European Party Federations and Alliances of National Parties in Central and Eastern Europe

The enlargement of the European Union to post-communist democracies has led to the interest among scholars on the effect of the EU on parties and party systems in these countries. This literature suggests that one of the channels of Europarties’ influence is the formation of alliances and/or mergers between ideologically close parties. Such party cooperation decreases party system fragmentation and instability, and consequently may have important consequences for democracy. Building on the existing theoretical and case study literature, the present study provides a comparative quantitative analysis of how Europarties affected the patterns of party cooperation through party alliances and mergers in 11 Central and Eastern European states. Specifically, the research examines whether Europarties have been successful in facilitating the cooperation between ideologically close national parties. Furthermore, the study also draws on the rational-choice and sociological institutionalist models of Europeanization, as well as the literature on electoral coalitions and mergers, for deriving a number of hypotheses on when the influence of Europarties is the most powerful.