Dehaene, Jordy

Vos, Hendrik

English

Ghent University Academic Bibliography

28/04/2020 16:41Struggle and Hope of Europe’s Progressive PartiesPagina 1 van 7https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/struggle-and-hope-for-europes-progressive-parties/!By Hendrik Vos , Jordy Dehaene3 July 2018 TagsElections, Green Parties, Populism, ProgressivesProgressive parties in the EU have been experiencing an up-hill struggle as voters areincreasingly won over by the pessimistic narratives of right-wing populists. Hendrik Vos andJordy Dehaene examine the difficulties experienced by the Left in Europe in recent years, thetransformed voter in globalised times, and how progressives can move forward with amessage of hope.In January 2017, Alexander Van der Bellen was sworn in as president of Austria. Although he officiallystood as an independent candidate, he was supported by the Green party within which he had beenmilitantly active for more than 20 years. He won the presidential election against Norbert Hofer, thefar-right candidate. In fact, he won twice: the elections were repeated after irregularities came tolight. A sigh of relief swept through large parts of the European Union following this election result.After all, 2016 was the year of the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump as USpresident. People feared for the future of the European Union: would populist parties with strongnationalist positions get their say in various Member States?Although Green candidates like Van der Bellen criticised the course of the EU, they did not questionthe added value of cooperation. In 2017, the dreaded breakthrough of right-wing populist parties didnot take on the proportions that had been feared a few months earlier. In France, Emmanuel Macronbecame president with a strong pro-European programme; in Germany, Angela Merkel begananother new term. Extreme right and populist parties seemed to secure strong wins in the Italianelections in 2018, although the precise classification of a movement like Five Stars is difficult.Election analyses are currently focused mainly on nationalist and populist groups. But what aboutthe balance of power elsewhere? What are the positions of progressive parties in Europe today, andto what extent are these parties able to influence decision making? [1]Progressive parties’ struggle for survivalThe last European Parliament elections took place in 2014, a period during which several MemberStates were confronted with a drastic austerity policy. This was the result of the euro crisis that hadPOLITICSStruggle and Hope of Europe’s Progressive PartiesEN NL28/04/2020 16:41Struggle and Hope of Europe’s Progressive PartiesPagina 2 van 7https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/struggle-and-hope-for-europes-progressive-parties/dominated the agenda since 2009. In this context, progressive parties won to a limited extent. TheGreens were stagnant, but the far left made gains. Since that time both groups have remained aboutthe same size, with just over 50 members. The Social Democrats, with 188 seats, are still the secondlargest group and they have narrowed the gap with the largest group, the centre-right EuropeanPeople’s Party.However, the cautious progress of the progressive parties has not become a trend. On the contrary,the victory of Van der Bellen in Austria was a rare exception. This becomes apparent when we look atmore recent elections in the various Member States.The Social Democrats in the Netherlands and France were more or less wiped out in 2017. The BritishLabour Party made strides with Jeremy Corbyn, but that probably had more to do with the weaknessof Prime Minister Theresa May than with widely supported enthusiasm for his project. The localelections of 2018 were disillusioning. And in Italy, the Social Democrats lost no less than 180 seats inthe Chamber in early 2018.The position of the far left is striking in some countries: in France it did not much matter whether ornot Jean-Luc Mélenchon made it to the second round of the presidential elections. But incomparison with the far right, radical left-wing parties only rarely achieve spectacular results.Green parties have also failed to make significant breakthroughs. The outcome of the most recentelections in Luxembourg was not too bad, with a result of over 10 per cent of the vote. This enabledgovernment participation, as it did in Sweden where the party gained only 7 per cent. On paper, theGreens also do well in Latvia and Lithuania, although these are rather conservative parties. In theNetherlands, the hefty gains that Groenlinks booked with Jesse Klaver received a lot of attention, butthe party still only holds (slightly) below 10 per cent. After the last German elections, Bündnis 90/DieGrünen seemed to be en route to government participation after a 8.9 per cent boost, but the gapwith the other parties was ultimately too large. In the majority of Member States, the green partiesare stagnating or in slight decline. Only rarely do they convince more than 8 per cent of the voters.Meanwhile, if we look at the level of heads of state and government within the EU, we see that onlyfour of the 28 leaders have a social democratic tendency. A few years ago, the ratio was almost one inthree. So it is going downhill.There is also Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, whose party belongs to the leftmost group inthe European Parliament. He was elected with a programme that pledged to forgo the heavy cutsthat his country was supposed to undertake. When Tsipras won with his Syriza party in Greece, theleft dreamt that a radical wave would flood Europe. Spain, with Podemos, would be the next tofollow. Not much has come of any of this. And it is still very questionable whether Tsipras will everget a new mandate from the Greek electorate, if only because he was unable to execute even afraction of his programme.Looking at the overall picture, we can ascertain that progressive partieshave a hard time surviving" #28/04/2020 16:41Struggle and Hope of Europe’s Progressive PartiesPagina 3 van 7https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/struggle-and-hope-for-europes-progressive-parties/Looking at the overall picture, we can ascertain that progressive parties have a hard time surviving.Although there are exceptions, Social Democrats are mostly pummeled in the corner. Greens barelymake progress, and the extreme left seldom prevails over the extreme right.Eurobarometer regularly assesses the themes that occupy voters in Europe. A survey conducted inthe autumn of 2017 shows that migration and terrorism are the two main concerns for Europeans.Conservative and outspoken right-wing parties indeed wage strong campaigns around these issues.Of course, progressive parties also address these topics in their programmes, putting forwardcompletely different solutions. Yet the political opponents prevail.Migration and terrorism are not, however, the only dominant themes. Topics that are traditionallystrongly associated with progressive parties also surface in the top ten: climate change andunemployment have long been important concerns for large groups in the EU. European voters arealso concerned about pensions and environmental quality in general. But Social Democrats andGreens are apparently less successful at cashing in on these concerns with the electorate.The transformed voterWhy is it that progressive parties often fail to attract voters with their programmes? Part of theexplanation may lie with the voter, who has changed in recent decades. In short, the vast majority ofpeople have benefitted materially over the past period, and this poses a major challenge forprogressive parties.In the past, classical left-wing parties argued particularly for material progress: higher wages, betterworking conditions, decent housing, and health care for everyone. Large sections of the populationreaped the benefits, and in a number of respects Europe is in better shape than it was a few decadesago. People are healthier and better educated, they live in better homes that have bathrooms andheating, they eat and consume more, they enjoy great levels of comfort, and treatments for diseasesare more successful… Significant segments of the population have achieved levels of prosperity thatthe previous generation could only dream of.Yet there remains a certain underclass that knows deep misery. For example, people of immigrantorigin who for various reasons find it difficult to make their way in the labour market and in societyin general. There are single, unemployed mothers, and retirees with ridiculously low pensions.Groups that are considerably more at risk than others emerge in various research. But these groupsare poorly organised, and partly for this reason lack the critical mass to grow into movements likethe classic left parties and unions of the past.Losers in globalisationMuch of the increased prosperity is a consequence of globalisation, which facilitates quicker andsmoother trade, travel, information exchange, and so forth. However, not everyone is able to harvestthe fruits of globalisation at the same time and to the same extent. Large companies that operateseamlessly across borders benefit more from a large single market and free trade than do smallerplayers. Those who are highly skilled and speak a few languages more easily find their way in the28/04/2020 16:41Struggle and Hope of Europe’s Progressive PartiesPagina 4 van 7https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/struggle-and-hope-for-europes-progressive-parties/globalised society than those with less schooling and multilinguality. It is in this context that peoplespeak of the victims of globalisation. It is true that there are victims: the small company that has toclose its doors, and the employee who is out-competed by someone from across the border willingto do the same job in worse conditions and for lower wages.But much broader than the actual victims, whose number is difficult to quantify and who also mayhave access to safety nets, is the group of people who feel that others benefit more than they dofrom globalisation. For even if everyone profits, dissatisfaction arises when there is a sense that thebenefits are not fairly distributed. The malcontent that is manifested in large parts of the populationmay have to do with these aspects rather than with real material shortcomings. This phenomenon,combined with the feeling that there are processes that cannot be grasped, is very important inunderstanding the disappointment, discontent, and lack of satisfaction experienced by many groupstoday.This poses a challenge for left-wing parties: translating their concern for those who areunderprivileged or left behind into catchy slogans and an election programme has become morecomplex. For example, a plea for tax increases will not necessarily be eagerly received by potentialprogressive voters, whereas in the past this was an easy point to score with the left-wingconstituency. Whereas that constituency previously had no problem with such a tax increase, todaythey also earn well, save for their pensions, and may have laid away some money in an investmentfund.Was everything better in the past?Nowadays we see that parties that can be labelled as right-wing populists are able to reach thesevoters. An important element in this trend, according to Marc Elchardus, is a feeling of declinism.Those who feel that everything is going downhill will quickly be inclined to opt for right-wingpopulist parties. After all, these people generally have a very pessimistic view of society: in the pasteverything was better, and we are currently on the wrong path. Even if this is not factually true, itdoes correlate with an actual existing sentiment.Taking this perspective into account, it is important that progressive parties do not take the sameroute. Anyone who emphasises that we are on the wrong path implicitly says that things used to bebetter. This only strengthens the base of parties profiling themselves as guardians of the oldtraditions and proponents of returning to the past.It might be wiser for progressive parties to tell a story of hope: it is not so bad in the world, but itcould be much better. And the opportunities offered by globalisation can mean so much more for thelarge swathes of the population that are now insufficiently reaping the benefits.The most interesting strategy for progressive forces is one that consistentlyoffers hope" #28/04/2020 16:41Struggle and Hope of Europe’s Progressive PartiesPagina 5 van 7https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/struggle-and-hope-for-europes-progressive-parties/$A message of hopeIn France, Emmanuel Macron opposed nationalist politics and espoused European cooperation.Central to his election campaign was the plea for a ‘Europe that protects’. This could have come outof the programme of a progressive party, yet the centrist candidate Macron won with this slogan. Hepresented himself as the candidate of hope, apparently more convincingly than the candidates frommore traditional Social Democratic or Green parties.Progressive parties in the EU are likely currently playing below their weight class; they have moreelectoral potential than suggested by their current scores. As a result, potential voters are beinghijacked by right-wing populist parties and by clever politicians from other denominations.The most interesting strategy for progressive forces is one that consistently offers hope. In this way,they can convincingly distinguish themselves from right-wing populists. This means that theimpression that we as a society are on a downward-leading path must be avoided. After all, if thisbecomes the social consensus, conservative and reactionary forces will simply complete thereasoning: if it used to be better, let us return to where we came from. This pessimistic, dark, andsomewhat sour and wry worldview is at odds with the progressive programme.The themes that are of greatest concern to Europeans today offer many starting points for anenthusiastic programme, and allow us to fully build on the DNA of various progressive movements:respect for human dignity, honesty and integrity, concern for those less privileged, solidarity, a pleafor real equal opportunities, and ending the reproduction of inequality.In concrete terms, if the focus is the refugee problem, large-scale tax avoidance, a deeper approachto combatting terrorism, racism, social dumping, climate change, traffic safety or discrimination ineducation, then it is always possible to work out a programme that the progressive DNA can translateinto policy proposals. Some parties put the brakes on the tendency to appeal to all voters. This wasevident, for example, in the difficult interaction of some Social Democrats with the refugee issue.That was unfair: after all, it is impossible to convince all voters. But with a motivating, hopeful, andconsistent programme, more voters can be won over than is the case today. And more voters willincrease the progressive political weight, and consequently the ability to make the world a betterplace. [1] Our definition of progressive parties includes political leftist movements, for example Greenparties, Social Democrats, and more radical tendencies on that side of the spectrum. Progressive parties in the EU are likely currently playing below theirweight class" #

Struggle and hope of Europe's progressive parties

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8660160/file/8660163.pdf

Struggle and hope of Europe's progressive parties

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Ghent University Academic Bibliography