DOCSLIB.ORG

SYRIZA and the Rise of Radical Left-Reformism in Europe

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
SYRIZA and the Rise of Radical Left-Reformism in Europe SYRIZA and the Rise of Radical Left-Reformism in Europe Donal Mac Fhearraigh The rise of SYRIZA, Greece's Coalition ternative to austerity and the crisis of of the Radical Left, in the May elections capitalism has provoked panic among the and in polls since, has electrified the left Euro-elites and the Greek ruling class. globally. Tsipras stunned Europe's rulers when, af- The election on 6 May revealed that ter receiving the mandate from the Greek the mass of the Greek people rejected president to try and form a government, the austerity programme imposed under after New Democracy proved unable to do the Memorandum of Understanding be- so, he declared the austerity measures be- tween their government and the European ing imposed on Greece `null and void'. Union (EU) and the International Mone- The campaign of Jean-Luc Melenchon tary Fund (IMF). SYRIZA's leader, Alex in the French Presidential election shows Tsipras, has denounced the programme that the re-emergence of a left-reformist as `barbarous' and his refusal to form a current in politics isn't peculiar to Greece, coalition with the parties that support the as the EU ruling class strategy of deep- Memorandum has forced Greece into a sec- ening austerity erodes traditional political ond election on 17 June. loyalties and creates rising political polar- The last opinion poll published on Fri- isation. Overall unemployment across the day 1 June showed SYRIZA on 31.5 per- eurozone stands at its highest level since cent, its highest performance yet, and a 1999 when the currency was launched with full six points ahead of the right-wing New 17.4 million out of work2 . The scale of eco- Democracy on 25.5 percent1 . This puts nomic contraction and suffering in some of SYRIZA on track to be the largest party Europe's southern edge echoes the `shock after the June 17 election, with over 100 therapy' Eastern European countries were parliamentary seats and in a position to subject to in the 1990s after the fall of the form a government. Soviet Union, but it has largely been with- The stakes are very high. If SYRIZA out precedent in Western Europe since the forms a government that rejects the Mem- Second World War. orandum, the European Central Bank In Ireland the growth of support for might well react by ceasing to fund the Sinn Fein and `Independents' suggests that Greek banks, precipitating Greece's full a similar space for an anti-austerity left re- default on its foreign debts and departure formist party may also exist here. Recent from the eurozone. opinion polls put Sinn Fein at 25 percent The prospect of a radical left-reformist and `Independents' (including the left) at government in Greece posing a radical al- 17 percent, ahead of The Labour Party at 1The Public Issue/Kathimerini poll, published on Friday 1 June. Opinion polls are banned during the last three weeks of campaigning in Greece. 2http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_ statistics 3http://politicalreform.ie/2012/05/14/fine-gael-labour-coalition-unable-to- command\-enough-seats-for-a-dail-majority-sunday-business-post-red-c-poll-13th-may- 2012/#more-3399 103 10 percent3 . (Though neither the degree reformism being dead, left-reformist par- of radicalisation nor the level of mobilisa- ties have benefited from the crisis rather tion of the working class is as yet compa- than the anti-capitalist, revolutionary left rable to that in Greece.) where they stand alone. The radicalisation generated by the cri- The elections point to deepening class sis, and resistance to it, is causing working polarisation across Europe. Major battles people to break from their traditional loy- lie ahead that can in turn push the pro- alty to mainstream social democrats, built cess of radicalisation further left, especially up in some cases over decades, But when where the solutions offered by the various they do so they are more likely to turn versions of reform rather than revolution first to other more radical versions of re- are put to the test. formism, where these seem credible and articulate an alternative in the language the social democrats used to deploy, rather Who are SYRIZA? than moving directly to the revolutionary SYRIZA, the `Coalition of the Radical left. Change within the framework of the Left', has its origins in a split in the system still seems easier and more plau- Greek Communist Party in 1968 between sible to many, than the message of revo- those who remained aligned with the So- lutionaries that to solve the crisis workers viet Union and the Eurocommunists who need to rely on their own resistance and ul- were detaching themselves from it, largely timately take control of society into their on a social democratic basis. In the 1980s own hands. both sides came together again to form The example of SYRIZA suggests that Synaspismos, `the coalition of the left and this space can be filled by coalitions of rev- progress'. But in 1989, following financial olutionaries and left reformists. If revolu- scandals under a Pasok (Labour) govern- tionaries move quickly and avoid sectari- ment, they cooperated with New Democ- anism they can help create a new left by racy in a national unity coalition govern- forming broad alliances or class struggle ment. parties so as to better engage with radi- After a few months they joined a sec- calising workers. ond coalition government including both Where the far left fails to do this new New Democracy and discredited Pasok. political formations can fill the vacuum. In As a result the whole Communist Party France the Left Front formed out of a left Youth left Synaspismos and the Commu- split from the French Socialist (Labour) nist Party, later forming the New Left Cur- Party uniting with the French Communist rent (NAR) which now participates in An- Party. This overtook the far-left New Anti- tarsya, the coalition of the anti-capitalist Capitalist Party (NPA) as the main ex- left, alongside the Greek Socialist Workers pression of resistance to the crisis, partly Party(SEK). due to the NPA's failure to broaden out The two wings of Synaspismos then to fill the space to the left of the Socialist split again, with the pro-USSR Communist Party. Party separating and becoming the KKE Both these examples show that a per- of today and the pro-E U wing remain- spective of building `new left' alliances ing as Synaspismos. In 1992 Synaspis- alongside the revolutionary party is nec- mos voted for the Maastricht Treaty. At essary for revolutionaries in Europe today. the next elections Synaspismos's vote col- Recent elections also show that far from lapsed. 104 In the early 2000s Synaspismos was in- icalisation is the impoverishment and suf- volved in the anti-globalisation movement fering imposed on the people. The rate and started to shift to the left. It changed of unemployment in Greece is now over 21 its name to `Coalition of the left, the move- percent - it has doubled over the last two ment and ecology'. Then in 2004 Synaspis- years. For young people unemployment is mos formed a broader coalition with a few at 50 percent. There used to be hardly any other small organisations, called SYRIZA, homeless people in Athens but this win- the Coalition of the Radical Left. ter there were 25,000 living on the streets. Synaspismos is by far the biggest party Wages and pensions have been cut by be- in SYRIZA and dominates it politically. tween 20 and 40 percent. There are also Inside SYRIZA there are ex- ministers 400,000 workers who haven't been paid for from the 1989 second coalition govern- five months in the private sector and there ment. At the same time you have people is a similar picture in the public sector. who have been involved in the movement These are very big changes in a very short for a long period and who are on the left, time and after all of this the national debt and you have politicians who say Greece has actually grown! People see the aus- has to be out of the euro to stop auster- terity policies aren't working and this has ity. SYRIZA has both a left and a right created huge bitterness and anger. but is led by left reformists who, unlike the The second reason is that people have Irish Labour Party, won't simply jump at fought back. Greece has had 17 general the first chance of power even if it means strikes in two years - one every six weeks abandoning all previous promises. on average! Two of these were for 48 hours. SYRIZA also has some influence in the And for every general strike there were trade unions, mainly in the public sector. tens, and sometimes hundreds, of strikes The private sector unions are dominated and occupations that were happening from by the Greek Communist Party though below and putting pressure on the union their refusal to work with others on the leadership to call the general strikes. left is weakening their grip. There was also the movement of the `in- dignados' connected with the strikes. For SYRIZA's breakthrough a month there were people in the squares, and not just in the big squares, but in the The Greek elections in early May saw the suburbs with hundreds of people meeting combined support for the two main par- and discussing every week about how to ties of austerity, PASOK and New Democ- take the movement forward. racy, crumble from 77 percent just two and The rise in support for SYRIZA is very half years ago to 32 percent.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The European and Russian Far Right As Political Actors: Comparative Approach
    Journal of Politics and Law; Vol. 12, No. 2; 2019 ISSN 1913-9047 E-ISSN 1913-9055 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education The European and Russian Far Right as Political Actors: Comparative Approach Ivanova Ekaterina1, Kinyakin Andrey1 & Stepanov Sergey1 1 RUDN University, Russia Correspondence: Stepanov Sergey, RUDN University, Russia. E-mail: [email protected] Received: March 5, 2019 Accepted: April 25, 2019 Online Published: May 30, 2019 doi:10.5539/jpl.v12n2p86 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/jpl.v12n2p86 The article is prepared within the framework of Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module "Transformation of Social and Political Values: the EU Practice" (575361-EPP-1-2016-1-RU-EPPJMO-MODULE, Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Actions) (2016-2019) Abstract The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the far right (nationalist) as political actors in Russia and in Europe. Whereas the European far-right movements over the last years managed to achieve significant success turning into influential political forces as a result of surging popular support, in Russia the far-right organizations failed to become the fully-fledged political actors. This looks particularly surprising, given the historically deep-rooted nationalist tradition, which stems from the times Russian Empire. Before the 1917 revolution, the so-called «Black Hundred» was one of the major far-right organizations, exploiting nationalistic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, which had representation in the Russian parliament – The State Duma. During the most Soviet period all the far-right movements in Russia were suppressed, re-emerging in the late 1980s as rather vocal political force. But currently the majority of them are marginal groups, partly due to the harsh party regulation, partly due to the fact, that despite state-sponsored nationalism the position of Russian far right does not stand in-line with the position of Russian authorities, trying to suppress the Russian nationalists.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of Syriza: an Interview with Aristides Baltas
    THE RISE OF SYRIZA: AN INTERVIEW WITH ARISTIDES BALTAS This interview with Aristides Baltas, the eminent Greek philosopher who was one of the founders of Syriza and is currently a coordinator of its policy planning committee, was conducted by Leo Panitch with the help of Michalis Spourdalakis in Athens on 29 May 2012, three weeks after Syriza came a close second in the first Greek election of 6 May, and just three days before the party’s platform was to be revealed for the second election of 17 June. Leo Panitch (LP): Can we begin with the question of what is distinctive about Syriza in terms of socialist strategy today? Aristides Baltas (AB): I think that independently of everything else, what’s happening in Greece does have a bearing on socialist strategy, which is not possible to discuss during the electoral campaign, but which will present issues that we’re going to face after the elections, no matter how the elections turn out. We haven’t had the opportunity to discuss this, because we are doing so many diverse things that we look like a chicken running around with its head cut off. But this is precisely why I first want to step back to 2008, when through an interesting procedure, Synaspismos, the main party in the Syriza coalition, formulated the main elements of the programme in a book of over 300 pages. The polls were showing that Syriza was growing in popularity (indeed we reached over 15 per cent in voting intentions that year), and there was a big pressure on us at that time, as we kept hearing: ‘you don’t have a programme; we don’t know who you are; we don’t know what you’re saying’.
    [Show full text]
  • Download/Print the Study in PDF Format
    GENERAL ELECTION IN GREECE 7th July 2019 European New Democracy is the favourite in the Elections monitor Greek general election of 7th July Corinne Deloy On 26th May, just a few hours after the announcement of the results of the European, regional and local elections held in Greece, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (Coalition of the Radical Left, SYRIZA), whose party came second to the main opposition party, New Analysis Democracy (ND), declared: “I cannot ignore this result. It is for the people to decide and I am therefore going to request the organisation of an early general election”. Organisation of an early general election (3 months’ early) surprised some observers of Greek political life who thought that the head of government would call on compatriots to vote as late as possible to allow the country’s position to improve as much as possible. New Democracy won in the European elections with 33.12% of the vote, ahead of SYRIZA, with 23.76%. The Movement for Change (Kinima allagis, KINAL), the left-wing opposition party which includes the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), the Social Democrats Movement (KIDISO), the River (To Potami) and the Democratic Left (DIMAR), collected 7.72% of the vote and the Greek Communist Party (KKE), 5.35%. Alexis Tsipras had made these elections a referendum Costas Bakoyannis (ND), the new mayor of Athens, on the action of his government. “We are not voting belongs to a political dynasty: he is the son of Dora for a new government, but it is clear that this vote is Bakoyannis, former Minister of Culture (1992-1993) not without consequence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Agonistic Model of Democracy and the European Union
    The agonistic model of democracy and the European Union Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel vorgelegt von Caroline Maria Kalkreuth Kiel 08.03.2021 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Dirk Nabers Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Paula Diehl Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 11.06.2021 Durch den Prodekan für Studium und Lehre, Prof. Dr. Michael Elmentaler, zum Druck genehmigt: 21.07.2021 DEDICATION To Simon TABLE OF CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1! 2. RESISTANCE TO THE PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION .................................. 11! 2.1!CHANGING!DISCOURSE!FROM!PERMISSIVE!CONSENSUS!TO!RESISTANCE!..........................................................................11! 2.2!THE!STUDY!OF!EUROSCEPTICISM!.........................................................................................................................18! 2.3!RESEARCH!GAP!...............................................................................................................................................40! 2.4!CONCLUSION!.................................................................................................................................................44! 3. THROUGH THE LENSES OF THE AGONISTIC MODEL OF DEMOCRACY .................. 47! 3.1!MOUFFE’S!TRAJECTORY!FROM!MARXISM!TO!POST?MARXISM!.....................................................................................48!
    [Show full text]
  • 'I Think That the Dilemma of 'Reform Or Revolution?' Is Still Valid'
    'I think that the dilemma of 'reform or revolution?' is still valid' https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article4198 'I think that the dilemma of 'reform or revolution?' is still valid' - Debate - Perspectives in Greece - Publication date: Sunday 30 August 2015 Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine - All rights reserved Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine Page 1/4 'I think that the dilemma of 'reform or revolution?' is still valid' Left Voice interviewed Kostas Skordoulis, a leading member of OKDE-Spartakos about the current situation in Greece following the resignation of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the recent formation of Popular Unity. Kostas spoke to us in a personal capacity. Alejandra Ríos From Athens How do you read Tsipras' resignation and what are the implications? The collapse of the SYRIZA government is a direct outcome of the massive OXI vote in the referendum of the 5th July. This massive 62% in favour of OXI was an explicitly class vote. It was a vote against the strategic choices of the Greek and European capital i.e. neoliberalism, austerity policies, memoranda, the euro. I have many good reasons to believe that Tsipras and his fraction in the party had built their plans for negotiations with the troika on the basis of the defeat of OXI. They miscalculated the social dynamics. When Tsipras agreed on the 3rd memorandum, he knew very well that his government has lost its legitimacy among the people. But there is more than that. It has to do with the class nature of SYRIZA as a party and the illusions for a "left government".
    [Show full text]
  • Greece Political Briefing: an Assessment of SYRIZA's Review
    ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 26, No. 1 (GR) Febr 2020 Greece political briefing: An assessment of SYRIZA’s review George N. Tzogopoulos 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 An assessment of SYRIZA’s review In February 2020 the central committee of SYRIZA approved the party’s review covering the period from January 2015 until July 2019. While the performance of SYRIZA after the summer of 2015 was largely based on bailout obligations and was efficient, its stance in the first semester of that year stigmatized not only the national economy but also the party itself. The review discusses successes and failures and constitutes a useful document in the effort of the main opposition party to learn by its mistakes and develop attractive governmental proposals. A few months after the general election of July 2019, the main opposition SYRIZA party is keeping a low profile in domestic politics. Its electoral defeat has required a period of self- criticism and internal debate in order for the party to gradually start formulating new policies which will perhaps allow it to win the next national election. Against this backdrop, three experienced politicians, former vice-President of the government Yiannis Dragasakis, former Shipping Minister Theodoros Dritsas and former Education Minister Aristides Baltas prepared a review of the party’s 4.5 administration year. The review was presented to SYRIZA’s central committee at the beginning of February 2020 and was subsequently approved.
    [Show full text]
  • Euroscepticism in Political Parties of Greece
    VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND DIPLOMACY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Eimantas Kočanas EUROSCEPTICISM IN POLITICAL PARTIES OF GREECE Master’s Thesis Contemporary European politics study program, state code 621L20005 Political sciences study direction Supervisor: Prof. Doc. Mindaugas Jurkynas Defended: PMDF Dean - Prof. Doc. Šarūnas Liekis Kaunas 2016 European Union is like a painting displayed in a museum. Some admire it, others critique it, and few despise it. In all regards, the fact that the painting is being criticized only shows that there is no true way to please everybody – be it in art or politics. - Author of this paper. 1 Summary Eimantas Kocanas ‘Euroscepticism in political parties of Greece’, Master’s Thesis. Paper supervisor Prof. Doc. Mindaugas Jurkynas, Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University, Department of Diplomacy and Political Sciences. Faculty of Political Sciences. Euroscepticism (anti-EUism) had become a subject of analysis in contemporary European studies due to its effect on governments, parties and nations. With Greece being one of the nations in the center of attention on effects of Euroscepticism, it’s imperative to constantly analyze and research the eurosceptic elements residing within the political elements of this nation. Analyzing eurosceptic elements within Greek political parties, the goal is to: detect, analyze and evaluate the expressions of Euroscepticism in political parties of Greece. To achieve this: 1). Conceptualization of Euroscepticism is described; 2). Methods of its detection and measurement are described; 3). Methods of Euroscepticism analysis are applied to political parties of Greece in order to conclude what type and expressions of eurosceptic behavior are present. To achieve the goal presented in this paper, political literature, on the subject of Euroscepticism: 1).
    [Show full text]
  • European Left Info Flyer
    United for a left alternative in Europe United for a left alternative in Europe ”We refer to the values and traditions of socialism, com- munism and the labor move- ment, of feminism, the fem- inist movement and gender equality, of the environmental movement and sustainable development, of peace and international solidarity, of hu- man rights, humanism and an- tifascism, of progressive and liberal thinking, both national- ly and internationally”. Manifesto of the Party of the European Left, 2004 ABOUT THE PARTY OF THE EUROPEAN LEFT (EL) EXECUTIVE BOARD The Executive Board was elected at the 4th Congress of the Party of the European Left, which took place from 13 to 15 December 2013 in Madrid. The Executive Board consists of the President and the Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer and other Members elected by the Congress, on the basis of two persons of each member party, respecting the principle of gender balance. COUNCIL OF CHAIRPERSONS The Council of Chairpersons meets at least once a year. The members are the Presidents of all the member par- ties, the President of the EL and the Vice-Presidents. The Council of Chairpersons has, with regard to the Execu- tive Board, rights of initiative and objection on important political issues. The Council of Chairpersons adopts res- olutions and recommendations which are transmitted to the Executive Board, and it also decides on applications for EL membership. NETWORKS n Balkan Network n Trade Unionists n Culture Network Network WORKING GROUPS n Central and Eastern Europe n Africa n Youth n Agriculture n Migration n Latin America n Middle East n North America n Peace n Communication n Queer n Education n Public Services n Environment n Women Trafficking Member and Observer Parties The Party of the European Left (EL) is a political party at the Eu- ropean level that was formed in 2004.
    [Show full text]
  • Freedom House, Its Academic Advisers, and the Author(S) of This Report
    Croatia by Tena Prelec Capital: Zagreb Population: 4.17 million GNI/capita, PPP: $22,880 Source: World Bank World Development Indicators. Nations in Transit Ratings and Averaged Scores NIT Edition 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 National Democratic 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.75 Governance Electoral Process 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3 3 3 Civil Society 2.75 2.75 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.75 2.75 2.75 2.75 2.75 Independent Media 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4.25 4.25 Local Democratic 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 Governance Judicial Framework 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.25 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 4.5 and Independence Corruption 4.5 4.5 4.25 4 4 4 4 4.25 4.25 4.25 Democracy Score 3.71 3.71 3,64 3.61 3.61 3.68 3.68 3.68 3.71 3.75 NOTE: The ratings reflect the consensus of Freedom House, its academic advisers, and the author(s) of this report. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author(s). The ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest. The Democracy Score is an average of ratings for the categories tracked in a given year.
    [Show full text]
  • Germany's Left Party Is Shut out of Government, but Remains a Powerful
    Germany’s Left Party is shut out of government, but remains a powerful player in German politics blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2013/09/19/germanys-left-party-is-shut-out-of-government-but-remains-a-powerful- player-in-german-politics/ 19/09/2013 The Left Party (Die Linke) received 11.9 per cent of the vote in the 2009 German federal elections, and is predicted to comfortably clear the country’s 5 per cent threshold in this Sunday’s vote. Jonathan Olsen outlines the party’s recent history and its role in the German party system. He notes that although the Left Party appears willing to enter into coalition with the other major parties, it is not viewed as a viable coalition partner. Despite being shut out of government, the party nevertheless remains an important part of German politics. Although the government that emerges after Germany’s federal elections on 22 September will largely depend on the performance of the two biggest parties, the conservative block of CDU/CSU and the Left-Center Social Democrats (SPD), the impact of smaller parties on the ultimate outcome should not be underestimated. Thus the failure of the Free Democrats (FDP) to clear the 5 per cent hurdle necessary for legislative representation would most likely lead to a “Grand Coalition” of CDU/CSU and SPD, while an outstanding performance by the German Greens could make possible (though unlikely) an SPD-Greens coalition government. The third of Germany’s smaller parties – the Left Party – will not have the same impact on coalition calculations as the FDP and Greens, since all of the other four parties have categorically ruled out a coalition with it.
    [Show full text]
  • Codebook Indiveu – Party Preferences
    Codebook InDivEU – party preferences European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies December 2020 Introduction The “InDivEU – party preferences” dataset provides data on the positions of more than 400 parties from 28 countries1 on questions of (differentiated) European integration. The dataset comprises a selection of party positions taken from two existing datasets: (1) The EU Profiler/euandi Trend File The EU Profiler/euandi Trend File contains party positions for three rounds of European Parliament elections (2009, 2014, and 2019). Party positions were determined in an iterative process of party self-placement and expert judgement. For more information: https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/65944 (2) The Chapel Hill Expert Survey The Chapel Hill Expert Survey contains party positions for the national elections most closely corresponding the European Parliament elections of 2009, 2014, 2019. Party positions were determined by expert judgement. For more information: https://www.chesdata.eu/ Three additional party positions, related to DI-specific questions, are included in the dataset. These positions were determined by experts involved in the 2019 edition of euandi after the elections took place. The inclusion of party positions in the “InDivEU – party preferences” is limited to the following issues: - General questions about the EU - Questions about EU policy - Questions about differentiated integration - Questions about party ideology 1 This includes all 27 member states of the European Union in 2020, plus the United Kingdom. How to Cite When using the ‘InDivEU – Party Preferences’ dataset, please cite all of the following three articles: 1. Reiljan, Andres, Frederico Ferreira da Silva, Lorenzo Cicchi, Diego Garzia, Alexander H.
    [Show full text]
  • Dimensions and Alignments in European Union Politics: Cognitive Constraints and Partisan Responses
    Working Paper Series in European Studies Volume 1, Number 3 Dimensions and Alignments in European Union Politics: Cognitive Constraints and Partisan Responses DR. SIMON HIX DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE Houghton Street London, WC2A 2AE United Kingdom ([email protected]) EDITORIAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE: GILLES BOUSQUET KEITH COHEN COLLEEN DUNLAVY ANDREAS KAZAMIAS LEON LINDBERG ELAINE MARKS ANNE MINER ROBERT OSTERGREN MARK POLLACK GREGORY SHAFFER MARC SILBERMAN JONATHAN ZEITLIN Copyright © 1998 All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form without permission of the author. European Studies Program, International Institute, University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, Wisconsin http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/eur/ 1 Dimensions and Alignments in European Union Politics: Cognitive Constraints and Partisan Responses Simon Hix Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom Abstract As the European Union (EU) has evolved, the study agenda has shifted from ‘European integration’ to ‘EU politics’. Missing from this new agenda, however, is an understanding of the ‘cognitive constraints’ on actors, and how actors respond: i.e. the shape of the EU ‘political space’ and the location of social groups and competition between actors within this space. The article develops a theoretical framework for understanding the shape of the EU political space (the interaction between an Integration-Independence and a Left-Right dimension and the location of class and sectoral groups within this map), and tests this framework on the policy positions of the Socialist, Christian Democrat and Liberal party leaders between 1976 and 1994 (using the techniques of the ECPR Party Manifestos Group Project).
    [Show full text]