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EU Accession and a New Populist Center-Periphery Cleavage in Central and Eastern Europe
(2003)
  • Cas Mudde, DePauw University
Abstract

The finalized “Return to Europe” of the new EU members states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has created a whole new ballgame for Eurosceptic political actors. In rational choice terms, the costs of Euroscepticism (and even Eurorejection) have gone down dramatically, while the benefits will most probably go even further up. While the effects of EU accession on the party systems of CEE are multifold, this paper develops one possible effect: the transformation of the already present regional divide within CEE countries into a populist, anti-EU center-periphery cleavage.

Keywords
  • Cleavages,
  • Eastern Europe,
  • Populism,
  • Postcommunism
Publication Date
2003
Citation Information
Cas Mudde. "EU Accession and a New Populist Center-Periphery Cleavage in Central and Eastern Europe" (2003)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/cas_mudde/10/