|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
· |
|
· |
|
· |
|
· |
|
· |
|
|
|
| |
|
Parties and
Elections
in Europe |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
CONTENTS |
| |
| Abstract |
|
Parties and Elections in Europe provides a
comprehensive database about the parliamentary elections in the European countries and autonomous
subdivisions since 1945 and additional informations about the political
parties,
the electoral systems, the acting political leaders, the composition of
governments and the electoral laws.
The parties are characterised according to their political
orientation. The website also contains a calendar of upcoming
parliamentary elections, news around the world of parties and
links to parties and election authorities.
The independent
and private website was established by Wolfram Nordsieck in 1997. The editor began his comparative
study of political parties, party systems, elections and constitutional laws in the late 1980s. Thereafter he studied law and
history. Today he practices law in
Düsseldorf, Germany. |
| Calendar |
|
Dates of upcoming
parliamentary elections in Europe. |
| News |
|
News in brief around the world of
political parties
in Europe (e.g. disbandments, foundings, mergers, renamings, splits). |
| Countries |
|
Parliamentary elections in the European countries and autonomous
subdivisions. Additional
informations about the acting political leaders, the composition of governments and the electoral
laws. Past results since 1945 are stored in the archive. Elections to the upper houses remain unconsidered; parties that gained no seats or failed
to pass a threshold are usually not listed.
The political parties are characterised according to their political
orientation (see below). Listed are their memberships in Europarties and international
organisations, their websites
and the founding years (abbr.: a:
associated party, o: observer, pred.: legal predecessor, orig.: reestablished
historical party - partly legal ties via exile organisations).
The below Europarties
(officially called political parties at European level, Article 10 TEU) receive official EU recognition:
International organisations and
European organisations without EU recognition (listed are
organisations with at least one member party in the EP or a national
parliament):
|
| Classifications
|
|
The political parties are characterised according to their political
orientation conform the following categories. They primarily base on the Cleavage Model (Lipset/Rokkan
defined four basic cleavages for western civilisations: Owner –
Worker, State – Church, Urban – Rural, Centre – Periphery) and the main types of party families noted by v. Beyme:
- Communism: The
left-wing communist parties adhere to Marxism developed by Marx and
Engels in the 19th century.
Their aim is the classless society based on common ownership of the means of
production. They usually originated from revolutionary factions of social democratic parties
(splits after the October Revolution in 1917). While some of
them today predominantly favour reformist ways to achieve this aim (formerly called
eurocommunists), others still more or less adhere to revolutionary doctrines
(see below).
· Marxist-Leninist
parties prefer a non-pluralist orthodox tendency developed by Lenin (adopted as the
official doctrine of the SU).
· Trotskyist parties favour an international version established by
Trotsky (permanent revolution through working class mass action).
- Socialism: The
socialist parties advocate a
society characterised
by equal access to resources for all individuals. They resist the capitalist
globalisation and intend to reorganise the socio-economic order through (more)
public or direct worker administration of the means of production. Usually they developed out of the New
Left hat came up in the mid-1960s or
former communist parties.
· Democratic socialist parties are closely related to social democratic parties. These reformist
and pluralist parties prefer a large public sector, redistributive tax policies, workers'
control of the labour process and public ownership of key industries.
· Eco-socialist parties combine
(democratic-) socialist, green and anti-globalisation policies.
- Social democracy: Social democratic parties are
center-left parties rooted in the socialist labour movement of the 19th
century. This (today) cross-class parties generally advocate a democratic welfare
state and a mixed economy that contains privately-owned and state-owned
enterprises. They adhere to values as freedom, solidarity, social justice and equality of rights and
opportunities.
· Third Way
parties incorporate economically liberal topics as deregulations,
privatisations, lower taxes and limited welfare.
- Green politics:
Most of the green parties were founded in the late 1970s as part of the new social movements that came up in the
mid-1960s (in particular the ecology, peace, women's and anti-nuclear movements). They are ecological parties based on
largely post-materialist values as nonviolence, civil/human rights,
grassroots/participatory democracy, feminism, animal welfare and social justice. A lot of them,
especially in Western Europe, are part of
the anti-globalisation movement.
- Regionalism: Regionalist parties
focus on the interests of a particular region. They intend to
increase the region's influence. Their main aim is a decentralisation of governance and autonomy or a greater degree of autonomy for the
region.
· Separatist
parties advocate a full political secession of a particular region and the
formation of a new state.
· Ethnoregionalist parties intend to secure and to increase the rights of an ethnical or linguistical
minority (minority politics).
- Liberalism: Liberal parties are
middle-class parties based on the tradition of political liberalism,
a movement of the 18th century. The doctrine of liberalism considers personal freedom
to be the most important goal. In particular it stresses free markets,
limited government interventions, individual property
rights and equality for all citizens under the law as well as civil liberties.
· Social liberal parties are
generally more progressive; they emphasise civil liberties and favour social market
economies.
· Conservative liberal parties combine
(economically-) liberal policies with more traditional
stances on social and ethical issues.
· Economic liberal parties
exclusively adhere to economic aspects of liberalism: strict free markets, low taxes and a minimised state
(literally
used are interchangeably also the terms neoliberalism, neoclassical liberalism
and
classical liberalism).
- Centrism: Centrist parties are usually
moderate traditionalist parties which are in the centre of the political
spectrum and take a centrist position on the socio-economic left-right scale.
- Christian democracy: The Christian social doctrine
(basic principle: human dignity) is the
inspiration of the Christian democratic parties. This cross-class parties
ideologically combine Christian ethical and moderate social conservative
positions with a social market model. They are very supportive of family values and adhere to principles as
freedom, justice, solidarity and subsidiarity.
- Conservatism: Originally
inspired by natural
law and formed by the upper-class, conservative parties
today are mainly middle-class organisations that favour traditional values as
authority, nation, national cultur, religion and family. They seek to preserve the current status quo or to reform the society only
slowly. Over the time they adopted some liberal values,
especially on economic issues.
· Liberal
conservative parties combine conservative policies with
more moderate or liberal stances on
social and ethical issues
(academically disputed; the term is
also used for a variant of classical conservatism which incorporates free
market economics).
· National conservative parties
generally concentrate on national interests (patriotism), tend to Eurosceptic positions and favour traditional social and ethical views.
· Social conservative parties
usually promote a public morality; they are culturally, ethically and socially strict traditional.
- Right-wing populism: The
radical right-wing populist parties that appeared in the 1970s appeal to the
frustrations of the public. Their strategy rely on a combination of
nationalism with a radical critique of the political institutions. They prefer
strict immigration/ law-and-order polices, tend to Euroscepticism and often
pretend liberal values, but on the whole they don't have a clear ideology.
- Nationalism:
Nationalist
parties believe that the nation with its ethnic, linguistic or cultural identity and its sovereignty is of primary
importance (the term is literally also broadly used for separatist parties that advocate the formation of a new nation
state).
· Far right
is a collection label for (ideologically heterogeneous) ultra-nationalist parties. This xenophobic parties adhere to
a pure form of the nation defined by ethnicity. They are highly critical or hostile to
the present liberal democracies and their pluralist values and tend to authoritarianism and collectivism. Normally they step outside the boundaries of the mainstream politics.
· Left-wing nationalist
parties combine nationalism with left-wing
politics; they usually promote a national working-class agenda to
overcome a (supposed) exploitation by other nations or groups.
- Single-issue politics: Agrarianism, Animal welfare,
Anti-capitalism, Anti-corruption, Anti-nationalism, Centralism, Environmenta-
lism, Euroscepticism, Feminism, Gaullism, Kemalism, Laicism, Loyalism,
Monarchism, Pensioners' interests, Religious beliefs (Christian left/right,
Evangelicalism, Islamism etc.), Republicanism, Souverainism, Statism, Unionism.
|
| References |
|
Primary sources for election results are central election
commissions, parliaments and departments of statistics. Databases of research
instituts,
literature and newspapers are additionally used in case of need:
- Detailed informations are listed
below each country study.
The party classifications base on
literature, news, personal impressions, the parties' origins and self-assessments and their membership in
international organisations:
|
Terms of Use
|
|
The
website is devoted to share the informations on a free basis. All figures can be
saved for private purposes. Every publication in media or a
commercial use requires written approval. © 1997-2010 Wolfram
Nordsieck. |
| Contact
Info |
|
Wolfram Nordsieck,
Merkurstraße 1, 40223 Düsseldorf, Germany. E-Mail: info@parties-and-elections.de
(  ). |
| Logo |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
