Patterns of Party Institutionalization in the Czech Republic

The Czech party system used to be considered as relatively stable in the CEE region. The trend toward stabilization of the Czech party system changed in the context of two parliamentary elections in 2010 and 2013, when genuinely new political parties without firm roots in society emerged as successful challengers. The changes are usually studied from the point of view party system research in terms of volatility and fragmentation. The paper offers different perspective by application of institutionalization theory on the level of single political party as organization. Nine political parties were chosen as cases to cover organizational variability among different party families and organizational forms. Institutionalization is perceived as a multidimensional concept which is not only connected with development of formal organizational structures but also with construction of specific intra-party identity. Organizations become institutionalized in two aspects, namely internal and external. The internal aspect refers to the development of intra-party structures, while the external aspect is understood as a sum of relations between the political party and its social surroundings. Comparison of selected political parties is examined in order to describe and analyse systematic variations in their organizational development and to explain the electoral success or failure of different actors within the party system. The paper primarily deals with question, which pattern of institutionalization supports persistence of political party in the mid-term perspective. The theoretical concept is operationalized with indicators defined in scientific discussion on political parties and includes indicators connected with above mentioned dimensions (e.g. number of alternations, party membership, multisource funding or number and character of affiliated organizations). Data for analysis are collected on a continual basis from electoral statistics and registers, official reports on party funding, organizational statutes and observations of events organized by political parties.