The leading international publisher of academic literature, The Peter Lang Publishing Group, issued at the end of 2018 the book Illiberal and authoritarian tendencies in Central, Southeastern and Eastern (editors Florian Bieber, Magdalena Solska and Dane Taleski). The book was published in the series “Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe”. 

It is a comprehensive comparative study, mapping the state, results and latest trends in the democratic transition process of the former communist states. 

“Even though the democratic decline has been deemed a global phenomenon, the question of how it manifests itself in the post-communist world and how it varies across different regions with divergent levels of democratic consolidation has not been sufficiently addressed yet. This book tries to fill the gap and examines the causes and nature of the deteriorating quality of democracy in Central Europe as well as the reversal or stagnation of democratization processes in Southeastern and Eastern Europe. The political elite plays a key role in initiating legislative changes that may lead to democratic backsliding. Its constant commitment to the rule of law and to the practice of self-restraint in securing the independence of judiciary and the rights of political opposition appears hence indispensable for sustainable liberal democracy”. (peterlang.com) 

The subject of analysis is a number of post-communist countries of Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe.  Author of the chapter on Slovakia is IVO’s president Grigorij Mesežnikov.