The structuring of the vote in post‐communist part systems: The Bulgarian example

Abstract

Abstract Consolidated democracies involve structured linkages between citizens and political decision making elites that are typically organized via political parties. Given the economic and institutional instability and uncertainty in post‐communist emerging democracies, it has often been maintained that a structuring of party systems in such countries is slow to emerge. This paper demonstrates with data from a 1991 pre‐election study in Bulgaria that significant aspects of political structuring may in fact appear in post‐communist polities quite early. The structuring is based on citizens' individual resources which they expect to convert into economic benefits in the economic market economy, their market location in occupational terms, their general ideological dispositions, and their evaluation of the economic performance of the incumbent governments. While the structuring of party systems may still be weaker than in Western Europe, the Bulgarian evidence casts doubt on the tabula rasa hypothesis in the study of post‐communist politics. Of course, further comparative analysis of post‐communist democracies is required to buttress our conclusions.