Democratization and the European Union: Comparing Central and Eastern European Post-Communist Countries

ISBN-13: 9780415560443 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 288 str.

Leonardo Morlino;Wojciech Sadurski

Opis

This book examines the impact of the European Union on the quality of democracy in eight selected post-communist countries. Considering both the political and legal aspects of the dynamics among institutions and focussing on inter-institutional accountability, the authors analyse how constitutional designs have been effectively implemented to achieve this, and to what extent this was the result of EU action.

In order to make a comparative assessment of the EU on democracies, the book features detailed case studies according to their different status vis-à-vis the EU, including older new member states: Poland and Hungary; newer new member states: Romania and Bulgaria; potential candidates: Albania and Serbia; and neighbour and remote neighbour states: Ukraine and Armenia. Each chapter addresses a range of dimensions including: constitutional justice, relationships between the executive and legislative, decentralisation and regionalisation, and finally, other institutions of accountability like the Ombudsman.

Seeking to assess the quality of a democracy and how the EU influences these institutional dynamics, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, EU politics, Post-communist studies and democratization studies.

Spis treści

1. Introduction Leonardo Morlino and Wojciech Sadurski  Part 1: "Old-new" Member States  2. Poland: EU Driven Democracy? Adam Bodnar  3. Hungary: High Hopes Revisited Renata Uitz  Part 2: "New-new" Member States  4. Romania: A Personalistic Approach to Accountability Alina Stanciulescu  5. Bulgaria: Discontents and Frustrations of a Newly-Consolidated Democracy Daniel Smilov Part 3: Potential Candidate and Neighbour Countries  6. Serbia in Search of Stability and Accountability Cristina Dallara and Irena Marceta  7. Albania and its Struggle to Consolidate Democracy Darinka Piqani  8. Ukraine: A Constitutional Design Between Façade Democracy and Effective Transformation? Oleksandr Serdiuk and Roman Petrov  9. Armenia: Constitutional Design, Accountability and European Integration  Armen Mazmanyan  10. Conclusions Leonardo Morlino and Wojciech Sadurski.  Bibliography

O autorze

Leonardo Morlino is Professor of Political Science at the Istituto di Scienze Umane, Florence, Italy and President of the　International Political Science Association (IPSA).

Wojciech Sadurski is Challis professor of Jurisprudence in the University of Sydney, Australia.