Without an established record, a party’s past largely shapes its reputation.

Evidence

In developed democracies, party reputations serve as a shortcut for both voters and potential parliamentary partners, establishing both the credibility of party claims and their attractiveness as coalition partners. Yet the communist successors did not have an established democratic record, and so had to rebuild their reputations. In the meantime, their communist past largely determined the parties’ image and their credibility. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 73

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Parties most needing to repudiate their past are least able to do it — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 433; A party’s history is inseparable from the whole society and state around it — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 671; A party’s history is the general history of a country from one viewpoint. (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Parties most needing to repudiate their past are least able to do it #expands (0.85) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 433
• A party’s history is inseparable from the whole society and state around it #qualifies (0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 671
• A political party’s history is inseparable from its broader social group and national context. #qualifies (0.72)
• A party’s history is the general history of a country from one viewpoint. #qualifies (0.70)