Half Full but also Half Empty: Conditionality, Compliance and the Quality of Democracy in Central and Eastern Europepsr

Although the European Union was an ingredient in the processes of democratisation and marketisation in Central and Eastern Europe in the two decades following the 1989 revolutions, recent scholarly contributions to the debate on EU conditionality and post-accession conditionality raise doubts about the transformative power of the European Union and the explanatory power of the rational incentives model. Nonetheless, the very process of joining the club has left an indelible mark on the quality and functioning of democracy in the region.