Party Politics

Continuity and Change: Adaptation Strategies of
Agrarian Parties in Scandinavia and Central Eastern Europe Compared

Termpaper by

Maximilian Spinner

Central European University Budapest
Department of Political Science

Abstract:

The persistence and the relatively strong electoral performance of peasant parties in some Central Eastern European countries appears puzzling. The paper investigates the strategies of these parties in the light of social and economic modernization. As a successful model for agrarian adaptation the Scandinavian Center parties’ move to ‘catch-all’ strategies are contrasted with the Hungarian FKGP and the Polish PSL. It becomes clear that the incentive structure for these parties in CEE transition societies is much different and therefore less conducive to this kind of adaptation. In fact, rather a rightist-populist retreat and in the Polish case the reliance on a continuously strong peasant vote in addition to seeking state resources is being pursued.

CONTENTS:

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1

3. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OFAGRARIAN PARTIES  3

4. THE ADAPTATION STRATEGIES OF THE SCANDINAVIAN AGRARIAN/CENTER PARTIES

5. STRATEGIES OF THE POST-COMMUNIST AGRARIAN PARTIES IN POLAND AND HUNGARY  9

6. CONCLUSION  19

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 21

1. Introduction

The party systems of Scandinavia and Central Eastern Europe (CEE) share an interesting pattern – the existence of significant agrarian parties. These parties played a decisive role in shaping the political landscape of the early and mid-20th century in the two regions. Nowadays they are still present in Scandinavia and re-emerged after the collapse of Communism in CEE. This paper is going to compare the strategies that secured the survival and the successful reorientation of peasant parties in Scandinavia and their re-emergence and re-establishment in CEE. A contrasting perspective is intended to shed light on the way environmental change influences incentive structures for strategic adaptation and how specific organizational features interact with these strategies. At first the theoretical framework using Katz and Mair’s approach of different party models and Panebianco’s framework concerning the impact of organizational structures on party change with Kirchheimer’s concept of the ‘catch-all party’ as an aspired strategic aim will be briefly introduced.¹ A qualitative analysis of the adaptation strategies of the Scandinavian Agrarian/Centre parties with a particular focus on Sweden will be undertaken and then the findings compared to the cases of the biggest and most successful CEE agrarian parties, the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) and the Hungarian Smallholders’ Party (FKGP).² The findings might contribute to an improved picture of both party development in CEE and party adaptation strategies in general. Linking CEE and Scandinavia in a comparative perspective also redraws some historical parallels between the two regions with regards to party development and avoids a theoretical approach stressing the ‘uniqueness’ of CEE. 2. The Theoretical Framework Political parties are embedded in socio-economic structures. They interact and mediate between the spheres of society and political decision-makers. Since socio-economic relations are constantly undergoing change also parties need to adapt to these changes. According to Katz and Mair particular historical periods are characterized by specific dominant party types.³ Particular patterns of change in party organization and electoral strategies therefore reflect adaptation to long and medium-term evolutionary environmental changes. One example is the development of right-wing cadre parties into catch-all parties in the wake of extended suffrage and working class mobilization. But party strategies in turn also influence the societal environment, e.g. the left-wing mass party movements’ success in establishing universal suffrage or the emergence of signs for cartel-like penetrations of the state by parties. These considerations are also relevant for Agrarian parties, which are not explicitly covered by Katz and Mair. It needs to be investigated how Agrarian parties adapted to environmental change, in particular to the threat of losing their core electorate in the light of growing industrialization and urbanization.

In fact, changes in the structural environment are both constraining in reducing electoral returns for particular strategies, and enabling in opening up new opportunities to attract voters. Newly emerging cleavages and political issues offer incentives to adopt new positions. Also the institutional environment is important. In particular in CEE where the ‘rules of the game’ are relatively new or still being changed, institutional arrangements such as electoral systems, thresholds for entering parliament, state party financing but also the institutions of economic transformation play an essential role in determining the success of party performance. At the same time the parties themselves strongly shape these rules in the transition societies.

Yet, not only the environment matters for party adaptation. Also the internal organizational configuration of a party is a decisive factor. Although organizational features are to a large extent a dependent variable of its positioning in society, as Katz and Mair point out, party organization can also be an intervening variable influencing the success of adaptation strategies of a given party.⁴ As Panebianco shows certain organizational features of a given party have a crucial impact on its ability to adapt to external changes, in particular a high degree of institutionalization impedes rapid changes in party strategy.⁵ Therefore also genetic features of the parties under scrutiny have to be considered in the analysis of its adaptation strategies.

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1 R Katz / P Mair, Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy – The Emergence of the Cartel Party, Party Politics, Vol. 1, No.1, 1995, pp. 5-27; A Panebianco, Political Parties: Organization and Power, CUP, 1988; O Kirchheimer, The Catch-All Party, in: P Mair (ed.), The West European Party System, OUP, 1990, pp. 50-60.

2 Other less prominent peasant parties such as in Romania and Bulgaria will not be covered here.

3 R Katz / P Mair, Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy – The Emergence of the Cartel Party, Party Politics, Vol. 1, No.1, 1995, pp. 5-27.

4 R Katz / P Mair, Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy – The Emergence of the Cartel Party, Party Politics, Vol. 1, No.1, 1995, pp. 5-27.

5 A Panebianco, Political Parties: Organization and Power, CUP, 1988, pp. 8-30.