Lin, Yuxiang (2025). How to explain party endurance in fluid party systems? A case study of the Bulgarian political party GERB. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.
![[img]](http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Lin2025PhD.pdf
Text - Accepted Version Available under License All rights reserved. Download (2MB) |
Abstract
This thesis seeks to explain the exceptional and ongoing endurance of the Bulgarian political party GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) over the past two decades. The doctoral research is based on more than one year’s fieldwork (from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022, and from 23 March 2023 to 13 April 2023) in Bulgaria during which time over a hundred interviews were conducted with relevant political figures across the country, following visits to party offices and attendance at party events. The study aims to address the wider issue of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe and why some parties are short lived while others endure. It is argued that the endurance of a new party is not only determined by the critical juncture of parliamentary breakthrough but is reinforced through key decision-making over its fate. Specifically, the continuous decision-making of building and maintaining subnational linkages through formal structures and informal activism tends to lead to political party endurance. Crucially, the national appeals and subnational problem-solving parties engage in are the glue that keeps subnational branches continuously aligned with national headquarters. The driving force for endurance, the subnational problem-solving, is
characterized by the distribution of patronage resources from national to subnational structures. Clientelism, in terms of non-programmatic problem-solving networks and interpersonal trust building networks, helps a new party maintain subnational branches and secure electoral
support for endurance. In conclusion, the thesis contributes to party endurance studies through incorporating the subnational dimension into the existing national dimension of party politics.
| Type of Work: | Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Award Type: | Doctorates > Ph.D. | |||||||||
| Supervisor(s): |
|
|||||||||
| Licence: | All rights reserved | |||||||||
| College/Faculty: | Colleges > College of Social Sciences | |||||||||
| School or Department: | School of Government and Society, Department of Political Science and International Studies | |||||||||
| Funders: | Other | |||||||||
| Other Funders: | University of Birmingham School of Government's Scholarship | |||||||||
| Subjects: | J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) | |||||||||
| URI: | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/16070 |
orcid.org/0000-0001-8285-6950Actions
 |
Request a Correction |
 |
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year