Question

Why do you think social democratic party support has plummeted in recent elections in many Western European countries?

Answer 1

Social democratic parties in many countries across Europe have suffered a dramatic decline in popularity, underlined by the loss of the German Social Democrats at last year's German federal elections and the fall of the Socialist Party in the French presidential and legislative elections. James F. Downes and Edward Chan present data on the role played by the financial crisis and the migration crisis in furthering the loss of support for European social democratic parties.

Last year, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) underlined its worst electoral result in the post-war era, and the once dominant Socialist Party (PS) in France was fifth in the French presidential election. Social democratic parties have historically been the backbone of mainstream politics across Europe and their latest electoral fiasco should not be played down. Instead, their political decline was a steady and systematic one. In Germany, at the 2013 state election in Bremen, which had been their traditional stronghold, the SPD suffered their worst ever result.

Along with European integration, globalization, the fall of the Berlin Wall brought about a revitalized form of social democracy. The third wave has stagnated from the early till mid-2000s, however. Although social democratic parties were in the midst of a protracted electoral decline, they have recently sustained two fatal blows.

It is arguable that the electoral collapse of mainstream social democratic parties in the twenty-first century reveals how they lost grip on the current socio-economic situation, with voters opting for more progressive parties. Collectivist policies no longer match the age of free trade and automation, and the traditional working classes have declined in recent decades as well. Social democratic parties with their own history will aim to formulate their own original and progressive policies.

But the downturn in twenty-first century Europe can be seen as a greater threat to modern liberal democracy. A significant proportion of mainstream working class supporters have become disenchanted with the current political process Such so-called left-behind voters used to be the bastion of support for European social democratic parties, but later turned away from the center-left.