ABSTRACT Democratic hypocrisy – the tendency for citizens to express support for democratic norms in the abstract while tolerating violations of those norms when doing so serves their partisan interests – has been identified as a potential threat to liberal democracy in conditions of affective polarisation. Yet existing research has relied on declared preferences, leaving open the question of whether such hypocrisy manifests itself in the kinds of multidimensional choices that characterise real political decision-making. Using a conjoint experiment embedded in a three-wave panel survey spanning Poland’s transition from illiberal PiS incumbency to a pro-democratic KO-led coalition government, I examine whether citizens’ revealed preferences for liberal democracy change when power changes hands. Results show that Polish citizens consistently punish candidates who espouse illiberal views, and that this tendency is not significantly altered by the change of government, even among citizens who are highly affectively polarised. Contrary to expectations, citizens polarised in favour of the former incumbent party did not become more protective of liberal-democratic norms after losing power. These findings suggest that revealed preferences for liberal democracy are more stable than theories of democratic hypocrisy would predict, but also that democratic restoration cannot rely on a natural correction in public attitudes following a change of government.

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, resilience-building has become a key objective of EU policy in its neighbourhood. Focusing on the Namakhvani hydro power project in Georgia, this article examines how resilience is shaped through interactions among grassroots activists, civil society organisations, state authorities, and external actors. Drawing on official documents, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation, we argue that resilience-building is primarily a contested bottom-up process structured by domestic power relations, while also becoming, to a lesser extent, a negotiated process in which external actors act as mediators.

ABSTRACT This paper is a review of two books devoted to the historical policy of Putin’s Russia authored by Jade McGlynn (Memory Makers. The Politics of the Past in Putin’s Russia) and Andrzej Nowak (Powrót “Imperium Zła”. Ideologie współczesnej Rosji, ich twórcy i krytycy (1913–2023) [The return of the “Empire of Evil”. The ideologies of contemporary Russia, their creators and critics (1913–2023)]) The review focuses on the question of the use of history in Russian politics and the differences between the historical policies of democratic and authoritarian states.

ABSTRACT This article examines the representative strategies of young Hungarian opposition MPs to improve our understanding of opposition behaviour in electoral autocracies. Based on fifteen semi-structured interviews, four ideal-typical strategies are identified. These offer different ways of reconciling democratic ideals of representation with limited institutional influence and reflect distinct socialisation experiences and interpretive orientations. The results show that opposition representation is neither uniform nor solely defined by parliamentary marginalisation, but also highlight the limitations of adaptive innovation: even when opposition actors experiment with new representation forms, these practices tend to perpetuate limited modes of opposition rather than generate broader systemic transformation.

ABSTRACT What role do businesses play in wartime – opportunistic rent-seekers, or defenders of the nation? This article explores how extreme geopolitical shocks reconfigure corporate agency by triggering civic transformation, arguing that such transformation is not a deviation from business interest but is embedded within it. It introduces a novel framework of constructive responses to conceptualise how firms link societal interest with self-interest across three competing logics of business interest formation: economistic, socially embedded, and geopolitically or normatively aligned. These logics range from narrow commercial calculations to broader civic commitments and correspond to distinct tiers of constructive responses – from symbolic acts and reputational signalling to resource mobilisation and strategic collaboration. To illustrate these responses empirically, the article examines responses of two contrasting Ukrainian business groups – oligarchic conglomerates and internationally integrated IT firms – during Russia’s full-scale invasion. Despite structural differences, both groups demonstrated civic agency and transformed their interests, repurposing informal networks and mobilising resources to meet urgent societal needs. The findings show how wartime conditions activate civic transformation that redefine business interests and position firms as co-producers of societal resilience. The study contributes to debates on corporate citizenship, democratic resilience, and the evolving role of business in patronal and post-conflict political economies.

ABSTRACT Most referendums for EU membership organised in countries that are candidates for accession are straightforward. The 2024 referendum in the Republic of Moldova is an exception because it took place in a climate of geopolitical instability, security concerns and potential external interference. This article identifies the reasons behind the pro-EU vote in the referendum using data from a survey on a national representative sample. The results show a spillover of satisfaction with democracy in the country into greater support for the EU, the importance of democratic values and egalitarian attitudes, which are strengthened by political interest, information and education.

ABSTRACT This paper explores the participation of pro-choice feminist movements in Poland’s 2022 mobilisation in support of forcibly-displaced people from Ukraine and examines their collective responses to the crisis. Drawing on qualitative data, the study investigates how actions of pro-choice advocacy groups intersected with domestic sexual and reproductive health politics and humanitarian assistance. The findings reveal that feminist actors played a significant yet overlooked role. The paper argues that existing accounts of the 2022 mobilisation in Poland should be expanded to include the contributions of feminist movements, whose engagement has been largely neglected in current analyses.

ABSTRACT Across the South Caucasus, the European Union (EU) has been promoting climate resilience by emphasising adaptation to climate change. Drawing on the transformative turn in sustainability studies, climate justice scholarship and post-development thinking, this article deconstructs the EU's approach to climate resilience in the region. Through a critical discourse analysis of EU policy documents, we find that the EU's resilience-building perpetuates dominant paradigms of (green) economic growth, extractivism and modernisation, which depoliticise the climate crisis, while reinforcing the EU's hegemonic status. By examining grassroots resistance to hydropower injustices in Georgia, we highlight possible alternatives to tackling socio-ecological crises beyond resilience.

ABSTRACT The article examines the electoral consequences of pronouns in parliamentary speech, one of the tools legislators use for reelection purposes. I use data from Estonia (2011–2023), whose electoral system relies on open-list proportional representation in districts while keeping an option to be elected via closed-party lists. The results suggest that self-referential and we-referential speech align differently with the incentives provided by the electoral system but also highlight variation based on MPs' gender and leadership status. The findings enhance our understanding of personal and party representation and the gendered perceptions of personalised behaviour.