Archive 2/2017

Beata Kosowska-Gąstoł
Jagiellonian University, Kraków
e-mail: beata.kosowska-gastol@uj.edu.pl

Katarzyna Sobolewska-Myślik
Pedagogical University, Kraków
e-mail: kmyslik@up.krakow.pl

Abstract

Parties launched by political entrepreneurs are usually newcomers into more or less established party systems. Their ‘founding fathers’ act without specific external group support and the literature on new parties predicts that there is a low survival rate for entrepreneurial parties. In the case of Poland, the party system had been relatively stable from the 2001 until the 2011 parliamentary elections and subsequently some new parties entered into politics, tried to gain electoral support as well as political relevance. The most recent groupings in the Polish political system which are closest to the theoretical concept of entrepreneurial parties are the Palikot’s Movement (Ruch Palikota), Kukiz’15 and the Modern Party (Nowoczesna). The aim of the paper is to examine to what extent the leaders of these parties can be seen as political entrepreneurs and the parties as ‘entrepreneurial parties’. Another point we discuss is in which aspects the leaders of the parties examined are similar in their role of political entrepreneurs and in which they differ. In order to answer these questions, the previous careers of the leaders, the ways they entered politics and the strategies they used to achieve their goals will also be analyzed.

Key words

political entrepreneurs; entrepreneurial issue parties; Polish parties; new parties

Vít Hloušek
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
e-mail: hlousek@fss.muni.cz

Lubomír Kopeček
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
e-mail: kopecek@fss.muni.cz

Abstract

This article analyses and compares two Czech entrepreneurial parties, Public Affairs (VV) and ANO (meaning ‘yes’ in Czech). Both parties achieved great success in the first parliamentary elections in which they contested; however, whereas VV quickly collapsed, the success of ANO proved to be sustainable. The theoretical framework of the article is the development model of institutionalisation proposed by Robert Harmel and Lars Svåsand, which has three phases: identification, organisation and stabilisation. We show that in the identification phase the leaders of both parties, Vít Bárta (VV) and Andrej Babiš (ANO), proved to exploit the crisis in traditional political representation and the hunger for new parties and personalities effectively, while successfully developing their protest appeals. The differences were visible during the organisation phase. On the one hand, Bárta’s strategy of dual leadership (formal and actual) of his party caused conflicts, defections and undesirable media attention. On the other hand, Babiš’ leading role in the new party was clear. He also constructed the party’s internal mechanisms, and as such was able to control intraparty dissent. The problems of Bárta’s VV deepened in the stabilisation phase. The combination of unmanaged government engagement and growing scandals discredited the party. By contrast, Babiš was able to gradually transform ANO into a competent and credible government party. This successful stabilisation greatly helped to facilitate an efficient and disciplined party organisation, ‘accommodating the neutrality’ of some important media, effective communication with voters and improvement of the economic situation.

Key words

entrepreneurial parties; Vít Bárta; Andrej Babiš; Public Affairs; ANO

Sergiu Gherghina
University of Glasgow
e-mail:Sergiu.Gherghina@glasgow.ac.uk

Sorina Soare
University of Florence
e-mail: sorinacristina.soare@uni .it

Abstract

The paper deals with the single case study of Romanian People’s Party Dan Diaconescu. Using the concepts of a personal party and a business-firm party, the authors analyze the emergence, electoral success and decline of this party. Main attention is paid to the personality of the leader as well as to organizational features of the party. Empirical evidence from the PPDD shows that personal/ business-firm parties have major difficulties in outliving periods of electoral decline, particularly in cases where the party is fully dependent on the leaders’ private resources. As such, this single case analysis contributes to the general literature on new parties by gaining an in-depth understanding of the importance of the early stages of party development in predicting a party’s development over time.

Key words

business-firm party; People’s Party Dan Diaconescu; political entrepreneur; party organization; personalization of politics

Alenka Krašovec
University of Ljubljana
e-mail: alenka.krasovec@fdv.uni-lj.si

Abstract

Since the 2011 elections several new Slovenian parties have recorded exceptional results and two newcomers even received a plurality vote in the 2011 and 2014 elections. Some scholars believe that, along with the successful new parties, a new party model has also developed. Therefore, we employed several key dimensions to find out whether four Slovenian new successful parties (List of Zoran Janković – Positive Slovenia, Citizen List of Gregor Virant – Citizen List, Party of Miro Cerar – Party of Modern Centre, and Alliance of Alenka Bratušek – Alliance of Social-Liberal Democrats) have exhibited elements of entrepreneurial parties. Analysis of several dimensions (party origin, resources in election campaign, party organisation and electoral appeals) reveals many similarities among the four parties but also that they can be classified as entrepreneurial parties (mainly when the minimal conceptualisation of this party model is used) only in some fragments and with some important reservations.

Key words

political party; entrepreneurial party; new party; electoral success; Slovenia

Tomáš Cirhan
University of Leiden
e-mail: t.cirhan@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Petr Kopecký
University of Leiden
e-mail: kopecky@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Abstract

The volatile and unstable party systems in East Central Europe are associated with the emergence of new parties. However, some such new parties survive and become part of the party system they entered while other newcomers fade away even after they record major electoral success or gain government participation. How can we explain the contrasting fortunes of new parties? What explains their persistence and organizational survival? In this paper, we try to find the answers to these questions by linking the organizational success of new parties to the composition of their elites. We suggest that the similarity in professional and career backgrounds contributes to parties’ organizational success by increasing party cohesion, especially at the level of party leadership. We demonstrate our arguments on three new Czech parties – Public A airs (VV), Dawn of Direct Democracy (Dawn) and ANO – with contrasting political and organizational fortunes. Using data on elites’ career and political pasts we show that, unlike ANO, VV and Dawn have comparatively more heterogeneous elite circles which, we suggest, make them more vulnerable to internal conflicts.

Key words

party unity; party cohesion; elite professional networks; career pathway analysis

Vít Hloušek
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
e-mail: hlousek@fss.muni.cz

Lubomír Kopeček
Masaryk University, Czech Republic
e-mail: kopecek@fss.muni.cz

Abstract

The paper offers a conceptual framework to investigate the phenomenon of entrepreneurial parties in the countries of East-Central Europe. The authors evaluate existing concepts related to increasing interdependence of party politics and the business sector, such as business-firm parties. These concepts are typically much too bound to a particular example of historically emerging entrepreneurial party and therefore the paper offers a more general concept of entrepreneurial party. The concept is based on five basic features: (1) the central role of the leader and his private initiative, (2) the party as a personal vehicle, (3) the crucial formative influence of a leader over the political project. Two other features are related to the social and institutional un-rootedness of the entrepreneurial party which is neither a product of (4) a promoter/sponsor organisation or social movement, nor it is an outcome of (5) a parliamentary split or emergence of a new faction.

Key words

entrepreneurial parties; East-Central Europe; party organisation; party leadership

Juraj Marušiak
Slovak Academy of Sciences
e-mail: polimars@savba.sk

Abstract

This paper deals with the emergence and relevance of entrepreneurial parties in Slovakia. Its aim is to identify if the business-firm party model is an isolated phenomenon within the party system of the Slovak Republic, specific only for a certain segment of political parties, or if the business-firm practices are present also in the wider spectrum of parties, including those ‘program-based’ with the presence of the mechanisms of intraparty democracy. The main indicators followed by the article are the role of the party founders (leaders) after the parties enter the parliament, the organizational development of the parties and the role of party programs in the shaping of party identities. The paper brings an analysis of the penetration of business practices in Slovakia’s political parties, and brings a detailed analysis of particular entrepreneur parties, such as the Civic Understanding Party (SOP), Alliance of the New Citizen (ANO), Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO) and We Are Family – Boris Kollár. Increasing support to parties which fall under the business-firm model, as well as the penetration of entrepreneurial practices into the functioning of other political parties, provoked new political conflicts in Slovakia. These are interpreted by some politicians as a conflict between so called ‘standard’ and ‘non-standard’ parties. The business-firm party model and practices are increasingly attractive for many newly emerging parties, but also for the older political ones. Successful parliamentary elections, and even participation in the government, doesn’t force the parties to establish territorial structures or to improve internal democratic mechanisms.

Key words

Slovakia; business-firm party model; political entrepreneurs; SOP; Direction; ANO; SaS; OĽaNO; We Are Family – Boris Kollár

Abstract

Müller, Karel B (2016). Češi, občanská společnost a evropské výzvy. Praha/Kroměříž: Triton, 296 pages.

Key words

Abstract

Kostelecký, Tomáš; Mikešová, Renáta; Poláková, Markéta; Čermák, Daniel; Bernard, Josef; Šimon, Martin (2014). Koho volí vaši sousedé? Prostorové vzorce volebního chování na území Česka od roku 1920 do roku 2006, jejich změny a možné příčiny. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství (SLON), 173 pages.

Key words