Loss of Voters - Loss of Power: The current Crisis of Social-Democracy
Workshop 2
At the latest since the financial and economic crisis has hit Europe in the late 2000s, social democratic parties all over the continent have been struggling to poll votes: Their share of votes in European domestic elections has fallen by a third, marking a low unseen for 70 years[1]. While the Greek Social Democratic Party fell from 44% in 2009 to 5% in the 2015 elections, the Social Democratic Party of Germany experienced all-time lows in various state elections - a trend that can be noted in social democratic parties' low shares of vote in national elections held in 2015 in Finland, Poland or Spain. Their Israeli sister party is struggling just the same, not succeeding to get back into power since the 1990s. More often than not, social democratic parties seem to have abandoned their foundation of an advocacy for a strong working-class and their tight relationship with trade unions. Probably not least because social democratic leaders, while in power, introduced a "Third Way": combining social reform and deregulation with decent public services. Unsurprisingly, commenting on the defeat of Labour in the 2015 UK elections, Labour Deputy Chair, Jon Trickett, detects a "cataclysmic decline among working class voters"[2]. The far-right (e.g., the Alternative for Germany or the Austrian Freedom Party) or more radical left parties (e.g., the Greek Syriza or the Spanish Podemos), however, succeed in attracting voters with different, seemingly more appealing policies, while social democratic, former catch-all parties, are about to dwindle to marginalized also-runs.
Guiding Questions:
- What is the current situation of social democratic parties in Europe and Israel?
- What major changes (if any) did social democratic parties in Europe and Israel undergo?
- What causes the electoral decline of social democratic parties throughout Europe and in Israel?
Social democratic parties are sometimes considered to adopt a slightly kinder and slightly gentler neoliberalism.
- What (if any) is the link to their current political crisis?
- How can they create a different discourse?
Speakers:
Prof. Ami Vatury[1] https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21695887-centre-left-sharp-decline-across-europe-rose-thou-art-sick
[2] https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/05/it-was-working-class-not-middle-class-sunk-labour