Existing scholarship often explains democratic decline in Central and Eastern Europe, the Western Balkans, and the EU’s neighbouring regions by focusing on the failure of democracy promotion. This approach has centred on democratic transformation within individual countries, often overlooking the impact of global and regional power players. As a result, the nature and effects of external interference in these three regions remain largely unexplored.

To reset the focus, the rapporteurs and participants in this workshop will bring together the results of their preliminary research on the strategies, mechanisms, and channels of influence of external actors. These influences impact democratic institutions and values in countries experiencing democratic stagnation or backsliding. The first two panels will present in-depth studies of six Western Balkan countries. Subsequent roundtables will frame these findings within a broader cross-regional perspective, introducing a new research agenda on how post-communist democratic trajectories have been shaped by external pressures.

This workshop is funded by the EUI Widening Europe programme.

The EUI Widening Europe programme, backed by contributions from the European Union and EUI Contracting States, is designed to strengthen internationalisation, competitiveness, and quality in research in Widening countries, and thus foster a more cohesive European Higher Education and Research area.

Registrations have now closed for this event.