Why ethnic politics can act as a check on democratic backsliding

The presence of politically organised minority groups is often viewed as a source of instability or conflict within a democracy. Yet in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, democratic backsliding is more common in states that lack meaningful ethnic mobilisation, such as Poland and Hungary. Drawing on new research he just published in the American Political Science Review, Jan Rovny explains that far from undermining democracy, the presence of mobilised minority groups can act as a bulwark against backsliding because these groups have a stake in pursuing liberal political arrangements that limit the power of the majority.

Read Jan Rovny's blog post on LSE's "European Politics and Policy" blog.

Read the full paper (open access) published in the American Political Science Review.