A Hint at Entrepreneurial Parties? The Case of Four New Successful Parties in Slovenia

Abstract

Since the 2011 elections several new Slovenian parties have recorded exceptional results and two newcomers even received a plurality vote in the 2011 and 2014 elections. Some scholars believe that, along with the successful new parties, a new party model has also developed. Therefore, we employed several key dimensions to find out whether four Slovenian new successful parties (List of Zoran Janković – Positive Slovenia, Citizen List of Gregor Virant – Citizen List, Party of Miro Cerar – Party of Modern Centre, and Alliance of Alenka Bratušek – Alliance of Social-Liberal Democrats) have exhibited elements of entrepreneurial parties. Analysis of several dimensions (party origin, resources in election campaign, party organisation and electoral appeals) reveals many similarities among the four parties but also that they can be classified as entrepreneurial parties (mainly when the minimal conceptualisation of this party model is used) only in some fragments and with some important reservations.