Кризис современной демократии и появление новых промежуточных категорий между демократией и авторитаризмом [The Crisis of Modern Democracy and the Emergence of New Intermediate Categories Between Democracy and Authoritarianism]

Various manifestations of the modern democracy crisis require their own understanding, including updating the conceptual apparatus and scientific discourse. Until recently western democracies managed to export their model as successful, but since crisis signs and degradation accumulate, they indicate a deep evolution of liberal democracy. If earlier the scientific discourse was dominated by the theme of “transition to democracy”, especially in relation to former Communist regimes, today it has been replaced by the rhetoric of disintegration, regression or constitutional degeneration. It concerns not only these countries, but widely covers the so-called consolidated democracies. The “illiberal democracy” concept dominates in the scientific literature of recent years. It has prompted constitutional scholars to introduce such concepts as “populist constitutionalism” and “authoritarian constitutionalism”. The article analyzes the main works of authors who introduce these concepts. As for the European context itself, the author believes that the introduction of a concept like “authoritarian liberalism” is justified, in particular, in relation to the EU's reactions to the economic crises of recent years. The author concludes that the simplified dichotomy between democratic and autocratic political regimes again becomes more complex with the appearance of difficult-to-classify transit forms, which are endowed with a sufficient degree of stability. This, in turn, points to the need for large-scale interdisciplinary research, since the efforts of comparative law alone are no longer sufficient.