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Introduction: European politics nowadays ] 25 Eastern Europe. The reasons for the slow and limited convergence, and in some cases new divergences, are manifold. One interesting analysis is delivered by Krastev and Holmes, who refer to the nauseating experience of the “Imitation Imperative” in Central and Eastern Europe since 1989, which turned into a drama in the past decade when these societies were told that the model they had imitated was about to capsize and sink, with “no signs today that East and West Europeans see themselves as ... a single people with a shared identity” (Krastev and Holmes 2019, 30).° d. Media and politics All these political dynamics are embedded in an increasingly mediatised world. If political parties remain the main transmitters of social interests and value choices to political decision-makers, media is the main conveyor of political information and the voices of politicians to citizens, and have grown into an independent fourth estate in contemporary democracies. This mediatisation of society and politics leads to audience democracies (Manin 1997, 218-235), with citizens as political subjects who are to be entertained rather than involved and with spin doctors steering political processes. The privatisation of media outlets across Europe since the 1980s feeds into the same tendencies. The profit-oriented logic nurtures a general trend of tabloidisation, which also pushes broadsheet newspapers and public television and radio broadcasters to present filtered political news in flashy ways. As a result of this, “also the quality European press has become increasingly opinionated, partisan, and sensational” (Zielonka 2018, 41). The same entertainment logic contributes to another dynamic, the personalisation of politics - along with the presidentialisation of political institutions. This shift in the public attention from substance (political programmes) to personalities (political leaders) frames the political competition as a “gladiatorial contest” (Bale 2013, 241), prime examples being televised candidate debates. Moreover, this is not limited to electoral campaigns any more, but has become a permanent feature of national political arenas. The constant speculation about the winner of the day and the consequent proliferation of > Regarding specific developments in Central and Eastern European politics, recently published works include: Ägh, Attila: Declining Democracy in East-Central Europe. The Divide in the EU and Emerging Hard Populism. Cheltenham, Northampton MA: Edward Elgar, 2019; Csergö, Zsuzsa, Daina S. Eglitis, and Paula M. Pickering eds.: Central and East European Politics. Changes and Challenges. 5th ed. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021; Fagan, Adam, and Petr Kopecky eds.: The Routledge Handbook of East European Politics. Abingdon, New York: Routledge, 2020; White, Stephen, Paul G. Lewis, and Judy Batt eds.: Developments in Central and East European Politics. 5th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
