The limits of EU liberal norm diffusion: a quest for ‘better democracy’?

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which the EU has diffused liberal and democratic norms across its new members and its periphery in a context of the EU’s liberal norm diffusion on the one hand, and the populist backlash towards liberalism on the other. We measure these norms via the International Social Survey Program Citizenship modules and levels of democracy via the Varieties of Democracy Project’s liberal democracy index. We posit that while liberalism has become near synonymous with democracy, and despite findings that affirm the EU’s influence on liberal norm diffusion, the EU’s lack of consideration of alternative republican and communitarian norms has slowed down the process of democratic consolidation. These findings have policy implications especially for Hungary and Poland, where democratic erosion is evident, and for EU candidate states, Türkiye and Georgia, where, in the accession process, the EU’s liberal bias prevails over alternative democratic norms.