The democratic change that took place in several countries across the world since the 1970s and, more evidently, the rapid transition towards democracy of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, has inspired the so-called End of history theory.
The so-called euphoria of the 1990s has failed in the 21st century, as shown by the latest Freedom in the World annual survey, which recorded the 13th consecutive year of worsening in global freedom. Although the hypothesis of a reverse wave is probably not underway, the decline of democracy is raising an interesting debate among scholars and political practitioners.
This phenomenon takes different forms depending on the regions and countries taken into consideration, such as the increase of repressive measures in authoritarian states, or the manipulation of constitutions in hybrid regimes. However, the decline of democracy also occurs in consolidated democracies, assuming the form of a general decreasing confidence in liberal values and ideas and, in some cases, the weakening of institutions that protect freedoms of expression and association and the rule of law.
At the same time, several political developments are taking place in countries member of the European Union, such as the party systems volatility, the emergence of new political cleavages and the rise of populist and extreme right parties.
Relying on a mixed-methods research strategy that combines qualitative and quantitative analysis, the project pursues a double goal: on one hand, it disentangles the complex relationship between the democratic decline and the political changes occurring in countries in the European Union. On the other hand, it brings out the similarities and differences of these variations in the EUs sub-regions through cross-regional and inter-regional comparisons.
