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Between Milieu and Vacuum: Organizational, Programmatic, and Electoral Strategies of the Former Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) Reexamined
[journal article]
Abstract This paper proposes an updated approach to explaining two outcomes unforeseen by the existing comparative literature on post-communist successor parties: 1) the electoral stabilization (and even growth) and 2) the divergent developments of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS; later DIE LINKE) in ... view more
This paper proposes an updated approach to explaining two outcomes unforeseen by the existing comparative literature on post-communist successor parties: 1) the electoral stabilization (and even growth) and 2) the divergent developments of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS; later DIE LINKE) in Germany and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM). The paper proceeds by integrating a critical reexamination of earlier studies' organizational and programmatic explanations of electoral success with an analysis of the party-system level of government-opposition signaling and positioning vis-à-vis other parties, which can be expected to take on heightened importance in 'third-generation elections.' It is argued that both parties’ successes were tied to a strategic orientation toward going beyond their confinement in a delimited electoral 'milieu' and occupying a wider electoral ‘vacuum’ to the left of their Social Democratic competitors, albeit with early programmatic modernization and delayed organizational centralization in the PDS as opposed to a near-total continuity of programmatic non-reform and decentralized organization in the KSČM. The findings suggest that earlier studies specifically overlook the impact of subsequent ('third-generation') iterations of party competition on successor-party success as well as the mediation of organizational and programmatic factors by the party-system level.... view less
Keywords
post-communist society; party; Czech Republic; Federal Republic of Germany; PDS; The Left; communist party; party politics; election result; party system
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
electoral politics; post-communist successor parties
Document language
English
Publication Year
2017
Page/Pages
p. 302-329
Journal
Politologický časopis - Czech Journal of Political Science, 24 (2017) 3
Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/10419/247266
ISSN
1211-3247
Status
Postprint; peer reviewed
Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications