Publication

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the role of political parties on democratization prospects in Ukraine and Egypt. Citing the presence of "parties of power" in the EU's eastern and southern neighborhoods (characterized by dependence on the state, an absence of ideology and linkage with specific sectoral groups), the authors believe that that these formations represent serious impediments to democratic consolidation, notably in the aforementioned countries. Describing in considerable detail the particularities of politics in these two states, the paper stresses that for democracy to take hold there, these "parties of power" must be delinked from the state and develop distinct ideological profiles, rendering them autonomous and allowing for a plurality of views to come to the fore through a competitive, representative party structure.