Entrepreneurial Parties: Danger to Liberal Democracy in East-Central Europe?

Abstract

The phenomenon of political entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial / business-firm parties is far from being new. The seminal Hopkin-Paolucci´s study is almost two decades old and the empirical evidence it has been based on is even stringer. Since this founding period of the studies on political entrepreneurs, conceptual, exploratory and comparative studies are booming in the context of both Western and East-Central European research of the party politics. One of the still underdeveloped field of the study is the impact of successful entrepreneurial parties on the quality of democracy. This issue has two dimension: the political effect of governmental participation of such parties, and the ideas these parties have about democracy. The presented panel wants to discuss both of these dimension based on empirical evidence of predominantly East-Central European countries and therewith to contribute to the current debates on the quality of democracy and elements of democratic backsliding. The members of the panel will discuss examples from the Czech Republic, Poland, or Baltic Countries and compare them in order to assess the visions these parties have on democracy and its modernization in terms of their ideological profile and issues debated in their party manifestos. Furthermore, particular papers will evaluate the practical contribution of the political entrepreneurs in terms of accelerator or impediment of quality of democratic politics in East-Central Europe addressing the basic research question of the panel: To what extent are the political entrepreneurs a tool for enhancing or undermining the liberal democracy in Europe.