Thursday, April 14, 2016
Aria B (DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City)
Civil society and civil society organizations have a crucially important role to play in the ongoing process of democratization of a given country, by proactively deepening democratic norms through advocacy and education campaigns, and by reactively acting as a 'safety net' against any decline in democratic standards in the state in question. In Hungary, ever since the victory of the Fidesz-KDNP alliance in the 2010 general elections, civic groups have been increasingly marginalized and suppressed by the governing coalition. This has severely constrained their ability to act as a defensive safeguard or a ‘watchdog’ against authoritarian backsliding in the country. In contrast, civil society organizations in the Czech Republic have been far more effective in their functions as a safety net against any anti-democratic impulses on the part of Czech political elites. Based on analyses of thirty elite interviews conducted between 2013 and 2014, this study argues that the reasons for the comparative successes of Czech civil society organizations to act as democracy watchdogs vis-a-vis their Hungarian counterparts, are the greater role played by civil society activists in the overthrow of communism in the Czech Republic than in Hungary; weaker support for nationalistic sentiment in the Czech Republic than in Hungary, thus undermining attempts to denigrate civil society activists as being some sort of ‘fifth column’ aimed at weakening the state; and, most importantly, a far greater level of organization and professionalism amongst Czech civil society groups than amongst Hungarian civil society groups.
