Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Abbrevations Preface 1 Introduction 1.1 Empirical puzzle 1.2 The arguments in brief 1.3 Structure of the book 2 Theoretical Background 2.1 The political-economic and societal background to Third Way policies Social Democracy's transformation towards the Third Way 2.2 Social policy and the welfare state as a base for social democratic alignment 2.3 Welfare state reform as a catalyst for partisan dealignment Comparison of traditional social democratic and Third Way social policy 2.4 Decommodification, social class and conceptualising the social democratic core constituency 2.5 Political system, party competition and welfare reforms The impact of the electoral system for the electoral effects of the reforms Competitor parties for social democracy after Third Way reforms under pr Challenge from the left Challenge from the right THE ELECTORAL CONSEQUENCES OF THIRD WAY WELFARE STATE REFORMS Credibility considerations and the prospects for challenger parties Mainstream parties as potential challengers 2.6 Social democracy and declining class voting Design and Methods 3.1 Case selection and strategy of comparison 3.2 Analysis of reforms 3.3 Analysis of the electoral consequences of reforms 3.4 Data sources for the statistical analysis 3.5 Organisation of chapters United Kingdom 4.1 The social policy of the Labour Party 4.2 Alignment of the social democratic core constituency in the United Kingdom 4.3 Welfare state reforms in