Party survival hinges on internal actions, not external transition pressures
Evidence
How, then, did the parties regenerate? This book argues that the parties’ regeneration depends less on the vicissitudes of the transition and its economic consequences, or even on the democratic party competition faced by the communist successors, than it does on the parties’ own actions. The overwhelming pressures of the democratic transition that began in 1989 provided both an impetus and an opportunity to change within the parties. The regime collapse opened up the political opportunity structure – formal structures of the political system opened up, elite alignments became unstable, and popular cleavages were made manifest (Tarrow 1994, McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald 1996). The parties could take advantage of these openings – remaking their appeals, behavior, and personnel. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 59
Categorization
- XREF: Supports the reader’s framing that endogenous party/organizational capacity rather than structural opportunity explains divergent trajectories. — connects to: Discredited ancien regime parties can survive collapse and win power through regeneration — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 46; The same forces shaped both transition character and party regeneration chances — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 334; Party successors could buy regeneration time by manufacturing an internal federal enemy — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 343 (+6 more)
Broader Connections
- Understanding party leadership change requires internal history, not just external pressure
#corroborates(0.90) - Post-communist party success depended on internal organization, not nostalgia or economic decline
#corroborates(0.85) — John T. Ishiyama, Party Organization and the Political…, 81 - Communist successor parties post-1989 offer a natural experiment in how organization shapes political survival.
#exemplifies(0.75) — John T. Ishiyama, Party Organization and the Political…, 98