The missing left? Economic crisis and the programmatic response of social democratic parties in Europe

Abstract

How have social democratic parties responded to the recent economic crisis? For many observers, the Great Recession and the prevalence of austerity in response to it have contributed to a crisis of social democracy in Europe. This article examines the programmatic response of social democratic parties to this crisis in 11 Western European countries. It uses an original data set that records the salience that parties attribute to different issues and the positions that they adopt with regard to these issues during electoral campaigns and compares the platforms of social democratic parties before and after 2008. For this purpose, the article disentangles economic issues into three different categories and shows that this is necessary in order to understand party competition during the Great Recession: while social democratic parties shifted to the left with regard to issues relating to welfare and economic liberalism, they largely accepted the need for budgetary rigour and austerity policies.

The Re‐Emergence of Partisan Effects on Social Spending after the Global Financial Crisis

“…Tables for pre-crisis elections are not shown, as no statistically significant relationship between left/right party position and welfare preferences existed during this time. These findings are in line with the analysis of European social democratic party platforms, which shows a convergence between right-leaning parties in favour of neoliberal welfare reforms pre-crisis and a strong shift to the left in defence of the welfare state post-crisis (Bremer, 2018).…”

“…By contrast, right‐wing parties are likely to identify government regulations or the size of the state as problematic (Starke et al, ). Polarization over welfare should increase after the GFC, as left‐leaning parties renew support for the welfare state, in line with their traditional values, while conservative parties, informed by pro‐market ideology, are unlikely to shift their positions in favour of a more generous welfare state (Bremer, ). Informed by these theoretical expectations this article tests two main hypotheses:Hypothesis (H1): Crisis as critical juncture…”

The politics of social spending after the Great Recession: The return of partisan policy making

“…As the economy is an issue that challenger parties try to deemphasize (Rovny, ), mainstream parties sought to take advantage of political debate shifting onto economic matters by increasing their programmatic emphasis on material concerns. Research has already shown that social democratic parties sought to increase the salience of core left‐wing issues relating to welfare and economic liberalism following the onset of the Great Recession (Bremer, ). Some parties of the Right have also taken advantage of the crisis to introduce drastic cuts in social expenditure, as exemplified by the UK Conservative Party since 2010 (Taylor‐Gooby, ).…”

Reshaping EU Attitudes? The Case of Social Democratic and Radical Left Parties in Spain and Italy

“…Our analysis focuses on the external shock produced by the Great Recession and on EU institutions’ response to the crisis: according to the literature, external shocks, such as an economic crisis, are some of the main drivers of change in party organization and programs (Bremer ; Harmel et al. ).…”