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Communism, Federalism, and Ethnic Minorities

Explaining Party Competition Patterns in Eastern Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID8042873
AuthorsJan Rovny (0000-0002-6071-4289, Centre d'études Européennes de Sciences Po, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume66
Issue4
Pages669-708
Publication date2014-09-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueWorld Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-8871 • E-ISSN: 1086-3338
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/s0043887114000227
OpenAlexW2118528397
LanguageEN
Citations received61
References cited73

Scholarship on East European politics expects that party competition in the region is determined by various communist legacies, juxtaposing state-centric authoritarianism to a liberal market economy. Recent empirical evidence, however, uncovers significant variance of party competition patterns across East European countries. To explain this variance, this article argues that an interaction between communist institutional framework and partisan responses to ethnic minorities determines party competition structure in the region. While experience with communist federalism determines partisan affinities with ethnic minorities, tolerance or support for ethnic minorities leads the political actors associated with those minorities to general socially liberal positions. Consequently—and contrary to received knowledge—ethnic politics influence the ideological content of party competition and structure party systems in Eastern Europe

Authoritarianism · Communism · Competition (biology · Democracy · Development economics · East-Central Europe · Economic system · Economics · Ethnic group · Federalism · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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