TY - JOUR
T1 - Populist Polarization and Party System Institutionalization
T2 - The Role of Party Politics in De-Democratization
AU - Enyedi, Zsolt
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2016/7/3
Y1 - 2016/7/3
N2 - The institutionalization of party politics is supposed to contribute to the consolidation of democracies. Analysis of Hungary’s democratic backsliding shows, however, that this is not necessarily the case. This article demonstrates that the combination of populist party strategies, polarized party relations, and the inertia of the party system constitutes a significant challenge (here labeled “populist polarization”) to the consolidation of liberal democracy. After considering the applicability of structuralist and transitologist frameworks to the political dynamics in Hungary, the article differentiates the notion of populist polarization from similar concepts and argues that populist polarization in the region poses a more acute danger to high-quality democracy than the much-feared under-institutionalized and fragmented configurations of party politics.
AB - The institutionalization of party politics is supposed to contribute to the consolidation of democracies. Analysis of Hungary’s democratic backsliding shows, however, that this is not necessarily the case. This article demonstrates that the combination of populist party strategies, polarized party relations, and the inertia of the party system constitutes a significant challenge (here labeled “populist polarization”) to the consolidation of liberal democracy. After considering the applicability of structuralist and transitologist frameworks to the political dynamics in Hungary, the article differentiates the notion of populist polarization from similar concepts and argues that populist polarization in the region poses a more acute danger to high-quality democracy than the much-feared under-institutionalized and fragmented configurations of party politics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84965046268&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10758216.2015.1113883
DO - 10.1080/10758216.2015.1113883
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84965046268
SN - 1075-8216
VL - 63
SP - 210
EP - 220
JO - Problems of Post-Communism
JF - Problems of Post-Communism
IS - 4
ER -