Searching for the Right Organization: Ideology and Party Structure in East-Central Europe

The article examines four centre—right parties in East-Central Europe in order to assess the impact of ideology on party organization and revisit the thesis of organizational weakness in the region. The data collected indicate that, together with electoral success, inherited resources and national c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Party politics 2008-07, Vol.14 (4), p.455-477
Main Authors: Enyedi, Zsolt, Linek, Lukáš
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collectivism
Communism
Conservatism
Czech Republic
Elections
Embeddedness
Europe
Hungary
Ideologies
Ideology
Institutional change
Leadership
Left Wing Politics
Organizational Structure
Party leadership
Party organization
Political Parties
Political science
Politics
Post-communist societies
Postcommunist Societies
Right-wing parties
Strength
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:The article examines four centre—right parties in East-Central Europe in order to assess the impact of ideology on party organization and revisit the thesis of organizational weakness in the region. The data collected indicate that, together with electoral success, inherited resources and national context, ideology does indeed shape the style of organization. Centre—right parties, as opposed to leftist parties, tend to be less bureaucratized, have fewer staff members, a simpler structure, more individualized leadership and the `party-in-public-office' tends also to have a more elevated role. Parties that have more individualistic ideologies tends also to have `lighter' organization and weaker embeddedness, while parties subscribing to a more collectivist and corporatist type of conservatism have developed more complex party organization and rely more heavily on affiliate organizations. Analysis of temporal changes uncovers a degree of organizational vitality that is surprising given that the literature on both centre—right and on post-communist politics points towards organizational weakness.
ISSN:1354-0688
1460-3683
DOI:10.1177/1354068808090255