The Party That Never Was: The Rise and Fall of the Solidarity Citizens' Committees in Poland
The Party That Never Was: The Rise and Fall of the Solidarity Citizens' Committees in Poland

Summary/Abstract: There is no stable liberal democracy without an institutionalized party system. In the first few years following the collapse of authoritarian rule, many-though not all-young democracies in southern Europe and Latin America made significant strides in the process of party building and institutionalization. After an initial period of oversupply of new political groups, the process of elimination and coalescence led to the emergence of larger-scale political organizations. Patterns of party competition began to show some regularity. The major parties acquired, or reacquired, deeper roots in society: linkages developed between parties, citizens, and organized interests. Parties became leading actors in determining access to power. [...]

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