POLI 331 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Party System, Dissolution Of Czechoslovakia, Politics Of Slovakia
27 Apr 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Most central european states have built strong parties, compared to former soviet countries, where individuals have dominated the party system. Central and eastern european countries have high electoral volatility some parties disappear completely, new parties join frequently, etc. Volatility is higher in these countries than in countries with established democracies. If politicians are independent/don"t belong to party, there"s less info on what positions that they"ll hold once they are voted into office: parties provide a track record basically. Overall challenges to development of consolidated party systems have been attributed to the role of the communist regime in all of these states in minimizing the social cleavages that are important to creating parties. Kitschelt argued that the communist regime destroyed class cleavages, so it was harder for parties to emerge once the regime collapsed: once cleavages smoothed over, there is less fertile ground for parties to emerge. A relatively smooth process for all, except slovakia.
