Legitimacy Recovered? The Politics of Legitimation in the European Union (2021) edited by Lord, C. Bursens, P., Bièvre, D. and Wessel, R.  Central European Public Administration Review (2020) and elsewhere. She also writes op-eds for Social Europe, European Western Balkans and other media. 

Since the room capacity is limited, it is necessary to register in advance. The registration form will be open from Friday 17th September on our website www.soc.cas.cz. Simultaneously, there will be an online broadcast on Zoom of the seminar made available after registering at the same form.

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