Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe - Does EU Membership Matter?

What impact has EU membership had on party politics in Central and Eastern Europe? Although there is an emerging body of literature on the Europeanization of political parties, most of these accounts focus exclusively on Western Europe. Drawing on a range of qualitative and quantitative approaches including detailed studies of party programmes and manifestos, analysis of the media, semi-structured interviews and expert surveys, this collection provides not just conceptually informed, but also empirically rooted analyses of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe during the first four years of EU membership. In particular, the contributions assess the impact of EU membership on parties’ internal balance of power, the use of European issues in inter-party competition, the role of transnational party federations and the broader role the EU plays in party politics. The findings not only shed light on the impact of EU membership on party organization and programmes, they also inform broader debates concerning the dynamics, fluidity and motors of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe. This book was based on a special issue of Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics.

1. Introduction: Driver, Conductor or Fellow Passenger? EU Membership and Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe Tim Haughton 2. The dog that did not bark? Assessing the impact of the EU on party politics in Hungary Agnes Batory 3. When in doubt, (re-)turn to domestic politics? The (non-) impact of the EU on party politics in Poland Aleks Szczerbiak and Monika Bil 4. Force Mineure? The Effects of the EU on Party Politics in a Small Country: The Case of Estonia Allan Sikk 5. The European Union: A Joker or Just an Ordinary Playing Card for Slovenian Political Parties? Alenka Krašovec and Damjan Lajh 6. Europeanization of Political Parties and the Party System in the Czech Republic Vít Hloušek and Pavel Pšeja 7. A Tool in the Toolbox: Assessing the Impact of EU Membership on Party Politics in Slovakia Tim Haughton and Marek Rybář 8. The Europeanization of Political Parties in Central and Eastern Europe? The Impact of EU Entry on Issue Stances, Salience and Programmatic Coherence Stephen Whitefield and Robert Rohrschneider