Political Parties, Origins, Transformations and Future Prospects
WEEK 1
Lecture 1: Introductory lecture (04.11.24)
What is this course about?
- The ideologies of parties
- How parties compete with one another
- Why individuals support parties
- Why we see the rise of new political parties
- New = non-mainstream
Why interesting…
- Important recent elections
- france, italy;
- leadership changes: uk;
- farmer protests
- Mainstream parties are in decline
- New parties r not only on the rise but also entering government
- The future of party democracy is changing
- What does this mean for democracy in general?
- The study of political parties can tell us a lot about the history, the politics, and the political culture
of a country
- In 10 years will we have the same parties and party systems?
If u know nothing about the nl & studied our party system, ud learn that:
- Consensus is/was important in spite of a high degree of fragmentation
- Cleavages were important:
- Between religious people & non-religious ppl
- Between workers & business (but the latter was not radical in a comparative sense)
- Cleavages r changing
- For such a small country, regional differences are important!!
If u know nothing about italy & studied our party system, ud learn that:
- Regional differences r very important
- No only between the north & south
- Regions often have their own identity
- Politics can be highly polarised
- Trust in the state gov tends to be low…
1
,Thinking in time & space in order to understand the now
- For the most part the focus will be on western eu (looks at party construction systems)
- Time period → bc that's when the countries established their party systems
- Post ww2 (50s -70s) [1st part of the course]
- Why? The institutionalisation of liberal democracy, political parties & party systems
- The 70s, 80s & 90s & the transformations of parties & party system → old system began to
crumble & move into a new direction [2nd party of the course]
- Changing society
- Changing cleavages, how ppl identify with political parties
- (what was the old party system and how has it transformed - for sure a question on
the exam)
- The big questions
- Have parties & party systems changed?
- If so, how parties & party systems changed?
What we’re gonna look at in this course:
● Political parties & party modes
- How did political parties organise?
- Mass party; catchall party, cartel party…
- How do parties organise now?
- Personalised parties (& of leadership), movement parties
- What influence does how parties organise have on political representation and democracy?
● Party families and party ideologies
- Liberal parties
- Conservative parties
- Christian democratic parties
- Social democratic parties
- The rise of neo-conservatism
- The rise of the 3rd way (example: tony blair in the 90s)
- What is the future of mainstream parties?
● The social origins of parties: cleavages
- How were political parties embedded in society?
- Cleavages
- Do cleavages still matter?
- Do cleavages still order political choices? (80s and forwards)
2
,- How have cleavages changed?
- Immigration
- Climate
- Urban-rural
● Party competition
- How do parties compete with one another?
- ? argues that this is incredibly important and determines the political system & political moods in
a country
- How does party system competition differ between party systems?
- How does party system competition affect party systems & democracy?
- Why do parties in Denmark & Italy form pre-election blocks?
- Why are Dutch parties reluctant to do this?
- Why are coalition governments frowned upon in the uk?
● The new left & green parties [2nd part of the course]
- We will look at the rise of new parties
- Are these really new?
- Why do we call the new parties?
- How did the rise of the new left challenge the left? (identity politics)
- How did the rise of green politics change left-wing politics?
● The rise of populism
- Why did populism come about?
- What is populism?
- Is it important? Is it here to stay?
● Varieties of populism: the radical left & the radical right
- How do populist parties differ?
- What is the populist radical right?
- Why is meloni in gov in italy?
- Why doe le pen have a good chance to become
- Is there really such a thing as left-wing populism
● Social movements & political parties
- Since the 60s & 70s social movements have become increasingly important
- What is a social movement?
3
, - Should we not look farther than political parties to understand political change?
- Why do social movements sometimes become political parties?
- Are social movements changing the nature of political parties?
The broader context - more general terms, needed to understand some lecture; think of those term within
their historical context
Disembedded markets
● 1880-1914 & 1914-1930
● Began with elite parties and also had mass parties
● embeddedness, in social science, the dependence of a phenomenon—be it a sphere of activity such as the
economy or the market, a set of relationships, an organization, or an individual—on its environment;
embedded economy is economy that is shaped by society and dependent on nature
● typically refers to a situation where economic transactions and markets become detached from the social
and cultural frameworks in which they were originally embedded
Embedded liberalism
● Began around 50s till 70s – emerged as a response to the failures of laissez-faire capitalism during the
interwar period and the Great Depression, as well as the rise of protectionism
● Post ww2 economic & political arrangement that combined the principles of a liberal market economy
with a commitment to social welfare & state intervention. It allowed countries to pursue open,
international trade while maintaining the ability to manage their economies domestically
● Acknowledge the benefits of a global economy but embedded these within a framework that prioritised
national policies to protect citizens from the volatility of unfettered markets
● Market economy embedded in the context of regulation
● Important to the old party systems → embedded liberalism was critical to the old party system because it
provided a stable and predictable environment in which parties could operate, mobilize constituencies, and
deliver on their promises of economic growth and social protection, it aligned with their role in balancing
economic liberalization with social protections;
○ embedded liberal framework supported consensus-oriented politics, which were central to the
old party system. Parties on the left and right could compete on policy details rather than
fundamental ideological divides, as both broadly accepted the need for a mixed economy that
combined market mechanisms with state intervention
● In the 1970s, the rise of neoliberalism marked a shift away from the embedded liberal framework.
Factors such as the oil crises, stagflation, and globalization led to a preference for deregulation,
privatization, and reduced state intervention in markets, weakening the balance between global
economic openness and domestic social protections.
4
WEEK 1
Lecture 1: Introductory lecture (04.11.24)
What is this course about?
- The ideologies of parties
- How parties compete with one another
- Why individuals support parties
- Why we see the rise of new political parties
- New = non-mainstream
Why interesting…
- Important recent elections
- france, italy;
- leadership changes: uk;
- farmer protests
- Mainstream parties are in decline
- New parties r not only on the rise but also entering government
- The future of party democracy is changing
- What does this mean for democracy in general?
- The study of political parties can tell us a lot about the history, the politics, and the political culture
of a country
- In 10 years will we have the same parties and party systems?
If u know nothing about the nl & studied our party system, ud learn that:
- Consensus is/was important in spite of a high degree of fragmentation
- Cleavages were important:
- Between religious people & non-religious ppl
- Between workers & business (but the latter was not radical in a comparative sense)
- Cleavages r changing
- For such a small country, regional differences are important!!
If u know nothing about italy & studied our party system, ud learn that:
- Regional differences r very important
- No only between the north & south
- Regions often have their own identity
- Politics can be highly polarised
- Trust in the state gov tends to be low…
1
,Thinking in time & space in order to understand the now
- For the most part the focus will be on western eu (looks at party construction systems)
- Time period → bc that's when the countries established their party systems
- Post ww2 (50s -70s) [1st part of the course]
- Why? The institutionalisation of liberal democracy, political parties & party systems
- The 70s, 80s & 90s & the transformations of parties & party system → old system began to
crumble & move into a new direction [2nd party of the course]
- Changing society
- Changing cleavages, how ppl identify with political parties
- (what was the old party system and how has it transformed - for sure a question on
the exam)
- The big questions
- Have parties & party systems changed?
- If so, how parties & party systems changed?
What we’re gonna look at in this course:
● Political parties & party modes
- How did political parties organise?
- Mass party; catchall party, cartel party…
- How do parties organise now?
- Personalised parties (& of leadership), movement parties
- What influence does how parties organise have on political representation and democracy?
● Party families and party ideologies
- Liberal parties
- Conservative parties
- Christian democratic parties
- Social democratic parties
- The rise of neo-conservatism
- The rise of the 3rd way (example: tony blair in the 90s)
- What is the future of mainstream parties?
● The social origins of parties: cleavages
- How were political parties embedded in society?
- Cleavages
- Do cleavages still matter?
- Do cleavages still order political choices? (80s and forwards)
2
,- How have cleavages changed?
- Immigration
- Climate
- Urban-rural
● Party competition
- How do parties compete with one another?
- ? argues that this is incredibly important and determines the political system & political moods in
a country
- How does party system competition differ between party systems?
- How does party system competition affect party systems & democracy?
- Why do parties in Denmark & Italy form pre-election blocks?
- Why are Dutch parties reluctant to do this?
- Why are coalition governments frowned upon in the uk?
● The new left & green parties [2nd part of the course]
- We will look at the rise of new parties
- Are these really new?
- Why do we call the new parties?
- How did the rise of the new left challenge the left? (identity politics)
- How did the rise of green politics change left-wing politics?
● The rise of populism
- Why did populism come about?
- What is populism?
- Is it important? Is it here to stay?
● Varieties of populism: the radical left & the radical right
- How do populist parties differ?
- What is the populist radical right?
- Why is meloni in gov in italy?
- Why doe le pen have a good chance to become
- Is there really such a thing as left-wing populism
● Social movements & political parties
- Since the 60s & 70s social movements have become increasingly important
- What is a social movement?
3
, - Should we not look farther than political parties to understand political change?
- Why do social movements sometimes become political parties?
- Are social movements changing the nature of political parties?
The broader context - more general terms, needed to understand some lecture; think of those term within
their historical context
Disembedded markets
● 1880-1914 & 1914-1930
● Began with elite parties and also had mass parties
● embeddedness, in social science, the dependence of a phenomenon—be it a sphere of activity such as the
economy or the market, a set of relationships, an organization, or an individual—on its environment;
embedded economy is economy that is shaped by society and dependent on nature
● typically refers to a situation where economic transactions and markets become detached from the social
and cultural frameworks in which they were originally embedded
Embedded liberalism
● Began around 50s till 70s – emerged as a response to the failures of laissez-faire capitalism during the
interwar period and the Great Depression, as well as the rise of protectionism
● Post ww2 economic & political arrangement that combined the principles of a liberal market economy
with a commitment to social welfare & state intervention. It allowed countries to pursue open,
international trade while maintaining the ability to manage their economies domestically
● Acknowledge the benefits of a global economy but embedded these within a framework that prioritised
national policies to protect citizens from the volatility of unfettered markets
● Market economy embedded in the context of regulation
● Important to the old party systems → embedded liberalism was critical to the old party system because it
provided a stable and predictable environment in which parties could operate, mobilize constituencies, and
deliver on their promises of economic growth and social protection, it aligned with their role in balancing
economic liberalization with social protections;
○ embedded liberal framework supported consensus-oriented politics, which were central to the
old party system. Parties on the left and right could compete on policy details rather than
fundamental ideological divides, as both broadly accepted the need for a mixed economy that
combined market mechanisms with state intervention
● In the 1970s, the rise of neoliberalism marked a shift away from the embedded liberal framework.
Factors such as the oil crises, stagflation, and globalization led to a preference for deregulation,
privatization, and reduced state intervention in markets, weakening the balance between global
economic openness and domestic social protections.
4
