This paper seeks to explain the recent growth of Euroscepticism in East-Central Europe (ECE). We propose that the rise of anti-EU sentiment in several ECE countries, in particular Hungary and Poland, is driven by a complex ideological phenomenon that we label as “disillusionment” or “ressentiment”. In the years after the democratic revolutions of the late 1980s and early 1990s, all those societies tried to catch up with the West European states in terms of economic prosperity and political power by adopting political democracy and market economy, but then actually failed to achieve this goal. This failure led to the frustration of their national elites, and then masses, and disappointment with the idea of European integration and with the liberal political and economic ideologies promoted by the EU. We provide anecdotal evidence of anti-EU disillusionment in the region and then test our conceptual model using mass-level survey data from the ESS.

Everyone interested is invited!

Working language is English.

Videoconference with Moscow office of the LCSR (Krivokolenny Pereulok, 3, room 3-333) will be provided. Guests from Moscow are invited to make a request for a pass to the building to Anastasia Ionova (aionova@hse.ru)  by 12 am of the seminar’s day.

Guests from St. Petersburg are invited to make a request for a pass to the building to Olesya Volchenko (ovolchenko@hse.ru) by 12 am of the seminar’s day.

Also after the seminar a videotape will be put up after the summary of the presentation.