Political Parties in New Democracies : Party Organization in Southern and East-Central Europe

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. xi Acknowledgements This book could not have been written without the support of a great number of people. Principal among them is Peter Mair, to whom I owe more than can be expressed here, not only for his encouragement and acute criticisms over the years but also for first instigating my interest in the field of comparative politics and political parties. I also am grateful to colleagues in the Netherlands and abroad, including Joop van Holsteyn, Jonathan Hopkin, Ruud Koole, José Magone, Cas Mudde and Ruben Verheul, on whom I imposed several chapters and who all provided valuable feedback. In addition, from the outset of my research, Petr Kopecky ́ has been an invaluable colleague and friend and I have greatly benefited from our stimulating conversations. To all of them, I owe many improvements. I would like to thank Zsolt Enyedi in Hungary and Pavel Hubác ˇek in the Czech Republic, who both regularly volunteered to decode documents written in, for me, unintelligible languages. Without their assistance, many of the sources on which this research is built would never have been disclosed. I have relied on them for most of the translations from Hungarian and Czech (unless otherwise indicated, all translations from Spanish and Portuguese are mine). In Spain, I am particularly grateful to Elena García-Guereta and Eloy Corchón for sharing ideas and resources on Spanish parties and party financing, and in Portugal to María Asensio and especially Fernando Marques da Costa, who proved to be indispensable and always-available guides to Portuguese politics and politicians. Throughout the stages of the research, I have built up numerous debts with the staff and leaderships of the political parties I have visited. They have been exceptionally helpful in most cases and I want to express my appreciation to all of those who allowed me some of their time for interviews and to those who helped to disclose the sometimes impenetrable archives. Many thanks are also due to the hospitality of the staff and students of the Centro de Estudios Avanzados of the Instituto Juan March in Madrid, and especially to José Ramón Montero, to the Instituto de Ciências Sociais of the University of Lisbon, and to the Department of Political Science at the Central European University in Budapest. I am furthermore indebted to the Department of Political Science at the University of Leiden and to my colleagues in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, where I would like to thank Jeremy Jennings in particular for his support. I would also like to acknowledge the financial support of the Foundation for Law and Public Administration (Reob), part of the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO). Outside the academic world, my gratitude goes to my parents for their continual support and encouragement. I am also grateful to my friends for their company, moral support and their insightful comments. Most especially, I want to thank Giovanni Capoccia for his encouragement and intellectual stimulation. INGRID VAN BIEZEN xii Acknowledgements xiii List of Party Acronyms Acronym Original name English name Czech Republic Ingrid Van Biezen Provides A Comprehensive And Illuminating Comparative Analysis Of Party Formation And Organizational Development In Recently Established Democracies. Focusing On Spain, Portugal, Hungary And The Czech Republic, This Is The First Book To Address Political Parties In New Democracies From A Cross-regional Perspective. It Analyses The Historical, Social And Institutional Contexts In Which Parties In New Democracies Emerge And The Incentives Such Environments Offer For Strategies Of Political Mobilization And Organization. Featuring A Wealth Of New Information On Party Organization, It Provides A Valuable Theoretical And Empirical Contribution To Our Understanding Of Political Parties In Both New And Old Democracies.--book Jacket. Pt. I. Framework -- 1. The Path Towards Democracy: The Institutional Context Of Party Formation -- 2. Party Formation And Organizational Development: Opportunities And Constraints -- Pt. Ii. Membership Organizations And Party Structures -- 3. Portugal -- 4. Spain -- 5. Hungary -- 6. The Czech Republic -- Pt. Iii. Cross-national Patterns -- 7. On The Internal Balance Of Power: The Extra-parliamentary Party Vs The Party In Public Office -- 8. Financing Parties In New Democracies -- 9. Patterns Of Party Organization In New Democracies. Ingrid Van Biezen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 231-248) And Index. Ingrid van Biezen provides a comprehensive and illuminating comparative analysis of party formation and organizational development in recently established democracies. Focussing on Spain, Portugal, Hungary and the Czech Republic, this is the first book to address political parties in new democracies from a cross-regional perspective. It analyzes the historical, social and institutional contexts in which parties in new democracies emerge and the incentives such environments offer for strategies of political mobilisation and organization. Featuring a wealth of new information on party organization, it provides a valuable theoretical and empirical contribution to our understanding of political parties in both new and old democracies Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-11 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 The Path towards Democracy: the Institutional Context of Party Formation....Pages 15-27 Party Formation and Organizational Development: Opportunities and Constraints....Pages 28-49 Front Matter....Pages 51-51 Portugal....Pages 53-76 Spain....Pages 77-104 Hungary....Pages 105-131 The Czech Republic....Pages 132-154 Front Matter....Pages 155-155 On the Internal Balance of Power: the Extra-Parliamentary Party vs the Party in Public Office....Pages 157-176 Financing Parties in New Democracies....Pages 177-201 Patterns of Party Organization in New Democracies....Pages 202-220 Back Matter....Pages 221-255 In this volume, Ingrid van Biezen provides a comprehensive comparative analysis of party formation and organizational development in recently established democracies. She focuses on four democracies in Southern and East-Central Europe and addresses political parties from a cross-regional perspective. Featuring a wealth of new information on party organization, this book provides a valuable theoretical and empirical contribution to our understanding of political parties in both old and new democracies