Replication Data for: Post-Communist Junctures, the Left, and Illiberalism: Theory with Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

While many post-communist European party systems have experienced the rise of anti-establishment parties, not all have been equally vulnerable to challengers attacking both cultural and economic liberalism. This article borrows insights from scholarship on Latin American politics and develops a critical juncture approach to understanding the linkages between economic liberalization and political illiberalism in 15 post-communist democracies during the 1990-2020 period. It argues that contingent political dynamics during post-communist junctures shaped ensuing legacies by conditioning the long-term programmatic positions and variable electoral performance of “traditional” leftist parties. This path-dependent process culminated in variable electoral viability of illiberal parties with incentives for ideological differentiation and organizational capacities to adopt those economic positions that were most likely to be electorally rewarded. By focusing on variable incentives, resources, and constraints, the article challenges previous scholarship, advances, and tests a novel theoretical framework based on a probabilistic approach to critical juncture analysis.

尽管诸多后共产主义（post-communist）欧洲政党体系均见证了反建制政党（anti-establishment parties）的崛起，但并非所有体系都同样容易受到同时攻击文化自由主义与经济自由主义的挑战者的冲击。本文借鉴拉美政治研究的学术成果，提出关键节点（critical juncture）分析框架，以探析1990-2020年间15个后共产主义民主国家中经济自由化与政治反自由主义之间的关联机制。本文主张，后共产主义关键节点时期的偶发性政治动态，通过塑造“传统”左翼政党的长期纲领性立场与差异化选举表现，塑造了后续的政治遗产。这一路径依赖（path-dependent）过程最终导向了反自由主义政党的差异化选举存续能力：这类政党具备意识形态分化的动机与组织能力，能够采取最有可能在选举中获得支持的经济立场。本文聚焦差异化的动机、资源与约束条件，对既有学术研究提出质疑，并推进、检验了一套基于概率性关键节点分析的全新理论框架。