<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The Visegrad Group celebrated its 25th anniversary in February 2016. Established as an initiative of three statesmen from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, this cooperation has experienced booms and crises. The aim of this paper is to analyse the function of this regional integration in the years following the end of bipolar system as Visegrad Group members headed down the road to Euro-Atlantic integration. To this end, I apply different theoretical approaches and attempt to explain the influence of key former politicians as well as new scenarios for the Visegrad Group’s position in the European Union. This analysis also covers the latest foreign policy changes and challenges facing CEE due to the involvement of a wider region that creates a counter-balance to the core EU. Statistical data and official documents from the Visegrad Group’s website strengthen these findings.</abstract>

University of Pecs, Central European University, State University of New York (Albany, USA)

Friends forever? The Role of the Visegrad Group and European Integration

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The Three Seas Initiative (TSI) is an informal association that focuses mainly on the economic integration of EU member states through the cooperation of specific sectors. It is meant to strengthen the single market and bonds among countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It also seeks to reduce developmental differences between these countries and the older EU member states. This study explores the background of the TSI, which was jointly conceived by the presidents of Poland and Croatia with the goal of strengthening ties among countries in the area between the Black, Baltic and Adriatic seas. The association brings together 12 states across Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania and Austria. As well as enhancing their political ties, it aims to develop cross-border cooperation and implement macro-regional projects. The analysis highlights both the diverging interests of the TSI countries and their common predicament. These states are connected by the fact that they stand to lose the most from the two-speed Europe idea that some Western politicians have imposed. They are also at a clear disadvantage when it comes to infrastructure investments. In the past, the European Union has emphasized East–West cooperation and overlooked the North–South communication and energy corridors. The Three Seas Initiative founders are trying to determine the best form of cooperation for the Central and Eastern Europe region.</abstract>

The Three Seas Initiative as a Political Challenge for the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>This review essay focuses on Francis Fukuyama’s book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, which was published in 2018. The text emphasises placing Fukuyama’s new publication in the context of his multi-year work for its correct interpretation. Fukuyama’s conception of the human soul is analysed in confrontation with contemporary issues of liberal democracy. It mentions other authors criticisms of Fukuyama’s work and, at the same time, it is defended by Fukuyama himself. The text can be seen as an introduction to Francis Fukuyama’s reasoning regarding the modern problems of liberal democracy and as an attempt to understand his unsuccessful prediction of the end of history. The central theme of the text is the concept of identity, which Fukuyama describes as a source of conflicts and friction areas in modern societies. Fukuyama’s findings are supplemented by the findings of other authors and current world events.</abstract>

Identity according to Francis Fukuyama: An obstacle to the end of history

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>The automobile industry is one of the most rapidly growing industries, a significant employer and investor in research and development, and also one of the most important sectors of the EU economy. Nevertheless, even this sector has gone through a series of structural changes and territorial transfers, recently. Exactly for this reason, it seems crucial to examine the competitiveness of the automobile industry on the national level, analyze the long-term trends throughout the whole EU, and put them in a global context. The article uses standard methods of statistical analysis of indices of revealed symmetrical comparative advantage to detect the trends characterizing the shape and long-term development of the automobile industry in Europe. The authors point out the substantial shift s in production and exports from traditional Western European car makers in favor of the new EU member states, but also from the USA and Canada in favor of new, fast-growing developing countries in the South and Southeast Asia and in Latin America. A brief outline of the European Commission’s response to these changes in the European automobile industry in the form of an Action Plan CARS 2020 can be found in the final part of the article.</abstract>

Competitiveness of the European Automobile Industry in the Global Context

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>Until now there is no consensus in the academic literature as to whether Fidesz is a (soft) Eurosceptic party or rather Europragmatic. By identifying the manifestations of Euroscepticism on the policy level rather than the party level, this article sheds light on the dynamics of Fidesz’s Euroscepticism. It also looks at the party strategy of Fidesz regarding its main Eurosceptic competitor Jobbik, and how this facilitated further Euroscepticism. Hungary’s vision of the EU is at odds with the vision of most member states and EU institutions, which makes Fidesz not only Eurosceptic; but there is a form of inverted soft Euroscepticism characterising Fidesz’s vision and policies towards the EU.</abstract>

How Eurosceptic is Fidesz actually?

<abstract><title style='display:none'>Abstract</title> The migration crisis opened up new themes on the basis of the Visegrad Group, which has become the subject of negotiations. Reaction at the EU level showed no/coherence clusters and no/ability to share common positions in negotiations in the EU institutions. There has been a tendency to represent the Central European region as a unit with common interests and needs. The text analyzes 1) the migration policy of the Visegrad Group as a regional organization within the EU and 2) the separate negotiations of the V4 member states at the time of the migration crisis. Our basic assumption for the analysis is the assertion that the Visegrad Group has made it easier for Member States to formulate common positions and objectives in migration policy at a time of migration crisis.</abstract>

Migration Policy of the V4 in the Context of Migration Crisis

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Although representing half of the world population, women remain largely excluded from political power and government structures. Various strategies have been introduced to increase women’s political representation, including electoral gender quotas. This paper explores the impact of electoral gender quotas on women’s quantitative participation in politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, analysing quota impact in combination with other related factors, such as the quota design, implementation and broader political context. A diversity of techniques has been used to collect a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, including academic resources collection and analysis, desk research, statistical data analysis and online questionnaire. The paper argues that electoral gender quotas have generally had a positive impact on getting women elected in BiH, though their efficacy depends on their formulation and other aspects of electoral law. Still, quantitative representation of women is not sufficient to facilitate their agency in politics. Social attitudes also continue to affect the electoral success of women once they secure a spot on the candidate list. Therefore, quotas must be implemented within a broader democratic, accountable and gender-sensitive political context to deliver qualitative representation of women in politics. Finally, the paper offers concrete recommendations to promote women’s political participation in BiH.
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The Impact of Electoral Gender Quotas on Women’s Political Participation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
In the last two decades, environmental peacebuilding (EPBL) has become a rapidly growing field of research and practice and today, EPBL is embedded in academia, policy making, and education, as well as in practice. The goal here is to learn more about the social complexity and context of the production of expert knowledge on environmental peacebuilding (EPBL) and its diffusion in international politics in the period from 1990s to 2008. It was also discussed what the analysis of social context says about EPBL, and its diffusion. We conclude that as expert knowledge, EPBL emerged in practice, not in academia, and developed within narrow relations in a very small group of conservationists, scholars, and practitioners. Since the end of the 1990s, EPBL has spread globally, being distributed because it has been collectively enacted through relations and mediated by the intersubjective meanings and artefacts such as guidelines, projects, policies, conferences, reports, and books.
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Expert Knowledge on Environmental Peacebuilding: the social context of its diffusion in international politics and what it says about it

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The aim of this article is to propose the term ‘illiberal neo-intergovernmentalism’ (IN) to describe and explain Poland’s EU concept promoted by the government and some scholars after 2015. The methodology, based on decision, factor and comparative analyses, is of qualitative nature. The main idea is the assumption that Polish vision can be treated as a concept contributing to theory building. The research question relates to the positioning of the Polish concept against the background of other approaches: due to its significant distance from the functionalist trend, a connection with the intergovernmentalist theories is assumed. Two hypotheses are presented, and their verification shows that the main weakness of the Polish concept is the lack of paradigmatic rooting. The ‘Eurorealist’ illiberal neo-intergovernmentalism has not been created as a result of the evolutionary development of well-founded views typical of the intergovernmental trend and seems to disregard all previous theoretical achievements. Referring to realism alone, without defining the continuity of thought, is not enough to recognise the concept as a realist one. Therefore, this vision does not have explanatory values, while its normative character is the result of the adoption of Eurosceptic and ultraconservative ideology.
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IlliberalNeo-Intergovernmentalism: Poland’s Conservative Idea for the European Union?

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
The article demonstrates that the rules and practices of cabinet formation and investitures should be taken into account to better grasp the variety of semi-presidentialism in Europe. This is extremely important, since semi-presidentialism as a constitutional system of government (primarily according to a minimalist approach to the definition) is the most common form of inter-institutional and political relations in European countries. The former is most often understood as a constitutional design of inter-institutional relations with a president popularly elected for a fixed term, as well as with a cabinet headed by a prime minister who are collectively responsible to parliament. Thus, not only presidents and parliaments, but cabinets too play a crucial role in the constitutional and political practice of semi-presidentialism, since the latter are collectively responsible to parliaments (or simultaneously to presidents), but are characterised by distinctive parameters of formation. The assumption and hypothesis are that options of cabinet formation and inter-institutional relations in this regard can structure European semi-presidentialism, even without affecting the definition of this constitutional design, but probably depending on the roles and powers of presidents and parliaments in cabinet formation, as well as types of semi-presidentialism regarding the consideration of who can dismiss the cabinet. Based on comparison and systematisation of the cases of European semi-presidentialism, it is justified that cabinet formation (including within various types and consequences of parliamentary votes of investiture in cabinets, as well as their absence) is typically focused on a junction of relations between presidents and parliaments, and are likely to serve as a classification indicator of semi-presidentialism. This is important for constitutional engineering, since detailing the optionality of semi-presidentialism as a constitutional design and system of government, particularly regarding cabinet formation, should extend the horizons, as well as systematise the idea of the options and effects of various institutional designs (in addition to presidentialism and parliamentarism) and political regimes (including democratic, autocratic and hybrid).
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Cabinet formation under semi-presidentialism: European countries in comparison

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
This article analyses the use of powers by Czech presidents Václav Havel (1993–2003), Václav Klaus (2003–2013) and Miloš Zeman (2013–2023). The text is based on the concept of presidential activism, empirically examining mainly their interactions with governments and legislative vetoes. The results show that important incentives for presidential activism are non-cohesive coalition governments, minority governments, slim government majorities in parliament, the collapse of governments and a chaotic parliament. On the other hand, the internal cohesion of a government acts as a constraint on presidential activism. Popularly elected Zeman interpreted his powers much more widely in appointing and removing governments and ministers than Havel or Klaus, who were elected by parliament. By contrast, Zeman used his legislative powers less than his two predecessors, which was apparently influenced by their low success (with some exceptions) in this area. The president’s political proximity to the government was found to only sometimes limit his agility. Czech presidents have rarely been passive. A specific factor that affected activism, albeit only to a limited extent, was the poor health of Havel and Zeman at certain moments. To reduce systemic risks in the future, it would be useful to define more precisely the rules for appointing and dismissing a government and individual ministers.
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Opportunities and Limits of Presidential Activism: Czech presidents compared

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<title style='display:none'>Abstract</title>
Increasing energy consumption and ensuring the supply of energy resources in sufficient quantities and changes in the energy mix of individual countries and regions are a pressing issue today. Besides their economic dimension, energy and energy policy also carry geopolitical and security importance. The ecological and social aspect is increasingly important; issues related to the availability of resources, stability of supply, efficiency and fuel prices are becoming more common and pressing. This study has expanded on the subject of energy dependence to include the concept of interdependence. It has also delved into international trade, incorporating this plane to provide a broad international dimension and emphasise the need to strengthen the energy security of individual states. The aim of this article is to show the gravity of the EU’s unilateral Russian-dominated import focus and the possibility of reshaping the pattern of energy imports into the EU. The analysis of energy trade has drawn on an interpretation of the outputs of available data, with the caveat that the war in Ukraine has limited momentum in this area. The results of the subject explored here are presented in the form of a discourse on opportunities to redirect trade and strengthen the EU’s energy security. The European Union, as a primary-energy import region, must revisit the territorial structure of its primary-energy imports, diversify its suppliers, change the energy mix and interconnect energy infrastructure by deploying new technologies.
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International energy trade: The EU’s position and energy security

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Politics in Central Europe

The Journal of the Central European Political Science Association

 POLITICS IN CENTRAL EUROPE publishes original, double-blind, peer-reviewed manuscripts that provide scientific essays focusing on issues in comparative politics, policy...

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 POLITICS IN CENTRAL EUROPE publishes original, double-blind, peer-reviewed manuscripts that provide scientific essays focusing on...