The Transformation of European Social Democracy [Hardcover]

This book explains the contrasting strategies of social democratic parties and their electoral fortunes in the major European democracies in the 1970s and 1980s.Going beyond approaches that focus on the influence of class structure and political economic institutions, this text analyzes a party's competitive situation in the electoral arena to explain the strategic choices made by social democratic parties in the 1970s and 1980s.Going beyond approaches that focus on the influence of class structure and political economic institutions, this text analyzes a party's competitive situation in the electoral arena to explain the strategic choices made by social democratic parties in the 1970s and 1980s.This book explains the contrasting strategies of social democratic parties and their electoral fortunes in the major European democracies in the 1970s and 1980s. Going beyond approaches that focus on the influence of class structures and political economic institutions, Herbert Kitschelt analyzes a party's competitive situation in the electoral arena, the constraints and opportunities of party organization, and ideological legacies to explain the strategic choices made by social democratic parties and their electoral results. Social democracy is far from being doomed to decline, but its success depends on its ability to transform its political message and construct new electoral coalitions.Introduction; 1. Social structure and preference formation: opportunities for left party strategy in the 1970s and 1980s; 2. Class structure and left party performance; 3. Left party fortunes and the political economy; 4. Social democratic strategy and electoral competition; 5. Internal politics in socialist parties: preference formation, aggregation and strategic choice; 6. The socialist discourse: political semantics and party strategy; 7. Social democracy in decline? Analytical and normative extensions of the argument; Bibliography. Kitschelt's work is...well researched, highly readablelsß