western politics Flashcards
(32 cards)
Social Democrats
Left
Strongest and most enduring
End of 19th century interests of emerging working class (trade unions)
From explicit marxist to introduction of social rights → expansion of welfare states
Welfarism → Middle class catch-all party→ equalize opportunities rather than outcomes
Communists
Left
Working class, not super popular, only important in a few countries
The New Left
left libertarian party
Only in a few countries and small
Explicit appeal to working class (not same as green)
Green
1970s-80s
left libertarian party
pervasive but small
Conservatives
Right
Steady
Where no Christian democrats, main alternative to social-democrats
National parties, decry sectional or class politics
Strident anti-socialist rhetoric
Christian Democrats
Not in the southern Europe (except Portugal)
In most established Western democracies (not UK)
Response to secularizing trends by conservatives and liberals
Liberals
right small frie
pervasive but small
Agrarian parties
Only in a few countries (Scandinavia) but relatively hughe
Represent agricultural sector
Drifting from left towards right
Far-Right
Now pervasive
Major impact on party competition
Supporting or participating in government
Parties of intra-parliamentary origin
Disagreement does NOT = disloyalty and org does NOT = conspiracy
Parties of extra-parliamentary origin
Need to mobilize and organize those excluded from participation to support leaders and promoting reforms
Ended censitaire suffrage (extend franchise)
Changed liberal regimes into liberal democracies
Catch-all party
A political party that accommodates people who have a wide range of beliefs, parinciples or backgrounds
Moving across traditional boundaries of existing cleavages
Evolved from pre-existing parties (elite and mass parties) whose electorates were not large enough to win elections (since 1950s)
Strategy: office seeking
Need to appeal across group boundaries to get more votes and resources
Ideological orientation of the party blurs
Cartel Parties
Evolved mainstream “hegemonic” parties in a context of erosion of party loyalties
Strategy = protect themselves from electoral challengers
They become agencies of the state, instead of agencies of the society, and rely in public subventions
Anti-cartel parties
Parties with a lower probability of coming to power - organized around an idea rather than a social group
Strategy = expect deeper commitment from their members
Claim that mainstream parties focus on defending their priveleges rather than soliving the problems of the society
Main cleavages in W. Europe
Urban-rural cleavage Confessional cleavage (Catholic, protestant, muslim) State-Church (secular cleavage) Ethnic+Linguistic Cleavage Class Cleavage
Freezing Hypothesis (Lipset and Rokkan)
Western European party systems became frozen following the extension of universal suffrage in most countries during the 1920s.
New cleavages became activated, new parties could be formed to capture segments of the popultion that had not previously been active in electoral politics
After 1920s there were no longer any untapped electoral base to be mobilized into new parties
Boix’s hypothesis
Why some countries shifted to proportional rules while others maintained majority system?
-Socialist party was strong and nonsocialist party controlled roughly similar shares of electorate
-Failure to reduce the electoral threshold would have led to an overwhelming victory of socialist party
After freezing of party systems along cleavages, policymakers lost interest in modifying electoral regime
-old established ruling parties anticipate the effects of different types of electoral systems and choose the one which favor them the most
Plurality/Majority Systems
UK and France
Goals: accountability and stability
Constituency/district representative
Produce single-party majority gov’t (BUT not guaranteed)
Accept disproportionality as inevitable
Cons/criticisms
A majority of voters in constituency may not be represented
Wasted votes → depress turnout
Force to vote strategically
Favour large parties and penalize small ones
Proportional electoral system variations
- Electoral Formula (quota or divisor)
- District magnitude (seats in district, size of district)
- Threshold
- Degree of choice given to the voter (types of lists, closed, flexible, open)
Mixed systems
Germany
2 votes, one to local constituency and one to choose a party list
Italy: parallel system, no compensation
Functionalist Approach
Welfare state emerged and expanded as an answer to the problems created by capitalist industrialization
-Modernization: changing working conditions
-Captalism and industrialization caused social disintegration
-Welfare state solves these problems
Predictions:
-Convergence: different nations will adopt similar social and economic policies at similar levels of development
The Class Mobilization Approach
Welfare state is seen as the result of political struggles between social classes and their political organizations (strength of social-democracy) -evidence of a shift in the balance of power in favor of the working class and social democracy Predictions -not convergence, variation
Institutional Approach
Welfare state seen as a central element in modern nation-state building
Autonomy lead to strong welfare state
Lack of autonomy lead to early welfare state politicization, clientelism
Anglo-Saxon Liberal Regime
US and UK
Tax financed
Only the most needy get the welfare protection
Flat-rate benefits → low (protect from extreme poverty)
More encompassing social protections has to be purchased on the market
Public expenditure in social protection is low
