When Left Is Right
Party Ideology and Policy in Post-Communist Europe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7597602 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Tavits (0000-0002-6443-1550, Washington University in St. Louis), Natalia Letki (0000-0001-8778-1126, University of Warsaw) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 555-569 |
| Publication date | 2009-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Political Science Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0003055409990220 |
| OpenAlex | W2070424625 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 154 |
| References cited | 60 |
According to the classic partisan theory of spending, leftist parties are expected to increase government spending, and rightist parties are expected to decrease it. We argue that this relationship does not hold in post-Communist countries, where in the context of dual transition to democracy and to a market economy, leftist parties have had stronger incentives and better opportunities to enact tighter budgets, whereas rightist parties were compelled to spend more in order to alleviate economic hardships. We illustrate this theoretical argument with case studies from Hungary and Poland. We then test and find support for our theory by considering the influence of cabinet ideology on total, health, and education spending in thirteen post-Communist democracies from 1989 to 2004. We explore various alternative explanations and provide further narratives to support our causal argument
Argument (complex analysis · Cabinet (room · Communism · Context (archaeology · Democracy · Economics · Government (linguistics · Ideology · Incentive · Left-wing politics · Market economy · Neoliberalism (international relations · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Cultural Unity, Economic Divergence
Explaining the rise of diaspora institutions
Contention in Times of Crisis
Elite Networks
Eco-Social Divides in Europe
Electoral Punishment and Protest Politics in Times of Crisis
Hungary – A Hungarian Crisis or Just a Crisis in Hungary?
Bailouts, Austerity, and Protest
Conclusion
Ireland – Limited Restructuration in the Poster Child of Austerity
How the Radical Right Has Changed Capitalism and Welfare in Europe and the USA
European Party Politics in Times of Crisis
Spain – Out with the Old
Parteien
Portugal – A Tale of Apparent Stability and Surreptitious Transformation
Crises and the Transformation of the National Political Space in Europe
Mapping left-right associations
How does ideology shape redistribution preferences? A comparative analysis of eastern and western Europe and role of crises
Life after Dictatorship
Immigration attitudes and the emerging education divide in left-right identification
Determinants of Voting Behavior in the 2023 Polish Parliamentary Election
Postcommunist, East Asian or sui generis ? Understanding ‘Right’ and ‘Left’ in Mongolia
How ex-Communist left parties reformed and lost
The Politics of Social Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Weiterhin im Schatten der Vergangenheit
Fiscal Policy in Hard Times
Political socialization, parental separation, and political ideology in adulthood
Dividing the pie in the eco-social state
Collective Narcissism, Left‐ and Right‐Wing Authoritarianisms, and Justification of War
When left or right do not matter
Who spends more? Party Ideology and Public Spending in 16 Post-Socialist Countries
Party Competition and Ideology in Hong Kong
Party Promises, Voter Understanding, and Mandate Responsiveness in E ast E uropean Politics
Introduction
(Un)preferential treatment
Where ideology matters
The changing relevance and meaning of left and right in 34 party systems from 1945 to 2020
Government formation and breakdown in Western and Central Eastern Europe
Perceived welfare deservingness of needy people in transition countries
New threat of culture wars? The religious roots of public opinion polarization on morality issues in Europe
From polarization of the public to polarization of the electorate
Measuring the effect of media framing on behavior towards refugees
Otherness as a Commodity
Between class conflict and culture war. How left-right self-positioning reflects elite conflict and social-economic context
Within-country determinants of political party structures
Playing Their Cards Right
Leadership Changes and Civil War Peace Agreements
Crisis governance and protest during the covid-19 pandemic in Europe
Security Threats and Investment
Perceived Welfare Deservingness of the Unemployed in Eastern versus Western Europe
The Gender Gap in Voting Revisited
Динамика политического спектра европейских партийных систем (1990-2021)
The Political Economy of Crisis Management in East–Central European Countries
How Neoliberal Reforms Lose Their Partisan Identity
When History Matters
After the Party, the After-Parties? The Effects of Communist Successor Parties on Economic Reform in Central and Eastern Europe
Sharing the road
Political parties and Russia’s escalation of the war in Ukraine
Do All Roads Lead to the Center? The Unresolved Dilemma of Centrist Self-Placement
Preferences for Redistribution, Welfare Chauvinism, and Radical Right Party Support in Central and Eastern Europe
The left is right’
Pandemic Misery Index
Popular preferences for a fully means-tested welfare provision model
Predictors of fossil fuel taxation attitudes across post-communist and other Europe
Public attitudes towards the poor in the South Caucasus
Reclaiming Socialist Space, Caricaturing Socialism? Urban Interventions and the Cleansing of Political Content in State‐Socialist Public Housing After 2008
The preferred role and perceived performance of the welfare state
Independent central banks, regime type, and fiscal performance
The Re-stratification of Czech Politics
Drivers of Government Activity in European Countries
Reforming against all odds
Climate Change Views, Energy Policy Preferences, and Intended Actions Across Welfare State Regimes
Eastern Europe is no exception
Hardly ever relevant? An appraisal of nativist economics through the Hungarian case
New parties with old labels
Strange bedfellows? Exploring the left-authoritarian attraction to the populist radical right in Poland
Ideological perceptions and party support in central and Eastern Europe
Cleavages in Party Competition in Central and Eastern Europe
Differences within global movements
Party System Polarisation and Government Duration in Central and Eastern Europe
Organizing for Success
The European Common Space
When Extremism Pays
Gauging preference stability under authoritarianism
The Failure of Europe's Mainstream Parties
Explaining the Religion Gap in Support for Radical Right Parties in Europe
Ministerial Politics in Southeastern Europe
Political Trust as the Evaluation of Process and Performance
How adaptive is ideological reasoning? Evidence from acculturation of left–right ideology among immigrants in Western Europe
Estimating Party Positions across Countries and Time—A Dynamic Latent Variable Model for Manifesto Data
Cross-Domain Topic Classification for Political Texts
Paying for appeasement
Who gets in? Ideology and government membership in Central and Eastern Europe
All in the party family? Comparing far right voters in Western and Post-Communist Europe
The return of economic nationalism to East Central Europe
Work, family, Fatherland
Mental Maps of Eastern Europe
The Financial Crisis and Varieties of Pension Privatization Reversals in Eastern Europe
Different worlds of contention? Protest in Northwestern, Southern and Eastern Europe
Political ideology and views about climate change in the European Union
Party Policy in Modern Democracies
Mapping Policy Preferences ii
Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy
Mandates and Democracy
Partisan theory after fifteen years
Development, Democracy, and Welfare States
Political Parties in New Democracies
Elected Affinities
Redeeming the Communist Past
Post-Communist Party Systems
When parties matter
The Polish centre-right's (last?) best hope
Getting the right right
Concentrated orange
Nuisance vs. Substance
Resurrection of the successor parties and democratization in East-Central Europe
Perspectives on communist successor parties
The Hungarian Socialists in Opposition
The socialist‐left opposition in post‐communist Hungary
Political institutionalisation and party development in post‐communist Poland
Internal Exclusion, External Inclusion
The politics of interest in post-communist East Europe
Party Organization and the Political Success of the Communist Successor Parties
On increasing the persuasiveness of a low prestige communicator
The Formation of Party Systems in East Central Europe
Centre—Right Parties and Political Outcomes in East Central Europe
Communist Parties in Transition
Party Competition and European Integration in the East and West
A Comparative Perspective on the Leninist Legacy in Eastern Europe
Parties and Policy
Winners Take All
The Politics of Growth
Politics and Social Spending in Latin America
Patterns of Stability
Searching for the Right Organization
Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy
Beyond Left and Right
Explaining public education expenditure in OECD nations
Left–right party ideology and government policies
The role of agency in cleavage formation
Evaluating expert judgments
Mandates, Powers, and Policies
The Political Economy of Government Domestic Expenditure in the Affluent Democracies, 1960-80
Do Parties Make a Difference? Parties and the Size of Government in Liberal Democracies
A party for all seasons
What To Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data
Oh, That! Myth, Memory, and World War I in the Russian Emigration and the Soviet Union
Estimating party policy positions
Do they work? Validating computerised word frequency estimates against policy series
The Expansion of the Public Economy
Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy
The Legitimation of Capitalism in the Postcommunist Transition Public Opinion about Market Justice, 1991--1996
Welfare Spending in Advanced Industrial Democracies, 1950-1980
| Unique citing works | 154 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 10,27 |
| Citation span | 2011 - 2026 (16) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 152 |