Field:
    Comparative Politics (Eastern Europe and Latin America)

Dissertation Title:
    The Party is Dead, Long Live the Party! Successor Party Adaptation to Democracy

Committee:
    Barbara Geddes, Chair, Michael F. Thies, Daniel Treisman, and Ivan Berend

Date of Completion:
    June 2008 (expected)

Contact Information:
    Tatiana Petrova Rizova
    UCLA Political Science Department
    4289 Bunche Hall
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1472
    Phone: 310-825-4331
    Fax: 310-825-0778

Curriculum Vitae:
    Download PDF Version

Dissertation Summary:
    I analyze the effects of political institutions (executive and electoral structure), authoritarian legacies (degree of political repression and economic conditions), and party tactics (party name change, legislative and presidential candidate selection, ideological adaptation) on the electoral success of formerly hegemonic parties in 28 newly fledged democracies. Combining statistical analysis on 28 countries (160 cases) and a comparative analysis of the development trajectories of four parties (Paraguayan Colorado Party, Mexican PRI, Hungarian Socialist Party, and Bulgarian Socialist Party), I find that institutional factors and party tactics are relatively more important in influencing party electoral performance and organizational adaptation than authoritarian legacies. Evidence from parliamentary elections in Lithuania and Hungary suggests that their ex-communist parties have performed well because their leaders have decentralized candidate selection and tend to choose candidates without links to the communist dictatorship.

Research Interests:
    Democratization, Institutional Change, Political Parties, Language and Politics

Teaching Interests:
    Comparative Politics of Developing Countries, Post-communist Politics, Democratization, Comparative Political Institutions