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The Role of Central European Political Parties in the Establishment and Operation of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group

Ladislav Cabada, p. 5–18

Abstract: Central Eastern European political parties influenced and changed the ideological debate in the European parliament after the Eastern enlargement in 2004/2007 significantly. As the most influential ideological stream with a Central Eastern European “origin” or background we could observe the so-called Eurorealist (or Eurogovernmentalist) political parties such as the Polish Right and Justice (PiS) or Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS). European Parliament deputies from these political parties joined, in 2003/2004, the internal debate in the European People’s Party about the present and future development of the European integration process and contributed to the division of the faction after the EP-elections in 2009. The aim of this article is to analyse the ideological motives for the division and establishment of a new European political party and EP group, namely, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group. Specifically, the position and influence of Central Eastern European political parties will be stressed and analysed. Within the ECR, of the 10 political parties from 9 EU-member states with the total of 56 MEPs, Central Eastern Europe is represented by 6 parties (and 2 independent MEPs) with 27 MEPs, which is almost half of the total number of all faction members. Further to this, politicians from Central Eastern Europe are leading the faction (since March 2011 Jan Zahradil /ODS/, before him Michal Kamiński /PiS/) and so taking part in the important organisational and programmatic debate on EP-leadership. We examine how far the European Conservatives and Reformists Group represents specifically the “Central Eastern European” case; what are the programmatic basics of the group and the important national political parties and how far the faction has the potential to win over any new parties or individual members from both EU-member states and also candidate states.

Keywords: European political parties, Conservative Party Family, Conservatives and Reformists Group, Euroscepticism, Eurogovernmentalism, Right and Justice, Civic Democratic Party

Turkish Foreign Policy towards the Balkans

Michaela Ježová, p. 19–37

Abstract: The paper focuses on Turkish foreign policy towards the Balkans, its activities in the region and its relations with the main political actors in the Balkans. This article analyses the factors that affect Turkish regional politics towards the Balkans. The main factors considered to be the most influential are Turkish-American relations, Turkish-Greek relations, negotiations with the EU and the Turkish minorities among the Balkans. All these factors direct Turkey towards a more active role in politics in the Balkans and have made Turkey review its foreign policy. The factor of Neo-Ottomanism is recently apparent in Turkish policy towards the Balkans and raises the question of whether Turkey is planning to continue its multilateral policy towards the Balkans and place greater emphasis on multilateral action.

Keywords: Turkey, Balkans, Turkey minorities, Neo-Ottomanism, foreign policy, European Union, NATO

Possibilities for and Limitations of Regional Party Development in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Petr Jurek, p. 38–56

Abstract: This article focuses on an analysis of regional partisanship in the Czech Republic and Slovakia from an institutionalist perspective. The main aim is to uncover and analyse the factors which promote and limit the development of regional political parties and review their presence in the Czech and Slovak cases. First, possible promoting and limiting factors behind regional political partisanship are introduced and analysed at a theoretical level. Then, the presence of regional parties in the national and regional party systems in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is evaluated. Finally, the presence or absence of important promoting and limiting factors (as identified in the first section) is reviewed in cases which have been researched.

Keywords: regional party, multilevel party system, political decentralisation, territorial cleavage, the Czech Republic, Slovakia

Reforming Local Governments in a New Democracy: Poland as a Case Study

Michal Kubát, p. 57–67

Abstract: The aim of this article is to study the development of local government in Poland after 1989. Acknowledging the fact that the evolution of Polish self-government is quite complicated and lengthy, I will study this process regarding all political, social, economic and other circumstances. I will first follow up this process and then analyze the reform of self-government as a political problem vis-à-vis the professional and political experiences of the reformers.

Keywords: local government, local politics, reform of local government, Poland

Consolidation of the Centre-Right Political Camp in Hungary (1989–2002), Nationalism and Populism

Přemysl Rosůlek, p. 68–97

Abstract: The article firstly identifies cleavages in Eastern and Central European (ECE) countries and Hungary in particular, recognising that nationalist, cultural and economy-protected interests have played a significant role in postcommunist Hungary. The text focuses on the consolidation of the centre-right camp of political parties in Hungary between 1987 and 2002 in relation to nationalism and populism. Further to this it analyses the declining tendencies, fall and final break-up of the moderate-conservative MDF and other right-wing parties such as the agrarian-conservative FKGP and the Christian-conservative KDNP as they were overshadowed by the FIDESZ’s rise after its shift to the right in 1993. The strategic, nationalistic and populist tendencies within the ideology of the FIDESZ will be analysed in the text. The major goal of the article has been to uncover the development of interrelated strategies and ideologies of the FIDESZ with nationalist-populist appeal up until 2002. Nevertheless, admitting only the partial and limited symmetrical logic of the development of the centre-right in Hungary, new trends of development after 2006 have also been mentioned at the end of the text.

Keywords: societal cleavages, nationalism, populism, centre-right, MDF, FIDESZ, Hungary

DISCUSSION 

Ladislav Jakl: Regional European Integration of the Legal Protection of Industrial Property

Tadeusz Siwek: A Political-Geographic Map of Poland before the 2011 Election

BOOK REVIEWS

Petr Jurek: The Czech Republic and the European Union