Chapter 1 Introduction : Why We Need to Focus on Democratic Reforms and Legislative Networks

Abstract

This book presents the legislative networks in charge of drafting democratic reforms as gatekeepers to the actual adoption, implementation and internalisation of democratic norms in selected post-Soviet countries. It demonstrates that the composition of legislative networks which draft the legal reforms in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova, is controlled by powerful political actors who seek to have their preferences reflected in the reform outcomes. Furthermore, the book shows that there are limited modifications after the adoption of the first draft by these legislative networks, despite the later reform stages being the focus of the existing literature. The book’s analysis of political reforms in the Rule of Law, inter-institutional and electoral accountability in these three countries identifies the control strategies used by domestic political elite to restrain the space for democratisation, while instrumentalising the institutional framework to increase its power. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of democratisation, post-Soviet studies, East European politics, EU politics and policy, comparative politics and international relations.