Comparative Politics 1POL1010

Lecture 10

20th January 2005, 3-4pm

Western European Government: Germany and Spain

Administration

Next Lecture – Thursday 3rd February 2005

Bill Tupman

Territorial Politics lecture notes – POL1010 site

Lecture Plan

CHANGING CONTEXT IN WESTERN EUROPE

FORCES BEHIND POLITICAL REFORM AND THE MOVE TO DEMOCRACY: ECONOMIC FACTORS

PATTERNS IN WESTERN EUROPEAN POLITICS: ELEMENTS OF ANALYSIS

WESTERN EUROPEAN PARTY SYSTEMSNON-VOTING AND DISILLUSIONMENT

Changing Context In Western Europe

Western European political systems – liberal democratic

The development of these three-fold:• history of constitution-making• transfers of power to monarchs or dictators or

aristocrats to the masses• by restrictions being made on absolutist rule

NB – not a linear progression to liberal democracy and each country has its own individual story

Forces Behind Political Reform And The Move To Democracy I: Economic Factors

These changes across WE countries and the embrace of liberal democracy – underpinned by economic and social changes

This relationship between the economic and political – one which is much studied by political scientists

It is often characterised as a ‘chicken-egg’ relationship – which stimulates which? We know that they are inter-related but how?

Rueschemeyer, Stephens and Stephens (1992) – capitalism must come first if democracy is going to flourish.

Forces Behind Political Reform And The Move To Democracy II: Economic

FactorsArgument is – economic liberalisation creates a

middle class which demanded a role in the political process and had the wealth to be able to carry out that role

In WE the rise of liberal democracy – through these three channels happened in the same temporal frame as the industrial revolutions in each particular country

The economic is necessary for the political – economic change stimulated political development

Forces Behind Political Reform And The Move To Democracy III: Economic

FactorsIt is important to see economic development and

capitalism as necessary rather than sufficient factor.

We should not fall into the trap of economic determinism.

Other economic, social and cultural factors were important in politicising the population:

• growth of education, (and spread of literacy)• mass communication• transportation systems• All of these further politicised the population – able to read

political literature and so join debate, political actors able to get around the country and discuss political issues with people etc.

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis I

There are various variables which we can examine if we are to compare the democracies of Western Europe:

• Size of territory• Location of countries• Boundaries of countries• States’ wealth and resources• Constitutional basis• Political culture / style of regime• Political stability and political cleavages

Source: Roberts and Hogwood, 1996: 17.

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis II

Element 1: Constitutional Features• Germany is a Republic – based on the Basic Law of 1949• State structure – federation of 16 Länder, each of these

regions or states has its own constitution, legislature and government.

• Federal PM elected by an absolute majority of the parliament – Bundestag.

• Executive = Bundestag (federal power)• Federal Council = Bundesrat – reps of the Länder

• Spain is a Constitutional Monarchy – constitution was adopted in 1978 (preceded by a dictatorship)

• State structure – unitary, but there is considerable devolution of executive and administrative powers to 17 elected regional assemblies

• Parliament is bicameral – 350 member Congress of Deputies and an upper chamber – the Senate

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis III

Element 2: Political Culture / Style Of Regime

The most common distinction made in this regard is between Proportional Representation (PR) and First-Past-the-Post (FPP).

Both Germany and Spain operate ‘list types’ of PR – where in both cases these lists are closed ones – parties decide which candidates are to represent if selected.

Across WE – most countries have some form of PR system – most of you will be familiar with the various PR systems. There are two high profile exceptions to this – Britain (FPP) and France (FPP double ballot method)

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis IV

Consequences Of The Electoral System

The type of electoral system a country has important in 3 main ways. It has consequences for:

• proportionality

• the number of parties in parliament

• types of governments returned – majority or coalitions

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis V

Element 3: Political Stability And Cleavages

As liberal democracies – aim is for social and political pluralism = ensure open access

However, the principle of pluralism – if political and social differences are allowed to be aired this can lead to divided communities and social instability

So – if WE countries are to uphold this principle of pluralism then how can this freedom is properly channelled and the fragmentation be avoided?

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis VI

Political stability – if we were going to measure this we’d look at whether or not the political systems in WE had persisted?

If we look at the time period from World War 1:

• France – as you learned last week had had three republics and a period of occupation

• Germany – two republics and the 3rd Reich and post-war occupation from the allies

• Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece – all had several regimes since WW1

• Regime stability – more prevalent in the Northern democratic countries – UK, Ireland, etc.

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis VII

Political conflict and the way in which it is mediated – central to the style and culture which prevails in a political system

‘shared attitudes’

• Stability and the idea of shared attitudes – relates to the pattern of fundamental ‘political cleavages’ which exist in a society – these include divisions of social class, religion, language, region, urban/rural location

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis VIII

LIPSET AND ROKKAN’S CLEAVAGE THESIS (1967)

The term ‘cleavages’ in political science refers to social divisions which are deep enough to form the basis of collective identities and so give rise to organisations which will promote and protect whatever the interests in question are.

Three most salient cleavages for WE countries and are revealed in the most common interest groups and political parties:

• Region• Religion• ClassThese cleavages – do not matter universally across all WE

countries

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis IX

In some countries some matter more than others: reason for this is provided by Lipset and Rokkan (1967) – the timing of the extension of voting rights to mass publics was crucial for the consolidation of political ‘cleavages’ between sections of WE populations

Two things determined which were the most salient of cleavages at the time of mass enfranchisement:

• the consolidation of state authority• the timing of industrialisation

Patterns In Western European Politics: Elements Of Analysis X

Lipset and Rokkan (1967) identify four dominant cleavages:

1. centre-periphery

2. church-state

3. urban-rural

4. class

Lipset and Rokkan’s Cleavage Thesis I (1967)

Centre-periphery cleavage

• This cleavage – clash of cultures between those at the centre and those in local communities at the periphery.

• In Spain for example groups such as the Basques and the Catalans fought to preserve their language and culture from the Castilian state

• Temporary resolution to centre-periphery disputes – centralising unitary structures, e.g. Britain and France or building federal systems – Germany and Switzerland for example – this latter ensures that a measure of autonomy in relation to periphery is kept.

Lipset and Rokkan’s Cleavage Thesis II (1967)

Church-state cleavage

• This cleavage – result of the states’ attempts to consolidate its position which brought many WE states into conflict with the church.

• France in particular the struggle was intense – here the centralising state aimed to make an explicitly secular society

• In Germany – divide fell between Protestant and Catholic – but federal system means that this is less conflictual than in France

Lipset and Rokkan’s Cleavage Thesis III (1967)

Urban-rural cleavage• The cleavage between the interests of urban

and rural populations were evident from medieval times onwards – in contemporary WE this cleavage is less evident, post WW2 greater standardisation of public services.

• This standardisation – conflict between urban and rural areas is less significant – often only played out over single issues.

Lipset and Rokkan’s Cleavage Thesis IV (1967)

Class cleavage• Class conflict developed in every country of WE – a

result of the industrial revolution

• Historically the Northern European countries have resisted the demands of the working class at the time of the industrial revolution – although did not tend to actively repression this group

• However, in Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain – established classes took repressive action against the working classes – result of which was that socialist parties became uncompromising in the approach and over questions of ideology

Western European Party Systems I: Kitschelt

As a result of the different cleavages which dominate WE – have a set of different types of Party Systems across Europe (Kitschelt, 1997):

• unidimensional left-right divisions• class and religion• multidimensionality

Western European Party Systems II: Freezing of Party Systems

Lipset and Rokkan (1967) – see the four cleavages in WE party systems still now – what they refer to as a ‘freezing’ of the systems

These cleavages have frozen the systems as a result of 4 main reasons:

1. where the interests that encapsulate these cleavages remain relevant and organised in group form – thus retaining a sense of collective identity

2. no new or rival political identities have been mobilised to depose those which have come out of existing cleavages

3. related to this – the rules of the game favour existing power bases and parties – frustrating efforts of new political forces

4. parties work to isolate their voters from other parties.

Western European Party Systems III: Realignment and Dealignment

However, since Lipset and Rokkan’s work – 1960s – rival theses have sprung up, arguing that a forms of realignment (Inglehart, 1997, 1984) and dealignment (Dalton, 1984) had occurred – middle classes expressing different preferences that those represented by the 4 cleavages

This is associated with the rise of:• Green movement• Feminism• New left politics

Non-voting And DisillusionmentAcross WE voting is on the decline – leading Flickinger

and Studlar to refer to ‘disappearing voters’ (1992) across WE

For example, 1972 in Germany voter turnout stood at 90% and in 1994 this had fallen to 78%

Parties increasingly seen as obsolete

In Spain for example, the Spanish Socialist party engaged in organising a mass exercise in political debate between 1987-1990 to draw up a new programme in partnership / consultation with the people

BibliographyDalton, R.J. (1984) ‘Cognitive Mobilization and Partisan Dealignment in

Advanced Industrial Democracies’ in Journal of Politics 46: 2, 264-282.Flickinger, R.S. and Studlar, D.T. (1992) ‘The Disappearing Voters?

Declining Turnout in Western European Elections’ in West European Politics 15: 2, 1-16.

Inglehart, R. (1977) The Silent Revolution Princeton University Press.Kitschelt, H. (1997) European Party Systems’ in Developments in West

European Politics Rhodes, M., Heywood, P. and Wright, V. (eds) Macmillan.

Lipset, S.M. and Rokkan, S. (eds) (1967) Party Systems and Voter Alignments New York, NY: Free Press.

Roberts, G. and Hogwood, P. (1997) European Politics Today Manchester; Manchester University Press.

Reuschemeyer, D. Stephens, E. and Stephens, J.D. (1992) Capitalist Development and Democracy Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Urwin, D. (1989) Western Europe since 1945 London: Longman.