Communist Legacy and Post-Communist Political Participation

• In Event: Political Participation and Policy Making in China

Abstract

This study explores the effect of institutional penetration of communism on post-communist political participation in Central and Eastern Europe, with a specific focus on the mediating role of citizens’ resistance toward left-authoritarianism. Relying on data from the citizenship module of the 2014 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) in nine post-communist democracies, our dual statistical tests reveal a consistent association between greater institutional penetration of communism and higher levels of mass movement participation, while observing less engagement in non-party formal organizational activities. Moreover, we find that a greater institutional penetration of communism facilitates citizens’ resistance toward left-authoritarianism after a democratic transition, subsequently resulting in higher engagement in both mass movement and formal organizational involvement. These findings not only demonstrate the variation of communist legacy effects across post-communist countries, but also present a compelling possibility that citizens’ preference for a highly centralized authority might act as a hindrance to increasing the overall participation rate in post-communist societies.

Author

• Lumin Fang, China Agricultural University