ABSTRACT
Post-Communist political experience has to a major extent resulted in general distrust in parties. Post-Communist democratisation provides a test on the applicability of democracy and democratisation theory. In 'Western' political systems, parties have traditionally been the channels of such political participation and political capital exchange between citizens, their organisations and the central powers. The party system emerges on grounds that parties are considered important as means of political influence. Election data for Poland and Ukraine are used for mapping their paths in the adaptive landscape of political systems evolution. Local responsibilities and influence, if focused on personal contacts, local government and parties, will give a quite different and regional autonomy from a parliamentary and representative type of democratic belief system among local leaders. The organisational ecology as an approach, however, does lend itself to party ecology analysis of this first perspective type.
