Jan-Werner Mueller

Jan-Werner Mueller is a Professor of Politics at Princeton University. His latest book is Contesting Democracy: Political Ideas in Twentieth-Century Europe (Yale University Press).

Should Brussels resist Hungary's ‘Putinization’? Or do EU member states have a ‘democratic over-ride’?

The Copenhagen criteria for EU accession set strict democratic pre-requisites for any country wishing to join the club. But how should the EU react when members turn anti-democratic? This question of principle is given burning relevance today as Hungary's democracy comes under executive assault –

By Jan-Werner Mueller

/ 30 Dec 2011

Europe’s other crisis: authoritarianism

Viktor Orbán, Hungarian Prime Minister, is busy creating a nightmarish "managed democracy" while Europe has its gaze turned to its other crisis. The political conditions of EU membership are more fundamental than the economic ones, and Hungary should not be allowed to stay in the club while flouti

By Jan-Werner Mueller

/ 10 Dec 2011