"The political parties in Europe"- Daniel L. Seiler The book is a study divided in two parts: -in the first one the author is trying to establish a typology of the political parties, classified in families, and which covers the entire Western Europe; -the second part deals with Central Europe countries, which emerged from the "real socialism" and built their way to a liberal democracy. The political parties represent represent the basis for democracy democracy.. The pluralism of the parties and their struggle for power, through the electoral process, are the key to liberal democracy. The typology of parties is founded on one of the following criteria: name, ideology, organization. The origins of parties (Lapalombara & Weiner): - institutionalist institutionalist - historical and conflictual - of political development - and functionalist manner (added by the author); Seiler presents the theory of Rokkan, a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist 20th centur century, y, which which descri describes bes the genesi genesis s of party party system systems s in Wester estern n of the the 20th Europe. According to Rokkan, the political evolution of Europe was affected from a historical point of view by the three successive revolutions: the national revolution, the industrial revolution, and the international revolution. The first two revolutions defined the political system with the help of two conflictual axis : one functional, one "territorial-cultural". "territorial-cultural".
The Paradigm of the 4 cleavages The nation national al revol revoluti ution on genera generates tes on the functi function onal al axis, axis, the cleava cleavage ge Church/State, and on the the territorial-cultural territorial-cultural axis, axis , it gener generate ates s the cleava cleavage ge Center/Periphery . The industria industriall revolutio revolution n genera generates tes on the functi functiona onall axis, axis, the cleava cleavage ge Capitalists/Workers , and on the territorial-cultural territorial-cultural axis, axis, the cleavage Primary sector/Secondary sector (Urban/Rural). The international revolution affects the Workers side of the cleavage between Capitalists/Workers, crea creati ting ng a subsu b-cl clea eava vage ge, which is divided in: Communists/Neo-communists (reformists). 1
The four fundamental cleavages gave birth to the different political parties. parties. The high igh numb umber of clea cleava vage ges s led led to the eme emerging of the multi-pa multi-party rty system system (pluripartidism) and the electoral system. system . The cleavage Capitalists/Workers can be found in all European political systems. The The author author descri describes bes the the typolo typology gy of the party party famili families es from from Wester estern n Euro Europe pe departing from these 4 cleavages. Each family corresponds corresponds to some political parties expressing expressing a particular side of a cleavage.
The typology of the political families in Europe Cleavage State/Chur State/Church ch- resul esultt of the the nati nation onal al revol evolut utio ion= n=> > has has 1. Cleavage cultural origins; opposes the clericals to the anti-clericals (clericals=holders of the political and social influence of the Church; anti-c anti-cle leric ricals als= = suppor supporter ters s of the separa separatio tion n of the Churc Church h from from the State). Two political families find their origin: for the clericals - the Christian democracy, for the anti-clericals, a laic, secular family of partie parties, s, even even radica radicall (the (the Radic Radical al Republi epublican can Party arty and the Radic Radical al Socialist Party). This cleavage has put in opposition the upholders and the opponents of the ecclesiastic control over the social life, especially in the educational field and partially, in the health care system. The alternative is the state and the laic monopole over these institutions. This is the case for the Catholic states, or for the strong Catholics minorities, and can lead to an important segmentation of the society on the whole, like the case of Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. Its impo import rtan ance ce grew grew and and many many part partie ies s re-al e-alig igne ned d to othe otherr plan plans s of cleavages.
Cleavage 2. Cleavage
Center/Per Center/Peripher iphery y- resul esultt of the the nati nation onal al revol evolut utio ion, n, cult cultur ural al orig origin ins; s; oppos opposes es the the centralists (be (be them them unit unitar aris ists ts or nationalists) with the regionalists, the autonomists or the federalists. In this cleavage we have 2 specific families. On the central side, we have the parties up-holding the State- central wing parties, and on the periphery periphery side, the so called called ethno-nation ethno-national al and regional regionalist ist parties. parties. This cleavage affected many countries the past century and was either institutionalized (and so, neutralized), or it led to independence, like in the case of Norway, Ireland, Island and Malta. In Spain, like in Italy, the cleava cleavage ge Cente Center/P r/Peri eriphe phery ry consti constitut tutes es an import important ant elemen elementt in the political system.
3. Cleavage Primary sector/Secondary sector (Rural/Urban)- result
of the indust industria riall revol revoluti ution, on, socio-e socio-econ conomi omical cal origin origins; s; oppose opposes s the 2
interests of townsmen, merchants, and manufacturers with those of the peasants. (It (It incl includ udes es only only one one fami family ly); ); the the defe defens nse e of the the economical interests of the rural population will form a specific political family: that of the agrarian parties. One single party will be in the urban urban area area:: The The Swis Swiss s Party arty of the the Moto Motori rist sts. s. Mor More prec precis isel ely, y, the the cleava cleavage ge oppose opposes s the peasan peasants ts and the agricu agricultu ltural ral world world with with the indust industrie ries s of manufa manufactu cture re and dis distri tributi bution, on, with with the indust industria riall and urban society in general. It is not translated in partisan terms. Where there there is no agrari agrarian an or Christ Christian ian-de -democ mocrat rat party, party, the conser conservat vators ors uphold the political will of the peasants (like in England or France). In Scandinavia and Swiss we can find 2 favored elements: Protestantism and and a hist histor oric ical al auto autono nomy my of the the peas peasan ants ts towa towarrd the the land land(e (ed) d) aristo aristocra cracy cy => agrari agrarian an partie parties s in: Norway, Norway, Sweden, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, Iceland, and in some Swiss cantons.
(Owners)/Workers- resul esultt of the the indu indust stri rial al 4. Cleavage Capitalists (Owners)/Workers revol revoluti ution, on, socio-e socio-econ conomi omical cal origin origins; s; oppose opposes s the inter interest ests s of the owne owners rs of capi capita tall good goods s with with thos those e of the the work worker ers s and and of othe otherr proletarians. Two important political families from Europe found their origins here. On the Owners side we have the parties acknowledging the political will of the business environment, environment, the industrial, financial or comm commer erci cial al,, call called ed “the “the clas classi sica call righ rightt wing wing” ” (lik (like e in Franc rance) e),, or “bour “bourge geois ois part partie ies” s”,, lik like in Scan Scandi dinav navia ia.. The The auth author or call called ed them them patrimonial parties, because of their dominant features- the defense of the market economy and of the liberal Orthodoxy. On the Workers side we have the parties upholding the political will of the workers, especially of the trade union and of the cooperative movement (these are “left wing parties” or “socialist” parties). Can be classified as labor parties. The cleavage Owners/Workers is the most common political divisi division on in the Wester estern n Europe Europe.. With With the excep exceptio tion n of Irela Ireland, nd, this this cleavage marks the party systems of all European countries and today holds the basis of the distinction between right and left wing. 5. Cleava Cleavages ges appear appeared ed from from the intern internati ationa onall revolu revolutio tion n- thi this
revolution has its origins outside the Western Europe countries, and manifested in 2 ways: first of all, it led to the apparition of the subcleavage reformists/communists. This sub-cleava sub-cleavage ge affected affected only the Workers side of the economic cleavage, and divided it between partisans and adversaries of the Russian revolution of 1917. Secondly, it deeply marked the countries of Central Europe, which had to bear for 3
40 years ears the the ‘sin ‘singl gle e part party’ y’ and and the the stat state e capi capita tali lism sm,, base based d on centralized planning.
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