Conceptualisation of Political Entrepreneurs in Central European Politics

The paper deals with the issue of political entrepreneurs in party politics of contemporary Central Eastern European countries. The main goal of the paper is to provide conceptualization of political entrepreneurs as party leaders and founders of political parties. Already existing concept will be critically discussed, such as entrepreneurial issue parties of Harmel and Svasand, business-firm-parties of Hopkin and Paolucci, professionalization and oligarchization of party leadership of van Biezen. The context of presidentialisation of politics (Webb and Poguntke) will be taken into account as well. Theoretical considerations will be completed with an attempt to map the differences among political entrepreneurs in Central Eastern area in order to analyze and compare their pathways before they launched a political party as their political project. Main attention will be paid to professional bios of the political entrepreneurs including their activities in the period of communist regimes.