Enlargement is often considered to be the strongest foreign policy tool available to the European Union, and is instrumental in the EU's efforts to spread its liberal democratic norms in the post-communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, the experience of recent years has painted a more uneven picture. While the EU's norms have proven to be reasonably robust in countries such as Czechia, in others, most notably Hungary, they have proven to be far more fragile. What accounts for this post-accession variation in adherence to liberal democratic norms between the post-communist Central and Eastern European Countries? And what implications does this have for the use of enlargement policy as a means for spreading democracy? This book explains the processes and mechanisms which determine how the liberal democratic norms of the European Union can be transferred to another country; and why enlargement has had such mixed results to date.
By:
Michael Toomey (University of Glasgow)
Imprint: Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781474485586
ISBN 10: 1474485588
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 08 December 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Further / Higher Education
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming
Acknowledgements Introduction: The Myth of the European Union’s Normative Power in the Field of Democratization Practices 1. Norm Emergence and Internalization, and the Role of Civil Society Actors 2. Democratic Transition, European Union Accession, and the Role of Civil Society in Hungary and Czechia 3. The Values Gap: The Failure to Develop Liberal Democratic Values in Hungary and Czechia 4.The European Union’s Record as a Liberal Democratic Normative Power: The Instrumentalization of Membership and the Failure of Normative Change Conclusion: What Can be Done to Preserve Liberal Democracy in Central Europe and the European Union? Sources and Bibliography Index
Michael Toomey is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Glasgow.
Reviews for European Union Enlargement and Democratisation: The Normative Disconnect in Hungary and Czechia
Michael Toomey's European Union Enlargement and Democratisation offers an incisive analysis of the EU’s normative strategies, illuminating divergent democratic trajectories in post-communist Europe. This meticulously researched work challenges conventional wisdom, advancing our theoretical understanding of normative power and dynamics of democratic consolidation. -- Veronica Anghel, European University Institute In this book, Michael Toomey offers a frank and rigorous examination of the democratic trajectories of Hungary and Czechia since acceding into the EU. It expertly calls into question the role of the EU as a normative power while offering food for thought about how the threat of democratic backsliding can be addressed. -- Nicholas Ross Smith, University of Canterbury
