Social Democratic Parties in the European Union: History, Organization, Policies

254 Pages·1999·27.687 MB·English

by  Robert Ladrech, Philippe Marlière (eds.)

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTIES IN
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Also by Robert Ladrech
EUROPE SINCE 1945: A Concise History (with J. Robert Wegs)
Also by Philippe Marliere
JEAN JAURES
Social Democratic Parties
in the European Union
History, Organization, Policies
Edited by
Robert Ladrech
Lecturer in Politics
University ofKeele
Staffordshire
and
Philippe Marliere
Lecturer in Politics
University College
London
&
First published in Great Britain 1999 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-40108-6 ISBN 978-0-230-37414-0 (eBook)
DOl 10.1057/9780230374140
------···· ······-·---------·---···----
First published in the United States of America 1999 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Social democratic parties in the European Union: history,
organization, politics I edited by Robert Ladrech and Philippe
Marliere.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
I. Socialist parties-European Union countries. I. Ladrech,
Robert. II. Marliere, Philippe, 1966-
JNSO.S62 1998
324.2'172'094-dc21 98-30660
CIP
-------------- --------------------·---·----··- ---
Selection, editorial matter and Chapter 5 ©Robert Ladrech and Philippe Marliere 1999
Introduction© Philippe Marliere 1999
Postscript © Robert Ladrech 1999
Chapters 1-4,6-16 ©Macmillan Press Ltd 1999
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1999 978-0-333-68940-0
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph 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, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised 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.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
08 07 06 OS 04 03 02 01 00 99
Contents
List of Tables v
Preface ix
Notes on the Contributors xi
List of Abbreviations and Party/Union Acronyms xiv
Acknowledgements xix
Introduction: European Social Democracy in Situ 1
Philippe Marliere
1 The Social Democratic Party of Austria 16
Kurt Richard Luther
2 The Belgian Socialist Party 30
Pascal Delwit
3 The Danish Social Democratic Party 43
Lars Bille
4 The Finnish Social Democratic Party 56
Jan Sundberg
5 The French Socialist Party 64
Robert Ladrech and Philippe Marliere
6 The German Social Democratic Party 79
Johan Jeroen De Deken
7 The British Labour Party 95
Paul Webb
8 The Panhellenic Socialist Movement 110
Gerassimos Moschonas
9 The Irish Labour Party 123
Michael Holmes
10 The Italian Democrats of the Left 133
Stefano Guzzini
11 The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party 148
John Fitzmaurice
v
vi Contents
12 The Dutch Labour Party 155
Kees van Kersbergen
13 The Portuguese Socialist Party 166
Jose Magone
14 The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party 176
Paul Kennedy
15 The Swedish Social Democratic Party 189
Nicholas Aylott
16 The Party of European Socialists 204
Simon Hix
Postscript: Social Democratic Parties and the European Union 218
Robert Ladrech
Index 223
List of Tables
1.1 SPO absolute membership and membership density in election
years, 1913-97 23
1.2 SPO vote share at all general elections, 1919-95 25
1.3 Social structure of SPO electorate, 1986 and 1995 25
2.1 Number of members of the PS and the SP, 1978-95 34
2.2 Electoral performance of the Belgian Socialists, 1945-95 38
3.1 SD Party membership, 1945-95 47
3.2 Sociology of SD membership, 1971 and 1990 48
3.3 Sociology of the Danish electorate; votes for the Social
Democratic Party, 1964-94 49
3.4 Distribution of Danish left-wing votes and seats at general
elections, 1945-94 50
3.5 Party composition of national governments in Denmark,
1945-96 52
4.1 Party members in SDP, 1945-95 59
4.2 Party membership in SDP according to age groups, 1977-96 60
4.3 Socialist seats won in the Finnish Parliament, 1945-95 61
4.4 SDP party leaders, 1899-1993 62
5.1 Evolution of the occupational structure of French PS
members, 1951-90 70
5.2 French PS membership, 1905-95 71
5.3 PS share of the votes at French general elections, 1919-97 72
6.1 SPD membership, 1946-96 85
6.2 Development of the occupational structure of SPD members,
1952-96 86
6.3 Electoral performance of the SPD in federal elections, 1949-94 87
6.4 Electoral support for the SPD according to occupation,
1976-90 87
7.1 Major British parties, 1945-97: seats and share of the total vote 100
7.2 Class basis of electoral support in Britain, 1950-97 104
7.3 Labour Party's individual membership since 1960, UK 104
8.1 PASOK membership, 1974-96 114
8.2 Social penetration of PASOK, 1993-6 118
8.3 PASOK Electoral performance, 1974-96 119
9.1 Labour Party leaders in Ireland, 1922-97 124
9.2 Labour Party electoral performance in Ireland, 1948-97 125
9.3 Number of Labour Party branches and individual members
in Ireland, 1961-95 127
vn
Vlll List of Tables
9.4 Parliamentary representation of other left-wing parties in the
Republic of Ireland, 1927-97 128
9.5 Labour party participation in government in Ireland, 1948-97 129
10.1 PCI and FGCI membership, 1947-90 137
10.2 Regional distribution of PCI membership and vote, 1976 and
1990 138
10.3 Change in the socio-economic composition of PCI electorate,
1968-87 140
11.1 LSAP/POSL election results, 1959-94 152
12.1 PvdA membership, 1946-95 159
12.2 Class composition of the PvdA vote, 1971-94 159
12.3 PvdA share of the votes at parliamentary elections, 1946-94 162
13.1 Membership of the PS, Portugal 1974-92 170
13.2 Left vote over time in Portuguese legislative elections, 1975-95 172
13.3 PS in constitutional government in Portugal, 1976-95 174
14.1 PSOE membership, 1888-1997 182
14.2 Sociological characteristics of PSOE members, 1980-93 183
14.3 Share of the vote and seats won by PSOE at general elections,
1977-96 184
14.4 Sociological characteristics of PSOE voters, 1977-93 185
15.1 Swedish governments, 1945-98 189
15.2 SAP members' age, educational and
socio-economic profiles, 1960-94 195
15.3 SAP voters' age, educational and socio-economic profiles,
1960-94 196
15.4 Recent Swedish national elections 200
16.1 Member parties of the PES, 1957-95 208
16.2 Leaders of the PES Party Federation and EP Group, 1974-94 209
16.3 PES leadership, 1997 210
16.4 The Socialist Group/Group of the PES in the EP, 1979-94 212
Preface
Clear, concise and accessible coverage of one of the main party families in
Western Europe is currently unavailable in English. This is surprising in light
of the historic changes to social democracy since the end of the Cold War.
Certainly the transformations brought about by the European integration
process, notably the drive toward monetary union and all of its attendent
economic dynamics, make the need all the greater for a comprehensive guide
covering all of these key political players. As a reference work, we hope to
provide a focused description of the organizational and main political issues
that have faced social democratic parties since 1945 and thereby contributed
to their present profile.
A new book on European social democratic parties is justified for two
main reasons. Political party analysis, a traditional focus in study of politics,
has recently begun to emphasize the organizational aspects of parties to a
greater degree. This is most notably represented in the Katz and Mair (1994)
project on party organization as well as in the launch of the scholarly journal
Party Politics. In addition to this focus on party organization, the European
Union as a political-economic factor affecting social democratic party for
tunes has begun to attract attention, leading scholars to combine party
analysis with EU studies.
A renewed interest in political party organizational features, and increas
ing attention to the impact of European integration on social democratic
parties, thus requires a work which can provide necessary background infor
mation on all of these parties for students and researchers alike. One of the
key features of the book in consequence is its comprehensive coverage.
Contributions include all of the relevant social democratic parties in the
member states of the European Union, plus the transnational party federa
tion, the Party of European Socialists. In order to facilitate its accessibility,
the chapters maintain the same structural format, presenting a history of the
party, which in many cases includes references to competing parties on the
left, the organizational structure of each party, with reference to relations
with trade unions and any significant changes which may have recently
occurred, and a brief presentation of selected policy concerns. The structural
format also incorporates a feature we hope will provide much needed help
for those using the book for research, and this is our inclusion of contact
information for each party. This information includes e-mail and postal
addresses of the parties and any affiliated research institutes, as well as,
where available, the party's web site.
The contributors have produced chapters rich in information, and the
limitations placed upon them in terms of length have led them to produce
rx