Analyzing the Dynamics of Post-Communist Party Systems

Abstract

he literature on the development of party systems in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe has basically revolved around four topics, three of which are represented in this issue, and maybe there is a fifth topic emerging soon, evolving out of the fourth. The first topic is whether mechanisms of accountability are at all involving politicians’ delivery of collective and large-scale club goods to large citizen constituencies, or what is commonly referred to as “programmatic politics” and “responsible partisan government.” The answer to this question has to be at least partially in the affirmative to make reading the articles assembled in this EEPS issue worth while. I assume here with the authors of this volume that this is correct, although the agenda of studying alternatives or complements to programmatic partisan appeals—such as clientelistic, targeted, narrow material inducements, a symbolic politics of charismatic leadership, or also purely descriptive identity politics—is very much alive. So I will set this general topic aside.