10 December 2009
Return to Europe: New freedoms embraced in Visegrad countries, but weak public support for assisting democracy further afield
Author:
Senior Research Fellow
Zora
Bútorová
Publisher:
PASOS Secretariat, Prague, Czech Republic
Tesnov 3
110 00 Prague
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 2223 13644
Fax: +420 2223 13644
http://www.pasos.org
In the new EU members of Central Europe, a lack of public confidence in current political elites has resulted in turning citizens away from engagement in public debate, while the winners and losers of transition are increasingly evident in a widening socio-economic divide. In three of the Visegrad Four countries, a majority recognise more advantages and opportunities in democracies today than under the pre-1989 dictatorial regimes, but there is an urgent need to win over a reticent public to support the transfer of democratic know-how to the EU’s eastern neighbours and other countries.
This policy brief, Return to Europe: New freedoms embraced, but weak public support for assisting democracy further afield, was written as part of the project, Return to Europe - Reflections After 20 Years of Democratic Renewal. The research was undertaken by the following project partners, all of which are PASOS members: the Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University, Hungary, the Institute of Public Affairs (ISP), Poland, and the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO), Slovak Republic. The project is being carried out with the support of the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union, and of the International Visegrad Fund.