VACHUDOVA:EUROPE UNDIVIDED:DEMOCRACY,LEVERAGE,INTEGRA AFTER 1989 PAPER: Democracy, Leverage, and Integration after Communism

by Milada Anna Vachudova

Europe Undivided explores how the leverage of an enlarging EU has facilitated a convergence toward liberal democracy among credible future members of the EU in Central and Eastern Europe. It reveals how variations in domestic competition put democratizing states on different political trajectories after 1989, and illuminates the changing dynamics of the relationship between the EU and candidate states from 1989 to accession, and beyond. Albeit not by design, the most powerful and successful tool of EU foreign policy has turned out to be EU enlargement--and this book helps us to understand why, and how, it works.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Political Science, History, Academic

354 pages, Paperback

First published February 17, 2005

Reviews

[Jakub Ferencik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be revisiting this work because of its superb organization and analysis of East-Central Europe. There is one small criticism I have of the work, namely that by distinguishing between liberal pattern states (Czechia, Poland, Hungary) and illiberal pattern states (Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania), Vachudova doesn't create enough place for nuance in the categorization.

She rightly highlights that Czechia, Poland, and Hungary can often be called liberal in the 1990s and early 2000s, but as of 2022, the dichotomy doesn't really work. If anything we see Poland and Hungary spiraling into illiberal patterns -- and we'll before 2022.

For the narrativization of the text, this categorization (which is crucial to her thesis) works. And I enjoyed it as a result. Europe Undivided is an excellent analysis of the EU's passive (and active) leverage over East-Central Europe and the pursuit of democracy in the region in the 1990s.

[anežka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vachudové se podařilo popsat specifický vývoj států střední a východní Evropy po pádu komunismu. Studuje, proč v některých zemích proběhla tranzice k demokracii hladce a proč v některých státech stále přežívají prvky totality. Pro mě ale byla nejzajímavější část, která se zabývala integrací těchto států do Evropské unie. Kniha je svými myšlenkami velmi nadčasová a bude zajímavé pozorovat vztah těchto států k EU a porovnávat ho s jejich začátky.