The Electoral Consequences of Third Way Welfare State Reforms : Social Democracy’s Transformation and its Political Costs

Abstract

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

Revisiting the left cabinet share: How to measure the partisan profile of governments in welfare state research

“…One of the crucial variables in the literature is the competitive constellation within the party system (Arndt, 2013;Pontusson and Rueda, 2010). One of the crucial variables in the literature is the competitive constellation within the party system (Arndt, 2013;Pontusson and Rueda, 2010).…”

Political reactions to the euro crisis: cross-national variations and rescaling issues in elections and popular protests

“…The losses may be related to a weaker economic profile compared to right-wing liberal conservative parties. Electorates have lost confidence in social democratic parties because of their recent orientation towards "social liberalism" by combining liberal economic policies with social welfare state provisions (Arndt 2013). This is particularly relevant for northwestern European countries where social democratic parties were in power in the late 1990s and early 2000s -especially in Germany and the UK (Huo 2009).…”

Velfærdsreformernes elektorale konsekvenser for Socialdemokraterne

“…Die Linke var modsat det dan ske SF ikke involveret i lovgivningen omkring reformerne og fungerede heller ikke som støtteparti for SPD, som SF gjorde for Nyrup-regeringen. Dette til lod, at Die Linke kunne udnytte en samlet oppositionsstrategi og fik betydelig opbakning fra tidligere SPD-kernevaelgere (Arndt, 2011). Sammenligningen af det danske SF og dets tyske aekvivalent Die Linke påviser, at selvom begge partier ligger til venstre for Socialdemokratiet, var det kun det tyske parti, der fik fordel af socialdemokratiske reformer, da det var en trovaerdig modstander uden ansvar for den førte politik i denne periode.…”

“…5. En mere langsigtet og nuanceret opstilling af partivalg efter sociale klasser siden 1973 viser at socialdemokratiet kunne fastholde i klasser opfattet som kernevaelgere indtil 1998, og at det store brud skete ved 2001-valget (jE Arndt, 2011: kap. 7).…”

“…Til gengaeld findes der kun få studier, der belyser elektorale konsekvenser af velfaerdsstatsreformer, efter at omfattende reformer blev implementeret, til trods for litteraturens status quo påstand (Armingeon og Giger, 2008;Arndt, 2011;Giger, 2011). Isaer med henblik på socialdemokratiske partier er dette pa radoksalt, fordi klassiske studier har argumenteret for en sammenhaeng mellem velfaerdsstaten, socialpolitik og socialdemokratiets vaelgertilslutning (fx Korpi, 1983;Esping-Andersen, 1985, 1990.…”