Left Parties in National Governments

220 Pages·2010·2.859 MB·English

by  Jonathan Olsen, Michael Koß, Dan Hough (eds.)

Left Parties in National Governments
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Also by D. Hough; M. Koß; J. Olsen
THE LEFT PARTY IN CONTEMPORARY GERMAN POLITICS
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Left Parties in National
Governments
Edited by
Jonathan Olsen
Associate Professor of Political Science,
University of Wisconsin-Parkside, USA
Michael Koß
Lecturer in Politics, University of Potsdam, Germany
and
Dan Hough
Reader in Politics, University of Sussex, UK
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© Editorial matter, selection, and conclusion © Jonathan Olsen, Michael Koß
and Dan Hough 2010
All remaining chapters © respective authors 2010
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2010 978-0-230-23650-9
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2010 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-31458-4 ISBN 978-0-230-28270-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230282704
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managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
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Contents
List of Tables vii
List of Abbreviations viii
List of Contributors xi
1. From Pariahs to Players? Left Parties in
National Governments 1
Jonathan Olsen, Dan Hough and Michael Koß
2. The Norwegian Socialist Left Party: Office-seekers in
the Service of Policy? 16
Jonathan Olsen
3. The French Extreme Left and Its Suspicion of Power 33
David Bell
4. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Governing
Dilemmas of Rifondazione Comunista 52
James Newell
5. A Poisoned Chalice? Finland’s Left Alliance and
the Perils of Government 69
Richard Dunphy
6. The Spanish United Left – The Belated and Troublesome
Transition from Policy- to Office-seeking 87
Tània Verge
7. Close to, but Still Out of, Government: The Swedish
Vänsterpartiet 105
Michael Koß
8. The Danish Socialist People’s Party: Still Waiting After
all These Years 121
Dag Arne Christensen
9. From Pariah to Prospective Partner? The German
Left Party’s Winding Path towards Government 138
Dan Hough
v
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vi Contents
10. Ready to Get Their Hands Dirty: The Socialist Party and
GroenLinks in the Netherlands 155
Dan Keith
11. Conclusion: Left Parties in National Governments 173
Jonathan Olsen, Dan Hough and Michael Koß
Bibliography 186
Index 203
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Tables
1.1 Left parties’ participation in statewide governments in
western Europe since 1990 (selected countries) 4
2.1 Election results in Norway, 1997–2009 17
4.1 Percentage of the vote obtained by RC and
the PDS in the local e lections of 1991 57
4.2 Voting support and membership of RC, 1992–2006 60
5.1 Recent general election results in Finland 71
5.2 Outcome of the 2009 European Parliament
election in Finland 84
6.1 The PCE’s and IU’s electoral results in legislative
and regional e lections 88
6.2 Ideological placement of the IU and
the Spanish electorate 93
7.1 Electoral results of the Left Party in
national elections, 1982–2006 116
8.1 The Danish SF’s electoral support,
1960–2007 126
8.2 Governments in Denmark since 1973 127
8.3 Socialist parties’ performances in Denmark 128
8.4 SF’s formal constraints on coalition bargaining,
1973–95 131
9.1 The PDS’s electoral performance in
eastern parliaments, 1990–2005 142
11.1 Ideological distances between left parties
and social democratic p arties, 1990–2003 176
11.2 The relative electoral strength of left parties
and their coalition partners, 1990–2009 178
11.3 Segmentation and block dynamics, 1990–2009 180
11.4 Election results of left parties, 1990–2009 183
vii
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Abbreviations
AG Working group within the German Left Party
ATTAC Association for the Taxation of Financial
Transactions for the Aid of Citizens
BWK Association of West German Communists
C Conservatives (Denmark)
CD Centre Democrats (Denmark)
CDA Christian Democratic Appeal (Netherlands)
CDU Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU
CiU Convergence and Union (Spain)
CMP Comparative Manifesto Project
CPN Communist Party of the Netherlands
CPP Christian People’s Party (Denmark)
CSU Christian Social Union (Germany)
CU Christian Union Party (Netherlands)
D66 Liberal Party (Netherlands)
DC Christian Democratic Party (Italy)
DKP Communist Party of Denmark
DKP German Communist Party
DNA Labour Party (Norway)
DP Proletarian Democracy (Italy)
EEA European Economic Area
EFTA European Free Trade Area
ELP European Left Party
ENPP Effective number of parliamentary parties
FDP Free Democratic Party (Germany)
FP People’s Party (Sweden)
GDR German Democratic Republic
GL GroenLinks (Netherlands)
GUE/NGL European United Left/Nordic Green Left
ICV Initiative of Catalonian Greens (Spain)
IG Interest group within the German Left Party
IMF International Monetary Fund
IU United Left (Spain)
KD Christian Democrats (Finland)
KD Christian Democratic Party (Sweden)
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Abbreviations ix
KESK Centre Party (Finland)
KOK National Coalition Party (Finland)
L Liberals (Denmark)
LP Left Party (Germany)
M Moderates (Sweden)
MP Green Party (Sweden)
MWP Mecklenburg Western Pomerania
NKP Norwegian Communist Party
PASOC Party of Socialist Action (Greece)
PCE Communist Party of Spain
PCF Communist Party of France
PCI Communist Party of Italy
PD Democratic Party (Italy)
PdCI Party of Italian Communists
PDS Democratic Party of the Left (Italy)
PDS Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)
PP Popular Party (Spain)
PPR Party of Radicals (Netherlands)
PS True Finnish Party
PSI Socialist Party of Italy
PSOE Social Democratic Party of Spain
PSP Pacifist Socialist Party (Netherlands)
PvDA Social Democratic Party (Netherlands)
RC Communist Refoundation (Italy)
RI Italian Renewal Party
RKP Swedish People’s Party (Finland)
RV Radical Liberal Party (Denmark)
SA Rainbow Left (Italy)
SAK Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions
SAP Social Democratic Workers Party (Sweden)
SD Democratic Left (Italy)
SD Social Democratic Party (Denmark)
SDP Social Democratic Party (Finland)
SEA Single European Act
SED Socialist Unity Party (Germany)
SF Socialist People’s Party (Denmark)
SF Socialist People’s Party (Norway)
SKDL People’s Democratic League of Finland
SKP Finnish Communist Party
SKP Swedish Communist Party
SP Centre Party (Norway)
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