Post-Communist Cleavage to be Reconsidered. Theory – History – Social Structure Cover Image

Podział postkomunistyczny do ponownego przeanalizowania. Teoria – historia – struktura społeczna
Post-Communist Cleavage to be Reconsidered. Theory – History – Social Structure

Author(s): Mirosława Grabowska
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Political Theory, Political Sciences, Governance, Sociology, Economic policy, Government/Political systems, Electoral systems, Political behavior, Political psychology, Politics and society, Methodology and research technology, Applied Sociology, Social Theory, Human Ecology, Nationalism Studies, Social Norms / Social Control, Sociology of Politics, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Wydział Socjologii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: socio-political cleavage; post-communist cleavage; political parties; electorates; social structure

Summary/Abstract: Lipset and Rokkan’s theory of cleavages as well as its interpretation and continuation of Bartolini and Mair became the basis for formulating the concept of the communist and post-communist cleavage. The concept of the post-communist cleavage gained solid empirical confirmation for the period from 1989 to the middle of the parliamentary term of 2001–2005. However, significant changes have taken place on the Polish political scene since then. The article, referring to the indicated authors, attempts to answer the question whether the post-communist cleavage in Poland lasts and if it will stay. The analysis focuses on the crisis of the post-communist side and the conflict on the post-Solidarity side of the cleavage. Empirical analyses show that as a result of the political conflict, the electorates of the two post-Solidarity parties – Civic Platform and Law and Justice – have clearly grown apart, and that the post-communist side is also divided, certainly on the level of political parties. The article describes various possibilities of a further development of the socio-political situation, but does not propose a definitive answer to the question of what to do with the post-communist division in Poland.

  • Issue Year: 14/2021
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 87-114
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Polish
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