Attila Ágh, "Partial Consolidation of the East-Central European Parties: The Case of the Hungarian Socialist Party," Party Politics , 1 (October, 1995), 491-514.

First Paragraph:
There have been a great number of analyses of the east-central European parties and party systems, but the individual parties have very rarely been analysed in this general framework. This paper follows my attempts at characterizing the major types of the individual parties in east-central Europe with the concrete case of the Hungarian Socialist Party. This is,of course, only a partial consolidation of a partial system - that is, that of some larger parties and not yet a complete consolidation of a set of new democracies - but it can be important step towards the consolidation of democracy and the transformation of leftist parties is an essential part of this consolidation.

Figures and Tables:
Table A1. HSP membership: Locality and gender
Table A2. HSP membership: Education
Table A3. HSP membership: Age groups
Table A4. HSP functional organizations
Table A5. Social structure of HSP voters before the 1994 election
Table A6. Party preferences in Hungary, February 1994 (%)
Table A7. Social Structure of HSP voters after the 1994 elections
Table A8. Party preferences in Hungary in December 1994 (%)
Table A9. Voters' views on market economy (%)

Last Paragraph:
This paper has illustrated the difficulties of the party-formation process in east-central Europe but also its first results in relative consolidation in the case of the HSP. I think that this analysis has proved also that the historical period of the absorption of social democracy by the communist parties has come to an end and a genuine social democracy has re-emerged in this region. The new historical period, however, has brought about new difficulties in the Hungarian party system and particularly for the HSP as a governing party. This calls for a new type of analysis.