Issue published: 30 April 2020

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Which conservatism? The identity of the Polish Law and Justice party

Adam Folvarčný and Lubomír Kopeček, p. 159–188

Abstract: This article deals with Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS), considered a conservative party in the scholarly literature. Drawing largely on party manifestos, the article demonstrates the character, the specificities and the evolution of the party’s identity and ideology. A theoretical basis for the undertaking is provided by Klaus von Beyme’s concept of party families, Arend Lijphart’s seven ideological dimensions and classic texts on conservatism. The analysis finds that the most important components in PiS’s current identity are Catholicism itself and the great emphasis the party places on the role of the Catholic Church. Also important for the party’s identity are visions of a nation conceived on ethnic principle, a strong and active state able to form society with a national spirit, anti‑communism and a negation of developments in Poland since 1989. A substantial role is played by the quasi‑religiously conceived legacy of the party’s co‑founder, LechKaczyński, who tragically perished in an aircraft crash. With its Catholic‑nationalist profile, PiS is close to the Christian current within the conservative New Right, and to Polish National Democracy in the interwar period.

Keywords: the Law and Justice party, PiS, Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński, Catholicism,nationalism, the Smolensk crash, anti‑communism

How Eurosceptic is Fidesz actually?

Tibor Hargitai, p. 189–209

Abstract: Until now there is no consensus in the academic literature as to whether Fideszis a (soft) Eurosceptic party or rather Europragmatic. By identifying the manifestations of Euroscepticism on the policy level rather than the party level, this article sheds light on the dynamics of Fidesz’s Euroscepticism. It also looks at the party strategy of Fidesz regarding its main Eurosceptic competitor Jobbik, and how this facilitated further Euroscepticism. Hungary’s vision of the EU is at odds with the vision of most member states and EU institutions, which makes Fidesz not only Eurosceptic; but there is a form of inverted soft Euroscepticism characterising Fidesz’s vision and policies towards the EU.

Keywords: party‑based Euroscepticism, EU policies, Fidesz, Jobbik, contagion, accommodative strategy Hungary

Trajectories of social democracy in the Baltic countries: choices and constraints

Liutauras Gudžinskas, p. 211–230

Abstract: This article focuses on social democratic parties in the Baltic states. The evolution of the democratic left in these countries deviates from more researched cases of social democratic parties in the Visegrád countries. Although the Lithuanian Social Democratic party (LSDP) had been developing in a similar way to its counterparts in Hungary, Poland and Czechia, its efforts to rebound after a crushing defeat in the 2016 parliamentary elections have proved to be far more successful. Meanwhile, Estonian and Latvian Social Democrats from the outset had to compete under the prevalence of right‑wing parties in highly heterogenous societies. However, despite similar initial conditions, their eventual trajectories crucially diverged. Hence, a research puzzle is double: how to explain LSDP’s deviation from similar Visegrád cases, and what are themain factors that led to the differentiation of Estonian and Latvian social democraticparties? While the current research literature tends to emphasise structural and external causes, this paper applies an organisational approach to explain the different fortunes of the democratic left in the Baltic countries as well as other East‑Central European states.

Keywords: Baltic states, social democratic parties, party presidentialisation

Cleavages in the Post-Communist Countries of Europe: A Review

Ena Redžić and Judas Everett, p. 231–258

Abstract: This review of the historical studies of cleavages and seeks to bridge the gap between the historical study of cleavages and frozen cleavage theory and the post‑communist states of Europe which have transitioned to democracy. The study identifies the literature on frozen cleavages and new divides which have arisen transition, as well as the primary actors in their political representation and issue positioning. The key literature in the development of studies on cleavages was provided by Lipset and Rokkan, but their work focused mostly on Western democracies and did not include any of the countries which were behind the iron curtain at the time. However, the transition of the post‑communist nations of Europe are now several decades old. Since the demise of communist regimes in Europe, much literature has been produced on the newly democratic regimes developing there. This article provides a broad overview of general trends in cleavage literature and more specific developments for Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The main findings were that there are frozen cleavages present in the post‑communist countries of Europe, but that much of the developments since the fall of communism seem to be unpredictable and changeable— a fact reflected by the instability and constant change in the party systems.

Keywords: social cleavages, political divisions, post‑communist transitions, comparative politics

Application of natural language processing to the electoral manifestos of social democratic parties in Central Eastern European countries

Ivan Bielik, p. 259–282

Abstract: The paper examines electoral manifestos of social democratic parties in Visegrad countries through a computer‑driven method of content analysis. The analysis focuses on a sentence sentiment (how parties talk about their priorities) and a keyword examination (what parties mostly talk about). Such analysis is not widespread in the academic literature related to Visegrad countries, where a human‑based approach to content analysis of electoral manifestos prevails. The paper, however, does not aim to nullify the findings of the previous research, but aims to improve the understanding of the content of manifestos through a different research method. The paper’s finding shave confirmed the pro‑European support of social democratic parties as well as the focus on predominantly socio‑economic issues in manifestos. Additionally, the paper explores the effect of incumbency on the manifesto’s content. The incumbency seems to have an impact on the manifesto sentiment, but not on keywords.

Keywords: natural language processing, political parties, electoral manifestos, social democracy, sentiment analysis, Visegrad countries

Polish Regional Elite Career Paths and the Impact of a Multilevel System

Tatiana Majchierkiewicz, p. 283–307

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the multilevel careers of members of Polish regional executives from the first direct election to regional parliaments in 1998 until the end of 2014. Formation of self‑government in regions is assumed to have started the process of formation of the multilevel system in Poland. Consequently, political career paths began to be diversified and to take place at more than one level. Among the factors with a critical impact on the specificity of Polish regional careers was the fact that regionalisation was preceded by local government reform (1990), and it was assumed that the local elite would become its natural recruitment base. On the one hand, the challenge to the development of the multilevel system has to be recognised. First, regional politics has undergone rather limited professionalisation (only positions in regional executives are full‑time political jobs). Second, the legacy of communist centralisation resulted in lukewarm regional decentralisation in 1998. However, one can observe a certain increased prominence of self‑government due to access to EU funds and increased financial autonomy. Positions in regional executive boards, especially asheads of regional boards [marszałkowie], have been seen as increasingly attractive career choices for professional politicians. Therefore, modification of the traditional career model is expected, e.g. some inflow of national politicians into regional boards (from positions in the legislature to executive posts).

Keywords: regional politicians, regional self‑government, regional careers, multilevel system, central government, local government

Deliberation level of constitutional debates in Georgian Parliament

Vladimeri Napetvaridze, Tina Tskhovrebadze, Tamila Niparishvili and Kristina Niparishvili, p. 309–325

Abstract: In the given paper a discourse quality index (DQI) tool, rooted to criteria elaborated by Jurgen Habermas’s in his discourse ethics, will be modified and used to assess the deliberation level of the 1995 Georgian Parliament. The methodology will accurately represent important principles of deliberation. Due to its focus on observable behavior and its detailed coding instructions, a discourse quality index can be a reliable measurement of the quality of political debates. The DQI for a parliamentary debate in the example of the 1995 parliament of Georgia will be illustrated in the given article.The parliamentarian debates concerning the adoption of the 1995 constitution of Georgia, according to its importance, will be taken as the specific case to be analysed. In the framework of the research, scholars will study and analyse over 200 pages of stenographic recordings of the parliamentary debates connected to the mentioned topic. The DQI score will be evaluated based on the analyses of the stenographic records.

Keywords: deliberation, discourse, measurement, Parliamentary debate, Georgia, Constitution

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