Cluster 4 | Rule of Law as a Renewed Commitment: Comparative Trajectories of Undoing and Redoing

Scope. Focuses on how democratic and rule of law regression is undone considering the politics and practice of restoration or renewal, transitional phases, and constitutionalism and democracy after populism. It does not treat recovery as a single country story, but brings together cases at different stages of regression, resistance, transition and restoration, including Poland and Hungary as important case studies, but also further European and non-European experiences. It asks how rule of law and democratic infrastructure is rebuilt in practice; how constitutional and institutional arrangements can be strengthened, adapted or renegotiated; how societies move from resistance and crisis management towards durable democratic government; and what responsibilities the EU and other supranational actors have in supporting, shaping or constraining these processes.

Rationale. This cluster looks beyond the diagnosis of democratic regression to the transitional phases and conditions for restoration. It asks what a genuine, durable rule of law and democracy commitment requires and what lessons travel between countries.