Political Institutions and Citizens in Central and Eastern Europe: Continuity and Change

Political institutions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have faced a broad range of challenges in the last three decades from the multiple transitions, corruption scandals and limited legitimacy to major waves of popular protest and the rise to power of anti-democratic actors in the 2010s. People’s attitudes and actions have been noticeably unstable over time, which is reflected in changing levels of political trust, contestation of political authority, electoral volatility, unpredictable trends of political participation (including digital activism) or social unrest. This section aims to provide a systematic analysis of how political institutions in the region function and perform in the aftermath of crises, how citizens understand the new political dynamics, and what happens in CEE societies at large. It invites paper submissions that speak to, but not necessarily limited to, any of the following themes: 1. Institutional performance and change 2. Policies, norms and procedures 3. Citizens’ attitudes and behaviours 4. External and internal stimuli for societal development 5. Nationalism, ethnicity and migration 6. Challenges to political regimes and systems 7. Teaching area studies in changing times The section would like to request a total number of 12 panels out of which nine are proposed below to which we will add three open panels. Proposed panels 1. Media capture and journalistic resistance in Central and East Europe Chair: Simone Benazzo (Cevipol, Université Libre de Bruxelles) Autocratizing and authoritarian regimes in CEE demonstrate a greater extent of media capture compared to their counterparts in Western Europe. Journalistic resistance becomes particularly vital, functioning as a critical barrier to the process of autocratization. The panel aims to collect innovative research on both top-down strategies of media capture and the emerging forms of bottom-up journalistic resistance recently observed in the CEE region. 2. New Parties in New Democracies: Disappearance, Survival and Institutionalization Chair: Sergiu Gherghina (University of Glasgow) Party politics in Central and Eastern Europe has been characterized in the last 15 years by many parliamentary breakthroughs of newly emerged parties. Some of these persisted and institutionalized, while others had only an episodic presence and disappeared from the political arena. This panel gathers papers that seek to understand the development of new parties in the region or to explain their continuity or disappearance. 3. Forms of membership and engagement in Central and Eastern European party politics Chair: Bettina Mitru (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) Party membership has diversified greatly in the last two decades. Similarly, members have been gradually offered more possibilities for engagement in intra-party decisions. While there is much evidence about these two processes from Western European countries, there is scarce information about what happens in Central and Eastern Europe. This panel gathers papers analyzing forms of membership and forms of member engagement in the decision-making process. 4. Teaching area studies in changing times: challenges, opportunities, approaches Chair: Petar Bankov (University of Glasgow) The rapid geopolitical changes midst the age of permacrisis posed significant challenges for the scholarship of area studies. Particularly, teaching about a region became marred by a growing number of contentious topics, which need to be addressed critically and sensitively. This panel invites reflections on teaching contentions topics in area studies particularly but not exclusively with reference to Russia, Central and Eastern Europe. 5. Framing Corruption: Media Representation, Public Perception, and Political Impact Chair: Alexandrina-Augusta Bora (Babeș-Bolyai University) The relation between corruption, political power, and media influence in Central and Eastern Europe has been proven to affect citizens' trust in political institutions, electoral behaviour and democratic stability in the region. This panel explores how media coverage shapes public perception of political corruption and how, media corruption itself influences political dynamics in the region. Papers will address the media framing of corruption and its effects on citizens' trust in institutions. 6. Comparative Pathways to Institutional Reform and Resilience: Lessons from Eastern Europe and MENA Chair: Hussein AlAhmad (Arab American University) This panel explores how post-conflict societies in Eastern Europe and the MENA region approach institutional reform transitions to achieve resilience and sovereignty. It focuses on governance, public trust, judicial independence, and international partnerships, examining models of decentralization and transparency that address legacies of conflict. By drawing comparative insights from EE and MENA experiences, the panel showcases strategies for balancing external support with sovereignty, offering pathways for sustainable governance across diverse political landscapes. 7. Migration from and to Eastern Europe: Integration, inclusion and personal security Chair: Ionut Moldovan (Babes-Bolyai University) For more than two decades, the East European countries have been migration sending countries. In recent times, some of them have gradually become migration receiving countries (including refugees). This migration dynamic led to several institutional changes, including access to the labour market, integration, security policies or citizenship. This panel gathers papers that seek to understand how countries in Eastern Europe maintain the balance between migrants' needs and policies, how states protect migrants, or explain migrants' views about their experiences of integration or personal security. 8. The European Green Deal in Central and Eastern Europe: strategies, actors, first results Chair: Kamil Glinka (University of Wrocław) This panel aims to illustrate the response of Central and Eastern Europe - both states and sub-state entities (cities, regions) to the challenges of the European Green Deal (EGD). The panel discusses not only strategies related to the implementation of the EGD, but also the activities of public, private, social actors conducted in this field. The panel is also an opportunity to conduct an analysis of the first results of the EGD implementations’ successes and failures. 9. Land of Strong Men? Political Leaders and Leadership in Central and Eastern Europe Chair: Rudolf Metz (Corvinus University of Budapest) This panel invites papers on the rise of strong and charismatic leaders in Central and Eastern Europe. While regional leaders now face significant challenges, including COVID-19, the Russo-Ukrainian war, natural disasters, economic issues, and the difficulties of regional cooperation and European integration, these countries have become breeding grounds for trends such as authoritarianism, presidentialism, populism, illiberalism, and personalization.