Successor parties that regenerated crowded out leftist rivals

Evidence

Second, the communist parties had to exit from power in order for consolidated democracy to develop. If they did not leave power during the transition (as in Romania, Bulgaria, and much of the former Yugoslavia), the advantages they accrued in office prevented other political parties from competing freely. Democracy in those countries was neither fully realized, nor was it particularly stable. Third, if the communist successor parties began to regenerate, they effectively monopolized the Left. As a result, no significant social democratic alternatives arose where the successor parties could preempt their moderate leftist rhetoric. In contrast, where the communist parties failed to regenerate, other parties could take up the moderate left side of the political spectrum. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 1523

Categorization

• XREF: Relevant to competitive displacement dynamics — a niche-filling parallel to ecological succession in market/organizational theory. — connects to: Post-1989 communist successors varied from full regeneration to protest parties — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 110; Communist successor parties thrived most where prior regimes suppressed independent challengers — John T. Ishiyama, Party Organization and the Political…, 23; Communist organizational legacies paradoxically enabled successor parties’ democratic survival (+3 more)
• QUESTION: Does the successor party’s self-replacement of its old enemy with a new organizing role (the moderate-left monopoly) explain its survival better than mere adaptation?

Broader Connections

• Communist successor parties thrived most where prior regimes suppressed independent challengers #corroborates (0.85) — John T. Ishiyama, Party Organization and the Political…, 23
• Communist organizational legacies paradoxically enabled successor parties’ democratic survival #expands (0.80)
• Outbidding parties poach defectors from moderate rivals to consolidate in-group unity. #corroborates (0.75) — Cathy Gormley-Heenan and Roger Macginty, Ethnic Outbidding and Party…, 54