Two Cheers for Czech Democracy

The paper discusses the state of Czech democracy and current research agendas on democracy in the Czech Republic, focusing in particular on the role of political parties. It considers Czech democracy both in relation to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and in the light of the evolving relationship between CEE and Western Europe. It suggests that current CEE states such as the Czech Republic gradually approximating to models of West European-style party politics may need rethinking. It then examines democracy in the Czech Republic in relation to debates on democratic “backsliding”, arguing that in the Czech cases the principal “backsliding” risks lie less in the rise of authoritarian populists than a potential crisis of democratic representation driven by perceptions of corruption. The paper concludes with some suggestions about future avenues for research on Czech and CEE democracy

Are the Exceptions Really the Rule? Questioning the Application of 'Electoral-Professional' Type Models of Party Organization in East Central Europe

Much writing on party organisational development in post-communist East Central Europe has argued that, with the partial exception of successor parties to former regime parties, political parties in the region will be state-centred, low-membership organisations dominated by political elites, which loosely approximate to the ‘cartel’ and ‘electoral-professional’ models of party identified by some scholars in Western Europe. This pattern of development in East Central Europe is seen as reflecting the specific opportunity structures of post-communist societies, which both shape politicians’ organisational strategies and determine available resources for party building. Using a detailed re-examination of the Czech case, this paper questions the applicability of such models. It argues that their use is problematic not simply because of inherent difficulties of model fitting, but because they underestimate the path dependent character of party organisational development in the region and, especially the extent to which viable parties appear to have drawn on organisational resources accumulated under the old regime and during transition. The combination of path dependency and post-communist opportunity structures, it is argued, tends to create hybrid party organisations, which are removed from ‘electoral professional’ type parties in a number of ways. The paper concludes by suggesting possible avenues for rethinking party organisational development in the region

The emergence of pensioners' parties in contemporary Europe

One of the more tangible expressions of this apparent conflict between generations in ageing societies has been the widespread emergence at the margins of political systems in both Western and Eastern Europe of pensioners and retirees parties. Such appear are at first examination a fringe phenomenon of little interest. However, this chapters argue, they merit more careful examination both because they are more widespread and peristent than other localized, ephemeral minor party phenomena and because ageing populations suggest that, prima faciae, such ‘grey’ parties will be able to draw on a growing reservoir of potential voter

Economy, corruption or floating voters? Explaining the breakthroughs of anti-establishment reform parties in Eastern Europe

This paper discusses a new group of parties that we term anti-establishment reform parties (AERPs), which combine moderate social and economic policies with anti-establishment appeals and a desire to change the way politics is conducted. We analyse the electoral breakthroughs of AERPs in Eastern Europe (CEE), the region where AERPs have so been most successful. Examples include the Simeon II National Movement, GERB (Bulgaria), Res Publica (Estonia), New Era (Latvia), TOP09 and Public Affairs (Czech Republic) and Positive Slovenia. We examine the conditions under which such parties broke through in nine CEE states in 1997-2012 using Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). We find five sufficient causal paths combining high or rising corruption, rising unemployment and party system instability. Rising corruption plays a key role in most pathways but, unexpectedly, AERP breakthroughs are more closely associated with economic good times than bad

Economy, corruption or promiscuous voters? Explaining the success of Anti-Establishment Reform Parties in Eastern Europe

We discuss an emerging group of successful parties in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that combine anti-establishment appeals with support for moderate policies of political and social reform, which we term anti-establishment reform parties (AERPs). Examples include the Simeon II National Movement (Bulgaria), Res Publica (Estonia), New Era (Latvia), Freedom and Solidarity (Slovakia), TOP09 and Public Affairs (Czech Republic) and Positive Slovenia. We carry out a comparative analysis using the Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) technique to identify the conditions under which AERPs made electoral breakthroughs in the period 1997-2013. We identify five sufficient paths for AERP breakthrough representing distinct combinations of several causal conditions: high corruption, rising corruption, rising unemployment, previous success of new parties and the previous success of new parties. We conclude by reviewing the implications of our findings for further research

Understanding the illiberal turn: democratic backsliding in the Czech Republic

Democratic backsliding in Central Europe has so far been most acute in Hungary and Poland, states once considered frontrunners in democratisation. In this paper, we explore to what extent developments in another key frontrunner, the Czech Republic, fit initial patterns of Hungarian/Polish backsliding. Our analysis centres on the populist anti-corruption ANO movement, led by the billionaire Andrej Babiš, which became the largest Czech party in October 2017 after winning parliamentary elections. We find that while ANO has more limited electoral support than illiberal governing parties in Poland and Hungary and lacks a powerful nationalist narrative, common tactics and forms of concentrating power can be identified, albeit with crucial differences of timing and sequencing

The consolidation of centre-right parties in the Czech Republic as an issue for comparative analysis

The emergence of strong parties of the centre-right in the Czech Republic in the early 1990s of a predominantly neo-liberal or “liberal conservative” orientation was one of the more unexpected outcomes of early post-transition politics in Central and Eastern Europe. Many commentators had assumed that Czech(oslovak) party system would be shaped by what they took to be) the country’s “social democratic tradition” or cultural proximity to the social market economies such as Austria or Germany. A centre-right bloc, if it emerged at all, was expected, to be Christian Democratic in character. Such expectations were rapidly confounded by the formation and rise of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) in 1990–1 which, as academic observers more correctly anticipated, became one of the most electorally successful and enduring party formations in the region. This article reflects upon the question of the Czech centre-right’s stabilization, reviewing how existing literature has addressed this issue and considering what future directions might be open to researchers. It focuses on three sets of issues: 1) Czech centre-right parties’ patterns and processes of consolidation as distinct from general processes of party (system) consolidation; 2) Czech centre-right parties’ patterns and processes of consolidation as distinct from comparable parties in Central and East European; 3) how research on the Czech centre-right might make a broader theoretical and comparative contribution to the literature on parties

The Development of Pensioners' Interest Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe: A Comparison of the Czech and Slovene Cases

Studies of organised interests in Central and Eastern Europe have overlooked constituencies shaped by the welfare state such as retired people. The article compares the development, structure and strategies of pensioners’ interest organisations in the Czech Republic and Slovenia. It finds that sizeable, if poorly resourced, membership-based pensioners’ interest organisations have emerged, largely independently of trade unions, and integrated into interest representation systems. Although lack of resources and organisational problems hamper lobbying capacity, these groups retain mobilisation potential. Comparison suggests that legacies and modes of transition still shapes pensioners’ interest organisation more than institutional structures or new population ageing strategies

Review Article: Reconfiguring Post-Communist Comparisons

This review essay examines the use of configurational comparative methods including Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to examine democratisation and regime change in the post-communist world. It weighs up the advantages and disadvantages of such methods, specifically considering work by Carsten Q Schneider, Jorgen Moller and Ivan Berend

Explaining the success of pensioners’ parties: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 31 polities

Over the past two decades small pensioners’ and retirees’ parties have emerged at the margins of political systems in both Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Such parties appear, at first examination, a fringe phenomenon of little interest. However, they are more widespread and persistent than other localized, ephemeral minor party phenomena and, in small number of European states have enjoyed sufficient success to exercise real electoral and political leverage, forcing larger parties to address demands, they might otherwise ignore. In rarer cases grey-interest parties have gained parliamentary and governmental influence in their own right. Moreover, ongoing population ageing in Europe suggests that, grey-interest parties should have growth potential because they can draw on a growing reservoir of elderly target voters. This chapter maps the emergence and success of pensioners’ parties in both established Western European democracies since 1980 and in the new post-communist democracies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since the collapse of communism in 1989-91. It considers potential reasons for the emergence and, in some cases, the relative success examining both the ‘demand’ for pensioners’ parties generated by demographic change and patterns of welfare spending and national political opportunity structures. It then carries out an comparison of the fortunes of grey-interest parties in contemporary Europe using Charles Ragin’s Qualitative Comparative Analysis to see if patterns of systematic variation can be identified