East-West convergence or divergence? : The (possible) influence of the European People’s Party on affiliated parties in Central and Eastern Europe 1990-2014

This paper analyses the (possible) ideological influence of Europarties on their member parties in Central and Eastern Europe. The specific focus of the study is the Christian democratic European People’s Party (EPP) and the main theoretical point of departure is the theoretical framework for Europarty cooperation, developed by Poguntke and von dem Berge. The analysis is based on elections manifesto data from 1990 to 2015. The aim is to provide an overview on possible trends of convergence (or divergence) between the Western and Eastern EPP-affiliated parties and to evaluate the extent of influence that the EPP has exerted on Christian democratic and conservative parties in Central and Eastern Europe. The analysis is based on a mean-value comparison of the West European member parties and the affiliated parties from post-communist countries when it comes to Left-Right positions and issue specific positions. Furthermore the analysis is complemented with in-depth analysis of specific cases. Finally the relevance of party size is evaluated in relation to ideological convergence and Europarty influence