Party formation process and the 1998 elections in Hungary: Defeat as promoter of change for the HSP

East European Politics and Societies

Volumn 14, Issue 2, 2000, Pages 288-314

  Ágh, Attila ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0034379362     PISSN: 08883254     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0888325400014002004     Document Type: Review

References (37)

1. Kenneth Janda, Robert Harmel, Christine Edens, and Patricia Goff, "Changes in Party Identity: Evidence from Party Manifestos," Party Politics 1:2 (1995): 171-96.
2. I have described the emergence of the ECE and Balkan party systems recently in Attila Ágh, The Politics of Central Europe (London: Sage, 1998); id., Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1998). have dealt with the HSP developments in "Partial Consolidation of the East Central European Parties: The Case of the Hungarian Socialist Party," Party Politics 1:4 (1995):; and in "Defeat and Success as Promoters of Party Change: The Hungarian Socialist Party after Two Abrupt Changes," Party Politics 3:3 (1997). For the structure of the HSP social support see table 3, and for the social structure of the HSP membership, see table 4. I have provided the same tables in the papers cited above.
3. I have described the emergence of the ECE and Balkan party systems recently in Attila Ágh, The Politics of Central Europe (London: Sage, 1998); id., Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1998). have dealt with the HSP developments in "Partial Consolidation of the East Central European Parties: The Case of the Hungarian Socialist Party," Party Politics 1:4 (1995):; and in "Defeat and Success as Promoters of Party Change: The Hungarian Socialist Party after Two Abrupt Changes," Party Politics 3:3 (1997). For the structure of the HSP social support see table 3, and for the social structure of the HSP membership, see table 4. I have provided the same tables in the papers cited above.
4. I have described the emergence of the ECE and Balkan party systems recently in Attila Ágh, The Politics of Central Europe (London: Sage, 1998); id., Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1998). have dealt with the HSP developments in "Partial Consolidation of the East Central European Parties: The Case of the Hungarian Socialist Party," Party Politics 1:4 (1995):; and in "Defeat and Success as Promoters of Party Change: The Hungarian Socialist Party after Two Abrupt Changes," Party Politics 3:3 (1997). For the structure of the HSP social support see table 3, and for the social structure of the HSP membership, see table 4. I have provided the same tables in the papers cited above.
5. I have described the emergence of the ECE and Balkan party systems recently in Attila Ágh, The Politics of Central Europe (London: Sage, 1998); id., Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1998). have dealt with the HSP developments in "Partial Consolidation of the East Central European Parties: The Case of the Hungarian Socialist Party," Party Politics 1:4 (1995):; and in "Defeat and Success as Promoters of Party Change: The Hungarian Socialist Party after Two Abrupt Changes," Party Politics 3:3 (1997). For the structure of the HSP social support see table 3, and for the social structure of the HSP membership, see table 4. I have provided the same tables in the papers cited above.
6. Jack Bielesiak, "Substance and Process in the Development of Party Systems in East Central Europe," Communist and Post-Communist Studies 30:1 (1997): 35.
7. Attila Ágh, "Partial Consolidation."
8. Michael Waller, "Adaptation of the former Communist Parties of East-Central Europe: A Case of Social-democratization," Party Politics 1:4 (1995): 483; Mitchell Orenstein, "A Genealogy of Communist Successor Parties in East-Central Europe and the Determinants of their Success," East European Politics and Societies 12:3 (1998): 473; John Ishiyama, "The Communist Successor Parties and Party Organizational Development in Post-Communist Politics," Political Research Quarterly 52:1 (1999): 106. I am rather skeptical about Orenstein's statement that trade-union contacts were important for the HSP success in the 1994 elections or for its success in general, since the trade unions could provide neither local network nor organized masses for the HSP.
9. Michael Waller, "Adaptation of the former Communist Parties of East-Central Europe: A Case of Social-democratization," Party Politics 1:4 (1995): 483; Mitchell Orenstein, "A Genealogy of Communist Successor Parties in East-Central Europe and the Determinants of their Success," East European Politics and Societies 12:3 (1998): 473; John Ishiyama, "The Communist Successor Parties and Party Organizational Development in Post-Communist Politics," Political Research Quarterly 52:1 (1999): 106. I am rather skeptical about Orenstein's statement that trade-union contacts were important for the HSP success in the 1994 elections or for its success in general, since the trade unions could provide neither local network nor organized masses for the HSP.
10. Michael Waller, "Adaptation of the former Communist Parties of East-Central Europe: A Case of Social-democratization," Party Politics 1:4 (1995): 483; Mitchell Orenstein, "A Genealogy of Communist Successor Parties in East-Central Europe and the Determinants of their Success," East European Politics and Societies 12:3 (1998): 473; John Ishiyama, "The Communist Successor Parties and Party Organizational Development in Post-Communist Politics," Political Research Quarterly 52:1 (1999): 106. I am rather skeptical about Orenstein's statement that trade-union contacts were important for the HSP success in the 1994 elections or for its success in general, since the trade unions could provide neither local network nor organized masses for the HSP.
11. Daniel Ziblatt, "The Adaptation of Ex-Communist Parties to Post-Communist East Central Europe: A Comparative Study of the East German and Hungarian Ex-Communist Parties," Communist and Post-Communist Studies 31:2 (1998).
12. Radoslaw Markowski, "Political Parties and Ideological Spaces in East Central Europe," Communist and Post-Communist Studies 30:3 (1997): 122.
13. Ziblatt, "Adaptation," 120.
14. Markowski, "Ideological Spaces," 225.
15. Patrick O'Neil, Revolution from Within: The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and the Collapse of Communism (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1998); see also his argument quoted in Attila Ágh, "Defeat and Success," 430.
16. Patrick O'Neil, Revolution from Within: The Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and the Collapse of Communism (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1998); see also his argument quoted in Attila Ágh, "Defeat and Success," 430.
17. Bielesiak, "Substance and Process," 29. In my former papers, quoted by Bielesiak, I developed a process approach but in my latest papers and books (The Politics of Central Europe and Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans), because of the early consolidation, I have also advocated a combined approach, represented by Bielesiak. In this paper, I have minimized the references to my former papers, and I have referred to the most relevant current papers of other authors to indicate the consensus on the major issues concerning the ECE reformed leftist parties.
18. Bielesiak, "Substance and Process," 29. In my former papers, quoted by Bielesiak, I developed a process approach but in my latest papers and books (The Politics of Central Europe and Emerging Democracies in East Central Europe and the Balkans), because of the early consolidation, I have also advocated a combined approach, represented by Bielesiak. In this paper, I have minimized the references to my former papers, and I have referred to the most relevant current papers of other authors to indicate the consensus on the major issues concerning the ECE reformed leftist parties.
19. Ishiyama, "Successor Parties," 106.
20. Paul Lewis, "Introduction and Theoretical Overview," in Paul Lewis, ed., Party Structure and Organization in East-Central Europe (Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 1996), 7.
21. Lewis, "Overview," 10; with a reference to Otto Kirchheimer.
22. Ibid., 11-12.
23. Ziblatt, "Adaptation," 134.
24. Lewis, "Overview," 16-17.
25. Ishiyama, "Successor Parties," 106-7.
26. Attila Ágh and Sándor Kurtán, "The Parliamentary Elections in 1998: A Comparative History of the Hungarian Elections in the Nineties," Budapest Papers on Democratic Transition, no. 232.
27. O'Neil, Revolution from Within.
28. Michael Waller, "Adaption of the Former Communist Parties of East-Central Europe: A Case of Social-Democratization," Party Politics 1:4 (1995): 473.
29. John Ishiyama, "Strange Bedfellows: Explaining Political Cooperation between Communist Successor Parties and Nationalists in Eastern Europe," Nations and Nationalism 4:1 (1998): 75.
30. John Ishiyama, "The Sickle or the Rose? Previous Regime Types and the Evolution of the Ex-Communist Parties in Post-Communist Politics," Comparative Political Studies 30:3 (1997): 321.
31. Ishiyama, "Strange Bedfellows," 65.
32. The working-class vote played some role in the landslide victory of the HSP in 1994, but with the austerity measures of the new government, the working-class support behind the HSP declined radically and had not returned significantly. If the HSP again becomes a working-class-based party, the major issue is what it can do with one-fourth of the votes alone. On 27 July 1998, two platforms in the HSP issued a declaration demanding that their trade-unionist leader be given a top leadership position, namely the post of the parliamentary faction leader. It is clear that it has been good to have a small conservative leftist party like the Workers party in Hungary, since it has collected the nostalgic Communists instead of burdening the HSP with them. At the same time, the HSP has to arrange its relationship with the centrist forces as well, including its former ally, the AFD.
33. Theodore J. Lowi, "Four Systems of Policy, Politics and Choice," Public Administration Reviews 32:4 (1972).
34. I have described this process of nomenclatura turning to clientura in Politics of Central Europe, 69-77; and I have also given a general overview of the East Central European and Balkan parties, ibid., 101-39.
35. I have described this process of nomenclatura turning to clientura in Politics of Central Europe, 69-77; and I have also given a general overview of the East Central European and Balkan parties, ibid., 101-39.
36. Csilla Machos, "Stabilitas es megujulas a partvezetosegekben, 1988-1998," [Stability and renewal in the presideny of the parties between 1988 and 1998], Decadebook of Hungary (1988-98) (Budapest: Hungarian Centre for Democracy Studies, 1998).
37. Ziblatt, "Adaptation," 134.