Democratic Deficit, Authoritarianism and the Rule of Experts. Analysis of Political Demand in the post-communist CEE Region.

This article presents the argument that there are two types of technocratic attitudes in post-communist CEE countries. the first is unsurprisingly associated with authoritarian attitudes. The latter, however, is not an expression of authoritarianism, but is primarily associated with the so-called democratic deficit: the gap between the importance attached to democracy and (dis)satisfaction with the current state of democratic governance. Previous research has tended to view technocratic attitudes as rather one-dimensional; I show that there are in fact two distinct forms – authoritarian and democratic. The results of the study are relevant from both empirical and theoretical perspectives. Technocratic governance thus represents, in the eyes of part of the population of the CEE region, a way of solving the problems of democratic governance. Technocratic governance is therefore not necessarily and solely associated with authoritarianism, illiberalism, and democratic backsliding, as suggested by the existing scholarly discourse. From an empirical point of view, this study also presents a novel finding: evidence of the heterogeneity associated with technocratic attitudes.