Summary

Illiberal politics describes a set of policies that parties in government implement to skew the electoral playing field to their advantage, indefinitely. It is a process-oriented concept that is used to investigate the mechanisms behind trends of autocratization that lead to competitive authoritarianism and regime change. As autocratization is gradual, it is only the sum of illiberal politics that finally pushes a country toward authoritarianism. Such mechanisms can involve foreign actors and outside influences, and they often rely on structural conditions that favor strong executives, extensive links between political and economic power, a reliance on informal politics, and a weak rule of law. Through an exploration of academic debates and empirical studies, the aim is to make better sense of a world that has entered a new phase of autocratization, where some elements of democracy are purposefully eroded while others are kept intact. Southeast Europe, a region that has dabbled in the “gray zone” between democracy and authoritarianism for several decades, serves to both illustrate and investigate conditions that support illiberal politics.