Contexts: Legacies and the Transformation Process

Abstract

The third chapter identifies and operationalizes the specific contexts of the East European radical right. An overview of “legacies” from the nineteenth century through the communist regimes shows the distinctiveness of the region as a whole compared to Western Europe. The author suggests that most East European countries followed a distinct path into modernity which included (i) the failure of democracy in the interwar period (except for Czechoslovakia) and (ii) incorporation into the communist bloc after World War II, which interrupted the nation-building processes until the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The last section addresses structural and cultural context factors such as the patterns of party competition, the role of ethnic minorities, and the political culture, and ends with a summary table of all relevant variables in all countries under consideration.