Riding the Covid waves: authoritarian socio-economic responses of east central Europe’s anti-liberal governments

The extraordinary context of the COVID-19 crisis gave governments around world a freer hand to reshape their socio-economic orders. Political economists studying East Central Europe have started debate in how far democratic backsliding region has ushered more authoritarian form capitalism. Our paper examines responses four anti-liberal region: Hungary, Poland, Serbia, and Slovenia. Incorporating multiple case studies, it assesses degree which growing centralisation political power entrenched different mechanisms capitalism, as well limits use national contexts.