Political parties and democratic consolidation in post-communist societies

White, S. and McAllister, I. (2007) Political parties and democratic consolidation in post-communist societies. Party Politics, 13(2), pp. 197-216. (doi: 10.1177/1354068807073858)

Abstract

Political parties have a central role to play in democratic consolidation, yet we know comparatively little about how effectively they represent social cleavages in newly emerging democracies. Using the Lipset–Rokkan framework, this article examines the role of parties in articulating social cleavages in 14 established and 6 emerging democracies using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems datasets. The results show that the social cleavages in the emerging democracies are similar to those of the established democracies, with religion and class predominating. Parties appear to be less effective in representing social cleavages in the emerging than in the established democracies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Keywords: Democratic consolidation, party systems, post-communism, social cleavages.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: White, Professor Stephen
• Authors: White, S., and McAllister, I.
• Subjects: J Political Science > JA Political science (General); J Political Science > JF Political institutions (General)
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Party Politics
• ISSN: 1354-0688
• ISSN (Online): 1460-3683
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2007 Sage
• First Published: First published in Party Politics 13(2):197-216
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher