THE HUNGARIAN PARTY SYSTEM AND PARTY THEORY IN THE TRANSITION OF CENTRAL-EUROPE

The emerging East Central European multiparty systems share many specific features of democratic transition yet cannot be characterized or even described by the usual typologies. The rise of party systems in Southern Europe, however, suggests some parallels for an historical and theoretical approach. This paper first analyses the stages of emergence of the Hungarian party system in a Central European context and then draws some theoretical conclusions for party theory in general.