Professors Nuria Hernández, Marta Pérez, and Carlos González-Tormo, researchers within the project “Crisis of the Rule of Law in the EU”, have just published the article “The backsliding of democracy in the EU: an analysis on the perception of corruption in the Member States pre- and post-pandemic” in the journal and platform Political Research Exchange — indexed in Q1 in SJR and Q2 in Political Science in JCR.
This article is part of a research line developed over more than two years on corruption and the Rule of Law, and represents a significant contribution to the academic and political debate on democratic quality in the EU.
The study is based on a key premise: corruption is one of the main obstacles to strengthening the Rule of Law and the proper functioning of democracies in Europe. Despite its importance, it is a complex and difficult-to-measure phenomenon, which is why perception-based indicators such as the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) have become widely used analytical tools.
By comparing the years 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2021 (post-pandemic), the article identifies the main economic and political factors that influence the perception of corruption in EU Member States. It combines a review of relevant literature with quantitative analysis, including regression models and cluster techniques.
The findings show that the shadow economy emerges as one of the most strongly correlated factors with the perception of corruption both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Politically, while in 2019 the government’s ideology and party composition played a significant role, by 2021 these variables lost relevance, being replaced by the gender of the head of government, suggesting new dynamics of institutional legitimacy and public trust in the post-pandemic context.
The article thus offers a broad and nuanced view of how the health crisis has transformed not only political management but also citizens’ perception of integrity, corruption versus transparency, and good governance across EU countries.
The three authors conduct part of their research within the framework of the project “The Crisis of the Rule of Law in the EU”, led by Principal Investigator and Professor of Public International Law, Susana Sanz Caballero. Marta Pérez is an Full Professor of Political Science at CEU Cardenal Herrera University and Vice Dean of the Political Science and Administration degree at the Faculty of Law, Business and Political Science. Nuria Hernández is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Ethics and Sociology at CEU Cardenal Herrera University and holds a cum laude PhD in Political Science. Carlos González holds a double degree in Political Science and Journalism from CEU Cardenal Herrera University, a Master’s in Constitutional Law and Political Analysis, and currently teaches in both the Political Science and Law degree programs.
Full article can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2474736X.2025.2497764#abstract
