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Evolution of Political Cleavages and Entry of the Far-Right in Government Coalitions in Italy and Poland

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Evolution of Political Cleavages and Entry of the Far-Right in Government Coalitions in Italy and Poland University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2008 Evolution Of Political Cleavages And Entry Of The Far-right In Government Coalitions In Italy And Poland Maxim Chernyshev University of Central Florida Part of the Political Science Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Chernyshev, Maxim, "Evolution Of Political Cleavages And Entry Of The Far-right In Government Coalitions In Italy And Poland" (2008). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3739. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3739 EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL CLEAVAGES AND ENTRY OF THE FAR-RIGHT IN GOVERNMENT COALITIONS IN ITALY AND POLAND by MAXIM CHERNYSHEV B.S. Udmurt State University, 2003 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Political Science in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2008 © 2008 Maxim Chernyshev ii ABSTRACT This project focuses on a comparative analysis of governing coalitions between conservative and far right parties in recent years in Italy (1994) and Poland (2005). The aim is to show how the inclusion of the radical right in government coalitions in these countries reflects recent changes in Western and Eastern European party systems through the reformulation of the old and formation of new party cleavages. The focus in the recent literature on personality clashes of party leaders over the distribution of ministry portfolios does not explain the nature of the disagreement between these leaders about key issues of national politics. I argue that the mechanism of policy formulation between prospective coalitional partners can be traced at the level of party cleavages which pre-exist the negotiation process between party leaders. The political breakthrough of the far-right parties became possible because of the development of new issues related to the process of European integration and based on the longstanding confrontation between the left and right parties since the beginning of the Cold War. The disintegration of the previous party systems as a result of the collapse of the Communist regime in Poland and the First Republic in Italy in the post-Cold War era created a vacuum partly exploited by the previous anti-system far-right parties and the new emerging ones. At the same time, a clear tendency toward the cartelization of the programmatic supply was prominent on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. I argue that the rise to prominence of center-right coalitions in the two countries led by Silvio Berlusconi and Jaroslav Kachinskiy respectively represents not only a new dimension in the development of the right wing in Europe but also constitutes a model of political realignment where new cleavages are gradually substituting for the old cleavages described in the Lipset-Rokkan model. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Organization of the Research ...................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 10 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER THREE: LEFT – RIGHT DIMENSION OF POLITICAL CLEAVAGES .............. 26 Socio-economic Cleavage ......................................................................................................... 26 Italy ....................................................................................................................................... 26 Poland ................................................................................................................................... 38 Cleavage of Secularized Society vs. Clericalism ...................................................................... 54 Italy ....................................................................................................................................... 54 Poland ................................................................................................................................... 64 Salience of the Left-right Dimension of Political Cleavages after the Cold War ..................... 82 CHAPTER FOUR: WESTERNIZATION – TRADITIONALISM DIMENSION OF POLITICAL CLEAVAGES ....................................................................................................... 113 Center vs. Periphery Cleavage ................................................................................................ 113 Italy ..................................................................................................................................... 113 Poland ................................................................................................................................. 120 Urban-rural Cleavage .............................................................................................................. 130 Italy ..................................................................................................................................... 130 Poland ................................................................................................................................. 138 iv CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 132 APPENDIX: TABLES AND FIGURES .................................................................................... 140 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 163 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Party Bloc Positions on Left-Right Economic Issues in Italy, 1963-1994 .................. 144 Figure 2: Class Voting and Polarization of Left-Right Issues in Italy, 1963 – 1996 .................. 144 Figure 3: Party Bloc Positions on Secular-Religious Issues in Italy, 1968-1996 ....................... 149 Figure 4: Religious voting and polarization of religious issues in Italy, 1968 –1996 ................ 150 Figure 5: MPs Associated to Social Cleavage Group Organization in Italy, 1963 – 1996 ......... 150 Figure 6: Social Cleavages and Vote Choice, 1963-96 (log odds of voting centre compared to left of middle class secular, middle class Catholic, working class Catholic vs. working class secular) ................................................................................................................................ 151 Figure 7: Party Attitudes to European Integration in a Two-Dimensional Space in Italy (means by period) ............................................................................................................................ 158 Figure 8: Results of the EU Referendum in 2003 ....................................................................... 161 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1 The New Party Spectrum Reflected by the Parliamentary Elections of 1994 and 2005 141 Table 2 Summary of the March 27th, 1994 Chamber Deputies Election Results in Italy .......... 142 Table 3 Summary of the September 25th, 2005 Sejm Election Results (main parties) .............. 142 Table 4 Cleavages, Critical Junctures, Issues and Party Families According to the Lipset/Rokkan Model .................................................................................................................................. 143 Table 5 Volatility, Net Change, and Mean Communist Vote by Region in Italy in 1950-1970 143 Table 6 Respondents‘ Perceptions of Parties of the Extreme Left as a Threat to Democracy, by Party Preference in 1974 ..................................................................................................... 145 Table 7 Respondents‘ Orientation toward a Governmental Coalition Including the PCI and the DC, by Party Preference in 1974 ........................................................................................ 145 Table 8 Polish Sejm During the Years of Uncontested Elections, 1952-1976 ........................... 146 Table 9 Polish Workers‘ Party (membership) ............................................................................ 146 Table 10 Opinions on How Socialism Works in Poland (Question: ―How Does Socialism Work Out in Practice in Poland) ................................................................................................... 147 Table 11 Opinions on the Results of August 1980 Developments in Poland (Question: ―What, in Your Opinion, is the Most Important Result of the Latest Developments?‖) .................... 148 Table 12 The Sources of Social Antagonism in Poland in 1987 (Percentage Mentioning Factor) ...........................................................................................................................................
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