2017/01/09 by R. Daniel Kelemen · 394 citations
Social Sciences · #Authoritarianism #Autocracy #Democracy #Democratic deficit #Economics #European Union Policy and Governance #European and International Law Studies #European union #International trade #Law #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Sociology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/gov.2016.41
published in Government and Opposition 52(2), 211-238 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2017/01/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
This article argues for a radical recasting of the European Union democratic deficit debate. Critics have long argued that the EU suffers from a democratic deficit and that growing EU power undermines national democracy. But recent backsliding on democracy and the rule of law in Hungary and Poland reminds us that grave democratic deficits can also exist at the national level in member states and that the EU may have a role in addressing them. This article will place the EU’s struggles with democratic deficits in its member states in comparative perspective, drawing on the experience of other democracies that have struggled with pockets of subnational authoritarianism. Comparative analysis suggests that considerations driven by partisan politics may allow local pockets of autocracy to persist within otherwise democratic political unions.