This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Google Scholar Articles by Enyedi, Z. Articles by Linek, L. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Searching for the Right Organization

Ideology and Party Structure in East-Central Europe

Department of Political Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary and European University Institute, Florence, Italy, enyedizs{at}ceu.hu

Luká Linek

Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Jilská 1, Prague, 110 00, Czech Republic, lukas.linek{at}soc.cas.cz

The article examines four centre—right parties in East-Central Europe in order to assess the impact of ideology on party organization and revisit the thesis of organizational weakness in the region. The data collected indicate that, together with electoral success, inherited resources and national context, ideology does indeed shape the style of organization. Centre—right parties, as opposed to leftist parties, tend to be less bureaucratized, have fewer staff members, a simpler structure, more individualized leadership and the `party-in-public-office' tends also to have a more elevated role. Parties that have more individualistic ideologies tends also to have `lighter' organization and weaker embeddedness, while parties subscribing to a more collectivist and corporatist type of conservatism have developed more complex party organization and rely more heavily on affiliate organizations. Analysis of temporal changes uncovers a degree of organizational vitality that is surprising given that the literature on both centre—right and on post-communist politics points towards organizational weakness.

Key Words: Czech Republic • Hungary • ideology • party organization • post-communism

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?