REVIEWS 383 new states.Radan correctlyarguesthat calling into question the international borders of Yugoslaviawhile regarding internal administrativeboundaries as sacrosanct was contradictory and without any consistent legal defence. He asserts that the Badinter judgements were based on a misreading of international law on several counts: the wrong declaration that the Federal Republic was disintegrating rather than that states were seceding; the misconstructionof therightof self-determinationto readthatfixedboundaries should be maintained; and in regarding that the principle of uti possidetis shouldbe applicablein circumstanceswhere it could only lead to conflict. Rather than a studyof Yugoslavia,thisfascinatingand slightlyeclecticwork appearsto be conceived more in orderto learn the lesson of the Yugoslavcase to address a possible Quebec secession from Canada. Radan's conclusions, that the EU Badinter judgements effectively removed the possibility of negotiations over minority claims, particularly in Croatia and Bosnia, and embroiledthe internationalcommunity in conflictswhere theyeffectivelytook the side of dominant national groups within federal units, are correct. However, his argumentationfallsbetween two stools:in the earlychaptershe is not focused enough on internationallaw in explaining the legal questions, such as the right to self-determination,while, on the other hand, he tends to be too legalistic in his attempt to explain the break-up of Yugoslaviaas bad law-making,in isolationfrom internationalpressuresfor intervention. TheCentrefor theStudy ofDemocragy D. CHANDLER University of Westminster Szczerbiak,Aleks. PolesTogether? Emergence andDevelopment ofPoliticalPartiesin Post-Communist Poland. Central European Press,Budapestand New York, 2001. XVii + 280 pp. Tables. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. fI 3.95 (paperback). THE question posed in the title of Aleks Szczerbiak'sstudy is rather easy to answer. Left-wing political parties have proved successful at the art of cooperation . The soi-disantRight on the other hand has demonstrated little evidence of togetherness: instead there has been petulance, acrimony, separation,divorce, courtship,remarriageand yet more division. Truly there is little to support Szczerbiak'sconclusion however tentative and undogmatic that the new party system 'is consolidating and stabilisingand that the new parties are [... .] strong at the level of state institutions' (p. 256). Following the 200I election four of the six main parties under consideration looked remarkably different. Solidarity Election Action (AWS) had fallen apart, the Movement for Rebuilding Poland (ROP) was effectively defunct, and the survivalof the FreedomUnion (UW)was distinctlyproblematic,while the 'steadydecline' of the LabourUnion (UP)hadbeen reversedby ajudicious electoral alliance:the UP was ensconced in power as a fully-fledgedcoalition partner in the new government. Four newcomers entered parliament at this time. Yet the vagaries of party interaction and the emergence of the Polish party system are not actually the focus of this study. Szczerbiak is more 384 SEER, 8i, 2, 2003 interestedin the structuraland organizational dimensionsof the political partiesthemselves. Thisis a vastlyunder-researched area,evenbyscholarsof theregion,and his detailedexplorationof the internalnatureof the six parties,c. 1997, is extremely valuable.Thoughmuchof thematerialhasalreadyappearedin a varietyofjournals,itisalsowelcomeasa singlemonograph. Asa sliceofearly party-history itwillremainanexegesisofpartyformation thatprovides asolid reference pointfortheanalysis ofsubsequent developments. The keyquestionaddressed is clearlylaidout. It centreson the extentto whichconceptsofpartydevelopment derived fromWestEuropean experience can informand illuminateour understanding of this earlyphase of postCommunistpolitics .The answeris mixed:models used to analyseWest European democracies cannotbetransplanted wholesale tothePolishcontext, yet there are importantsimilarities.The successorparties, the Social Democrats (SdRP/SLD)andthePolishPeasant Party(PSL),displayed strong resemblance to themasspartiesof earlydemocratic development elsewhere, thougheven they did not fullymatchthe membership-orientation of this model.ThenewPolishpoliticalpartiesembraced elementsoftheearlycadre partiesin theiremphasison leadersratherthanon membership, bothas a consequence of theirowndevelopment astop-downformations andbecause ofthereluctance ofthepopulation toengageinparty-participation. Allparties savetheclass-oriented PSLalsoresembled themorerecentcatch-allmodels ofWestern Europeinseekingtomobilizewidesectorsoftheelectorate. Yetvitalqualifications restrictthe applicability of Westernmodels,while the successor-newparty distinctionalso has significantlimitations.The 'electoral-professional' model is relevantin their media-orientation, but partieshavesimplybeentoo poorto substitute professional communicators fortheir(weak)centralbureaucracies. Glimmersof the 'cartelparty'model are evidentin partydependenceon statefinance,though(savefor public broadcasting) the studyofferslittle evidenceof the use of the patronage opportunities availableto parties.Theseareparticularly widespread in postCommunist countries, withaproliferation ofboardsofdirectors, foundations, agencies,and bureauxprovidingample opportunityfor rewardingparty activists.It is certainlytrue,however,that both the lackof a stableparty configuration andtheabsenceof 'shared politicalperspectives andnotionsof howpartiescouldcollectively further theirmutualinterests' (p. 24 1) makethe wholesaleapplicability ofthecartelmodelhighlydubious. Itisthedetailedempirical examination oftheinternal distribution ofpower, theroleofthepartybureaucracy, andthepartiesasmembership organizations thatreallyconveystheflavour ofPolishpartieshowever. Thereareafewgaps, notablythefailure tousetheworkofPolishscholars suchasRadekMarkowski and his colleaguesat the Academyof Science.Their additionaldata and sophisticated quantitative analyseswouldhave addedgreaterdepthto the chapteron partiesandtheirelectorates, andexitpollsandsurveysnapshots, whileimportant,need to be interpreted witha greaterdegreeof caution.I...