Dynamics of the spectrum of European political parties (1990-2021)

Dynamics of the spectrum of European political parties (1990-2021)


Makarenko B.I.,

Center for Political Technologies, Moscow, Russia; HSE University, Moscow, Russia, bmakarenko@yandex.ru


elibrary_id: 251052 | ORCID: 0000-0002-0136-8785 | RESEARCHER_ID: L-3134-2015

Petrov I.I.,

HSE University, Moscow, Russia, iip95d@gmail.com

ORCID: 0000-0003-3856-2503 | RESEARCHER_ID: AAE-4305-2021

Article received: 2022.06.29. Accepted: 2022.09.12


DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2023.01.03
EDN: AVJAJL


For citation:

Makarenko B.I., Petrov I.I. Dynamics of the spectrum of European political parties (1990-2021). – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No. 1. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2023.01.03. EDN: AVJAJL



Abstract

The article analyzes the prerequisites and features of the evolution of political party systems in 25 member countries of the European Union in the past three decades. To complete the analysis, the authors elaborated a unique index of measurement of party’s manifestos, which enabled them to provide a typology of ideological and political doctrines of political parties. This typology is laid out in a two-dimensional space with crosscutting axes: socio-economic (horizontal) and “cultural”, or “non-economic values” (vertical). The main trends of the evolution, according to the authors (as described in the first sub-chapter of the article), are a leftward shift of the complete spectrum of parties, a growing salience of the “non-economic” axis, particularly for rightwing and populist parties, a weakened dominance of the “vital center” of mainstream center-right and center-left parties, the rise of populism, and a significant variation of evolution scenarios of party systems in post-communist countries. The second and third parts discuss the features of evolution of, respectively, center-left and center-right parties, which serve in most European countries as a nuclei of party systems. Center-left parties are suffering losses at elections due to growing competition with diverse opponents, such as the “new left”, “greens” and multiple varieties of populists. Center-right parties are in search of a viable strategy to compete with right-wing populists. The authors conclude that the changes in the party systems in recent decades were caused by objective prerequisites and were very substantial, though party systems retained their basic properties and remained the main institutions to represent public interests in the domain of politics. This also applies to populist parties which became a legitimate component of European party systems.

Keywords
political parties, party systems, populism, European Union, post communist countries, social democracy, conservatism, liberalism.


References

Arzheimer, K. & Carter, E. (2006). Political opportunity structures and right‐wing extremist party success. European Journal of Political Research, 45(3), 419-443. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00304.x

European Journal of Political Research, 45(3), 419-443. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00304.x

Bakker, R., de Vries, C., Edwards, E., Hooghe, L., Jolly, S., Marks, G., Polk, J., Rovny, J., Steenbergen, M., & Vachudova, M.A. (2015). Measuring party positions in Europe: The Chapel Hill expert survey trend file, 1999-2010. Party Politics, 21(1), 143-152. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068812462931

Carvalho, J., & Ruedin, D. (2019). The positions mainstream left parties adopt on immigration: a crosscutting cleavage? Party Politics, 26(4), 379-389. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068818780533

Dalton, J., Farrell, D., & McAllister, I. (2011). Political parties & democratic linkage. New York: Oxford University Press.

Dalton, R.J. (1996). Political cleavages, issues, and electoral change. In L. LeDuc, R.G. Niemi, & P. Norris (Ed.), Comparing Democracies: Elections and Voting in a Global Perspective (pp. 319-342). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Eysenck, H. (1975). Sense and nonsense in psychology. New York: Penguin Books.

Faye, J.-P. (2002). Le siecle des ideologies. Paris: Colin.

Global trends: paradox of progress. (2017). A publication of The National Intelligence Council. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/22574-document-10-national-intelligence-council-nic

Green-Pedersen, C. (2019). The reshaping of West European party politics: agenda-setting and party competition in comparative perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198842897.001.0001

Gunther, R., & Diamond, L. (2003). Species of political parties: a new typology. Party Politics, 9(2), 167-199. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688030092003

Hutter, S., & Kriesi, H. (Ed.) (2019). European party politics in times of crisis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Heywood, A. (2013). Politics (4th ed.). Houndmills: The Palgrave Macmillan.

Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2018). Cleavage theory meets Europe’s crises: Lipset, Rokkan, and the transnational cleavage. Journal of European Public Policy, 25(1), 109-135. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1310279

Inglehart, R. (1971). The silent revolution in Europe: intergenerational change in post-industrial societies. American Political Science Review, 65(4), 991-1017. https://doi.org/10.2307/1953494

Inglehart, R. (1997). Modernization and postmodernization: cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2016). Trump, Brexit, and the rise of populism: economic have-nots and cultural backlash. HKS Working Paper No. RWP16-026. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2818659

Jahn, D. (2011). Conceptualizing Left and Right in comparative politics: towards a deductive approach. Party Politics, 17(6), 745-765. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068810380091

Kirchheimer, O. (1966). The transformation of the Western European party systems. In J. La Palombara, M. Weiner (Ed.), Political Parties and Political Development (pp. 177-200). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Kitschelt, H. (1995). The formation of party cleavages in post-communist democracies: theoretical propositions. Party Politics, 1(4), 447-472. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068895001004002

Kriesi, H., Grande, E., Lachat, R., Dolezal, M., Bornschier, S., & Frey, T. (2006). Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: six European countries compared. European Journal of Political Research, 45(6), 921-956. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2006.00644.x

Laver, M., & Budge, I. (1992). Measuring policy distances and modelling coalition formation. In M. Laver, & I. Budge (Ed.), Party Policy and Government Coalitions (pp. 15-40). Basingstoke: Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22368-8_2

Lijphart, A. (1999). Patterns of democracy: government forms and performance in thirty-six countries. New Heaven: Yale University Press.

Lipset, S.M., & Rokkan, S. (Ed.) (1967). Party systems and voter alignments: cross-national perspectives. New York: The Free Press.

Mudde, C. (2004). The populist Zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 541-563. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2004.00135.x

Panebianco, A. (1988). Political parties: organization and power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schlesinger, A. (1949). The vital center: the politics of freedom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Tavits, M., & Letki, N. (2009). When left is right: party ideology and policy in post-Communist Europe. American Political Science Review, 103(4), 555-569. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055409990220

Volkens, A., Bara, J., Budge, I., McDonald, M.D., & Klingemann, H.-D. (Ed.). (2013). Mapping policy preferences from texts: statistical solutions for manifesto analysts. Oxford: Oxford University press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199640041.001.0001

 

Dunn, J. (2016). Breaking democracy’s spell. (Russ. ed.: Dunn, J. Ne ocharovyvat’sya demokratiei. Moscow: Gaidar Institute Publishing House).

Duverger, M. (2000). Les partis politiques. (Russ. ed.: Duverger, M. Politicheskie partii. Moscow: Academic Project).

Isaev, B. (2008). Teoriya partii i partiinykh system [Theory of parties and party systems]. Moscow: Aspect press.

Lipset, S.M. (2016). Political man. The social bases of politics. (Russ. ed.: Lipset, S.M. Politicheskii chelovek: sotsial’nye osnovaniya politiki. Moscow: Mysl’).

Makarenko, B.I. (Ed.) (2015). Partii i partiinye sistemy: sovremennye tendentsii razvitiya [Parties and party systems: current development trends]. Moscow: Political Encyclopedia.

Oskolkov, P. (2020). Ethnic parties and ethnic voting: conceptualization problems and development factors. World Eсonomy and International Relations, 64(8), 112-118. https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2020-64-8-112-118 

Content No. 1, 2023

See also:


Suvakovic U.,
Political parties as traditional mechanisms of representation in modern societies. – Polis. Political Studies. 2010. No2

Alekseyenkova Ye.S.,
The decline of populism? Crisis of trust and parties of political alternative in modern Italy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2024. No4

Peregudov S.P.,
The XXI Century Liberalism – Crisis or Rejuvenation?. – Polis. Political Studies. 2015. No4

Sokolshchik L.M.,
American Conservatism and the Callenge of Contemporary Populism: Theoretical and Ideological Aspects. – Polis. Political Studies. 2021. No1

Smorgunov L.V.,
Network political parties. – Polis. Political Studies. 2014. No4

 
 

Archive

   2024      2023      2022      2021   
   2020      2019      2018      2017      2016   
   2015      2014      2013      2012      2011   
   2010      2009      2008      2007      2006   
   2005      2004      2003      2002      2001   
   2000      1999      1998      1997      1996   
   1995      1994      1993      1992      1991