Social democratic failures and comebacks

The recent years have been marked by profound transformations of the political and by extension parties’ systems. The factors contributing to the changes include altering patterns of political participation, alongside growing volatility among voters on one hand, and on the other radicalisation and polarisation of views. Amid these, much has been said about the crisis of the so-called traditional parties – with social democracy being named among those, which noted some historical lows.

From the position of the family that led 12 out of 15 governments at the beginning of the century, it saw sister parties falling below the electoral threshold and herewith not being able to enter national parliaments. Consequently, it is fair to ask what has been happening and what kind of lessons could be drawn from what has been done to reinvigorate the movement. 

To accomplish the task of delivering an honest diagnosis and challenging the attempts to seek consolation in some comfortable truths, FEPS, together with its partners MDA (Masaryková Demokratická Akademie) and FES Prague (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Prague) initiated a research project that would look at social democratic parties that have been considered as collapsed and in several cases managed to identify a solid path to renewal.

As the objective was to look beyond the national specificities, all the country case studies would be built around commonly identified five guiding questions: party and its’ people (including here the questions of membership, party organisation, and the potential voters); party and media (featuring also the presence in so called social media); party and finances; party and the state (that would also touch upon party’s experiences, when in the government); and party and Europe.

The final design included 6 chapters, all of which were written by outstanding academics: Poland (by Maria Winclawska), Ireland (by Michael Holmes), Greece (by Yannis Tsirbas), The Netherlands (by Esther-Mirjam Sent), France (by Timothée Duverger), and Czech Republic (by Pavel Saradin and Daniela Ostrá). 

The project saw 5 phases: initial, engaging with external academics and introduction to the research, desk studies, peer evaluation during the expert round table in Brussels (11^th October 2024), and final discussion round including a closed-door session and a public event (Prague, 20^th – 22^nd November 2024). Following these, the initiative is close to the conclusion – whereby the 6 instructive chapters will be supplemented with the comparative paper.

The material, which is undoubtedly innovative, original, and incredibly inspiring will be then submitted as a book proposal with the hope that it can serve as an important voice in an academic debate about the state and future of social democracy in Europe, as also as a compendium of important “do’s and don’t’s” for the political practitioners.

For more information, please do not hesitate to connect with Dr Ania Skrzypek (ania.skrzypek@feps-europe.eu), FEPS Director for Research and Training, and/or Ms Céline Guedes (celine.guedes@feps-europe.eu), FEPS Project Officer.