Political Parties and Policymakers

Abstract

This chapter begins by examining the crucial question of why 1989 did not become a critical juncture, even though it was obviously a time of exogenous shocks. One might think that, under the circumstances of a sweeping change from one-party dictatorship to democracy, a “window of opportunity” (Balcerowicz 1995) would open which would allow politicians to change family policy radically. The next section discusses the dominance of the norm of threeness, which most policymakers accept. On account of this norm, policymakers tend to be content with the basic direction of current policy. They have few ideological reasons for wanting to shift policy path, since communist-era policies already established the norm of threeness. The following section then shows that, although political parties have not introduced any radical changes in the direction of family policy, they have been able to make adjustments. The historical-institutional legacy influences attitudes as well as the prospects for changing policy direction, but political parties still have some room to maneuver and to make policy adjustments. Nevertheless, these adjustments have not always gone in the direction one would expect from the official political orientation of the parties in question. In Central Europe, social democratic parties have not necessarily shown themselves to be more positive toward degenderizing policies than conservative or Catholic parties.