Party Leaders in Eastern Europe

This book explores the relationship between the personality of political leaders, its interaction with top leadership positions and its impact on the respective parties' electoral performance and organization. It focuses on the less-investigated region of Eastern Europe and includes chapters on Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Each chapter compares and contrasts two party leaders with at least two terms in office between 1991 and 2019. The book applies systematically a common theoretical and methodological framework across leaders and countries, thus providing rich empirical evidence.

Proposes a new analytical framework that is free from context-sensitive elements Contributes to the burgeoning literature on the personalization of politics Provides a new focus on Eastern European countries in a widely Western Europe-centric literature

Autorentext

Sergiu Gherghina is Lecturer in Comparative Politics at the Department of Politics, University of Glasgow, UK. His research interests lie in party politics, legislative and voting behavior, democratization, and the use of direct democracy.

Zusammenfassung

"The book is consistent and well-written throughout. ... Gherghina and his colleagues have produced a useful comparative work aimed to inspire more research and innovation in party and political leadership research, and not only in Eastern Europe. ... the book can serve incumbent and aspiring political professionals, too. For all these reasons, Party Leaders in Eastern Europe is a very welcome and highly timely contribution to the scrutiny of our political leaders." (Máté Mátyás, Europe-Asia Studies, August 20, 2021)

Inhalt

1. Party Leaders in Eastern Europe: Traits, Behaviors and Consequences (Sergiu Gherghina).- 2. 'Deviating' Party Leadership Strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Comparison of Milorad Dodik and Dragan ovi (Jasmin Hasi).- 3. The Fireman's Ball in Bulgaria? A comparison between Sergey Stanishev and Boyko Borisov (Petar Bankov).- 4. Party Leaders in Croatia: Comparing Ivo Sanader and Zoran Milanovi (Marko Kukec).- 5. From Ideology to interest driven politics: Václav Klaus, Andrej Babi and two eras of party leadership in the Czech Republic (Tomá Cirhan and Petr Kopecký).- 6. Different Styles, Similar Paths: Party Leadership in Georgia (Nanuli Silagadze).- 7. Strong personalities' impact on Hungarian party politics: Viktor Orbán and Gábor Vona (Rudolf Metz and Dániel Oross).- 8. A comparison of two Polish Party Leaders: Jarosaw Kaczyski and Donald Tusk (Ben Stanley).- 9. Party Leaders in Romania: Designated Successors or Tactical Players? (Clara Volintiru and Sergiu Gherghina).- 10. Rising expectations and centralising power: Party Leaders in Serbia (Duan Spasojevi).- 11. The Rise and Sustainability of Party Leaders in Slovakia: Robert Fico and Mikulá Dzurinda (Miroslav Nemok and Peter Spá).- 12. Conclusion: An Aggregate Comparison of Party Leaders in Eastern Europe (Sergiu Gherghina).