Party Families Conception and Its Problematic Aplication on the Central European Models - Exemple of Slovenian Party System

Political science in Central and Eastern Europe was estabilished only after the fall of communist regimes at the end of the 1980s. Therefore, it was primarily based on theories and conceptions coming from Western Europe and Northern America. In the research of political parties and party systems in post-communist Europe firstly the descriptive method was used, later - since the half of the 1990s - theoretical conceptions, in the first place the concept of cleavages and party families, were employed. However, as the forms of political parties in Western Europe differ from those in Eastern Europe, the application of these conceptions in the context of Central and Eastern Europe could be quite difficult. Western political scientists have been trying to use their concepts in culturally different arenas. Accordingly, this could result in ethnocentric approaches to Central and Eastern European political parties and party systems. The conception of party families could be singled out as an example of a futile application of Western political theories in post-communist Europe. In the article problems related to the application of the party families theory are demonstrated on the basis of Republic Slovenia.