Is there a (liberal) democratic life after illiberal democratic backsliding? Democratic recovery after a period of right-wing authoritarian populism

After the Eastern enlargement of the European Union democracy seemed to be the one and only game in town in Central and Eastern Europe. But the economic and social effects of the 1989 transition, the growing pace of globalization, and various crisis phenomena like mass migration, the Covid-Pandemia, and the financial crisis from 2008/2009 paved the way for right wing populism. Whereas in Western Europe right wing populism is rather embedded into a system of checks and balances, in Central and Eastern Europe strong attacks on rule of law, independent media, and civil society were the result of such a political development. Democracy was transformed into the so called illiberal democracy. But in the last years we could observe, that the tides had turned and in Poland (in 2023), and in Hungary (2025) the right-wing populist governments had been voted out of office. The new governments announced a comeback of democracy and an evaluation of the past with all its political and judicial consequences. But reality is much more complex and the expectations of scarce majorities might be higher than reality can deliver.
The open panel tries to convene scholars, who work on illiberal democracy, its consequences, and especially on questions, how to re-introduce a fully-fledged high-quality democracy and how to account for illiberal democracy after a period of illiberal erosion. Is the recovery of democracy at all possible with democratic means? How is the acceptance of this turn around among the society? What constitutes illiberal societal foundations for undemocratic regimes? Are parts of the illiberal programme continued and if yes, with what kind of justification? Was long-lasting illiberal government able to establish a resilient path dependency? What are the consequences on the democratic erosion? What lessons can we learn from the Central European laboratory of illiberalism? The chair will deliver a short overview of ways of democratic recovery, whereas the panel itself will focus on case studies and try to figure out common elements of a democratic recovery.