2. ORIGINS OF PARTIES Miloš Brunclík ORIGINS Cleavage theory Other complementary theories •Paul Lucardie •Niche parties SUCCESS OF NEW PARTIES (PAUL LUCARDIE, 2000) • addresses problems considered urgent by substantial sections of the electorate POLITICAL PROJECT • Members • Money • Management • Media exposure RESOURCES • positions of other relevant parties • institutional, socio-economic, and cultural conditions POLITICAL OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE POLITICAL PROJECT social problems have to be translated into political issues with political solutions Examples • shortage of housing : a Dutch party named ‘Safe Traffic and 100,000 houses a year’ (Veilig verkeer en 100.000 woningen per jaar) in 1963 • Pirate issues • Pollution • Person can be a project too: Timo Soini, Geert Wilders, Tomio Okamura… PAUL LUCARDIE: 3 TYPES OF NEW PARTIES 1. PROLOCUTORS ■ articulate particular interests without reference to an explicit ideology ■ represent neglected groups by established parties: ■ E.g. ethnic minorities, farmers, senior citizens, peripheral regions PAUL LUCARDIE 2. PURIFIERS, PURIFYING PARTIES, CHALLENGERS ■ ideology is diluted or betrayed by established parties ■ Quite often, founders were dissident members of an established party PAUL LUCARDIE 3. PROPHETS ■ new party need not stick to old ideologies ■ New ideologies may develop around new issues ■ ecological crisis ■ tensions between traditional culture and immigrant cultures ■ especially when established parties appear to ignore or neglect these issues ■ E.g. Green parties, radical right-wing populist parties PAUL LUCARDIE 4. idiosyncratic or personal vehicle party ■ serve to solve the personal problems of the founders, rather than any significant social problems ■ Silvio Berlusconi ■ Tomio Okamura STRUCTURE OF POLITICAL OPPORTUNI TIES Kriesi (1995) distinguished 4 aspects of SPO • Formal access to the state • informal procedures and dominant strategies (political culture) • interest associations • configuration of power in the party system FORMAL ACCESS TO STATE • Federalism offers a new party more opportunities to develop a regional base before trying its luck at national elections • Switzerland or Germany usually more open in federal systems more restricted in centralized states IN/FORMAL PROCEDURES AND DOMINANT STRATEGIES ■Political elites can facilitate, tolerate or repress new parties by formal as well as informal procedures 1. party registration 2. subsidies 3. allocation of broadcasting time on public channels 4. electoral system 5. Regime type ■ E.g. presidentialism - may affect the opportunities for new parties – probably in a negative direction, as presidential elections tend to foster polarization and concentration of parties POLITICAL CULTURE AND INTEREST ASSOCIATI ONS ●mass media, interest association, opinion leaders… may ○ Support ○ Ignore ○ Ridicule CONFIGUR ATION OF POWER Niche parties Seeking a free slot on the electoral market Distribution of parties alongside major cleavages WHAT IS LEFT AND RIGHT? LEFT AND RIGHT ■ various criteria ■ relationship to democratisation (1900s Europe) ■ tradition X progress ■ secular x religious ■ question of equality ■ relationship to differentiation: Norberto BOBBIO NORBERTO BOBBIO left • people are rather equal • inequalities are unfair and conditioned by wrong government policies • inequality is underserved • states’ action to combat inequality is legitimate Right • people are rather unequal • inequalities are fair and natural and reflect different competencies, skills, knowledge, intelligence etc. • states’ intervention is harmful and illegitimate LEFT AND RIGHT 1. Economic dimension 2. Cultural dimension (e.g. immigration) ◦ Left = all people are human beings irrespective of their sex, race, religion, ethnicity, origin ◦ deserve the same treatment as they have the same moral value ◦ Right (extreme) ◦ racism - some “races” are superior, some inferior ◦ people treated differently based on their race /sex, religion ◦ Radical right-wing populism - not racist,but rejects immigration from culturally distant countries CLEAVAGE THEORY S. M. Lipset and S. Rokkan (1967) One of the most cited and influential works in a comparative politics Explain the rise of political parties CLEAVAGE ■ A special type of a social/political conflict ■ A long-term deep division in society that translates into politics and party systems ■ S. Bartolini and P. Mair (1990) 1. Empirical element (community) 2. Normative element (sense of identity) 3. Organizational element (party organization) Nowadays: less based on social class, and more dependent on attitudes and values CLEAVAGE THEORY Territorial dimension Functional dimension National revolution Periphery X center State x church Industrial revolution Countryside X city Workers x owners International revolution x Communists x social democrats NEW CLEAVAGES • Inglehart 1977Postmaterialism • Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks 2018 Transnational cleavage Economic left Economic right Authoritarianism and nationalism Liberalism and globalization RONALD INGLEHART: POSTMATERIAL VALUES ■ Silent Revolution (1977) ■ Long-term surveys within electorates of Western democracies ■ Shifts towards „post-material“ values ■ Environmental protection ■ Life-style issues ■ Gender ■ Meaningful work HYPOTHESES Scarcity hypothesis (Abraham Maslow (1954) Socialization hypothesis IVAN KRASTEV AND MARK LEONARD (2022) Peace camp Europe should seek to end the war as soon as possible – even if it means Ukraine making concessions Justice camp the most important goal is to punish Russia for its aggression and to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine – even if such a road leads to protracted conflict and more human suffering NICHE PARTIES Opportunities when niches evolve rapid changes in the voter distribution political profile of one or several of the largest established parties have changed dramatically → significant gaps between the political demand side and its supply side are created These niches occupied by parties a good chance of attracting votes Disability of traditional parties to address these issues without being accused of being xenophobic or racist