Illiberal Capitalist Development: Extra-European Capital, Sectoral Investment, and Changing Ideology in Europe

The principal objective of this research is to advance understanding of the capitalist development of European illiberalism. ILLINVESTMENTS addresses two understudied features of illiberal capitalist development in Europe: (1) extra-European investment inflows into countries where illiberalism is under variegated development, and (2) illiberal capitalist development in Western Europe. ILLINVESTMENTS presents a novel approach to exploring an emerging multifarious investment nexus at the intersection of multiple geographical and market contexts investigates the ways in which extra-European investment inflow contribute to what it terms ‘illiberalisation’: a process by which any liberal/former liberal democracy moves towards the strengthening of the executive at the expense of the judiciary and legislature. This project examines the relationship between two sectors that have experienced significant investment inflows from Chinese and Gulf-sourced capital in shaping the illiberalisation (infrastructure and real estate) in three EU member states, at what it sees as varying stages of illiberalisation: Hungary (advanced), Italy (aspiring), and Germany (pre-). Research activities are divided into two parts: (a) theoretical, which will take place at the University of Rijeka, and (b) empirical, a qualitative case study analysis, principally using semi-structured interviews with sectoral actors, conducted in the three countries under study. ILLINVESTMENTS will create much-needed knowledge of the wider dimensions of illiberalism, moving beyond the common focus on political leadership, which is unable to capture the varied aspects of illiberal capitalist development. In so doing, ILLINVESTMENTS will fill four knowledge gaps: (1) illiberalisation as a process; (2) illiberalisation in Western Europe; (3) the role of sectoral actors in the capitalist development of illiberalism, and; (4) the role of extra-European investment inflows in the European political economy.