CONSOLIDATION OF PARTY SYSTEMS IN CONTEXT OF TRANSFORMATION OF ELECTORAL SPACE AND POLITICAL REGIMES On Example of Balkan Region Countries

The article investigates problems of party systems consolidation in the post-communist states that are clearly orientated towards United Europe on the example of the four Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia). The paper consists of three parts. The first section discusses theoretical aspects of party systems consolidation and methods for operationalization of the level of consolidation. The second section provides an overall overview of the evolution of party systems in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Serbia. The third section is devoted to the analysis of these systems within the current electoral cycle with its distinguishing feature being an increased level of political instability (for the studied sample). This circumstance is all the more important that characteristics of a party system, including the degree of its consolidation, become most visible under the conditions of a crisis.