Comparative Politics: Party systems Immobilisim and Change in the political space

1. Comparative Politics: Party systems Immobilisim and Change in the political space • Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared • Kriesi, Grande, Lachat, Dolezal, Bornschier, Frey (2006)

2. General dynamics Globalization/Denationalization New structural conflict: Winners Vs Losers Mobilization Transformation of the national political space + Strategic repositioning of parties

3. The analysis is based on four assumptions • political reactions to economic and cultural globalization mainly manifest at the national level • increasing economic, cultural, and political competition creates new winners & losers • winners & loser of globalization constitute political potentials • the political importance of national boundaries increases with their lowering and unbundling The new cleavage integration Vs demarcation

4. Expectations Losers support: - protectionists measures - maintenance of national boundaries - independence Winners support: - opening up of national boundaries - international integration

5. Transformation of the political space New structural conflicts 60’s Classic cleavages centre - periphery religion rural - urban owner - worker Mobilization for cultural liberalism and social justice Transformation of the cultural dimension Culture (religion) Socio-economic (class) No new dimension but change of meaning of the existing dimensions (cultural and socio-economic)

6. Transformation of the political space Embedding hypothesis Kriesi et al expect the new demarcation/integration conflict to be embedded into the two dimensional basic structure that emerged under the impact of the mobilization by new social movements SOCIO-ECONOMIC DIMENSION the new conflict should reinforce the opposition btwn a pro-state and a pro-market position, and change its meaning (pro-state more defensive and protectionist pro-market in favour enhancement of competitiveness) CULTURAL DIMENSION enhanced opposition to cultural liberalism, defence of tradition takes on an ethnic or nationalist character, new issues (EU, immigration)

7. Transformation of the political space Not necessary to add new dimensions ADAPTIVE CAPACITY of existing parties Repositioning and realigning Mainstream parties take up new preferences, identities, values and interests interpreting them in their own specific ways

8. Positioning of parties in the transformed space: expected positions of major parties

9. Positioning of parties in the transformed space: first hypothesis Mainstream parties will tend to formulate a winners programme (further economic and cultural integration), but: - parties on the left will try to combine economic integration with high level of welfare state; - parties on the right will tend to reduce the role of the state in every respect

10. Positioning of parties in the transformed space: variations on the general theme Leftist dilemma: market integration in EU threats national social achievements position will vary on the economic dimension Rightist dilemma: endorse liberalization, but nationalist and opposed to the opening up of borders position will vary on the cultural dimension Liberals: the opening up of borders doesn’t seem much problematic for them

11. Positioning of parties in the transformed space: two hypotheses based on empirical observations • an intensification of political conflicts within mainstream parties as they attempt to redefine ideological preferences • increasing political fragmentation with the strenghtening of peripheral political actors that adopt a losers programme

12. Positioning of parties in the transformed space The parties that most successfully appeal to the interests and fears of the losers of globalization are the driving force of party systems transformation Right-wing populist parties have been able to formulate a highly attractive ideological package for losers of economic transformations and cultural diversity The smaller common denominator for losers’ mobilization are the defence of their national identity/community [cultural side]

13. Positioning of parties in the transformed space The mobilization by the populist right challenges established parties both on the left and on the right The challenge of a successful right-wing populist party is likely to reinforce the relative importance of the cultural dimension, and it is likely to move the centre of gravity of partisan competition in the direction of cultural demarcation/protection

14. Research design Six European countries: Austria, Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland Focus on national elections: three between 90s and 2000s one from 70s (point of reference)

15. Research design - Assumptions • the macro-historical structural change linked to globalization is articulated by the issue-specific positions taken by parties during electoral campaigns and by the salience they attribute to the different issues • the most appriopriate way to analyse the positioning of parties and the way in which deal with the new issues linked to globalization is to focus on the political debate during electoral campaigns, as reflected by mass-media

16. Research design - Political actors Austria: Greens, Social Democrats (SPO), Liberals (Liberales Forum), Christian Democrats (OVP), Populist right (FPO) Britain: Social Democrats (Labour), Liberals (Liberal Democrats), Conservatives France: Radical Left (PCF, Trotskyist parties), Greens, Social Democrats (PSF), the MRG, Conservatives (RPR), Liberals (UDF), Populist right (FN) Germany: Radical Left (PDS), Greens, Social Democrats (SPD), Liberals (FDP), Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) Netherlands: Greens, Social Democrats (PvdA), Christian Democrats (CDA), Liberals (D66, VVD), Populist Right (LPF) Switzerland: Greens, Social Democrats (SP), Christian Democrats (CVP and other minor centre parties), Liberals (FDP and LPS), Populist Right (SVP and small parties of the New Radical Right)

17. Research design - Political issues • Welfare • Budget • Economic Liberalism • Cultural Liberalism • Europe • Culture • Immigration • Army • Security • Environment • Institutional Reform • Infrastructure

18. Research design The data offer valuable information on two central aspects of the supply side of electoral competition: the positions of political parties on the issues; the salience of these issues for a given party They construct a graphical representation of parties’ and issues’ positions in a low-dimensional space using MDS

19. Results: general observations • changes over time in the strenght of political parties do not necessarily result from a change in the cleavage structure • the emergence of new players on the electoral scene or a radical transformation of some established parties constitute first symptoms of the expected transformation of the cleavage structure

20. Results: general observations

21. Results: general observations • on the horizontal dimension, in all countries there is strong opposition between support for the welfare state and support for economic liberalism; the traditional economic conflict remains salient • the vertical dimension shows a cultural opposition in each country; by the 90’s the cultural conflict is typically expressed by the strong opposition between support for cultural liberalism, and support for a more restrictive immigration policy

22. Results: Germany

23. Results: Austria

24. Results: Switzerland

25. Results: the Netherlands

26. Results: France

27. Results: Britain

28. Conclusions • two dimensionality (economy & culture) • transformation of the cultural dimension (EU integration & immigration) • both dimensions are polarizing, the cultural gained importance • common feature: tripolarism