Cleavages and Party Families across Western Europe

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Cleavages and Party Families across Western Europe
Lecture 4
The Socialist International 1977
2
Objectives

• to understand the relationships between
  historically rooted cleavages, major parties and
  party families
• Important concept party family

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Introduction

• The 19th century
• Territorial cleavages which are typical of
  early parliamentary life are wiped out by the
  massification of politics
• The social mobilisation is caused by the
  Industrial Revolution
• The political mobilisation is linked to the
  extension of voting rights and their equalisation
  through the abolition of voting restrictions
• These processes become increasingly nationalized
  which leads to different political and party
  systems in Europe

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Introduction

• Nationalisation and democratization are therefore
  strictly intertwined
• The rapid formation of nationalised electorates
  and party systems is determined by the supremacy
  of the leftright alignment (D. Caramani)

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Traditional Party families
Left
Green parties???

• Communist Parties
• Socialist/Social Democrats/Labour
• Liberal Parties
• Christian Democrats
• Conservatives
• Centre (Agrarian)
• Ethnic/Linguistic

Right
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Party Families

• West European parties not unique
• Cross-national and cross-temporal similarities
  between parties
• Defined by
• Party name
• Transnational links/associations
• Origins and sociology
• Ideology and policies

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The history of party families

• Liberals and conservatives (or Catholics in many
  countries) are the party families which dominated
  Western party systems until the advent of class
  parties.
• They had the monopoly of representation and
  were nationalised from the very beginning.
• Conservatives were opposed on the fundamental
  issues of political modernisation namely,
  democratisation and secularisation

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The history of party families

• Socialist and agrarian parties
• Appear later under the double impact of the
  Industrial Revolution and the extension of
  suffrage.
• These are the parties that develop out of mass
  politics
• In countries with a catholic minority, catholic
  parties developed as mass parties, too

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Definitions

• Political Cleavage
• Political dimension representation of different
  interests in a pluralist democracy
• Social dimension conflict divides a populace
  into (usually) large and opposing groups
• Ideological dimension groups have different
  beliefs, values and interests
• Institutional dimension conflicts are expressed
  in an organization with a voice in the political
  arena

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Linkage between cleavages and party families

• I. Centre-periphery
• region/language/ethnicity
• Regional parties
• II. Religion
• Catholic/Protestant state/church
  clerical/anti-clerical
• Conservative/Christian-democratic and liberal
  parties
• III. Class
• employers/workers middle class/working class
• Socialist/Social democratic/Labour parties
• IV. Rural-urban
• Landowners/commercial, industrial classes
• Agrarian parties

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I. Centre-Periphery
Christian Democrats Socialists, Conservatives
centre
periphery
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Ethno-linguistic parties

• Agrarian/Centre
• largely a Scandinavian phenomenon (also CH)
• Linguistic parties
• where sub-national languages created a regional
  identity (B, E, Fin)
• Regional/ethnic
• Where a sub-national region asserts an
  independent identity (I)
• Right-Wing Extremists
• old (Germany, Flanders) and new (Scandinavia)

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II. State-church

• Christian Democratic Party
• Germany (CDU/CSU)
• Belgium (CVP/PSC)
• Italy (DC)
• Netherlands (CDA)
• Austria (ÖVP)
• Netherlands - 3 Calvinist parties until 1970
• (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)

religious defence
old Catholic Parties Christian Democrats
catholic
protestant
state vs church

• Liberal Party
• Belgium (PVV/PLB)
• Germany (FDP)
• Italy (PLI)
• Austria (FPÖ pre-Haider)
• Netherlands (VVD, D66)
• France - old Republicans

Christian Democrats
clerical
anti-clerical
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Christian democratic Parties

• Since 1945 WEs most successful political
  movement
• newest of large mass parties
• Most of them established after 1945
• Generally replaced 19th c. Catholic parties

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Christian democratic Parties

• CDPs are however not confessional parties
• Rather drawing on traditional Christian thought
  (family, social welfare)
• Conservative on abortion, education and divorce
• Anti-capitalist, anti-socialist (rejection of
  class conflict concept)

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Conservative Parties

• Established in the 19th c. as notables parties in
  response to liberal parties
• Emphasis on tradition
• Attempt to counter socialist movement and new
  middle class
• Supported fascism and militarism after WW I
  (Germany, Italy, Spain) or failed to resist
  (Belgium, France, Norway)

advocated monarchical power Church privileges
Land integrity Ancien Regime Traditional
authority Duties of the subject
opposed nationalism Democracy
Industrialization Secularization Individual
rights Socialism
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Conservative Parties

• After 1945
• Widespread discrediting of WE conservative
  parties (resistance)
• Catholic church lifted ban against political
  involvement
• Opened way for Christian Democratic parties as
  major party on the right (i.e. the absorption of
  the religious dimension and at the same time
  accepting liberal-democratic politics)
• Scandinavian countries Conservative Parties
  survived as one of the two/three parties on the
  right - as bourgeois parties
• Ideological turn in the 1970s introduction of
  19th c. liberal and authoritarian ideology free
  market economy, welfare state cuts, strong state,
  individualism
• 1980s consolidation of party position, shift
  away from traditionalism in direction of state
  reform (esp. welfare state)

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Liberal Parties

• Earliest parties to be formed (E 1812, B 1846)
• A product of 18th c. thought and French
  Revolution
• Overtaken by nationalism
• Radical liberal ideas promoted by socialism
• Moderate liberals attracted by conservatism
• Today among the smaller parties but often
  coalition partners

Advocated individual rights Rights of
property Parliamentary government Rule by law
Anti clerical Market-economy
opposed Ancien Regime Monarchical power
Church-state axis clericalism
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III. Working class middle class
Christian Democrats Conservatives Liberals
middle class
working class
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Socialist/social democratic/labour parties

• Historically the Northern European countries have
  resisted the demands of the working class at the
  time of the industrial revolution although did
  not tend to actively repression this group
• However, in Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain
  established classes took repressive action
  against the working classes result of which was
  that socialist parties became uncompromising in
  the approach and over questions of ideology

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Socialist/social democratic/labour parties

• SPs roots in 19th c. working class movement
  usually from trade unions
• In most cases parliamentary break through after
  WWI and after introduction of adult (male)
  suffrage
• After WWII SPs not dominant as expected
• Boost in late 1990s 12 of 15 EU member states
  ruled by SPs

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Socialist parties - ideology

• Advocate working class interests
• Economic and social equality
• Anti-clerical
• Accepted capitalism but state intervention
  (welfare state)
• Never achieved majority party status (outside
  Scandinavia)
• Rivalries between CPs and SPs
• Success of SPs undermined electoral strength
• Religion proved more important than class (apart
  Scandinavia)

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Communist parties

• Separated from socialist parties after WWI
• 1914 split about support of war
• 1917 Russian Revolution
• Increasing rivalries between SP and CP
• 1945 some strong Com parties emerged

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Communist parties

• Went into post-war coalitions (F, I)
• Problem of Stalinism led to isolation
• Ban in Germany and Finland
• 1970s Development of Eurocommunism
• Nowadays CPs have industrial work place base
  only in E, P and I (red belt) there is peasant
  support

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IV. Rural - Urban
rural
Liberal parties Socialists
agrarian parties
urban

• Agrarian Party
• Norway
• Sweden
• Denmark
• Finland

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Agrarian parties

• Largely a Scandinavian phenomenon where liberal
  parties are weak
• Special-interest party for agricultural interests
• Attempted to appeal to urban middle class by
  changing names into Centre-parties (Finland,
  Norway and Sweden in the 1950s and 60s)
• Favour decentralization and protection of the
  environment against industrial interests
• Both traditional and welfare oriented
• Ideological move to the centre makes it difficult
  to distinguish from liberal parties

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Generalizations I

• Every country has
• a major party with its roots in the mobilization
  of the class cleavage
• a Party on the left (soc, soc-dems, lab) which
  appeals to the (old) working class
• many countries have major party with rests on the
  mobilization of the religious cleavage (either
  pro- or anti clerical)
• Where there is both class and religious cleavage,
  religion proves stronger than class

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Generalizations II

• Where there is a strong Christian democratic
  party, there is no strong conservative party
  (vice versa)
• Where there is a strong socialist party, there is
  a weak communist party (vice versa)
• Everywhere liberal parties are relatively small
• Parties on the centre-periphery cleavage usually
  small but disruptive

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Summary

• Almost nowhere in WE there is a very close fit
  between social cleavage and electoral support
• Electors can belong to different groups according
  to different cleavages
• Overlapping cleavages can ease tension between
  groups (but may put tension on the elector!)