The shifting class-base of social democratic parties in Western Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Achim Hildebrandt ◽  
Sebastian Jäckle
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

scholarly journals Globalization, Party Positions, and the Median Voter

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh Ward ◽  
Lawrence Ezrow ◽  
Han Dorussen
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Economic Globalization ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Party Positions ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
The Right ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

The authors argue that the effects of economic globalization on social democratic parties in Western Europe are conditional on the position of the median voter. If the median is far enough to the right, such parties will adopt business-friendly policies because they are required to win office. Only when the median is relatively far to the left will globalization constrain social democratic parties, forcing them to adopt policies further to the right in order to retain credibility. It is on this basis the authors argue that empirical studies are misspecified unless they include an interaction between measures of globalization and the position of the median. In addition to presenting formal theoretical arguments, the article reports empirical findings from fifteen countries in the period from 1973 to 2002 that support the conclusion that the effects of globalization are indeed contingent on the median. The authors find that the effects of globalization are significant for social democratic parties only in circumstances in which the median is relatively far to the left.

scholarly journals Social democratic parties and antitrust policy: evidence from Western Europe (2002–13)

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattia Guidi ◽  
Yannis Karagiannis
Keyword(s):  
Competition Policy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Antitrust Policy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Impact

This paper investigates the position of social democratic parties (SDPs) towards antitrust (competition) policy. Given their traditional state-interventionist attitude and their ties with organized labour, SDPs have long been considered as not supportive of antitrust policy. However, antitrust policy’s goal of granting consumers lower prices is beneficial to salary earners. Hence, it is not surprising that SDPs’ support for antitrust policy varies considerably. To account for such variation, this paper hypothesizes that SDPs’ support for antitrust policy depends on: (a) the influence of trade unions; (b) the electoral system; and (c) the degree of coordination of the economy. Analysing in depth 16 party manifestos of West European SDPs from 2002 to 2013, we check the plausibility of our hypotheses with seven paired comparisons. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that the influence of trade unions affects SDPs’ support for antitrust policy, while the impact of electoral system and economic coordination appears less evident.

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