From Bonn to third-wave democracies: transnational diffusion of the constructive vote of no-confidence

In this article, I investigate the transnational diffusion of the constructive vote of no-confidence (CVNC) in four post-communist third-wave democracies: Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, and Albania. Through comparative historical analysis, I examine how and why this distinctive feature of rationalized parliamentarism, originally pioneered in postwar Germany, was transplanted into different political contexts during moments of democratic transition. Drawing on constitutional texts and other primary and secondary sources, I aim to trace the institutional pathways through which the CVNC was introduced, highlighting both adaptive and learning logics of diffusion. My analysis reveals that while each country followed a distinct trajectory, their adoption of the CVNC reflected a shared ambition to engineer stable and predictable government-parliament interactions. Across all four cases, the CVNC emerged as a strategic response to real or anticipated institutional fragility during democratization. Illuminating for the first time the diffusion and adaptation of CVNC in post-authoritarian settings, my objective is to contribute to the scientific examination of institutional design, government-parliament relations, and democratization, as well as to generate further scrutiny and attention on CVNC.