Party Systems in East Central Europe [Paperback]

Ladislav Cabada, V?t Hlouaek, and Petr Jurek have written an excellent introduction to the party systems of East Central Europe. Accessible, comprehensive, and up-to-date, this book should find a broad readership among scholars and students of East Central European politics alike.For Westerners traveling through East Central Europe (ECE) in the immediate post-1989 days, the explosion of party politics was altogether amazing and unexpected. ?With the possible exception of inter-war Czechoslovakia, all post-1920 states suffered under autocratic or quasi-fascist rule, Nazi occupation or control, and, finally, Communist rule.? Why, with some exceptions, was the transition to democratic party politics so rapid?? A quarter century on, how can these party systems be best understood?? The authors provide a valuable, timely, data-rich, and theoretically based guide to post-1989 party systems in ECE EU member states.? Most valuable, the authors analyze the historical context from the 19th?century through 1989.? Key issues are analyzed (e.g., party competition, parties and government, and mass mobilization).? . . . Conclusions (e.g., no precise post-communist trend, ECE parties do govern competently, and popular participation is low) are carefully presented.? Key topics (e.g., nationalistic populism) are acknowledged; others (e.g., impact of Western systems and the EU) are noted.? Drawing heavily on political science literature, this work is dense and technical in presentation. ?Best suited for specialists. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate and research collectionsA particular value of this book lies in its grasp of party developments in post-socialist EU member states since the historical start of party politics in the nineteenth century, as well as its linking of the literature on history, democratization, and party politics. Due to this approach, the authors are not only able to identify the many similarities, but also the dissimilarities, which are important in studying lCT