Taking off from a security related interest in de-democratization processes throughout Europe and the limited theoretical field thereof, this paper examines the political development in Poland 2008-2018. Through a comparison of the development in Poland and Hungary, the ambition is to identify what differs the de-democratization process of the two East European countries in regards to their communist past and in a broader sense to their current membership in the European Union. To guide the comparison is the theoretical framework of Merkel (2004), through both qualitative and quantitative analysis as it has been applied on Hungary by Bogaards (2018). The combined framework provides five categories of defect democracies: exclusive, illiberal, delegative, tutelary and diffusely defect. While Bogaards (2018) categorizes Hungary as a diffusely defect democracy, the study finds that Poland does not adhere to any single one of the categories. The question of what differs the development in Poland and Hungary is best answered in terms of legality. Whereas the systematic Hungarian process has been carried out within legal frames of the majority rule in parliament, the hasty Polish process resembles a palace revolution, as the leading party is interfering with and partly controlling the rule of law. The study provides support to the observations of the EU being an externally limiting, enabling and legitimizing factor of autocratic developments in member states, made by Bozóki and Hegedüs (2018). Additionally, a reverse snowball effect is being put to action by Poland and Hungary vetoing on EU sanctions against one another. The findings of the paper also support observation made of a limited research field; theoretical understanding and international measurement indexes of democratization being insufficient in explaining and describing the emerging de-democratization. The study opens up for further research regarding democratic peace in Europe.

This thesis has covered the democratic development of Poland and Ukraine from 2010 to 2021. The purpose of this study is to test if Merkel’s theory of embedded and defect democracy together with the addition of Boogaard’s diffusely defect democracy can explain the development in Poland and Ukraine. The questions that will be answered are: Shall Poland and Ukraine be classified as embedded or defect democracies?What are the differences and similarities in these countries’ classifications between 2010 and 2021?Is Merkel’s theory about embedded and defect democracy able to explain the development from 2010 to 2021?Poland and Ukraine were classified as diffusely defect democracies. There are some similarities between Poland and Ukraine regarding the rule of law, but Ukraine is more defect than Poland. Merkel’s theory is a better explanation for Ukraine than Poland due to that Ukraine has had the defects during a longer period.

This essay has covered the democratic development in Poland between 2008 and 2018. The purpose of this essay is to test and see if an existing democracy theory can explain the democratic development in Poland. The questions that I will be answering are;  Is Poland an embedded or defect democracy?  Can Merkel’s theory about embedded and defect democracy explain the development in Poland?  The theory that is used and will be tested is Wolfgang Merkel’s theory about embedded and defect democracy. This theory will be carried out in the same way as Matthijs Bogaards and his addition of a diffusely defect democracy. Bogaards’ addition of diffusely defect democracy complements Markel’s theory with another definition of a defect democracy combining several of Merkel´s definitions of defect democracies.  This is a qualitative essay with a qualitative method. The theory will be in the form of both dimensions and definitions. The result is that Poland shows signs of a defect democracy, but Merkel’s theory about defect democracy, and carried out according to Bogaards, cannot totally explain the development in Poland. The conclusions are that Poland should be seen as a diffusely defect democracy and that Merkel’s theory cannot explain the democratic development in Poland.