Brussels
"In spite of the fact that a considerable number of words have been written on European Social Democracy, some angles have yet to be considered. One can witness conflicting interpretations on the current state of European Social Democracy. For some, the resilience of European socialism is a reality. For others, it is in obvious decline, and, if one follows the lifespan pointed out by Pedersen to its logical conclusion, the end is nigh. The purpose of this paper is to weigh up these differing views regarding the fate of European Social Democracy and to understand the electoral dynamics underpinning the movement over a period of 150 years. Based on an analysis of 692 elections hold in 32 European States between 1870 and 2019, four major stages in the electoral history of Social Democracy are isolated : a) a gradual emergence at the end of the 19th century and a first flight at the start of the 20th, b) the establishment of the parties in the European political landscape at the close of WWI and an electoral peak more or less reached from the 1930's in established democracies, c) a stabilisation of this performance over half a century and d) a downturn which started in the 1980's, leading to a very marked decline in the 2010's. The European family of socialists suffered a catastrophic decline between 2010 and 2019. The electoral history of European Social Democracy is put into perspective with that of the whole socio- economic left, which makes it possible to point out not only the marked fall in the contemporary period but also the loss of influence of Social Democracy within the left spectrum."
"In spite of the fact that a considerable number of words have been written on European Social Democracy, some angles have yet to be considered. One can witness conflicting interpretations on the current state of European Social Democracy. For some, the resilience of European socialism is a reality. For others, it is in obvious decline, and, if one follows the lifespan pointed out by Pedersen to its logical conclusion, the end is nigh. The ...
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