Understanding Developing European Party Systems: A Case Study of Czechoslovakia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.1994.15.0.329-338Abstract
This study focuses on an underdeveloped area in the analysis of post-Communist East-Central Europe: democratizing party systems. The transformation of party systems in this part of the world from one party-dominated to multiparty, democratic systems now impels political scientists to reorient their theoretical and conceptual approaches to reflect the winds of change. Because the Czechoslovak party system of 1990-1992 was a multiparty, segmented one with a number of destabilizing elements, Sartorrs "polarized pluralism" typology (1976) can be applied to analyze the nature of that party system and what the future may hold for the new Czech and Slovak systems. As the groundwork is laid in the analyses of Central and Eastern European party systems, further investigation using Western European party systems literature may help us focus and conceptualize the competing forces that shape the democratization process in these party systems.References
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