Power to the executive! the changing executive–legislative relations in eastern Europe

Eastern Europe's new democracies adopted different executive and legislative rules and organisations, which are based on a mix of inherited, imported and domestically developed arrangements. These institutional arrangements appear, at least in some countries, far from stable. However, this variation notwithstanding, there is a trend towards a changing balance of power between executive leadership (and agencies) and their respective legislatures across the region. This article first looks at the early transition years in Eastern Europe and explores the sources of legislative dominance over political executive. It then goes on to chart the changing balance of power in the post-transition settings. It is argued that the partial stabilisation of political parties and party systems, together with the institutional reforms of the core executive and the enlargement of the EU, have eventually led to a marked increase in the control exercised by political executives over parliaments in the region.