Social Democratic Parties (social + democratic_party)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The EU and the Welfare State are Compatible: Finnish Social Democrats and European Integration

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2010
Tapio Raunio
This article examines how the Finnish Social Democratic Party has adapted to European integration. The analysis illustrates that the Social Democrats have successfully argued to their electorate that the objectives of integration are compatible with core social democratic values. Considering that Finland was hit by a severe recession in the early 1990s, discourse about economic integration and monetary stability facilitating the economic growth that is essential for job creation and the survival of domestic welfare state policies sounded appealing to SDP voters. Determined party leadership, support from trade unions and the lack of a credible threat from the other leftist parties have also contributed to the relatively smooth adaptation to Europe. However, recent internal debates about the direction of party ideology and poor electoral performances , notably in the European Parliament elections , indicate that not all sections within the party are in favour of the current ideological choices. [source]


The Transition to ,New' Social Democracy: The Role of Capitalism, Representation and (Hampered) Contestation

BRITISH JOURNAL OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Issue 4 2009
David J. Bailey
This article argues that existing accounts of the transformation from ,traditional' to ,new' social democracy has thus far only identified the contextual changes that have prompted this move. In doing so, they have failed to account for the motives of social democratic party actors in undertaking the transition to ,new' social democracy in response to those changes. The article draws upon a critical realist method, and Marxist and anti-representational theories, to conceptualise ,traditional' social democratic party relations as suffering from tensions between constituents' demands for decommodification, the attempt by party elites to contain (and thereby ,represent') those demands and the (in)compatibility of this process of containment with the need to recommodify social relations in the light of periodic crises in contemporary capitalism. It argues that these tensions explain the attempt by party elites to promote the move towards ,new' social democracy, the (eventual) acquiescence of party constituents to those attempts and the subsequent exit from social democratic constituencies which has resulted. The argument is made with reference to the British Labour Party and Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). [source]


Obfuscation through Integration: Legitimating ,New' Social Democracy in the European Union,

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 1 2005
DAVID J. BAILEY
Social democratic parties are increasingly supportive of European integration. Existing explanations view this as either a reassertion of social democracy at the supranational level, an adaptation to contemporary political institutions, or part of a general ideological moderation. This article argues that support for the EU enables social democratic parties to proclaim the possibility of social democracy at the supranational level, despite the absence of a substantive social democratic agenda. Thus, European integration enables social democratic parties to achieve legitimation by obfuscation through integration. This is illustrated in the cases of Sweden, the UK and France. [source]


Welfare municipalities: economic resources or party politics?

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2001
Norwegian local government social programs of the 1920s
This article analyses the introduction of Norwegian local government social security programs for the elderly, disabled persons, widows and single mothers in the 1920s. The role of local government as an agent and initiator of welfare state development has been for the most part neglected within the welfare state literature. Indeed, the first social security programs in Norway were introduced by local governments, affecting nearly half of the population. Even if these programs were not very generous compared with the social security programs of our time, many of them were equal to, or even more generous than, the national pension scheme introduced in 1936. This article examines what distinguished the social security municipalities from those that did not implement such programs, and the variation in generosity profiles. The conclusion is that the main determinant regarding the implementation and generosity of the local social security programs is the political strength of the two Norwegian socialist parties at the time , the Social democratic party and the Labour party , both being too impatient to wait for a national social security plan, and both being willing to mobilise economic resources through taxation and borrowing. [source]


Party Competition and the Resilience of Corporatism

GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2009
Mette Anthonsen
This 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. [source]


Obfuscation through Integration: Legitimating ,New' Social Democracy in the European Union,

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 1 2005
DAVID J. BAILEY
Social democratic parties are increasingly supportive of European integration. Existing explanations view this as either a reassertion of social democracy at the supranational level, an adaptation to contemporary political institutions, or part of a general ideological moderation. This article argues that support for the EU enables social democratic parties to proclaim the possibility of social democracy at the supranational level, despite the absence of a substantive social democratic agenda. Thus, European integration enables social democratic parties to achieve legitimation by obfuscation through integration. This is illustrated in the cases of Sweden, the UK and France. [source]


Trade Liberalisation and the Australian Labor Party

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 4 2002
Andrew Leigh
The three most substantial decisions to reduce Australia's trade barriers , in 1973, 1988 and 1991 , were made by Labor Governments. Labor's policy shift preceded the conversion of social democratic parties in other countries to trade liberalisation. To understand why this was so, it is necessary to consider trade policy as being shaped by more than interest groups and political institutions. Drawing on interviews with the main political figures, including Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Button, this article explores why the intellectual arguments for free trade had such a powerful impact on Labor's leadership, and how those leaders managed to implement major tariff cuts, while largely maintaining party unity. [source]