This book argues that the backsliding or stagnation of democracy should be interpreted in a wider perspective on irregular movements towards and away from contemporary liberal democracy. This a perspective couched by a metaphor, namely the 'pendulum of democracy', which the author has constructed to suggest that democratic regimes may swing between a democratic end (fully developed liberal democracy) and a semi-authoritarian end (competitive authoritarianism). The pendulum does not have a predictable frequency. Democratization may lead to irregular movements back and forth. It is easier to analyze such movements of the pendulum when democracy is not consolidated yet (for instance, in the three post-Yugoslav political regimes mentioned above), as democratic institutions and processes are not yet stable. For this reason, this book analyses the swing of unconsolidated democracy away from the democratic end in the cases of today’s Serbia and Montenegro and the swing back towards liberal democracy in the case of North Macedonia which - until 2017 - had been developing into a competitive authoritarian regime, but then embarked on the road to democratic recovery.

This book is a "Must-Read" for those interested to grasp the fluidity of dynamics marking the Yugoslav successor states, and particularly Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. The author insightfully describes how corruption, clientelism, and populism dramatically squeeze these countries in a vice grip between democratization and its reversal. The image of the "irregular pendulum of democracy" helps focusing on key mechanisms causing the backsliding of democracy in this European region. Stefano Bianchini, University of Bologna, Italy The first original contribution of this book is a productive analytical merge of populism, clientelism and corruption with specific strategies that elites employ to push democracy downhill. The second one is a refined analysis of an "irregular pendulum of democracy" in Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. Sotiropoulos' arguments are clear and convincing. His sophisticated empirical analysis is firmly based in theory and sovereign knowledge of post-Yugoslav politics. Jovan Teokarević, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and College of Europe, Belgium The author offers a lucid account of the weakening of democratic institutions in the Western Balkans and a theoretical explanation of the causal mechanisms enabling authoritarian-minded leaderships to hold on power. Drawing on democratization theory and extensive fieldwork, the book presents a deeply thought-out analytical scheme of authoritarian trends that is worth testing in other regions as well. Nikolaos Tzifakis, University of the Peloponnese, Greece This book interprets the backsliding of democracy through a metaphor, the 'irregular pendulum of democracy', suggesting that regimes may swing between liberal democracy and competitive authoritarianism. Irregular movements may occur back and forth, particularly when democracy is not consolidated. The book analyses the swing of unconsolidated democracy away from the democratic end in the cases of today's Serbia and Montenegro and the tentative swing back towards liberal democracy in the case of North Macedonia after 2017. Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Europeanization and Informal Networks in Southeastern Europe considers the impact of political culture, including informal rules which regulate political behaviour, on formal political processes. Exploring the EU accession processes of Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia, the author identifies how the working and social culture of political elites enabled and/or constrained the ability of the respective legislatures to pass the reforms necessary to become members of the EU. The innovative approach quantifies informality at the elite level, taking a rigorous, multi-methods approach to identifying the sometimes-subtle impact of informal cultures on formal political processes. In doing so, it demonstrates the added value from studying informality by providing a richer understanding of the factors which help motivate and drive political action, and which may be invisible to an outside observer. By examining features such as the connectedness of individuals and key committees, Mesarovich finds that hierarchical network structures can both accelerate and interfere with reform processes under different conditions. This book advances the field of Europeanization both within the framework of accession and more broadly, by highlighting network-level and individual factors which can deeply impact state-wide political outcomes, and will be of primary interest to an academic audience interested in the region, EU studies, Social Network Analysis, and regional politics.

This analysis of the Yugoslav democratisation process explains the variation of regime outcomes within a structuralist framework. Focusing on the post‐socialist world, it goes beyond ethnicity and elite agency to bring the role of class and the state into discussions of third wave democracies. Offering an in‐depth study of four post‐Yugoslav cases and relying on extensive field work, it examines how civil society, state structures and elite agency influence the trajectories of Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia after the end of socialism. The analysis also considers the impact of the European Union on domestic conditions. The author argues that no single factor explains the occurrence of democracy. It is instead the result of the combination of an autonomous civil society, a non‐captured state and ruling elites willing to implement democratic reforms. Concomitant with this, the analysis provides evidence that the only sufficient condition for the occurrence of democracy is non‐captured state structures. State capacity, therefore, plays a central role in democratisation. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, the EU and democratisation, as well as to policymakers and nongovernmental organisations.

Spain and Portugal have recently adopted European-style democratic and political systems. Yet their pattern of historical development is distinctive and, in many respects, their political systems still reflect unique features. In this provocative text Wiard and Mott analyze the special features of Spanish history: the Catholic tradition, seven centuries of Moorish rule, the Christian Reconquest, and the special nature of Spanish feudalism and nationalism. Building on these foundations, the authors analyze Spanish and Portuguese modern history, the regimes of Franco and Salazar, and the recent transitions to democracy. Successive chapters deal with class structure and interest groups, political parties and elections, the structure of the state and state-society relations, regional politics, and patterns of public policy. While becoming more European socially, culturally, and politically, these two Iberian political systems show also some remarkable continuities with the past, including notions of organic democracy, neocorporatism, and tensions between regionalism and centralism, democracy and authoritarianism, and religiousity and secularism. Students and scholars involved with European politics, comparative politics, Iberian Studies, and transitions to democracy will find this an accessible and provocative analysis.

Vols. 1-3, 5-8 contain the political and literary portions; v. 4 the historical register department, of the numbers published from Oct. 1837 to Dec. 1840.

Was Israel founded by Czechoslovakia? A History of Czechs and Jews examines this question and the resulting findings are complex. Czechoslovakia did provide critical, secret military sponsorship to Israel around 1948, but this alliance was short-lived and terminated with the Prague Trial of 1952. Israel’s "Czech guns" were German as much as Czech, and the Soviet Union strongly encouraged Czechoslovakia’s help for Israel. Most importantly however, the Czechoslovak-Israeli military cooperation was only part of a much larger picture. Since the mid-1800s, Czechs and Jews have been systematically comparing themselves to each other in literature, music, politics, diplomacy, media, and historiography. A shared perception of similar fates of two small nations trapped between East and West, in constant existential danger, helped forge a Czech-Jewish "national friendship" amid periods of estrangement. Yet, this Czech-Jewish national friendship, an idea that can be traced from Masaryk and Kafka via Weizman and Ben Gurion to Havel and Netanyahu, was more myth than reality. Relations were often mixed and highly dependent on larger historical developments affecting Central Europe and the Middle East. As the Czech Republic emerges as Israel’s main EU ally, this book provides a timely analysis of this old-new alliance and is essential reading for students and scholars with an interest in History and Jewish Studies.