Coping with the new party challenge: patterns of prime ministerial survival in Croatia and Slovenia

The recent surge of genuinely new parties (GNPs) in Central and Eastern Europe has made the political environment of prime ministers (PMs) more difficult, by increasing uncertainty in coalition governance. We explore the survival strategies of PMs when dealing with GNPs in government. Focusing on cases from Croatia and Slovenia, we demonstrate that patterns of PM survival do not systematically differ depending on whether the PM comes from GNPs or established parties. Rather, PMs employed various strategies of cabinet conflict management and reshuffling party governments, with effective party leadership identified as the crucial factor for PMs to remain in office.