Parliamentary Election Turnout in Europe since 1990

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 916-927 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Siaroff ◽  
John W. A. Merer
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Party System ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Dummy Variable ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
High Level ◽  
Cross National

This article examines the cross-national variations in turnout for parliamentary elections in Europe since 1990 – a continent with a vast range in turnout levels and some clear subregional patterns, especially that of low turnout in East-Central Europe. A full range of socio-economic, mobilizational, party system, institutional, and contextual factors are examined for bivariate relationships with turnout. A multivariate model then indicates that cross-national turnout is higher where there is strictly enforced compulsory voting, in polarized two-party systems and countries with a high level of party membership, and where there are no relevant elected presidents or strong regional governments. Variances on these and other key factors are what accounts for the subregional pattern of East-Central Europe and the highest turnout case of Malta; however, Switzerland is confirmed to be a significant national dummy variable.

The Early Post-Stalin Succession Struggle and Upheavals in East-Central Europe: Internal-External Linkages in Soviet Policy Making (Part 2)

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
East German ◽  
High Level

Part 2 of this three-part article discusses the aftermath of the June 1953 East German uprising, particularly the arrest on 26 June of Lavrentii Beria, who until then had been one of the most powerful figures in Moscow. Beria's arrest came not because of any high-level disagreements about policy, but simply because Beria's rivals wanted to remove him from the post-Stalin succession struggle. Newly released documents shed valuable light on the plot against Beria, which was intricate and extremely risky, yet ultimately successful.

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.

Post-imperial Europe: Integration through Disintegration

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-75
Author(s):  
Vladimir Biti
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Nation State ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Nation States ◽  
New Nation ◽  
Cross National

In the post-imperial East Central Europe after the dissolution of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires, disappointment was commonplace. The imperial successor states were involved in revengeful animosities with neighbouring states, torn by their majority population’s hatred of domestic minorities, bereft of tens of millions of their co-nationals who had remained in now foreign nation-states, exposed to huge influxes of refugees, and embittered by the territorial concessions that they were forced to make. By contrast, the newly established nation-states were plagued by miserable social and economic conditions, poor infrastructures, unemployment, inflation, rigid and immobile social stratification, and corrupt and inefficient administrations. Such developments gave rise to huge and traumatic deportations and migrations of populations, which, paradoxically, simultaneously immensely increased the mobility of their imagination. Using the technique of ‘subversive mimicry’, these nationally indistinct elements established cross-national transborder communities as the zones of ‘national indifference’ within the new nation-states. Carried by the energy of their longing, these communities introduced imbalances, fissures, and divisions into the nation-state communities, which determined their belonging.

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.

Embattled executives: Prime ministerial weakness in East Central Europe

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Baylis
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Party System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
New Democracies ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Elite Recruitment ◽  
East Central European

In a period in which ‘‘strong’’ and even ‘‘presidential’’ prime ministers have arguably become more the rule than the exception in the major states of Western Europe, most prime ministers in the new democracies of East Central Europe appear to have been relatively weak figures. This article investigates the reasons for that relative weakness in the ten East Central European countries, which together have had 87 prime ministers in the 16 years since the fall of Communism. It evaluates several possible explanations: party system weakness, the institutional structure, elite recruitment patterns, and policy constraints. It then seeks to explain several notable exceptions to the prime ministerial weakness rule.

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