The new party challenge. Changing cycles of party birth and death in Central Europe and beyond

Abstract

This study looks into the fi rst 30 years of European post-communist political party system development, examining the fate of new political parties in 11 post-communist countries: Bul-garia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slova-kia, and Slovenia, from 1990 to 2019. In spite of the relatively narrow geographical area covered, Haughton and Deegan-Krause o ff er a theory that is also applicable to other parts of the world. The trends. less 40% of their initial strength. parties left-right economic and national issues, which roughly re fl ects the dominant atmosphere of 1989 when they were formed.