Political parties after communism - Kostelecky

After 40 years of one-party rule under Communist regimes, how were the countries of East-Central Europe to get back to the business of competitive politics in 1989? One key factor was the resumption of party politics, and this book reviews the post-Communist development of political parties in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary. Tomas Kostelecky describes party history up to 1947 - some earlier parties were resurrected in 1989 - and then covers the Communist and post-Communist periods. Historical, cultural, and social factors in party development are all taken into account in this synthetic work.;The core of the work studies three crucial factors: historical and cultural factors, social cleavages, and electoral rules. In general Kostelecky sees a move toward more organized political parties, greater rational choice and self-interest in voters' decisions, and better structured, stabler politics. In other words, East-Central European politics is transforming itself from simply a reaction against the politics of the preceding regime to a situation in which diverse groups in society will find their interests institutionalized in diverse political parties, not unlike the politics of Western Europe.