Abstract
Austin examines the path of Central Europe after joining the European Union (EU). The chapter looks at the rise of “illiberal democracy” in Hungary and across Central Europe in the 2010s, as well as the “us versus them” narratives that have become prominent in Hungary and Poland. Focusing on the 2015 refugee crisis, the author examines Central Europe’s defiance of Western dominance in the EU through the rejection of the migrant quota. The author argues that the Czech Republic has once again become an exception to the rest of the region by maintaining an active civil society. Along with a discussion of both China’s and Russia’s growing influence over the region, the author concludes with a brief explanation of how COVID devastated the region in 2020 and the prospects for the success of the democratization project that started in 1989.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
For Further Study
Books (Fiction and Non-fiction)
Applebaum, Anne. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. New York: Penguin Random House, 2020.
Kovács, János Mátyás and Balázs Trencsényi, ed. Brave New Hungary: Mapping the “System of National Cooperation.” Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019.
Krastev, Ivan. After Europe. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.
Krastev, Ivan and Stephen Holmes, The Light that Failed – A Reckoning. London: Allen Lane, 2019.
Porter, Anna. The Ghosts of Europe: Journeys Through Central Europe's Troubled Past and Uncertain Future. Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010.
Films
The Érpatak Model (2015). Directed by Benny Brunner. Netherlands.
Fire at Sea (2016). Directed by Gianfranco Rosi. Italy.
Spectres are Haunting Europe (2016). Directed by Maria Kourkouta and Niki Giannari. France and Greece.
Peasant Common Sense (2017). Directed by Vít Janeček and Zuzana Piussi. Czech Republic.
The State Capture (2019). Directed by Zuzana Piussi. Slovakia and Czech Republic.
The Driven Ones (2020). Directed by Stephan Wagner. Germany.
Progress in the Valley of the People Who Don't Know (2019). Directed by Florian Kunert. Germany.
Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil. BBC Two. United Kingdom.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Austin, R.C. (2021). A New Central Europe or Past as Prologue?. In: A History of Central Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84543-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-84543-8_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-84542-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-84543-8
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)