Suffrage Reform as Coup d’État

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Retallack
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Class Voting

In the period 1894 to 1902 Saxons demonstrated that the expansion of voting rights could be slowed and actually reversed. This chapter shows how right-wing politicians, statesmen, municipal councilors, and others used a perceived crisis following political assassinations in mid-1894 to refocus middle-class fears on the “threat” of socialism. At the national level, calls for a coup d’état against the Reichstag dovetailed with less dramatic calls to action against Social Democracy. When these appeals yielded meager results, Saxons responded by passing a reform of their Landtag’s suffrage in 1896: it replaced a relatively equitable system with unequal three-class voting. Socialists disappeared from the Landtag, and the Reichstag elections of 1898 were unexciting. In the period 1898–1902 Saxon Conservatism reached the zenith of its power. But Social Democratic outrage over “suffrage robbery” had already planted the seeds of a political reversal.

Social democracy and the populist challenge

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
René Cuperus
Keyword(s):  
Social Democracy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
People First ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

This chapter explores how European social democracy is threatened to be undermined and overrun by radical left-wing competitors and right-wing populist opponents. The pan-European rise of right-wing populism has had far-reaching consequences. First of all, the political and public agenda has shifted from a socioeconomic perspective to a cultural perspective. Right-wing populism is ‘culturalising’ all political issues, and is characterised by a nativist focus on putting its ‘own people first’. Second, right-wing populism portrays and demonises social democracy as forming the elite ‘which betrays ordinary people’. It also depicts social democratic parties as being simply parties for migrants. By doing so, right-wing populists deliberately seek to distance traditional social democratic voters from social democratic parties. Third, the rise of right-wing populism is increasing opportunities for right-wing or Conservative governments.

scholarly journals Olof Palme: One Life, Many Readings

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Quirico
Keyword(s):  
Social Democracy ◽  
Violent Death ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Success Story ◽  
National History ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social

The analysis of Olof Palme’s politics and of his legacy in Swedish Social Democracy has been somewhat “frozen” due to two uncommon circumstances. Firstly, there has been his violent death, which makes it uneasy for commentators to express any detached judgement. Secondly, there has been a kind of sin of omission; that is to say, in looking at his figure, right-wing as well as left-wing politicians and intellectuals have recalled the man – whose biography is undoubtedly a success story – rather than discussing his contribution to national history and to the Social Democratic movement.

Amin and Obote, 1965–69

Idi Amin ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 125-162
Author(s):  
Mark Leopold
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
The North ◽  
Ideological Differences ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Radical Left

This chapter details how, from 1965, for the rest of the decade, Idi Amin's career depended largely on one factor, his relationship with Milton Obote. As the army became more of a Ugandan national force and less an arm of colonial control, the largely uneducated Kakwa officer had to learn quickly that his job was now a much more complex and very political one. To survive and thrive in the fast-changing post-independence world, he had to use all the manipulative management skills he had learned in the King's African Rifles (KAR), while also developing new abilities to adapt to developments. Ugandan politics in this era was extremely complex. Broadly speaking, political divisions ran through a range of different factors. Those of particular importance included: (1) ethnicity, especially the north–south divide; (2) class-based distinctions, particularly a struggle between the old tribal aristocracies built around the southern monarchies, and a new rising middle class; and (3) religious divides. There were also more shifting, but real, ideological differences — with left- and right-wing views aligning only roughly with class position, and an increasing divide between a centrist social democracy and a more radical left, which mapped onto the wider international background of the Cold War.

The Politics of Banking and Social Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aled Davies
Keyword(s):  
Banking System ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Political Demand

This chapter concerns the politics of managing the domestic banking system in post-war Britain. It examines the pressures brought to bear on the post-war settlement in banking during the 1960s and 1970s—in particular, the growth of new credit creating institutions and the political demand for more competition between banks. This undermined the social democratic model for managing credit established since the war. The chapter focuses in particular on how the Labour Party attempted in the 1970s to produce a banking system that was competitive, efficient, and able to channel credit to the struggling industrial economy.

The Emergence of a Hybrid Public Sphere in Myanmar: Implications for Democratisation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Carl Middleton ◽  
Tay Zar Myo Win
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
National Level ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Hybrid Governance

Abstract Myanmar was under a military government for almost six decades, during which time the state maintained an ‘authoritarian public sphere’ that limited independent civil society, mass media and the population's access to information. In 2010, Myanmar held flawed elections that installed a semi-civilian government and established a hybrid governance regime, within which civil, political and media freedoms expanded while the military's influence remained significant. In this paper, we examine ‘hybrid governance at work’ in the ‘hybrid public sphere’, that holds in tension elements of an authoritarian and democratic public sphere. The boundaries of these spheres are demarcated through legal means, including the 2008 military-created Constitution, associated judicial and administrative state structures and the actions of civil society and community movements toward political, military and bureaucratic elite actors. We develop our analysis first through an assessment of Myanmar's political transition at the national level and, then, in an empirical case of subnational politics in Dawei City regarding the planning of the electricity supply. We suggest that the hybrid public sphere enables discourses—associated with authoritarian popularist politics in Myanmar—that build legitimacy amongst the majority while limiting the circulation of critical discourses of marginalized groups and others challenging government policies. We conclude that for substantive democracy to deepen in Myanmar, civil society and media must actively reinforce the opportunity to produce and circulate critical discourse while also facilitating inclusive debates and consolidating legislated civil, political and media freedoms. On 1 February 2021, shortly after this article was finalized, a military coup d’état detained elected leaders and contracted the post-2010 hybrid public sphere, including constraining access to information via control of the internet and mass media and severely limiting civil and political rights.

Limited Influence? The Role of the Party of European Socialists in Shaping Social Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Holmes ◽  
Simon Lightfoot
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
European Norm ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

AbstractThis article looks at the role of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in its attempts to shape social democratic parties in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) towards a West European norm. It discusses how existing views in the academic literature on the role of transnational parties are inadequate. We argue that the PES did not play a key role in encouraging the establishment and development of parties in the CEE states from the 2004 enlargement in the early stages of accession. We contend that the overall influence of party federations has been limited, and that these limitations were as much in evidence before enlargement took place as they were afterwards.

The Myth of Middle Class Moderation: African Lessons for South Africa

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Pauline H. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Underlying Assumption ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
The Government

An underlying assumption that ocurs in both conventional wisdom and in many academic analyses of political behavior is the notion that a critical linkage exists between political change and economic performance. The assumption is that economic growth is either a precondition or a correlate of democracy and political stability. Little empirical research has been done to test the validity of this widely held assumption as it applies to multicultural societies. Moreover, in the African environment, the assumption seems to operate only in selected cases or in ways that defy categorization. Jerry Rawlings, for example, said he led his first coup d’etat in Ghana because the government was going to devalue the currency; he led his second coup, in part, because the next government was going to devalue; and, during his own tenure in office, he has presided over a 1000 percent devaluation.

West European Social Democracy in the Early 21st Century

2010 ◽  
pp. 39-55
Author(s):  
N. Rabotyazhev
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Suitable Model ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
British Labour ◽  
West European

The article is devoted to the evolution of the West European social democracy in the late 20th and early 21st century. The author analyses the causes of the social democracy crisis in 1980-90s and considers its attempts to meet the challenges of globalization and the “new economy”. Modernization of the British Labour Party under Tony Blair's leadership and updating of the German Social Democratic Party initiated by Gerhard Schröder are thoroughly examined in the article. Political and ideological processes ongoing in such parties as the French Socialist Party, the Dutch Labour Party, the Swedish Social Democratic Party, the Austrian Social Democratic Party are also considered. The author comes to a conclusion that the radical shift towards social liberalism took place merely in the British Labour Party. Schröder’s attempt to modernize the German Social Democratic Party turned out to be unsuccessful, while other European social democratic parties did not regard Blair’s “Third Way” as a suitable model for them.

Between ideology and pragmatism: social democracy and the economic transition in Georgia 1918-21

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Stephen Jones
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
State Building ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
External Threat ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

The Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-21) was a novel experiment in social democracy in the most unexpected time and place. Georgia was rural and mostly illiterate, and its leaders faced the complex tasks of nation and state building in conditions of external threat, internal conflict, and global economic depression. The first democratically elected social democratic government in Europe, it confronted the inevitable tensions between market principles and socialist ideals. The new government’s economic policies reflected the dilemmas and contradictions faced by all social democratic parties in a capitalist environment. The new leaders created a mixed economy, framed by social democratic goals, but driven by pragmatism. Economic pioneers, how successful were they in creating a sustainable economic system and a model for other European socialists to follow?

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