Party System Institutionalization and Second-Generation Economic Reform in the New EU Member-States: The Advantages of Underdevelopment?

O'Dwyer, Conor and Kovalčík, Branislav. (2005) Party System Institutionalization and Second-Generation Economic Reform in the New EU Member-States: The Advantages of Underdevelopment?. In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 2005 (9th), March 31-April 2, 2005, pages 35, Austin, Texas.

Abstract

This paper investigates the conditions under which state reformers in the EU's newest member states can undertake radical free-market reforms. Does party system institutionalization, which is widely regarded as enhancing government stability, yield a political environment more conducive to reform? Or, as this paper will suggest, are there advantages to under-institutionalization? By making it difficult to create a coherent and credible opposition against reform, party system under-institutionalization may actually insulate state reformers from social and political pressures, allowing them to undertake painful reforms hard to envision in a more consolidated democracy. We address this question by comparing recent economic reform attempts in four Central and Eastern European countries: Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Each country has participated to varying degrees in a second generation of radical reforms designed to take advantage of the new economic opportunities offered by an expanded European Union, particularly deregulatory and tax-related reforms.