Beyond Social Democracy

2024/06/27 by Silja Häusermann, Herbert Kitschelt, Jane Gingrich +14 · 1 voice · 40 citations
Social Sciences · #Democracy #Economics #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Law #Political Systems and Governance #Political science #Politics #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Social democracy #Sociology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/9781009496810

published in Cambridge University Press eBooks (Cambridge University Press)

openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex publication_date 2024/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03

Abstract

Beyond Social Democracy examines the electoral decline of social democratic parties and how distinctive strategic moves might enable them to salvage different segments of their former electoral coalitions. Social democratic decline, however, does not imply the demise of basic tenets of the parties' programmatic appeals. Under the impact of novel twenty-first-century political-economic challenges, these concerns are also invoked and repackaged with new ideas by novel left parties. Empirically, voter movements show that social democratic parties incur net losses mostly to these other leftist parties, while sustaining a balanced, but voluminous exchange with center-right parties. Contrary to commonly held preconceptions, there is little net loss to the new extreme Right. These findings will be pertinent to anyone interested in understanding or devising party strategies in twenty-first-century democracies. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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Discussions

• The electoral decline of social democratic parties is a well-studied phenomenon. If you want to understand what is happening to Labour, I recommend this (open access) edited volume by the world's lead [bsky, 205 points, 3 comments]

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