Structures of Political Competition in Post-Communist Democracies: If Not Cleavages, Then What?

Research into cleavages in the post-communist democracies of Central and Eastern Europe still lags behind similar research into the established party systems of Western Europe. Theory building has been hampered by a relative dearth of methodologically sophisticated, comparative, diachronic empirical analyses. This can in turn be attributed to the problems inherent in studying the emergence of cleavages over such a short period of time. A previous Joint Sessions workshop in 2003 concluded that too little time had passed since the end of communism to permit strong judgements about the nature of post-communist cleavages. Today, we can revisit this topic with greater hindsight and richer data. At least eight general elections will have been held in most of these countries by the time of the workshop, giving much more information about structural and normative shifts (or stasis) and patterns of party system consolidation or change. Drawing together specialists in the party politics of Central and Eastern European countries and distinguished theorists of cleavage politics and party systems, the workshop will address three fundamental questions: (i) where, when and to what extent have cleavages emerged in post-communist democracies? (ii) if cleavages have not emerged, how can we best understand the kinds of structures we observe? (iii) what consequences do our findings have for comparative theories of the structuring of political competition? Participants will investigate whether the classical, ‘Lipset-Rokkanian’ macro-historical factors have contributed to political structuring and/or cleavage formation in Central and Eastern Europe, or whether the distinct historical experiences of the region have given rise to cleavage structures specific to the region. The workshop will also evaluate the roles played by political entrepreneurs in creating and altering lines of political competition, and the impact of low electoral turnout on the emergence of cleavages.