Governments in East Central Europe have long relied on radical neoliberal reforms as a strategy to leave socialism behind and become members of the European Union. However, since the Great Financial Crisis, neoliberalism has become politicized, and some governments - most notably Hungary and Poland - have started to experiment with more statist and right-wing authoritarian policies.

Reviewing recent literature, the presentation examines how far-reaching the changes have been, conceptualizes the relationship between authoritarianism and neoliberalism, and identifies blind spots. It concludes by arguing for a gendered perspective to better capture recent changes.

Prof. Dr. Dorothee Bohle holds a chair in social and political change at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute. She was previously a professor of political science at Central European University, Budapest, and is co-author of "Capitalist Diversity on Europe's Periphery" (2012), for which she won the Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research.