Declining Democracy, a Case of Democratic Backsliding or Careening?

Abstract: Trends show a decline in democracy in the CEE region which has mostly been analyzed through the democratic backsliding paradigm. However, recent scholars have proposed another perspective for this trend, the careening paradigm. This paper examines the contemporary democratic development from 2018 to 2023 in the Visegrád Four to explain which theoretical perspective is the most suitable to describe democratic change in this region. It aims at answering this research question: What theoretical perspective is more suitable to describe contemporary development in CEE? Democratic backsliding or democratic careening? The analysis showed that the backsliding paradigm was the most suitable to explain the development in Hungary. The development in Poland also seemed to be most suitable to explain through backsliding, however, the electoral win of Donald Tusk (2023) might indicate signs of careening. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, contemporary development proved to be most suitable with the careening perspective. The findings from this thesis contribute to the existing body of knowledge in CEE development and suggest that there might be something new going on in the region, as opposed to the more frequently used perspective of backsliding.