Party Politics in the Western Balkans by Emerson Peter. Stojarová Věra

Author:Emerson, Peter.,Stojarová, Věra.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Conclusion and outlook

Eight years after 5 October 2000, the Serbian party system is still in a process of consolidation. The main motor of European integration, the Democratic Party (DS), has returned to power as the largest political party and dominant force of the pro-reform wing, similar to the situation after 2000. However, following a re-shuffle of the party landscape, with the entry of the new pro-European parties G17+ and LDP, with the move of the DSS back to its nationalist roots, and with the rise of the Socialist Party, the sharp division into old regime parties and pro-European reformers has been broken up. The leadership of the nationalist part of the spectrum, after the split of the Serbian Radicals and the programmatic change of the DSS, will be determined in upcoming elections.

Unlike other countries in post-communist Europe, the emergence of a new, centre-oriented anti-establishment party has so far been hindered not least through the use of administrative measures against the leader of one such party, the Serbian oligarch Bogoljub Karić. This, however, does not eliminate the electoral potential for other new parties to campaign on issues of state mismanagement and governmental failure. The strong polarisation and pronounced programmatic differences of Serbian parties along four major political cleavages – old regime versus reform parties, authoritarian–nationalist versus civic–liberal values, foreign policy, and social–economic issues – might make it more difficult than in other post-communist countries for catch-all parties to attract a wide electorate with a fuzzy centrist programme.

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