Globalisation, the breaking and re-making of social democratic citizenship

2018 ◽  
pp. 111-138
Author(s):  
Hans Schattle
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Citizenship ◽  
First Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Base Of Support ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
Governing Institutions

Hans Schattle’s chapter explores the breaking of the postwar-era social contract across the ‘Western’ democracies alongside the dominance, since the Reagan-Thatcher era, of neoliberalism and its tenets of deregulation, privatization and unfettered trade. The legions of dislocated industrial workers who comprised an essential base of support for social democratic parties throughout the twentieth century have been relatively neglected by left and centre-left parties at the dawn of the twenty-first century as party leaders have shifted the balance of their strategies and public outreach toward the more affluent professional classes. Schattle also reckons with the sobering reality that exclusionary variants of right-wing populism have tapped the public resentment against the excesses and inequities of economic globalisation far more effectively than a renewed model of social democracy. He argues that empowerment, equity and engagement are three lodestars for the re-making of social democratic citizenship and illustrates how new voices and venues are emerging in pursuit of more auspiciously deployed governing institutions and public policies.

scholarly journals The Rise and Fall of Social Democracy, 1918–2017

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 928-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIACOMO BENEDETTO ◽  
SIMON HIX ◽  
NICOLA MASTROROCCO
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Election Observation ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Electoral Performance ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

We describe the electoral history of one of Europe’s most successful party families over the past 100 years in 31 countries. With a unique and newly collected dataset of national election results and a large number of economic and social variables measured for each country-election observation, we find that two main factors drive the electoral performance of social democratic parties: public-sector spending and the size of the manufacturing sector. Our findings suggest that most of the fall in support for social democratic parties in recent years is correlated with a decline in the number of industrial workers as well as a reduction in the propensity of social democratic parties’ core supporters (industrial workers and public-sector employees) to vote for them.

Party Competition and the Resilience of Corporatism

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Anthonsen ◽  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

AbstractThis article argues that after the Golden Age of capitalism, corporatist methods of policy-making have come to depend on specific modes of party competition. In contrast to previous studies of corporatism, which have argued that corporatism depends on strong social democratic parties, this article suggests that the competition between well-defined left-wing and right-wing ‘blocs’ has become detrimental to corporatism. In countries with mixed governments or traditions of power-sharing, on the other hand, corporatism thrives. These conclusions are based on a comparison of four traditionally corporatist countries – Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland – from the early 1970s to the late 1990s.

The dual challenge and the reform of the Hungarian socialist party

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Ágh
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Radical Reduction ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Eu

This paper deals with the new contradictions facing the social-democratic parties in ECE due to the ‘Dual Challenge’. The EU candidate countries have to perform a structural accommodation at the same time as the globalization and Europeanization when they have entered the period of early consolidation with its enhanced tensions due to the polarizing party system. Overcoming the economic deficit through drastic economic crisis management, they have created in fact a huge social deficit by the radical reduction of the public sector services in education and health care. While the West European social-democratic parties have experimented with various versions of the ‘Third Way’, their ECE counterparts have had to cope with the contradiction between the winners and the losers that has appeared very markedly in the case of HSP.

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 The Demobilization of Class Politics in Denmark: The Social Democratic Party’s Group-Based Appeals 1961–2004

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Thau
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
General Level ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Abstract In Denmark, as in other Western European countries, the working class does not vote for social democratic parties to the same extent as before. Yet, what role did the social democratic parties themselves play in the demobilization of class politics? Building on core ideas from public opinion literature, this article differs from the focus on party policy positions in previous work and, instead, focuses on the group-based appeals of the Social Democratic Party in Denmark. Based on a quantitative content analysis of party programs between 1961 and 2004, I find that, at the general level, class-related appeals have been replaced by appeals targeting non-economic groups. At the specific level, the class-related appeals that remain have increasingly been targeting businesses at the expense of traditional left-wing groups such as wage earners, tenants and pensioners. These findings support a widespread hypothesis that party strategy was crucial in the decline of class politics, but also suggests that future work on class mobilization should adopt a group-centered perspective.

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.

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?

The French Parti socialiste (2010-16): from office to crisis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Di Francesco-Mayot
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
High Unemployment ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the French Socialist Party (Parti socialiste, PS), which is one of the least successful of the major European social democratic parties. It focuses on the period between the 2008 global financial crisis until the end of François Hollande's presidency in 2017. The crisis of the PS is twofold: first, a political crisis that is revealed by the divisive nature of the Party's internal courants (factions). Whereas the factions initially contributed to the PS's internal democracy, over the past two decades they have significantly affected the PS's cohesiveness and ability to effectively develop and implement necessary policies. And second, an economic crisis that is exemplified by the PS's inability to adapt to its external and internal environments, such as the neoliberal imperatives of the EU, unprecedented high unemployment, and increasing insecurity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document