Government and minority party representation in Central and Eastern Europe

In progress
Project manager:: László Szarka
Research period:: 2010-2012

Participants:
Institue staff: Norbert Tóth, Balázs Vizi

 

OTKA research project no. K 82051 entitled “Government and Minority Party Representation in Central and Eastern Europe” examines the political and party system in four CEE countries – Slovakia, Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria – from the perspective of the ethnic minority parties with seats in the Parliaments of these countries. The research seeks answers to questions relating to the constitutional and electoral frameworks for the parliamentary representation of ethnic minority parties, the articulation and representation of interests in the Parliaments (current practice and future potential), the parties’ attitudes towards the constitutional system, party democracy and political recruitment, the career paths of politicians, and the role of minority politicians within the party systems. In the course of the project, we seek to employ methods that have been applied and fine-tuned in political science and the study of law (including constitutional law and international public law); we shall also use methods derived from comparative party system research.