Social Origin Is No Destiny : Background, Institutionalization,
and Electoral Performance of New Political Parties in Slovakia

J 2020

Social Origin Is No Destiny : Background, Institutionalization, and Electoral Performance of New Political Parties in Slovakia

RYBÁŘ, Marek and Peter SPÁČ

Basic information

Original name

Social Origin Is No Destiny : Background, Institutionalization, and Electoral Performance of New Political Parties in Slovakia

Authors

RYBÁŘ, Marek (703 Slovakia, belonging to the institution) and Peter SPÁČ (703 Slovakia, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

East European Politics and Societies : and Cultures, Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications, 2020, 0888-3254

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Článek v odborném periodiku

Field of Study

50601 Political science

Country of publisher

United States of America

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

Impact factor

Impact factor: 1.430

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14230/20:00114008

Organization unit

Faculty of Social Studies

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0888325419891222

UT WoS

000507057400001

Keywords in English

political entrepreneur parties; socially rooted parties; party institutionalization; Slovakia; elections

Abstract

V originále

The existing research suggests that socially rooted new political parties are more likely to be reelected to parliaments than parties emerging without links to preexisting social groups. It is argued that the two groups face different prospects of institutionalization: Rooted parties are more viable because their links to preexisting societal groups contribute to a higher sustainability of their electoral support and stronger institutionalization. We assess the link between the origin of parties, their level of institutionalization, and their electoral performance in the context of Slovakia, a new Eastern European democracy. We add to the existing state of knowledge in three ways. First, we empirically assess the link between the social origin of parties and their level of institutionalization. We also provide rich empirical material on the intraparty processes resulting in various levels of institutionalization. Subsequently, we assess whether rooted parties record better electoral performance than political entrepreneur parties. Second, we provide some illustration of the fact that agential factors, especially the decisions and activities related to leadership contestation, directly impact both party institutionalization and electoral performance. Third, we show that developing the links to a sociostructurally well-defined electorate may be a viable strategy to secure a parliamentary relevance for a prolonged period of time for some political entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest that parties with different levels of institutionalization are able to secure reelection, and that their electoral performance is not directly linked to their social origins.

Links

GA17-02226S, research and development project

Name: Političtí podnikatelé: Česká republika v komparativní perspektivě

Investor: Czech Science Foundation

GA18-15700S, research and development project

Name: Životopisy a výkon politiků v České republice a na Slovensku

Investor: Czech Science Foundation

Files attached

Rybar_Spac_Social_origin_is_no_destiny.pdf

Request the author's version of the file

Citovat

RYBÁŘ, Marek and Peter SPÁČ. Social Origin Is No Destiny : Background, Institutionalization, and Electoral Performance of New Political Parties in Slovakia. East European Politics and Societies : and Cultures. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2020, vol. 34, No 3, p. 637-662. ISSN 0888-3254. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0888325419891222.

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   author = {Rybář, Marek and Spáč, Peter},
   article_location = {Thousand Oaks},
   article_number = {3},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0888325419891222},
   keywords = {political entrepreneur parties; socially rooted parties; party institutionalization; Slovakia; elections},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {0888-3254},
   journal = {East European Politics and Societies : and Cultures},
   title = {Social Origin Is No Destiny : Background, Institutionalization, and Electoral Performance of New Political Parties in Slovakia},
   url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0888325419891222},
   volume = {34},
   year = {2020}
}

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PB  - SAGE Publications
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KW  - political entrepreneur parties
KW  - socially rooted parties
KW  - party institutionalization
KW  - Slovakia
KW  - elections
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L2  - https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0888325419891222
N2  - The existing research suggests that socially rooted new political parties are more likely to be reelected to parliaments than parties emerging without links to preexisting social groups. It is argued that the two groups face different prospects of institutionalization: Rooted parties are more viable because their links to preexisting societal groups contribute to a higher sustainability of their electoral support and stronger institutionalization. We assess the link between the origin of parties, their level of institutionalization, and their electoral performance in the context of Slovakia, a new Eastern European democracy. We add to the existing state of knowledge in three ways. First, we empirically assess the link between the social origin of parties and their level of institutionalization. We also provide rich empirical material on the intraparty processes resulting in various levels of institutionalization. Subsequently, we assess whether rooted parties record better electoral performance than political entrepreneur parties. Second, we provide some illustration of the fact that agential factors, especially the decisions and activities related to leadership contestation, directly impact both party institutionalization and electoral performance. Third, we show that developing the links to a sociostructurally well-defined electorate may be a viable strategy to secure a parliamentary relevance for a prolonged period of time for some political entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest that parties with different levels of institutionalization are able to secure reelection, and that their electoral performance is not directly linked to their social origins.
ER  -

RYBÁŘ, Marek and Peter SPÁČ. Social Origin Is No Destiny : Background, Institutionalization, and Electoral Performance of New Political Parties in Slovakia. \textit{East European Politics and Societies : and Cultures}. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2020, vol.~34, No~3, p.~637-662. ISSN~0888-3254. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0888325419891222.

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