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Political Parties and the European Union
Political Parties and the European Union offers a panoramic survey of the political parties of contemporary Europe. It covers party politics from Scandinavia to Greece, focusing on how parties in the individual member states have responded to the processes of European integration.
Despite a trend towards political convergence, national traditions continue to shape politics across Europe. In order to reflect, and do justice to, the diversity of political cultures, the book combines case studies, comparative approaches and supranational perspectives. It examines the history of the main national parties, offers new comparative perspectives on communist, green and extreme right parties, and analyses party politics at the European level.
Despite a trend towards political convergence, national traditions continue to shape politics across Europe. In order to reflect, and do justice to, the diversity of political cultures, the book combines case studies, comparative approaches and supranational perspectives. It examines the history of the main national parties, offers new comparative perspectives on communist, green and extreme right parties, and analyses party politics at the European level.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 1996
6 people want to read
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February 23, 2018
Book stresses the continued relevance of parties in modern European politics, despite claims that globalization/ the growth of NGOs would edge them out.
6 Points:
1. Political parties: “constitute the essential site for the creation of a culture, ideology or doctrine which reflects and creates ideas intended to become governmental policy and ultimately the law of the land, and thus part of the normative values of society.” (2)
2. “A general pro-Europeanism fitted (more or less) the fundamental internationalism of social democracy, and allowed the discourse of first the Dutch, then the Belgian, the Italian, French and German social democrats, and later the Italian communists, to evolve in a pro-European direction. Conversely, the task of maintaining and enhancing national identities also often fell to social democrats, especially in Germany, given the division of the country and the generalized discrediting of the nationalist pretensions of the ultra-right.” (9)
3. "“For the nation states of Western Europe, what had traditionally been ‘high polities’ virtually disappeared after 1945. This had major effects upon party activity regarding European integration. To put it simply, Western Europe’s foreign policy aligned itself with that of the USA... the West European states occupied themselves with purely domestic issues and with economic co-operation at the foreign policy level, so simple were the fundamental foreign policy choices. To assert this is not to minimize what was at stake. The choices were, of course, as simple as they were stark; and all political actors knew that the most likely battleground of a Third World War would be the European landmass.” (10)
4. “The network of relationships in which Monnet’s ideas and initiatives so flourished was indeed that of individuals, but individuals all of whom were themselves party politicians; and it is this relationship, the synergy between an unimpeded bureaucracy of committed technocrats, and a range of individuals from party elites in or close to democratic political power in their own national context, which enabled such inroads to be made into the integration process.” (12)
5. “Because of the assertion of intergovernmentalism in European political relations, political activism, lobbying between parties on the European issue and the involvement of party individuals in the establishing of networks of influence in European Union institutions are, in fact, all secondary to the influence gained via party control of national government. It is, therefore, essentially via governments that political parties influence European affairs.” (13)
6. “The socio-economic changes of the 1960s, moreover, found reflection within the political system in the 1970s and 1980s. Schematically, we can say that relative affluence and the development of consumerism and the tertiary sector (60 per cent of employed Europeans were in service industries by the 1990s) led to major shifts in individual and group perceptions, not least in terms of class and party loyalties. Attitudes to political parties in terms of identification, loyalty and activism underwent major changes in this period, a loosening of ties being the dominant characteristic of change. Affluence and social mobility accentuate dealignment.” (20)
6 Points:
1. Political parties: “constitute the essential site for the creation of a culture, ideology or doctrine which reflects and creates ideas intended to become governmental policy and ultimately the law of the land, and thus part of the normative values of society.” (2)
2. “A general pro-Europeanism fitted (more or less) the fundamental internationalism of social democracy, and allowed the discourse of first the Dutch, then the Belgian, the Italian, French and German social democrats, and later the Italian communists, to evolve in a pro-European direction. Conversely, the task of maintaining and enhancing national identities also often fell to social democrats, especially in Germany, given the division of the country and the generalized discrediting of the nationalist pretensions of the ultra-right.” (9)
3. "“For the nation states of Western Europe, what had traditionally been ‘high polities’ virtually disappeared after 1945. This had major effects upon party activity regarding European integration. To put it simply, Western Europe’s foreign policy aligned itself with that of the USA... the West European states occupied themselves with purely domestic issues and with economic co-operation at the foreign policy level, so simple were the fundamental foreign policy choices. To assert this is not to minimize what was at stake. The choices were, of course, as simple as they were stark; and all political actors knew that the most likely battleground of a Third World War would be the European landmass.” (10)
4. “The network of relationships in which Monnet’s ideas and initiatives so flourished was indeed that of individuals, but individuals all of whom were themselves party politicians; and it is this relationship, the synergy between an unimpeded bureaucracy of committed technocrats, and a range of individuals from party elites in or close to democratic political power in their own national context, which enabled such inroads to be made into the integration process.” (12)
5. “Because of the assertion of intergovernmentalism in European political relations, political activism, lobbying between parties on the European issue and the involvement of party individuals in the establishing of networks of influence in European Union institutions are, in fact, all secondary to the influence gained via party control of national government. It is, therefore, essentially via governments that political parties influence European affairs.” (13)
6. “The socio-economic changes of the 1960s, moreover, found reflection within the political system in the 1970s and 1980s. Schematically, we can say that relative affluence and the development of consumerism and the tertiary sector (60 per cent of employed Europeans were in service industries by the 1990s) led to major shifts in individual and group perceptions, not least in terms of class and party loyalties. Attitudes to political parties in terms of identification, loyalty and activism underwent major changes in this period, a loosening of ties being the dominant characteristic of change. Affluence and social mobility accentuate dealignment.” (20)
Displaying 1 of 1 review