Demokratiemodelle und Parteiensysteme in den Ländern des westlichen Balkans

Abstract

AbstractThe article explores the role of political parties in hybrid regimes in the Western Balkans. The Western Balkans have been marked by considerable variations in democracy ratings over the past decades, altogether informed by the number of government turnovers and degree of political consolidation since the 1990s. Yet all countries in the region feature deeply entrenched political parties, that draw on either their socialist legacies, anti-communist profile, or the representation of a particular demographic, as well as their control over state institutions. Rather than differentiating between democratic and authoritarian systems in the region, the article stresses their commonalities. It understands parties and their extended networks as the central gatekeepers that mediate citizens’ access to economic and societal resources, effectively reversing the accountability between parties and voters. The article categorises party systems along two axes, based on the criteria of competitiveness and consolidation. Instead of adhering to the common dichotomy of authoritarian versus democratic systems, it suggests to understand plural and dominant systems as different manifestations of the same principle. It concludes that the main difference between plural and dominant systems lies in the fact whether power is monopolised or dispersed.