MCC is pleased to announce that two of our colleagues from MCC's Center for Constitutional Politics, Kálmán Pócza and Márton Csapodi, have contributed a chapter to the second edition of The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics, soon to be published by Routledge.
The chapter, "The Rule of Law and Judicial Politics in Central and Eastern Europe," examines the critical intersection of legal frameworks and political dynamics across the region, while also addressing the distinction between formal and substantive definitions of the rule of law and how these conceptual choices shape the evaluation of domestic courts. The authors explore the European Union’s rule of law enforcement toolkit, the complex dilemmas of constitutional repair following regime change, and structural issues regarding judicial governance. Furthermore, the chapter covers the persistent gap between legal safeguards and practical judicial autonomy, reviewing appointment models, the role of judicial councils, and leading models of judicial behavior under varying political pressures.
About the Handbook
Edited by Adam Fagan, Petra Guasti, and Petr Kopecký, the second edition of The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics provides a comprehensive account of the region’s transformation over the past forty years. Featuring twenty-four chapters by eminent scholars, the volume moves beyond traditional transition paradigms to explore the diversity of contemporary regime outcomes. It addresses modern challenges such as democratic resilience, and the impact of global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
The book is currently available for pre-order.
