Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Much has been written over the past decade about the erosion and contestation of liberal democracy in Europe. However, we know little about how mainstream political families invoke democracy when both the ideal and the practice of liberal democracy are disputed. Populist radical right parties stand against liberal democracy, but which conceptions do mainstream political families put forward? I argue that in a context of dissensus over liberal democracy, the mainstream political families – historically supporters of liberal democracy - tend to advance different conceptions (minimalist/maximalist) and dimensions (electoral, egalitarian, liberal, deliberative, and participatory democracy) in their attempt to give meaning to their key ideological political concepts. The article examines parliamentary debates in the European Parliament, drawing on votes and speeches about the state of the rule of law in three EU member states – Hungary, Poland, and Romania – where liberal democracy has been challenged in different ways over the past decade. While the three cases differ, taken together they reveal some patterns regarding the way in which mainstream political groups in the EP invoke democracy. |
