Postcommunist successor parties returned to power through the incumbent democrats’ governing failures

Evidence

These opportunities for the successor parties’ electoral victories in the second round of free elections were the result of two developments. First, the new democratic governments were committed to change, but often unable to implement it effectively. Their enthusiasm for reform did not necessarily translate into expertise. The first elected governments after 1989 consisted of representatives of the earlier opposition to the communist regimes: the successors to Solidarity, Public Against Violence, Civic Forum, and the Hungarian Opposition Round Table. They were committed to a democratic system, but largely inexperienced in governing. As a result, the first four years of democratic rule were often marked by divisiveness and instability. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 962

Categorization

• XREF: Direct comparative parallel to why communist successor parties in the reader’s own research found a niche — but here the threat/reversal is not manufactured, it is the incumbent’s real failure. — connects to: Parties linked to hated collapsed regimes unexpectedly regained power — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 55; Successor party resurgence combined post-1989 conditions, communist legacies, and crafted appeals — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 1197; Recently deposed authoritarian successors rarely regain power by democratic election — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 55 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Successor party resurgence combined post-1989 conditions, communist legacies, and crafted appeals #expands (0.78) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 1197