Factors affecting the long-term success of new parliamentary parties: findings in a post-communist context
by Danica Fink-Hafner, Alenka Krašovec,
This article addresses a gap in the literature concerning the survivability of new political parties in existing parliamentary systems. It focuses on the particularities of post-communist party systems and considers the impact that the recent international financial and economic crisis has had on decreasing the legitimacy of the established parties – for which Slovenia will serve as a case study. We observe that, in addition to the institutional and political milieu (which in Slovenia is relatively amenable to new parties), two factors co-determine the ability of a newcomer to maintain a long-term parliamentary presence: (i) the new party’s organisational resources and potential – particularly its social appeal and whether it has a publicly-recognisable party leader; and (ii) the nature of its positioning within the existing political divide, which entails having a clear original policy focus that can be located on the established political spectrum. However, a new party’s potential success will also depends upon the relative responsiveness, representativeness, integrity and transparency of the established parties. Therefore, we argue that the study of newcomers also necessitates the study of established parties, of party-system adaptations, and party collapse.
PolSci Volume 13, number 2 (winter 2013) comprises articles which touch upon themes such as political parties’ electoral success and voters’ behaviour, normative power and regional security in East Asia and the endurance of informal practices within a transitional bureaucracy. The first is an empirical analysis (case study Bosnia and Herzegovina) of the question whether... »
The aim of this article is to address the lack of academic knowledge about public services in post-Soviet Georgia. Its attention is focused on the practices of career progression in public institutions in the context of meritocratic principles. In the new, ever-changing environment, with the inherited general mistrust of Soviet-type institutions, and at the time when formal democratic... »
The present research focuses on the problem of personality determinants of individual voting behaviour. The applied methodological approach was the Five Factor model, based on the trait theory of personality. The study (sample size N = 726) used a questionnaire drawn up by Paul T. Costa and Robert R. McCrae – creators of the Five... »
The concept of normative power has gained prominence, and consequently, invigorated research endeavours in recent years. With the exception of the “normative power Europe”, the concept still remains a relatively under-researched topic in international relations. This is particularly valid for case studies of East Asian countries, and this article attempts to fill this void to... »
The present research focuses on the problem of personality determinants of individual voting behaviour. The applied methodological approach was the Five Factor model, based on the trait theory of personality. The study (sample size N = 726) used a questionnaire drawn up by Paul T. Costa and Robert R. McCrae – creators of the Five... »
This article addresses a gap in the literature concerning the survivability of new political parties in existing parliamentary systems. It focuses on the particularities of post-communist party systems and considers the impact that the recent international financial and economic crisis has had on decreasing the legitimacy of the established parties – for which Slovenia will... »
Does nationalism continue to determine elections in consociational political arrangements even long after the conflict? To examine the presumed reduction of nationalism in divided societies through consociationalism, this article tests the impact of ethnicity on the relative success of non-nationalist political parties. Using an original dataset from the local elections of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as... »
In “Making democratic governance work: how regimes shape prosperity, welfare, and peace”, Harvard Professor Pippa Norris tries to untangle the intricate relationship between liberal democracy, state capacity and human security. Norris’s objective is to explain why liberal democracy should be valued as intrinsically good for prosperity, welfare and peace, the core components of human... »
Submissions are now being accepted for the summer 2014 issue. Please submit your work saved as a Microsoft Word document at polsci@sar.org.ro before April 20, 2014, midnight Central European Time. Please note that we will not review manuscripts that have already been published, are scheduled for publication elsewhere, or have been simultaneously submitted to another journal.... »
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International Advisory Board
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (chair) Hertie School of Governance
Larry Diamond Stanford University
Tom Gallagher University of Bradford
Alena Ledeneva University College London
Michael McFaul Stanford University
Dennis Deletant Georgetown University
Helen Wallace London School of Economics and Political Science
