Post-Communist Transition: Emerging Pluralism in Hungary (History and Politics in the 20th Century: Bloomsbury Academic)

"The transition from communist dictatorship to multi-party democracy has proved a long and painful process for the countries of Eastern Europe, and has met with varying degrees of success. In Hungary, the radical opposition was uniquely successful in fighting off attempts by the old-guard communist elite to hijack reform programmes, by forcing free elections and creating a multi-party system. This volume focuses on the Hungarian experience, analysing in detail the process of transition from dictatorship to pluralist democracy. Some of Hungary's leading political scientists examine issues such as the legitimation crisis of communist rule, resulting struggles within the ruling elite and the forces behind transition. Constitutional reform, party formation and voting behaviour at the first free elections are also taken into account. The concluding section places the Hungarian experience in comparative perspective, within the context of other Central and Western European states."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of contributors Preface List of abbreviations Acknowledgements 1 The decay of communist rule in Hungary 1st Period The first signs of dissatisfaction: the golden age of political reformism (June 1985-September 1987) 2nd Period The opposition enters the stage: the succession crisis of the Kadar regime (September 1987-May 1988) 3rd Period Kadar's fall: the Grosz-era (May 1988-January 1989) 4th Period The advance of Pozsgay: the opposition is ready for the battle (January 1989-16th June 1989) 5th Period The Communists pushed on to the defensive (16th June 1989-October 1989) 6th Period The power vacuum: from the collapse of the Communist Party to free elections (October 1989-March 1990) Notes 2 Post-communist transition: political tendencies in Hungary Political tendencies and actors Notes 3 The character of the political parties in Hungary (Autumn 1989) 1. The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party (HSWP) 2. The Hungarian Democratic Forum (HDF) 3. The Alliance of Free Democrats (AFD) 4. The Social Democrats Note 4 1989: The negotiated revolution in Hungary What happened? Lessons learned 5 Political transition and constitutional change in Hungary After the elections Notes 6 The Hungarian parliamentary elections, 1990 1. Re-emerging pluralism in Hungarian politics: The character of the political parties 2. The electoral system 3. The election 3.1 The official campaign period and the nomination process 3.2 The first round 3.3 A landslide in the second round 4. The role of the election system 5. Patterns of contest 6. The achievement of the parties The Hungarian Democratic Forum The Free Democrats The Smallholders The Christian Democratic People's Party The Hungarian Socialist Party The Federation of Young Democrats 7. Conclusions Notes 7 Hungarian transition from a public choice perspective Introduction Conflictual versus co-operative approaches Conflictual explanations 1. Economic crisis 2. Gorbachev no longer backed up the old guard communist leaders 3. Importance of the reputation in the West 4. Danger of popular uprising Co-operative explanations 1. Role of the reformers 2. What about the rent-seekers of the old regime? 3. Peaceful transition and 'spontaneous privatization' Conclusion Notes 8 From Communism to democracy in Hungary Depoliticizing society Declining legitimacy Opposition within and opposition outside The Fall of Kadar The party loses control The background to the new system Prospects of political stability The problems of being a conservative Religion and nationalism The populist mind-set The foci of conservatism Notes 9 Revival of the past or new beginning? The nature of post communist politics The nature of Hungarian politics The origin of the new Hungarian parties Does the left-right dimension exist? The social character of the political parties Electoral behaviour and party competition The party system: revival of the past or a new beginning? Hungarian democracy: social cleavages and party system Homogeneous or plural society? The party system: moderate or extreme pluralism? Notes 10 The making of political fields in post-communist transition (dynamics of class and party in Hungarian politics, 1989-90) The research puzzle 1. Class structure and political fields: theory-driven hypotheses 2. The effect of class on party preferences and the explanatory power of social structural variables in discriminating between voters and non-voters Data and variables for quantitative analysis Data-driven hypotheses Strategy of analysis Findings: class determinants of party votes Findings: class as predictor of abstention from voting 3. Political attitudes and voting behaviour The effect of socio-demographic variables on political attitudes The impact of political attitudes on voting behaviour 4. Why was the social-democratic constituency unrepresented? The dynamics of institution building and the role of political leadership Appendix A: Models 11 The Hungarian transition in a comparative perspective On the concept of transition The process and the chief actors of the democratic transition The Spanish and Hungarian cases: similarities and differences The fragility of the new democracy Notes Acknowledgement Index