Party roles in young democratic regimes - Challenging dynamics in a modern political environment

Abstract

The democratic situation for young regimes in Eastern Europe is one hallmarked withchallenges. This master thesis focuses on three young democracies, Hungary, Latvia andSlovenia, in order to shed on these challenges. The framework is based on the functionalisticapproach of Key (1964), dividing the realm into a micro, a meso and a macrolevel, and the dynamic approach of Easton (1990). Empirical observations from the olddemocracies are put into the framework setting, providing a reference mode. Data are ofboth a quantitative and a qualitative nature and are collected from second-hand sources.The presentation of the countries identifies a pattern of weak micro level roles, creatingweaknesses on this and the meso level. The macro levels are stronger, but the discussionshows a great distance between electorate and government, which questions the soundnessof the system. During my comparison between the younger regimes and old democracies,a universal pattern is established on the micro level. However, the consequenceson the meso and the macro level are different. Old regimes have a robust institutionalizeddemocracy with long traditions. This system is inertia for rapid changes in the democraticenvironment. The young regimes, however, do not have this advantage as their institutionalstructures are built in the modern political reality. Key's framework treats thepolitical parties as an exclusive channel for political participation. The roles maintain,however, modern political development redistributes the roles to other actors andinstitutions.