Les partis minoritaires, des partis « comme les autres » ? Les expériences du MDL en Bulgarie et de l'UDMR en Roumanie
Year: 2007
Type: article
Abstract: Minority parties - "parties like any other"? The MRF in Bulgaria and the DUHR in Romania In the past decade, many a study has tried to explain the emergence and durability of so-called ethnic political parties in pluralistic post-Communist societies. Most of these writings have ascribed minority party electoral victories to a supposedly captive ethnic base. But are ethnic parties an exception? The analysis of the trajectories of the Movement of Rights and Freedom (MRF) in Bulgaria and the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (DUHR) suggests a different conclusion. For one thing, identities are not always or systematically tapped as a political resource. The relative importance of identity politics and the changing definitions of identities advocated by these parties depend on: competition among minority political entrepreneurs, the form given to "ethnic cleavages" in the political arena and the state of relations between "generalist" parties and minority formations. For another thing, the MRF's and DUHR's electoral successes after 1989 should also be set down both to the organization of political competition around the opposition between anti- and ex-Communists (and the resulting alliances) and, also, to the ability of the MRF and DUHR to provide some minority members with prospects for unprecedented social mobility.
Authors: Antonela Capelle-Pogácean, Nadège Ragaru
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2327718355