While party system volatility remains high in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), less is known about whether electoral competition has become programmatically structured. This paper examines the extent and evolution of programmatic differentiation across four CEE countries, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, and Romania, between the 1990s and 2023. Relying on quantitative content analysis of newspaper coverage during parliamentary election campaigns, it investigates system-level trends in programmatic competition, issue salience, and politicization, as well as party-level patterns of issue salience and entrepreneurship. The results show that programmatic competition is substantial and relatively stable over time, but varies across countries depending on historical legacies and regime trajectories. Cultural conflicts have gained importance, particularly under democratic backsliding. While established parties exhibit routinized and distinct programmatic profiles, new parties expand the issue agenda by politicizing less emphasized conflicts. The findings underscore the continued relevance of cleavage theory for understanding party competition in post-communist Europe.
AdamsJBernardiLEzrowL, et al. (2019) A problem with empirical studies of party policy shifts: alternative measures of party shifts are uncorrelated. European Journal of Political Research58(4): 1234–1244.
2.
AgarinTNakaiR (2021) Political dejection in a divided society: a challenge for Latvia’s democracy?Journal of Baltic Studies52(4): 521–546.
3.
BartoliniSMairP (1990) Cleavage systems. In: Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates 1885–1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 212–249.
4.
BernhardM (2021) Democratic backsliding in Poland and Hungary. Slavic Review80(3): 585–607.
5.
BinevBS (2023) Post-communist junctures, the left, and illiberalism: theory with evidence from central and eastern Europe. Comparative Political Studies56(4): 465–502.
6.
BorbáthE (2019) Romania - polity contestation and the resilience of mainstream parties. In: HutterSKriesiH (eds) European Party Politics in Times of Crises. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 214–235.
7.
BorbáthE (2021) Two faces of party system stability: programmatic change and party replacement. Party Politics27(5): 996–1008.
8.
BornschierS (2010) Cleavage Politics and the Populist Right: The New Cultural Conflict in Western Europe. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
9.
BustikovaL (2019) Extreme Reactions: Radical Right Mobilization in Eastern Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Casal BértoaFEnyediZ (2021) Party System Closure: Party Alliances, Government Alternatives, and Democracy in Europe. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
11.
ComanE (2017) Dimensions of political conflict in west and east: an application of vote scaling to 22 European parliaments. Party Politics23(3): 248–261.
12.
De VriesCHoboltS (2020) Political Entrepreneurs the Rise of Challenger Parties in Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
13.
Deegan-KrauseK (2013) Full and partial cleavages. In: BerglundSEkmanJDeegan-KrauseK, et al. (eds) The Handbook of Political Change in Eastern Europe. 3rd edition. Elgar original reference. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub. Ltd, 35–50.
14.
DöringHHuberCManowP, et al. (2023) Parliaments and Governments Database (ParlGov): Information on Parties, Elections and Cabinets in Established Democracies. Development Version.
15.
EmanueleVChiaramonteASoareS (2020) Does the iron curtain still exist? The convergence in electoral volatility between eastern and Western Europe. Government and Opposition55(2): 308–326.
16.
EnglerS (2023) Centrist Anti-Establishment Parties and Their Struggle for Survival. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
EnyediZ (2005) The role of agency in cleavage formation. European Journal of Political Research44(5): 697–720.
18.
EnyediZ (2024) Illiberal conservatism, civilisationalist ethnocentrism, and paternalist populism in Orbán’s Hungary. Contemporary Politics30(4): 494–511.
19.
EnyediZDeegan-KrauseK (2018) Voters and parties in Eastern Europe. In: FaganAKopeckýP (eds) Routledge Handbook of East European Politics. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 169–183.
20.
GesslerTHutterS (2025) Measuring party positions and issue salience with mass media and manifesto data: comparing poldem with manifesto project data. Party Politics Forthcoming.
21.
GesslerTWunschN (2025) A new regime divide? Democratic backsliding, attitudes towards democracy and affective polarization. European Journal of Political Research Online First.
22.
HaughtonTDeegan-KrauseK (2020) The New Party Challenge: Changing Cycles of Party Birth and Death in Central Europe and Beyond. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
23.
HelblingMTreschA (2011) Measuring party positions and issue salience from media coverage: discussing and cross-validating new indicators. Electoral Studies30(1): 174–183.
24.
HloušekVKopečekL (2017) Entrepreneurial parties: a basic conceptual framework. Czech Journal of Political Science22: 83–91.
25.
HoboltSDe VriesC (2015) Issue entrepreneurship and multiparty competition. Comparative Political Studies48(9): 1159–1185.
26.
HoogheLMarksG (2018) Cleavage theory meets Europe’s crises: lipset, rokkan, and the transnational cleavage. Journal of European Public Policy25(1): 109–135.
27.
HutterSKriesiH (2019) European Party Politics in Times of Crises. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
28.
IbenskasRSikkA (2017) Patterns of party change in central and eastern Europe, 1990-2015. Party Politics23(1): 43–54.
29.
InnesA (2014) The political economy of state capture in central Europe. Journal of Communication and Media Studies: Journal of Common Market Studies52(1): 88–104.
30.
IusmenI (2015) EU leverage and democratic backsliding in central and eastern Europe: the case of Romania. Journal of Communication and Media Studies: Journal of Common Market Studies53(3): 593–608.
31.
JollySBakkerRHoogheL, et al. (2022) Chapel Hill expert survey trend file, 1999-2019. Electoral Studies75: 102420.
32.
KitscheltH (1992) The formation of party systems in east central Europe. Politics & Society20(1): 7–50.
33.
KitscheltH (1995) Formation of party cleavages in post-communist democracies: theoretical propositions. Party Politics1(4): 447–472.
34.
KitscheltH (2000) Linkages between citizens and politicians in democratic polities. Comparative Political Studies33(6-7): 845–879.
35.
KitscheltHMansfeldovaZMarkowskiR, et al. (1999) Post-Communist Party Systems: Competition, Representation, and Inter-party Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
KriesiHGrandeELachatR, et al. (2008) West European Politics in the Age of Globalization. New York: Cambridge University Press.
37.
KriesiHGrandeEHutterS, et al. (2020). Poldem-national election campaign dataset, version 1. Version 1.
38.
LaruelleM (2022) Illiberalism: a conceptual introduction. East European Politics38(2): 303–327.
39.
LehmannPFranzmannSBurstT, et al. (2023). The Manifesto Data Collection. Manifesto Project (MRG/CMP/MARPOR). Version 2023a. Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. Göttingen: Institut für Demokratieforschung (IfDem).
40.
LittonK (2015) Party novelty: conceptualization and measurement of party change. Party Politics21(5): 712–725.
41.
LupuN (2016) Party Brands in Crisis: Partisanship, Brand Dilution, and the Breakdown of Political Parties in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
42.
MarksGHoogheLNelsonM, et al. (2006) Party competition and European integration in the east and west: different structure, same causality. Comparative Political Studies39(2): 155–175.
43.
MechkovaVLührmannALindbergSI (2017) How much democratic backsliding?Journal of Democracy28(4): 162–169.
44.
MerzN (2017). The Manifesto-Media Link: How Mass Media Mediate Manifesto Messages. Berlin: An der Kultur-, Sozial-und Bildungswissenschaftlichen Fakultat der Humboldt-Universitat.
45.
OffeC (1991) Capitalism by democratic design? Democratic theory facing the triple transformation in east central Europe. Social Research58(4): 865–892.
46.
OstD (2005) The Defeat of Solidarity: Anger and Politics in Postcommunist Europe. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press.
47.
Pop-ElechesG (2010) Throwing out the bums: protest voting and unorthodox parties after communism. World Politics62(2): 221–260.
48.
RobertsAL (2010) The Quality of Democracy in Eastern Europe: Public Preferences and Policy Reforms. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
49.
RobertsKM (2014) Changing Course in Latin America: Party Systems in the Neoliberal Era. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
50.
RohrschneiderRWhitefieldS (2009) Understanding cleavages in party systems: issue position and issue salience in 13 post-communist democracies. Comparative Political Studies42(2): 280–313.
51.
RohrschneiderRWhitefieldS (2012) The Strain of Representation: How Parties Represent Diverse Voters in Western and Eastern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
52.
RovnyJ (2014) Communism, federalism, and ethnic minorities: explaining party competition patterns in eastern Europe. World Politics66(4): 669–708.
53.
RovnyJ (2023) Antidote to backsliding: ethnic politics and democratic resilience. American Political Science Review Online First.
54.
RovnyJEdwardsEE (2012) Struggle over dimensionality: party competition in Western and Eastern Europe. East European Politics & Societies: And Cultures26(1): 56–74.
55.
RovnyJPolkJ (2017) Stepping in the same river twice: stability amidst change in eastern European party competition. European Journal of Political Research56(1): 188–198.
56.
SikkA (2005) How unstable? Volatility and the genuinely new parties in eastern Europe. European Journal of Political Research44(3): 391–412.
57.
SikkAKökerP (2023) Party People: Candidates and Party Evolution. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
58.
StokesDE (1963) Spatial models of party competition. American Political Science Review57(2): 368–377.
59.
TavitsM (2008) Policy positions, issue importance, and party competition in new democracies. Comparative Political Studies41(1): 48–72.
60.
TavitsMLetkiN (2009) When left is right: party ideology and policy in post-communist Europe. American Political Science Review103(4): 555–569.
61.
WangCBorbáthEAltiparmakisA (2025) Electoral mobilisation in turbulent times. Party Politics Forthcoming.
62.
WineroitherDMSeeberGUH (2018) Three worlds of representation: a linkage-based typology of parties in western and eastern Europe. East European Politics & Societies: And Cultures32(3): 493–517.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
