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NUOVI CONFLITTI E NUOVI SISTEMI PARTITICI ALL'EST. VERSO UN MODELLO ESPLICATIVO
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2018
Introduzione
I processi di transizione alla democrazia assumono la forma di «ondate» (Huntington 1991) che investono più paesi o aree in differenti momenti di questo secolo. Pur nella varietà delle traiettorie, un aspetto accomuna queste trasformazioni: la costruzione della democrazia significa in primo luogo nascita (o rinascita) dei partiti politici, come principali agenzie di mobilitazione che prendono parte in prima persona ai nuovi processi elettorali, che puntano a gestire direttamente il potere politico e che avranno poi un ruolo determinante nella fase di consolidamento democratico.
Summary
Following the demise of Communist regimes in 1989, a lot of political parties reemerged in Eastern Europe and began to articulate their action in order to take part of the subsequent first parliamentary elections. When parties and party systems emerge out of a democratic transition which takes place in a vast area including many States, at least two crucial «classical» questions are at stake. A first question concerns the main cleavages and oppositions which favour and condition the formation of parties. A second connected question is whether and how the new party systems will change and evolve from the first (founding) democratic elections to the subsequent ones.
The essay aims at analysing and discussing the two questions. In this field Rokkan's theory occupies a particularly important place. With regards to the Central and Eastern European cases, the main question is whether new conflicts have emerged and to what extent they can represent the breeding ground for new parties and party systems.
In the transition processes from Communist regimes three main conflicts seem to prevail: 1) a conflict between democratic reformers and pro-Communist (or former Communist) conservatives has risen during the «round-table» negotiations, the formation of «umbrella organizations» and the more or less plebiscitarian national founding elections; 2) a cleavage between «anti-market» and «pro-market» groups (overlapping or replacing the former) is based upon the conflict between the social groups having resources and capabilities convertible into advantages in capitalist market society and those social groups whose socio-economic status is dramatically undercut by the economic transition; 3) a last group of cleavages concerns the national conflicts: nationalism has gained ground since 1990 and the role played by regionally based parties is increasing. Now nationalism represents potentially the most explosive cleavage.
The final section of the essay is devoted to explain the high level of instability showed by all Eastern European party sistems after the first post-communist elections.
- Type
- Saggi
- Information
- Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , August 1994 , pp. 203 - 235
- Copyright
- Copyright © Societ Italiana di Scienza Politica
References
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