Centre-left will struggle to win more votes in Balkans

Subject

The state of social-democratic parties in the Western Balkans.

Significance

The centre-left space in the Western Balkans is a diverse combination of social-democratic parties -- either in government, serious contenders in upcoming snap elections or weak and fragmented in opposition. Notwithstanding the national specificities of post-communist transition and post-conflict politics, social democracy is as ideologically confused and politically vulnerable in the region as in the EU.

Impacts

• Parliamentary politics faces crises almost everywhere in the Western Balkans, 25 years after the collapse of communism.
• Parties will compete to control state resources, in conditions of polarised, often corrupt, parliamentary politics and hybrid ideologies.
• Ethnically dominated politics will not allow much space for ideological parties.