The EU Linkage and Leverage and Democratic Backsliding in Europe's Emerging Democracies
European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) 13th Biennial Conference of the Standing Group on the European Union, Catania, İtalya, 1 - 03 Temmuz 2026, ss.1-32, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Catania
- Basıldığı Ülke: İtalya
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-32
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This
article examines the impact of the EU linkage and leverage mechanisms over
emerging democracies of Europe. In doing so, we take into account different
forms of relationship between the European countries and the EU during times of
countries’ application, candidacy, and membership to the EU in order to discern
whether these different phases have an impact on the EU’s leverage. Based on
our analysis of nascent democracies of Europe between 1990-2024, the impact of
the EU diminishes from application to candidacy and from there to membership,
while the EU significantly loses its leverage against democratic backsliding in
the last stage-especially in the later years of the EU membership. In terms of
linkage, we find that while the EU’s positive impact on the cases in terms of
trade linkage is positive in earlier phases, cultural ties via international tourism
also matter for prospects of democracy. Our findings give credence to the
caution against EU’s safeguarding of democracy in member states based on
individual case studies, while also inviting researchers to be further attuned
to the different phases and forms of linkage and leverage that may affect the
EU’s role in democratization and democratic backsliding.