The critical elections in ECE around 2010 ended with the entry of the second generation of parties, which have been ‘Golem’ parties controlling all social sectors from the economy to the media in a special ‘party state’. The lack of participative democracy generated low systemic trust in political elites, with the formation of an ‘Apathy Party’ for the marginalized large masses. Soft populism has shifted to hard populism in ECE, with a synergy between crony capitalism (the economy), a strong state with overcentralized government (politics) and control of the media (culture). In the second stage of ECE developments, the authoritarian governments created a new neoliberal hybrid combining support for the multinationals with dominance of a nativist ‘predatory’ capitalism and its systemic corruption, while waving the flag of national sovereignty.
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Frontmatter
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PART I EUROPEANIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION OF ECE IN THE OLD WORLD ORDER
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PART II THE COLLAPSE OF ECE DEMOCRACIES IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER
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Back Matter
