Citizen Comprehension of the Left-Right Ideological Continuum in Central and Eastern European Post-Communist Countries

Abstract

The paper analyses the common one-dimensional simplifi cation of the complex socio-political reality conventionally recognised as the left-right continuum in Central and Eastern European post-communist countries. Due to the intense European integrating processes of this post-communist region the investigation of the potentially distinct general understanding of one of the most universally applied tools for distinguishing political actors holds even greater importance. According to Kitschelt’s fi ve-dimensional theoretical framework of the post-communist context and by employing data mining techniques, the paper examines core standpoints that defi ne one’s position on the left-right axis in the investigated region. The paper lends additional weight to the intuitive initial assumption of our research that has been frequently discussed in the relevant literature and somewhat confi rms a person’s attitude to the previous regime as the most important divide in the political space of Central and Eastern European post-communist countries.