Decay of Liberal Democracy in Europe

Abstract

This article aims to present an evolution of the liberal model of world politics along with the potential consequences of this change at the level of the European integration project, taking into account the tools of the school of law and economics. The work elucidates basic elements of the idea of liberal democracy, both in internal (legal and economic system) and external dimensions (attitude to supranational organisations). The liberal order described in the text is confronted with critical statements delivered by creators of the concept of illiberal democracy, according to whom crisis of the paradigm of law and international economy can be currently observed. The recession of the liberal model of global politics is manifested in the tendency to modify the constitutional framework of particular countries and the decomposition of integration processes that have been anchoring liberal order in a united Europe so far. According to the author, the above phenomenon may initiate a split in the Western world, leading to the breakdown of its political unity and the beginning of the era of uncertainty, as a prelude to the emergence of a new order on the Old Continent, the framework of which is not yet known.