Translating Social Cleavages into Party Systems: The Significance of New Democracies

This paper focuses on new democracies in Eastern Europe and addresses two questions about the translation of social cleavages into political oppositions. The first question concerns the translation of pre-existing cleavages. In brief, does the evolution of new party systems influence the politicization of social conflicts? The second question concerns the translation of new social cleavages, i.e. cleavages that emerge once a party system freezes. In a nutshell, can a new social cleavage be politicized? To answer these questions, the paper integrates a formalization of social cleavage theory with a game-theoretic model of a new party system. The first result is that translation of pre-existing cleavages depends on which parties survive the early rounds of electoral competition. In fact, depending on which parties survive, the axis of political conflict can shift by “90 degrees.” This implies that party systems in new democracies should be seen as important founding moments when political actors determine the long-term axes of political conflict. The second result is that once a party system freezes the politicization of a new social cleavage is difficult. It is possible, indeed, that a new social cleavage will remain politically dormant. In the context of Eastern Europe, this result suggests that political salience of class conflict is likely to be low because competitive elections and political parties predate the entrenchment of propertyowning classes.