The original Orbis article, in 2013, focused on how the Euro-zone crisis led to democratic backsliding in the new democracies that emerged in Central Europe, notably in Hungary and Poland. Ambassador Adrian Basora expressed concern that this “could jeopardize the extraordinary progress in post-communist democratization and Western integration achieved with the help of U.S. and EU policy in the 1989-2004 period.” Orbis editor Nikolas Gvosdev asked Ambassador Basora to revisit his piece in the context of a second crisis—the COVID-19 pandemic—and the recent reelection of Polish President Andrzej Duda, given the concerns that Duda, along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, are part of this trend toward illiberal democracy and soft authoritarianism in the region.
