{"title":"Recalling Katyń: Poland, Russia, and the Interstate Politics of History","authors":"George Soroka","doi":"10.1177/0888325420983433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325420983433","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the role played by the 1940 Katyń massacre in structuring foreign relations between post-communist Poland and Russia. In so doing, it offers a theoretical model through which to understand the combative politics over history that have burgeoned in Eastern and Central Europe after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Tracing how political discourse over the massacre has evolved from the late 1980s to the present, it examines the impact of exogenous influences and changing geopolitical realities on how this event is recalled within these two states, which exhibit markedly different relationships to their shared past. Questions of regime type, relative standing within the region, and how—as well as by whom—interstate discourse over contentious historical events is initiated are all central to the model of dispute origination developed herein, as is the presence of various institutional factors, chief among them membership in the supranational European Union (EU). A shadow study of Polish–Ukrainian relations concerning history, focusing on the mass killing of ethnic Poles that took place in Volhynia and eastern Galicia in the period 1943–1945, is also undertaken in order to illuminate the significant differences in how the past has been politically activated in relations between the respective post-Soviet dyads of Poland–Russia and Poland–Ukraine.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"45 1","pages":"088832542098343"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72830161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Persistent efforts and opportune moments: women’s groups and gender quota adoption in Central and Eastern Europe","authors":"Ana Vojvodić","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1902316","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1902316","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT After the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe scholars noted that the percentage of women in CEE parliaments plummeted from previous levels, from 30% in some countries during communism to below 10%. Currently, the average percentage of women in most CEE parliaments is 27%. Gender quotas are partly responsible for this increase. I make the argument here that gender quota adoption in adopter countries has been aided by the efforts of women's networks, women politicians and other actors supportive of women's causes, recognising the effect of women's groups in a region not known for having robust women's organizing.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"61 1","pages":"659 - 680"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90691313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to the symposium on women’s political representation in Central and Eastern Europe","authors":"Anna Gwiazda","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1902317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1902317","url":null,"abstract":"This symposium explores issues concerning the political representation of women in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). More than thirty years after the fall of communism, the assessment of women’s role in democratic politics is timely and important. On the one hand, there has been growing awareness concerning women’s political representation and the need for gender equality in the context of systemic transformation, internationalisation, and Europeanisation (Bego 2015; Chiva 2017; Matland and Montgomery 2003). On the other hand, illiberalism, populism and democratic backsliding have taken hold of the region (Cianetti et al. 2018; Fagan et al. 2020; Norris and Inglehart 2019; Rupnik 2017; Vachudova 2020; Waldner and Lust 2018). However, their effect on gender equality in politics remains largely unexplored. Hence, there is a real need to update the scholarly literature with a comprehensive analysis of post-communist politics in relation to women’s political representation (Gwiazda 2019). Reviewing the changes in female representation in Central and Eastern Europe, a region which has undergone significant political, economic, and social changes in the last few decades, is crucial. Consequently, the main objective of this symposium is to reflect on these developments by addressing the following research question: To what extent are women represented in CEE politics and what explains the differences in women’s political the region?","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"1 1","pages":"593 - 597"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79952669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prime ministers in minority governments: the case of Hungary","authors":"Daniel Kovarek","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1876031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1876031","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Whereas early scholarship depicted minority cabinets as weak recent findings demonstrate how various factors contribute to effective minority governance. Nevertheless, the role of prime ministers (PMs) was largely ignored in the performance of these cabinets. The paper addresses this problem by comparing Hungary's only two minority governments in an MSSD framework. Combining a qualitative review with a quantitative analysis of voting patterns in Parliament, it argues that differences in aforementioned cabinets’ policy performance can be traced back to contrasting ideological position of PMs and subsequent ideological moderation. These findings have important implications for minority governments in majoritarian and polarised contexts.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"110 1","pages":"448 - 465"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89328327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prime ministers, presidents and ministerial selection in Lithuania","authors":"L. Pukelis, Mažvydas Jastramskis","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1873776","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1873776","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the semi-presidential system of Lithuania, a tradition to elect non-partisan presidents coexists with re-occurring conflicts between prime ministers and presidents over cabinet composition. We investigate what factors increase the probability of presidential activism in this field, i.e. when the president attempts to affect ministerial selection. We explain the outcomes of such activism by the electoral cycles and the political weakness of prime ministers and their party governments. More specifically, we argue that prime ministers are most vulnerable to presidential activism right after presidential elections and when they do not enjoy strong support in parliament. We test these hypotheses with a data set chronicling all instances of competition between the prime ministers and presidents over ministerial selection. The quantitative analysis is supplemented with qualitative insights from interviews with former cabinet members and high-level officials.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"159 1","pages":"466 - 480"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90219559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does the democratic performance really matter for regime support? Evidence from the post-communist Member States of the European Union","authors":"Thomas Karv","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1878150","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1878150","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The democratic performance is declining across a number of Central and Eastern European Member States of the European Union, this while regime support has seemingly been steadily increasing. This dual development leads to questions regarding whether the democratic performance actually matters for regime support within a region consisting of countries that are still being considered as relatively new democracies. The findings from this study shows that there is a negative connection between higher levels of democratic performance and regime support within the countries in this region during the period of 2004–2019. Nonetheless, higher levels of democratic performance are still related to higher levels of regime support across the region.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"42 1","pages":"61 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81847322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Uninformed or informed populists? The relationship between political knowledge, socio-economic status and populist attitudes in Poland","authors":"Ben Stanley, M. Cześnik","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1876676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1876676","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article uses data from the 2015 Polish parliamentary election to test the relationship between political knowledge, socio-economic status and populist attitudes. Recent scholarship has challenged the idea that populism is an unsophisticated form of politics that appeals primarily to the ill-informed and those of low social status. We find that while lower levels of political knowledge are associated with higher levels of populism, it is nevertheless ‘informed populists' who are more likely to vote for populist parties, while ‘uninformed populists' are more likely to abstain. These findings challenge the stereotype of populism as ‘politics for stupid people'.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"1 1","pages":"43 - 60"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85748011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Increasing women’s political representation in post-communism: party nudges and financial corrections in Romania","authors":"A. Iancu","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1873773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1873773","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article investigates some of the potential factors leading to increased gender balance in post-communist societies. Focusing on Romania, the study shows that, at the party level, the centralisation of the candidate selection processes, the pre-existence of women as party leaders, or the articulation of women organisations within parties did not bring about a long-term change in the recruitment routines. Conversely, the article points to the fact that minor changes in the party finance regulations succeeded to nudge parties towards gender diversity. This research is based on qualitative content analysis of electoral and party legislation and party statutes.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"15 1","pages":"598 - 616"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83824569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prime ministers and party governments in Central and Eastern Europe","authors":"F. Grotz, Marko Kukec","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1873777","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1873777","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article is the introduction to a special issue on Prime Ministers (PMs) and party governments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It argues that the political survival of PMs in post-communist democracies depends on their interrelationships with other actors in three different arenas. The first arena encompasses the linkages between PMs and their parties. In this respect, being a party leader is a major power resource for PMs to retain their office even under critical circumstances. At the heart of the second arena is the PMs’ relationship to other parliamentary parties. In this regard, the high fragmentation and fluidity of many post-communist party systems pose enormous challenges for PMs to secure constant parliamentary support. In the third arena, PMs are confronted with state presidents. Relatively strong CEE presidents, especially in semi-presidential systems, may use their constitutional powers to interfere in the political domain of PMs and thus jeopardise the stability of party governments. For each of these interrelationships, the article provides systematic evidence for eleven CEE democracies from 1990 to 2019 and situates the findings of the volume’s contributions within a broader comparative perspective.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"211 1","pages":"401 - 416"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80648362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gendered parties and gendered voters in Hungary? “Plus ça change, plus c’est pariel”","authors":"Adrienn Vajda, G. Ilonszki","doi":"10.1080/21599165.2021.1873774","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21599165.2021.1873774","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article compares parties’ candidate selection strategies and voters’ electoral response to female candidates in Hungary. The analysis covers five elections (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018) that is a period which offers broad variation in partisan, institutional, and even in systemic terms amongst the static and low level of descriptive female representation. Although parties continue to deprivilege female candidates they do it in varying manners and degrees. The article will broaden the demand aspect of the demand and supply model placing parties’ candidate selection in a complex institutional context. The article also demonstrates stability in voters’ electoral gender response, namely non-discriminatory behaviour.","PeriodicalId":46570,"journal":{"name":"East European Politics","volume":"25 1","pages":"617 - 634"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2021-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80387753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}