Abstract
Party politics of the post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has recently become the subject of a growing body of scholarly literature. However, academic interest in this topic has been primarily focused on the new CEE member states, while Western Balkan countries have not been the objects of larger scholarly interest, neither as case studies nor in a comparative perspective. Furthermore, the growing literature on the Western Balkans in general has not dealt with party politics in the region as such. Therefore, this book on Party Politics in the Western Balkans, edited by Stojarova and Emerson, provides a valuable, much-needed insight into this under-researched area and contributes to a better understanding of the complex dynamics of party politics in this region. The book represents a comprehensive, well-informed and empirically rich study of party politics in the Western Balkans. It engages with a number of important issues that have decisively shaped the party systems and politics of countries in the region over the last two turbulent decades. The particular strength of this book lies in the fact that it examines Western Balkan party politics in a comparative perspective, which is an approached rarely (if ever) employed in the literature.
After a short introduction, the book begins by providing a comparative analysis of Western Balkan electoral and party systems, the legacy of communist and socialist parties, and nationalist parties as well as minority parties. In their chapter on electoral systems, Emerson and Šedo present a historical overview of these countries’ electoral arrangements and their link to the party systems. They observe that all these countries abandoned the two-round majoritarian system that was used in the first elections in the early 1990s and adopted a proportional list system. The authors, however, find it difficult to evaluate the impact of electoral systems on party systems or to draw any general conclusions, given the frequent electoral reforms, frauds, boycotts of elections and particularly the splitting of these societies and their political culture.
In the following two chapters, Stojarova gives an overview of the communist and socialist as well as nationalist parties of the Western Balkan states. Stojarova argues that all of the communist parties in the region, except in Kosovo, successfully transformed and metamorphosed into socialist or social democratic parties. However, she makes an ideological distinction between parties with a socialist ideology (Albania until the mid 1990s), social democratic parties (Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania) and nationalist social democratic parties (Serbia, Montenegro), noting that only the Socialist Party of Serbia is not a member of the Socialist International. On the other hand, Stojarova finds it particularly difficult to define and depict nationalist parties and differentiate them from conservative, right-wing parties in the setting of the outstanding nation-building and state-building issues, which hinder the application of any theory to an the un-consolidated political and party systems of the region. Finally, Bieber sheds light on the role and position of national minority parties in the party systems of this region. He argues that the largest minorities have been represented by strong parties, which have participated in governments in all countries, while the smaller ones, particularly the Roma, remain politically marginalised.
The book then goes on to describe the characteristics of the individual party systems of, and specific features of party politics in, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania. Each of the chapters provides an overview of the individual political systems and depicts the crucial developments within their party system, such as: constitutional and electoral law changes, results of parliamentary elections, and how the legacy of the authoritarian past and post-Yugoslav wars impact on the national party systems. The country specialists also: provide an examination of the party families and individual political parties and identify the main political cleavages, but offer only interim conclusions, due to the un-consolidated and unpredictable nature of these countries’ party systems. The authors regard Serbia as a unique case and therefore examine its regional parties in a separate, rather detailed chapter.
In conclusion, the book has definitely achieved the goal of depicting and analysing the peculiar characteristics of party politics in the region. This book is particularly welcome as a rare empirical account of Western Balkan party politics, given that is difficult to collect data and gain access to reliable and authoritative sources, especially with regard to nationalist political parties, which is emphasised throughout the book. It is most useful for those interested in the party politics of the CEE states, despite the fact that its format has not allowed for a more in-depth analysis of individual political parties’ trajectories or a theoretical conceptualisation of Western Balkan party politics. It is also a very good starting point if one wants to analyse the recent political history of these highly politicised societies, where political parties represent the single most important societal actors.
The only downside of the book may be the lack of a more comprehensive account of Serbian party politics after the proclamation of Kosovo’s independence and the May 2008 election, which proved to be a ‘political earthquake’ that re-shaped the party scene. These events call for a new approach to dealing with the Serbian party system, given the split within and weakening of the Serbian Radical Party, the emergence of the Serbian Progressive Party and a substantial shift of some parties’ policies primarily in relation to Serbian relations with the EU, namely: the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Democratic Party of Serbia. However, the main advantages of this book are its empirical richness and a comparative approach to studies of the party systems of the region, which provide the possibility to draw more general conclusions and deepen our knowledge of how contemporary political parties behave in the post-communist Europe.