Abstract This study acknowledges Kitschelt’s inspiration by understanding party linkage as a mechanism closely pertaining to the relationships of accountability and responsiveness between political parties and voters. Three key linkages – programmatic, charismatic and clientelistic – are scrutinized. The authors identify the “link-age profiles” of relevant political parties in the history of Slovak party competition and use the results of an experts’ survey (from the DALP project) as a (limited) test of the authors’ expert judgement. The study then reflects on the latest developments in political linkages in a period when anti-establishment and anti-system political parties are gaining strength. The paper concludes that clientelism as a linkage played a significantly smaller role than predicted in the 1990s, while charisma – even though we define it differently from some mainstream approaches – manifested a stronger than expected influence on party competition. Also, combinations of charismatic and programmatic linkages seem to be attractive for a number of relevant Slovak parties. Finally, programmatic competition informed Slovak politics for longer and more successfully than Kitschelt’s model would suggest.

This article reviews certain trends in popular support for political parties – especially new ones – as they manifested themselves prior to and during the 2020 parliamentary elections. It summarizes the ways in which demand for change was expressed before and during the election through the election results and the data on party supporters. It concludes that the thesis on the radicalization of new generations of party-political challenges in the Slovak polity did not hold true in 2020. The main research question regards the possibility of conceptualizing the rise of two new moderate political parties, PS/Together and For the People, as a counter-mobilization against the previous emergence of radical anti-establishment and anti-systemic challengers within the party system.

This chapter provides a detailed analysis of the content of the legislation on political parties in post-communist Slovakia. It attempts to discover the extent to which changes in the patterns of party regulation have affected party system formation and development. The chapter examines the weakly specified position of parties in Slovakia's constitutional laws. It summarizes the most important aspects of the two Slovak party laws and highlights their differences and innovations. The chapter identifies the presence – and more often the absence – of regulatory impact on the Slovak party system and focuses both on party creation, proliferation and turnover and on electoral and governmental stability. It analyzes the 1993, 2005 and 2014 laws on the basis of L. Karvonen's insight that the architecture of modern party laws involves a layered narrative referring to three different moments in the life of a political party: creation, development and extinction.

This article, a detailed analysis of the content of the legislation on political parties in postcommunist Slovakia, constitutes one part of a broad-based attempt to discover the extent to which changes in the patterns of party regulation have affected party system formation and development. In Slovakia the answer is “not much”, but the process by which this answer emerges can help explain broader patterns. Party organisational and finance regulation in Slovakia made its impact felt only in relatively minor ways at the margins of political conflict, but the rules proved in some contexts to be more than simply party-created reifications of existing practice.

European Journal of Political ResearchVolume 45, Issue 7-8 p. 1254-1259 Slovakia PETER UČEŇ, PETER UČEŇ International Republican Institute, Bratislava, SlovakiaSearch for more papers by this author PETER UČEŇ, PETER UČEŇ International Republican Institute, Bratislava, SlovakiaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 November 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00681.xCitations: 2Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume45, Issue7-8December 2006Pages 1254-1259 RelatedInformation

Populism is a dynamic phenomenon. Yet scholars studying populism in post-communist Europe have often treated their topic as static. For example, in the 1990s researchers concentrated on the idea of a politically scary marriage of populism with nationalism, without allowing for variation or complexity among individual cases. This text contends that populism in East Central Europe (ECE) should be treated as a dynamic phenomenon in which radical ideological components are becoming overshadowed by pure anti-establishment appeal. It explores ECE populism through Western-developed populism frameworks. Finally, it argues that in this context populism's strong anti-establishment posture is based on blaming the post-communist mainstream for its political and moral misconduct, rather than on the challenges inherent in the democratic transition.

European Journal of Political ResearchVolume 45, Issue 7-8 p. 1023-1034 Political data in 2005 INGRID VAN BIEZEN, INGRID VAN BIEZEN University of Birmingham, UK;Search for more papers by this authorRICHARD S. KATZ, RICHARD S. KATZ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USASearch for more papers by this author INGRID VAN BIEZEN, INGRID VAN BIEZEN University of Birmingham, UK;Search for more papers by this authorRICHARD S. KATZ, RICHARD S. KATZ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 30 November 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00653.xCitations: 11Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume45, Issue7-8December 2006Pages 1023-1034 RelatedInformation

European Journal of Political ResearchVolume 43, Issue 7-8 p. 919-926 Political data in 2003 INGRID VAN BIEZEN, INGRID VAN BIEZEN University of Birmingham, UK;Search for more papers by this authorRICHARD S. KATZ, RICHARD S. KATZ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USASearch for more papers by this author INGRID VAN BIEZEN, INGRID VAN BIEZEN University of Birmingham, UK;Search for more papers by this authorRICHARD S. KATZ, RICHARD S. KATZ Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 December 2004 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2004.00181.xCitations: 16Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume43, Issue7-8December 2004Pages 919-926 RelatedInformation