The Rise of Illiberal Democracies: A Criminological and Socio-legal Analysis

In order to conceptualize the democratic backsliding in countries across Europe (e.g., Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Turkey) and other parts of the world (e.g., India, Brazil, Venezuela, and South Africa), scholars developed concepts such as illiberal democracy, authoritarian populism, constitutional retrogression, competitive authoritarianism, and abusive constitutionalism. Recent research on the rise of authoritarian trends both in fragile and seemingly robust democracies identified the following key characteristics of illiberalism: the centralization and consolidation of power in the executive branch; weakening of state institutions responsible for supervising those in power (e.g., election commission, prosecutor’s office); suppression of independent non-state institutions such as news media organizations and critical civil society actors (e.g., universities, NGOs); and curtailment of human rights and fundamental freedoms of people perceived as incompatible with the illiberal worldview (e.g., migrants, the LGBTIQ+ community). Although most of the recent research on illiberal politics in Eastern Europe focused on Poland and Hungary, we have seen how illiberal trends emerged in many other countries, including Slovenia. In 2020-2022, we witnessed in Slovenia how an illiberal government adopted measures to stifle public news media organizations, weaken the judiciary and public prosecutors, limit the role of non-governmental organizations, and attack an anti-government protest movement. Despite the persistent presence of illiberalism in Slovenia, there has been so far limited research, particularly in the fields of criminology and law, on the specific features of illiberal politics in Slovenia. To fill this gap, this project aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines (e.g., criminology, law, sociology, philosophy) to provide an interdisciplinary analysis of the domestic causes for the rise of illiberalism and the impact of illiberal measures on Slovenian society. In order to place the emergence of illiberal politics in Slovenia within a broader context, we will compare the situation in Slovenia with other countries in Eastern Europe and beyond.  To provide a comprehensive understanding of the rise of illiberalism in Slovenia, we have identified, for the purpose of this research, three key issues. Firstly, the project will explore illiberal measures adopted to centralize and consolidate power in the executive branch. The research will examine how the centralization of power is achieved – on the constitutional level – through constitutional change either by writing new constitutions or including amendments to existing constitutions. The research will also examine how the centralization of power is achieved – on the sub-constitutional level – through tactics such as “colonization,” duplication, and evasion. Secondly, we will focus on illiberal measures aimed at marginalizing people perceived as “internal enemies” by illiberal governments. This part of the research will provide a detailed mapping of groups labeled as “internal enemies” (e.g., critical journalists, human rights activists) and examine the methods used by illiberal governments to suppress them (e.g., criminalization, economic sanctions, and surveillance). And thirdly, the project will fill the gap in research on how to oppose illiberal governments. The project will focus on the following three tactics of resistance: non-formal tactics, that is, grassroots activities for movement building, which include organizing protests and rising awareness among the public; quasi-formal tactics (e.g., dispute resolution) that do not use formal channels of the state, but nevertheless have the potential to generate lawlike consequences; and formal tactics, that is, the use of courts as sites of political contestation in order to expose illiberal practices.