Political Parties after Communism: Developments in East-Central Europe

2003 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Robert Legvold ◽  
Tomas Kostelecky
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central

Thy Will Be Done?

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Grzymała-Busse
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Religious Participation ◽  
Religious Nationalism ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Religious Influence ◽  
Policy Influence ◽  
Religious Competition

Levels of both religiosity and of religious influence on public policy vary enormously across the countries of post-communist East Central Europe. This variation poses a challenge to existing explanations, which have focused on religious competition and alliances with political parties to explain religious participation and policy influence, respectively. The legacy of religious nationalism instead helps to explain both the vibrancy of religious participation and the influence of churches on democratic public policy. This variation also calls for greater scrutiny of “historical legacies”: while some patterns are durable and reach back centuries, others are recent innovations.

Substance and Process in the Development of Party Systems in East Central Europe

1997 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Bielasiak
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Process Perspective ◽  
Post Communism ◽  
Issue Relevance

What conditions in post-communism affect the rise of competitive political parties capable of providing significant options to the electorate? The initial wisdom held that numerous weaknesses of political society in East Central Europe impeded the consolidation of a stable party system. More recently, two distinct schools emerged to present a more structured view of political space. One relies on a substantive evaluation of political cleavages, ideological posturing, and issue relevance to map party positions and voter placements in post-communist politics. This approach concentrates on emerging social and economic cleavages as the foundation of party systems. The second approach focuses on a process perspective that looks to political mechanisms such as elections and coalition formation that act as a funnel for the formation of new party systems. This article combines the substantive and process understandings of political choice to provide a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of party systems in post-communist states. The concentration is both on the demand side of the electoral process, i.e. the formation of cleavages among the electorate, and on the supply side, i.e. the channeling of political options through institutional mechanisms. Together, the process of party evolution and the substance of party differentiation help to define the hegemonic, polarized, fragmented, and pluralist phases in the consolidation of party systems in post-communism.

Regional Governance and East Central Europe: The EU, NATO and the Consolidation of Democracy

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-292
Author(s):  
SHARON L. WOLCHIK
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Regional Governance ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Political Realm ◽  
The Eu

Over a decade has passed since the heady days of 1989 and 1990 when communist governments fell one after the other and almost all political parties taking part in elections shared the same goals: Democracy, the Market, and Back to Europe. In December 2002, the efforts of the new leaders of these countries to ‘return to Europe’ bore fruit in an event that many had in 1989 regarded as too farfetched to imagine, the invitation of most of the countries in the region to join the EU in 2004 or 2007. The culmination of a decade-long process of harmonization and negotiation, this invitation symbolized the success of these countries in instituting political democracies and market economies. But how complete is this process, particularly in the political realm?

scholarly journals The Sunset of Social Democracy in East-Central Europe: Case Study of Hungary

Politologija ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-122
Author(s):  
Liutauras Gudžinskas
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Forces

The article analyzes the reasons of the long-term decay of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) since 2010. The party ruled the country between 1994–1998 and 2002–2010 and was one of the strongest and most institutionalized political forces not only in Hungary but in the whole East-Central Europe. However, during the parliamentary elections in 2010, it suffered a crushing defeat by their main political opponents – “Fidesz,” led by V. Orbán. The organizational development of these two parties is compared. Collected evidence reveal the significance of centralized party rule and efforts to organize civil society in shaping the intra-competition of the main Hungarian political parties.

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