Political Volatility and Governance in East Central Europe

Slavic Review ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 903-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Forestiere
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Political Problem ◽  
Quality Of Governance ◽  
New Democracy

In this article, Carolyn Forestiere investigates political volatility as a way to explain varying levels of governance across the new democracies of east central Europe. Specifically, legislative and executive volatility are examined. The results suggest that differences in legislative volatility help explain variations in governance, especially during the beginning of a new democracy. Once party systems begin to consolidate, however, differences in executive volatility begin to matter more. A case study of Poland confirms some of Forestiere's conclusions. While the legislative party system has shown some signs of stabilization, executive volatility remains a salient political problem, which over time has led to a steady decline in the quality of governance.

scholarly journals Understanding Developing European Party Systems: A Case Study of Czechoslovakia

1994 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 329-338
Author(s):  
Kurt W. Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Underdeveloped Area ◽  
The World ◽  
Democratic Systems

This study focuses on an underdeveloped area in the analysis of post-Communist East-Central Europe: democratizing party systems. The transformation of party systems in this part of the world from one party-dominated to multiparty, democratic systems now impels political scientists to reorient their theoretical and conceptual approaches to reflect the winds of change. Because the Czechoslovak party system of 1990-1992 was a multiparty, segmented one with a number of destabilizing elements, Sartorrs "polarized pluralism" typology (1976) can be applied to analyze the nature of that party system and what the future may hold for the new Czech and Slovak systems. As the groundwork is laid in the analyses of Central and Eastern European party systems, further investigation using Western European party systems literature may help us focus and conceptualize the competing forces that shape the democratization process in these party systems.

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.

The Rhetoric of War and the Reshaping of Civil Society in North Macedonia

Slavic Review ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-364
Author(s):  
Vasiliki Neofotistos
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Direct Connection ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Republic Of Macedonia ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Europe Today

In this article, I explore recent efforts to “de-Sorosize” the Republic of Macedonia, arguing that they reveal an obsession in Macedonia—and more broadly in east central Europe—with defending ethnonational interests against assumed interlopers. New, self-proclaimed patriotic associations have mobilized ideas of combined external and internal threats to national existence as though there were a war frontier. This imagined war frontier marks the dividing line between belligerent nationalists, who claim that Macedonian sovereignty and national identity are under threat of extinction, and the Macedonian center-left and liberal (moderate and left-leaning) NGOs, which tend to promote greater inclusiveness in society, are assumed to side with “the Albanians,” and to have a direct connection to George Soros. The case study of Macedonia highlights the outright public rejection of liberal ideals and the key role that populist, militant sensibilities play in the formation of civil society groups in Europe today.

scholarly journals Functional changes in peripheral mountainous areas in east central Europe between 2004 and 2016 as an aspect of rural revival? Kłodzko County case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 ◽  
pp. 102223
Author(s):  
Dominik Sikorski ◽  
Agnieszka Latocha ◽  
Robert Szmytkie ◽  
Katarzyna Kajdanek ◽  
Paulina Miodońska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Mountainous Areas ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Functional Changes
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