The Transformation of British and German Social Democratic Parties

The Transformation of British and German Social Democratic Parties

Social Democratic parties in Western Europe were originally oriented around very socialistic doctrine, essentially existing as peoples' or workers' parties dedicated to achieving an egalitarian society. As the parties dedicated to this platform started to struggle, however, many changes ensued. The social democratic parties in Britain and Germany provide two prime examples of how these parties underwent a transformation in party doctrine after experiencing troubled periods of electoral failure. The factors that contributed to the electoral struggles, and thus to the platform changes, include the rise and success of the more conservative parties in these two nations, the challenges presented by new fringe parties, and the restructuring of the social order associated with these parties. Due to these particular issues, the social democratic parties have reoriented themselves and are much different than they were several decades ago.

"To match the new reality, social democratic parties have taken a series of steps to alter their programme, moving towards the political centre, abandoning much of the old statist model and accepting more fully the market economy." (Keating 5)

The Labor Party has traditionally been the social democratic party of Great Britain and it has experienced a great deal of change since the early 1980s. After Labor's third successive defeat in 1987, the leadership concluded that electoral recovery would require sweeping changes in policy and ideology (Shaw 160). This conclusion was also determined by the evident changes in social structure since the pinnacle of the Labor Party successes. Due to the very poor performance of the Labor party for nearly a decade, by the 1992 general elections the party had essentially changed all of the traditional policy commitments that the leadership concluded had distanced themselves from the general British constituency (Seyd 50). Then, under the leadership of Tony Blair, the British Labor party was transformed out of recognition into what became known as New Labor. The changes that were implemented pushed what was once a very leftist and extremely liberal party into a successful center-oriented party.

As was just indicated, the shift to the right by the Labor party was due to their failures in elections to the Conservative party. It only seemed logical that the key to success for the Labor party was to emulate the Conservative party in order to broaden their appeal to a great portion of the British electorate. The key policies of the Labor party were unpopular and seen as ideologically extreme (???? 85). The notion that the policies and ideology of the Labor party were extreme was realized prior to Blair by Labor leader Neil Connick who started dropping previous left-wing Labor commitments to broaden the party's appeal (???? 10). By moving farther to the right to become a more centrist party, Labor was able to appeal to the majority of the voters, who generally tend to be center-oriented, and regain control of the government.

The reason why the Labor party's popularity and support declined was primarily due to the changes in the social structure of Great Britain (as well as other industrial nations). This was best stated by current Prime Minister Tony Blair,

"The reason Labor lost in 1992, as for the previous three elections, is not complex, it is simple: society had changed and we did not change sufficiently with it." (??? 12).

The shortcomings of the Labor party in elections was due to a general voter mentality that the party was regarded as "too old fashion, too tied to the past, too linked to minorities rather than majorities, and too associated with old images of the trade unions" (Seyd 51). This "old-fashioned" image included policies that were intended to help a working class of the developing industrial age. The demise of the Labor Party went hand-in-hand with the development of this class as they established themselves as a generally successful group in which many had elevated from the ranks of the "working class" and into a broadening middle class. The Labor party's key constituency was the working class, and as this particular class gradually shifted into the middle class sector of society, the Labor party lost a broad support base. Unfortunately for social democratic parties, this was a natural occurrence known as the embourgeoisement thesis: "the idea that the working class would become the middle class and vote accordingly" (Keating 4). If the Labor party was to survive, it had "to relate to and draw support from the modern working classes whose upward social mobilityÐ'...was largely the result of opportunities afforded them by [the Labor movement] of the past." (??? 101)

As the working class was starting to blur class lines with the middle class and Labor was losing a great deal of support, the party shifted its focus to the "salariat", which were the white collar workers who were becoming the more dominant and politically influence social group in society. As home ownership, among others things, increased, people began to regard themselves as middle class and shifted towards more conservative viewpoints. The middle class swing voters had risen to nearly one-half of the electorate and Labor clearly could no longer ignore the majority if they wanted to regain power (??? 15).

As in Britain, the German social democratic party, the SPD, also experienced a transformation in party policies and ideology. Unlike the Labor party in Britain, however, the SPD had shifted its policies away from the more extreme leftist, liberal ideology years before. Having realized the importance of appealing more towards the center-oriented majority of the electorate, the SPD "formally abandoned many of the polices and procedures that hindered its support among the middle-class electors" at the Bad Godesberg convention in 1959. "The SPD during the 1960s was concerned above all with Ð''embracing the middle'" (Conradt 9). This policy and ideology shift towards the center increased overall support, bringing the SPD back into majority government, but also led to increased traditional, more socialist supports criticizing the SPD for "selling its ideological or Marxist soul for political power." Essentially, the SPD had replaced the CDU in the government without changing much in terms of policy implementation.

One of the primary differences between the transformation of the British Labor Party and that of the German SPD was due to the governing structures in each country. Since the German governing system