The Influence of the Particularities of the National Party Systems on the EU Accession Speed of the Candidate Countries: the case of Post-socialist States of Central, Eastern and Southern Europe

In this paper, we consider the speed of European integration of 16 candidate countries from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe through the lens of the characteristics of their party systems. The primary data analysis method we use is Qualitative comparative analysis of multiple values (QCAmv), which allows us to identify the combination of factors that led to the slowing down or increasing of the speed of European integration in each of the cases under consideration. In the block devoted to the results of analysis, we demonstrate the primacy of such factors as fragmentation of the party system, ideological polarization and polarization on the European agenda above all other factors included in the analysis. Another important finding of our study is that the "classical" theories of European integration are not adequate to explain the political reality of the post-socialist countries, and should be replaced by new theoretical models that take into account the activity of political actors of the party coalitions’ level.