Балаж Бочкеи
DEMOCRACIES, GREY ZONES, HYBRID REGIMES-CLIMBING THE BABEL OF TERMINOLOGY
The objective of the paper is to provide a distinction of the often partially or completely overlapping hybrid regime terms and to discuss the notions and concepts related to the discourse on hybrid regimes. The clarification of grey zone related definitions is highly justified due to the existing rich Babelian terminology as well as the potential benefit of having a clearer view on the contradictions and limitations inherent to traditional democracy interpretations. There is a scientific consensus on the grey zone between democracy and autocracy forming its own regime type, but the different approaches apply various terms to it. Using country examples arching over eras, we demonstrate that the adjective “hybrid” actually represents a threshold indicating if a given system reaches the level above which it may be considered democratic. After identifying this level and its elements, the study also discusses how different regimes relate to elections in order to determine the institutional conditions for the stability or replacement of a regime.
