Event

Postponed until further notice due to illness.

Prof. Jan Kubik, Rutgers University

Title: "The Role of Civil Society in Democratic Consolidation (Hungary, Poland, South Korea and Taiwan): An Evolutionary Approach."

Abstract:
Scholars agree that the quality and strength of civil society is a fundamental precondition for a working democratic system. Without a system of associations standing between the family and the State, individuals are less equipped to articulate their common interests, and society remains more vulnerable to authoritarian reversals. The prospect of deteriorating democracy is especially relevant in new democracies, where elites may be less socialized to democratic norms and civil society itself is in flux. However, despite the consensus on the desirability of “civil society,” there is still much disagreement on how it is to be conceptualized, measured, how it evolves over time, and what are the mechanisms by which it affects the quality of democracy.

We are studying these questions through a systematic comparative and longitudinal (20 years) examination of four cases belonging to the “third wave” of democratizations: Hungary, Poland, South Korea and Taiwan. This project involves extensive data collection and analysis both on protest (event analysis) and various sectors of civil society (archival research).

A copy of the paper is attached below.