The Genesis of Party Systems: Paths Towards Stability and Instability in the Baltic States

Tõnis Saarts

Europe-Asia Studies, 2025, vol. 77, issue 5, 725-749

Abstract: The Estonian party system has become one of the most consolidated and stable in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), while the Latvian system is still on the opposite pole. The article seeks to explain the striking contrast between those otherwise similar countries. The study elaborates the ‘party-system genesis’ approach, employing the historical institutionalist framework and its major concepts, such as path dependence, critical junctures and reproduction mechanisms. The results demonstrate that the patterns of party competition in the first party system, born in the early 1990s, set in motion the path-dependent developments which, through the relevant reproduction mechanisms, resulted in virtuous or vicious cycles leading either to gradual party-system stabilisation (Estonia) or persistent instability (Latvia).

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2025.2508725

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