Introduction
European politics is a multidimensional topic and a combination of many elements that shape the political system in Europe.
In any democracy and especially in Europe, political parties are central to the system because they structure the popular vote, formulate the public policy, organize the flow of power and compete in elections, allowing citizens to choose their leaders. Also, European politicians depend a lot on their political parties for their electoral success to parliament, and this success differs from a country to another in accordance with the local electoral system. Some systems allow the representation of many parties in parliament while others don’t.
Out of many political ideologies, this term paper will focus at 4 of the socialist/communist parties in eastern and western Europe: how the left-wing is moving till date, their latest campaigns, manifestos and results, their membership and popularity nowadays, what hiccups they are facing…
Socialism derives from Leninism and Marxism and is mainly characterized by public ownership, equity and equality, important role of the state, redistribution of income, strong welfare system and planned economy etc. Left parties are facing a challenge in today’s world: they must figure out what their role is in the 21st century. …show more content…
Global economic and social shifts have complicated the position of left wing parties that are now kind of obliged to change many of their positions and points of view in order to adapt with the emerging global crisis. Some left parties, in countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece and U.K, paid high electoral prices for the unfortunate setback of being in office when the crisis started. In Greece, PASOK was defeated in the latest elections; in Finland, the main left parties scored poorly in the latest elections and needed coalitions to reach power; With the refugee crisis, ad with the obligation of left parties to tolerate refugees to a certain extent, the socialist/communist parties will probably face a major defeat and lose their seats to right and far right parties. Western Europe I. French Communist Party (PCF) After the collapse of communism in the USSR, communist parties’ ideology itself became an obstacle to widening their popular support. In fact, Shifts in the spread of prosperity and the nature of work in the post-cold war era made some changes in the meaning of the social class. The PCF was one of the 2 or 3 major competitors for power in France. Georges Marchais led the PCF from 1964 until 1969. His leadership followed the Leninist sense. A decline in the party’s electoral strength and influence in national politics accompanied his term of leadership. The decline actually started with De Gaulle’s ascension to power and especially the Fifth republic when the new constitution was applied after a referendum. In the 1958 elections for the national assembly, the PCF percentage of vote fell from 25.9% (1956) to 19.2% (1958). The Fifth republic initiated 2 institutional changes which harshly opposed the interests of PCF: 1- The semi-presidential system in which a powerful president is elected by the people: presidency is the big political prize. Parties that don’t have presidential candidates with a good chance of winning have less influence. Voters might elect communist MPs but never a communist president. PCF was discouraged by the poor results they scored in presidential elections and they often made coalitions with the socialist party. 2- The new electoral system: a double ballot system which required the candidate to receive an absolute majority (50%+1) on the 1st ballot and eliminated candidates who receive less than 12.5% of the votes. This 2-ballot system works against extremist or small parties. An extremist party like the PCF would never get an absolute majority in such an electoral system. One of the consequences of the new system was the need for new agreements and coalitions and thus modifications in the Soviet foreign policy goals. Furthermore, intellectuals, whose support has been a pride for the party, pulled away from PCF and communism. That’s when the serious decline started and is continuing until today. Table showing the percentage of votes and the number of seats gained by the PCF (1973-2012) YEAR % of votes Number of seats 1973 21.39% 73
European politics is a multidimensional topic and a combination of many elements that shape the political system in Europe.
In any democracy and especially in Europe, political parties are central to the system because they structure the popular vote, formulate the public policy, organize the flow of power and compete in elections, allowing citizens to choose their leaders. Also, European politicians depend a lot on their political parties for their electoral success to parliament, and this success differs from a country to another in accordance with the local electoral system. Some systems allow the representation of many parties in parliament while others don’t.
Out of many political ideologies, this term paper will focus at 4 of the socialist/communist parties in eastern and western Europe: how the left-wing is moving till date, their latest campaigns, manifestos and results, their membership and popularity nowadays, what hiccups they are facing…
Socialism derives from Leninism and Marxism and is mainly characterized by public ownership, equity and equality, important role of the state, redistribution of income, strong welfare system and planned economy etc. Left parties are facing a challenge in today’s world: they must figure out what their role is in the 21st century. …show more content…
Global economic and social shifts have complicated the position of left wing parties that are now kind of obliged to change many of their positions and points of view in order to adapt with the emerging global crisis. Some left parties, in countries like Spain, Portugal, Greece and U.K, paid high electoral prices for the unfortunate setback of being in office when the crisis started. In Greece, PASOK was defeated in the latest elections; in Finland, the main left parties scored poorly in the latest elections and needed coalitions to reach power; With the refugee crisis, ad with the obligation of left parties to tolerate refugees to a certain extent, the socialist/communist parties will probably face a major defeat and lose their seats to right and far right parties. Western Europe I. French Communist Party (PCF) After the collapse of communism in the USSR, communist parties’ ideology itself became an obstacle to widening their popular support. In fact, Shifts in the spread of prosperity and the nature of work in the post-cold war era made some changes in the meaning of the social class. The PCF was one of the 2 or 3 major competitors for power in France. Georges Marchais led the PCF from 1964 until 1969. His leadership followed the Leninist sense. A decline in the party’s electoral strength and influence in national politics accompanied his term of leadership. The decline actually started with De Gaulle’s ascension to power and especially the Fifth republic when the new constitution was applied after a referendum. In the 1958 elections for the national assembly, the PCF percentage of vote fell from 25.9% (1956) to 19.2% (1958). The Fifth republic initiated 2 institutional changes which harshly opposed the interests of PCF: 1- The semi-presidential system in which a powerful president is elected by the people: presidency is the big political prize. Parties that don’t have presidential candidates with a good chance of winning have less influence. Voters might elect communist MPs but never a communist president. PCF was discouraged by the poor results they scored in presidential elections and they often made coalitions with the socialist party. 2- The new electoral system: a double ballot system which required the candidate to receive an absolute majority (50%+1) on the 1st ballot and eliminated candidates who receive less than 12.5% of the votes. This 2-ballot system works against extremist or small parties. An extremist party like the PCF would never get an absolute majority in such an electoral system. One of the consequences of the new system was the need for new agreements and coalitions and thus modifications in the Soviet foreign policy goals. Furthermore, intellectuals, whose support has been a pride for the party, pulled away from PCF and communism. That’s when the serious decline started and is continuing until today. Table showing the percentage of votes and the number of seats gained by the PCF (1973-2012) YEAR % of votes Number of seats 1973 21.39% 73