Thirty Years of Political Campaigning in Central and Eastern Europe

This chapter focuses on and highlights the main events and factors which form(ed) the political and party systems of the Baltic states. The author points to the clear pro-Western orientation of all three countries, with all of them being members of NATO, the European Union, and the Eurozone, and discusses and compares the main features and characteristics of their political system (i.e. electoral system, the stability of the party system, the size of Russian minorities, and so on).

This chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Estonia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Estonia and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Latvia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Lavia and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Lithuania. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Lithuania and summarises the chapter.

The chapter sums up the main characteristics and features of campaigning in the Baltic States and its development and evolution over the last thirty years. The author points out that all changes can be perceived as evolutionary, and states that today, political parties and candidates in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania use ‘standard’ methods of campaigning, comparable to the tools and techniques used in the West.

The chapter focuses on and highlights the main events and factors which form(ed) the political and party system in the states of Central Europe. For a rather long period, all four countries have been perceived as excellent examples of a successful transition from communist regimes to liberal democracies and the unambiguous triumph of liberal democracy. Of course, there were many differences between the countries (i.e. in timing and pace of changes). However, they all became members of NATO and the European Union, and their orientation was clearly pro-Western. Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, and in the last couple of years, we have been witnessing an apparent illiberal turn and deconsolidation in Hungary (due to Orbán’s Fidesz politics), Poland (due to Kaczyński’s Law and Justice), and Czechia (due to Babiš’s ANO and some moves of President Zeman). The change is broader and more profound in Hungary and Poland, where new policies have negatively affected the judicial system, media, universities, and NGOs. In Czech Republic, however, power has remained much more diffuse and has not involved a significant change in the political regime. Slovakia struggles with a poor quality of democracy as well, but it is a longer-term issue. The future developments in the region are uncertain.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in the Czech Republic. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in the Czech Republic and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Hungary. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Hungary and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Poland. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Poland and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Slovakia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Slovakia and summarises the chapter.

The chapter sums up the main common and different characteristics and features of campaigning in the Central European countries. Although campaigning in all four countries differs in many ways (i.e. different approaches to public media or buying airtime), there are some general trends which they share. They all introduced spending limits at some point, and in all of them, a greater shift toward professionalisation occurred after the year 2000. Most of the parties use all kinds of campaign media available and focus not only on the substantive level of politics but focus a lot of their resources and attention on their leaders (and other candidates). Recently, we have been witnessing an illiberal shift in the region which is also mirrored in slightly more populist campaigns.

The chapter focuses on and highlights the main events and factors which form(ed) the political and party systems of the Balkans. The author points out the rather violent character of the transition from authoritarian to democratic regimes and the numerous ethnic conflicts which broke out in many countries of the region, hindering the smooth and peaceful development of democracy. The author further discusses the difficult geopolitical position of the area where the interests of many various actors meet and reminds us of the democratic backslide we have been witnessing recently in some of the countries.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Albania. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Albania and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Bulgaria. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Bulgaria and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Croatia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Croatia and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in North Macedonia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in North Macedonia and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Romania. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Romania and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Slovenia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Slovenia and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Serbia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Serbia and summarise the chapter.

The chapter sums up the main characteristics and features of campaigning in the Balkans and tracks the main changes in this field over the last thirty years. While in some countries the development was evolutionary and comparable with the situation of other European countries, in others, the way parties campaign was heavily impacted by ethnic and national conflicts. The author states that it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw a single conclusion about the region: It is too diverse and complicated, and it is easier to find more differences in the development than similarities among the countries.

The chapter focuses on and highlights the main events and factors which form(ed) the political and party systems of the states of Eastern Europe. The author reminds us of the general authoritarian mentality, deeply rooted in the post-Soviet region, and points out many domestic issues (i.e. corruption, oligarchs, etc.) the states must face. Together with proximity to Putin’s Russia, a consolidated authoritarian regime, and its ambitions in foreign politics, it creates an environment in which the building of a modern liberal democracies is almost impossible.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Moldova. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the authors describe the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the authors discuss the most recent campaigning trends in Moldova and summarise the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Ukraine. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Ukraine and summarises the chapter.

The chapter focuses on the development of political communication and campaigning in Russia. It starts with a brief overview of the basic characteristics of the political and party system. Then, it introduces the main laws and rules the campaigners must comply with. After that, the author describes the evolution of communication tactics and techniques used by parties and candidates to persuade voters to vote for them over the last three decades. At the end of the chapter, the author discusses the most recent campaigning trends in Russia and summarises the chapter.

The chapter sums up the main characteristics and features of campaigning in Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. Campaigning in these countries is difficult—at least for opposition parties; the electoral contest cannot be perceived as entirely free. Incumbent parties very often misuse administrative resources and influence (through the connections of oligarchs) media reporting on other candidates. However, even in such an environment, we can see clear signs of adopting new tools and techniques (i.e. use of online media of any kind). Nevertheless, most of the parties still rely on traditional and low-key techniques.

In this chapter, the authors sum up the main findings of the book and compare the development of campaigning and campaign communication in four respective regions: the Baltics, Central Europe, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe. They focus mainly on the regional context which influences the whole political and party system (thus the ‘quality’ of campaigns as well) and discuss the main trends in campaigning and the specifics of the discussed regions. It is not surprising that one of their conclusions is that the ‘quality’ of election campaigns goes up together with the quality of democracy. If a state or society faces unsettled issues and conflicts, it must deal with them, and there is little space for the evolution of communication tools and techniques. In many states, we can identify an abrupt professionalisation of campaigning. During the 1990s, parties and candidates used help from foreign political consultants due to the lack of domestic consultants, and electoral campaigns trailed the experience of Western democracies. Today, we can see this gap has disappeared or at least diminished. Of course, this is not the case of states with (frozen) conflicts from the 1990s and/or later.