Centre-Right Parties in Post-Communist East-Central Europe

Sean Hanley (University College London, UK) (Edited by) , Aleks Szczerbiak (University of Sussex, UK) (Edited by)

"Seeking to fill a perceived lacuna of research on the center-right parties in Central and Eastern Europe, Szczerbiak and Hanley present six essays that comparatively explore the re-emergence of the center-right. Rather than stress historical or structural reasons for party successes, the essays focus more on such political factors such as the choices of political actors during the critical 1989-91 period, the proportionality of the electoral system, parliamentary versus semi- presidential systems, formation on the basis of territorial penetration versus territorial diffusion, and the relative ideological and social cohesion of political elites. After a discussion of post-communist Europe as whole, the studies separately analyze the center-right parties of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia." --Reference & Research Book News

• INTRODUCTION 1. Understanding the Politics of the Right in Contemporary East–Central Europe. Aleks Szczerbiak and sean Hanley. 2. Getting the Right Right: Redefining the Centre-Right in Post-Communist Europe. Sean Hanley. 3. Blue Velvet: The Rise and Decline of the New Czech Right. Sean Hanley. 4. The Polish Centre-Right’s (Last?) Best Hope: The Rise and Fall of Solidarity Electoral Action. Aleks Szczebiak. 5. Concentrated Orange: Fidesz and the Remaking of the Hungarian Centre-Right, 1994–2002. Brigid Fowler. 6. All Right Now? Explaining the Successes and Failures of the Slovak Centre-Right. Tim Haughton and Marek Rybar. 7. What Is the Right Way in East–Central Europe? Concluding Remarks. Paul G. Lewis.