CAPS Lecture 2 - Cleavages, Ideologies & Political Parties

What are cleavages?

=social divisions creating a collective identity among those on each side of the divide

• they “establish regular channels for the expression of conflicting interests” that are needed (to some extent) in democratic nation-states (Lipset & Rokkan)

Examples: gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, geography, etc.

• many cleavages are not (strongly) politicised/politically salient

When do cleavages remain dormant?

only if they don’t create divergent interests (e.g. age or gender)

Cleavages in authoritarian/hybrid regimes

can be present, but they aren’t a source of political competition; they are suppressed

Four political cleavages (Lipset & Rokkan)

1. Owner vs. Worker (industrial rev.)

2. Church vs. State (national rev.)

3. Urban vs. Rural (this one has faded basically everywhere except in Scandinavian countries)

   —> industrial rev.

4. Centre vs. Periphery (national rev.)

Overlapping vs. Cross-Cutting cleavages

Overlapping/Parallel cleavages: more polarization

Example: Northern Ireland (centre vs. periphery, protestants vs. Catholics)

Cross-cutting cleavages: less polarization

Example: Belgium (the regional, and also linguistic divide gets cross-cut by the class divide)

Europe: Two Revolutions

• the importance (and sequence) of cleavage depend on when the two revolutions happened (differ per country)

Examples: in France, the national revolution came first—> suppression of diversities (especially linguistic ones); Paris was against the periphery, and the cleavage of secularists vs. catholics

Whereas England went through the industrial revolution first —> class and urban-rural clevages

1. Centre-periphery cleavage

(e.g. Catalonia in Spain)

• originated in the French/National Revolution as a reaction to political centralisation —> conflict about the more powerful centre and the weaker periphery

  —> conflict about autonomy and cultural rights and privileges

• creates regional/secessionist parties

Four outcomes of the centre-periphery cleavage

1. Secession=the formal withdrawak from a political state (Eritrea, Ireland, Pakistan, Slovakia)

2. Substate autonomy/federalism (Belgium, India, Nigeria)

3. The effective absorption into unitary states (France and Italy’s North/South cleavage)

4. Persistent tension (Indonesia, Spain, United Kingdom)

2. Religious cleavage

• originated in the French Revolution from the conflict between the new nationalist/secular elites and the clergy, or generally people from different religious denominations (e.g. Catholic-Protestant, Hindu-Muslim)

• centres on religious rights and the role of religion in the public life (especially in the sphere of education)

• created confessional/conservative vs. liberal parties

3. Class cleavage

• wealth gap post-industrial revolution: owners of capital and established elites vs. working class

• conflict about economic conditions, political rights, redistribution

• present in virtually all democracies

• its strength depends on the perceived opportunities for mobility (US workers had more opportunities to move upwards: the American Dream —> weak class cleavage)

• created socialist/social democratic/communist parties vs. conservative, confessional and liberal parties

Ethnic cleavages

• especially present in the Global South

• emerge in ethically diverse societies with weaker national identities, often post-colonial states (Suriname!)

• often overlap with linguistic, religious, or centre-periphery cleavages

• Conflict about: cultural rights, sovereignty, and separatism (=the full political separation from a larger group)

• creates ethnic parties

What are ideologies?

=a collection of beliefs and values

How are ideologies related to cleavages?

• they can be invoked to mobilise people around cleavages (e.g. socialist and communist ideologies and the worker class)

• common heuristic: left (FR revolution!) and right (—> social constructs like nations and ethnicities)

Shifting meanings of left and right over time

• Republican (left) vs. monarchist (right)

• Progressive (left) vs. conservative (right)

• Secular (left) vs. confessional (right)

• State-led economy (left) vs. free market laissez faire (right)

Measuring Ideologies on a political spectrum

• radical=far-left

• liberal=left of centre

• moderate=centre

• conservative=right of centre

• reactionary=far-right

Other ways of measuring ideologies

• progressive? Conservative? (Society-wise)

• Socialism? Capitalism? (Economy-wise)

What are parties in democracies?

=institutions that facilitate the expression of cleavages and conflicting interests

Lipset & Rokkan on cleavages & parties

Not sure if parties reflect cleavages or if they (help) create them

Four factors regarding when cleavages are translated into parties & party systems

dependent on:

1. Legitimation (regime)

2. Incorporation (franchise)

3. Representation (type of electoral system)

4. Majority power (of one party)

Example: even with many cleavages, when there is a two-party system then it is probable that only one cleavage will persist (e.g. UK)

Elite manipulations

Political elites can manipulate these rules to close the system for newcomers

—> like Italy and Latin America by adapting majoritarian systems

Influence of electoral systems

• affect party system composition (Duverger’s Law 1954)

• majority/plurality systems tend to result in two-party competition (like the UK and US): First Past The Post/SMD, two-round system, alternative vote

• proportional/mixed systems facilitate multi-party systems (e.g. Germany): List PR, single transferable vote, mixed member proportional

• majority and plurality systems limit the number of cleavages that can be expressed in party competition (usually to 1 cleavage)

But electoral systems aren’t the only influential factors

Liberal Parties

• originated in the 19th century (after the FR Revolution)

• opposed to monarchy and the church —> initially allies with socialist parties

What do liberal parties advocate for?

• secularism

• individual rights and freedoms

• free market capitalism (=economic liberty)

• globalisation

—> economically on the right; socially on the left or centre

Example: US democrats

Conservative Parties

(lots in Latin America and Spain)

• originated in the 19th century (after the FR Revolution)

  —> initially to protect the aristocracy and the elite

  —> later to oppose progressive change

What do conservative parties advocate for?

• the interest of privileged classes

• traditional values

• resistance to social change

• law and order

• limited government & fiscal austerity

—> Socially and economically on the right

Example: UK conservatives, or Partido Popular (Spain)

Religious/Confessional Parties

• originated in the mid-19th century

• protect interests of the church in the face of secularism

• result of religious cleavage/conflict

• present in most countries with religious communities

What do religious/confessional parties advocate for?

• religious rights (e.g. education)

• religious values

• economic centrism

• OPPOSED to secularism (a result of the religious cleavage)

—> Economically usually centrist, socially on the right

Example: CDU

Socialist/Social Democrat Parties

• originated in the late 19th century

• established to represent the working class (suffrage extension: before, most of their supporters, the workers, couldn’t vote)

• moving towards the centre in many countries

What do socialist/social democrat parties advocate for?

• a mixed economy

• the welfare state

• globalization

—> Economically on the left; socially usually as well

Example: Socialdemokraterna (Sweden)

Communist/Far Left Parties

• origins: split after the Russian Revolution in 1917

• in authoritarian rule: China, Cuba and Vietnam

• but also present in many democratic countries (especially post-communist democracies)

What do communist/far-left parties advocate for?

• the working class

• against EU integration/globalisation

• against free market or capitalism

—> economically on the far-left; socially centre or right

Examples: Czech cherry party, Vietnamese communist party

Green Parties

• originated in the late 1970s and 1980s (late arrival, but rapid growth in significance)

• distinction between activist and mainstream Green parties

What do Green parties advocate for?

Advocate for:

• environmentalism

• international peace and justice

• social justice

• human rights

—> Economically and socially on the left

Example: die Grünen, the Greens (Australia)

Far Right Parties

• originated post-WW2

• sometimes linked to fascist/extreme-right parties

• reaction to immigration (especially since the 90s) and multiculturalism

What do Far Right parties advocate for?

• nationalism

• nativism

• anti-immigration

• anti-globalisation

• traditionalism

• populist democracies

—> Economically diverse; socially (far) right

Example: Rassemblement Nationale (Marie le Pen), Grey Wolves (Turkey)

Cleavages Transformation? Lipset & Rokkan

• the “freezing hypothesis” = cleavages, and the party competitions that were created from them, remain frozen in time

  —> Alignment

  —> Realignment

  —> Dealignment

Alignment

=party identification based on cleavage structures & ideologies

Realignment

=shifting party identification on the basis of changing cleavages—> (dramatic) changes in the party system

Dealignment & its consequences

=declining party identification that is not replaced with a new one (healthy democracy sign, because people have more freedom to vote) BUT also results in:

1. political apathy & cynicism

2. decreasing turnout and party membership

3. personalistic & anti-system voting

4. electoral volatility

5. decreasing the legitimacy of a (democratic) political system

The ‘Silent Revolution’ (1960s-1970s)

Inglehart: values change in post-industrial democracies—> shift from material to post-material values (especially “rich” people with access to education)

Examples of post-material values

• Democracy

• Human Rights (women, LGBTQ+)

• Environment

• Pacifism (especially after the Vietnam War) and non-intervention

  —> These are prominent among younger and wealthy voters (the new generation of voters)

How have post-material values affected party systems?

Contributed to the emergence of new left, socially liberal and Green parties (most successful ones coming out of these cleavages)

A New Transnational Cleavage?

(not just in the EU/West but also in Brazil and Japan)

Hooghe & Marks (2018): response to immigration and EU-integration

—> winners (free-trade) and losers of globalisation (e.g. who were forced to change jobs)

• were incorporated into existing party systems (like in the UK, and the US)

• in other countries (like France and Italy) they created new parties

What do new transnational cleavages focus on?

• immigration and multiculturalism

• globalisation and nationalism

• culture and identity

• majoritarian vs. liberal democracy

• climate change (?) COVID-19 (?)

Electoral Volatility Trends (1945-2018)

• rising

Cleavages in new democracies

Bornschier (2009): states that in theory, the cleavage concept should ‘travel’ well to new democracies

—> But: new democracies usually don’t have the kind of cleavages that can be seen in the West

Why this difference between new and old democracies?

• in new democracies there are no large-scale internal processes of change or upheaval

• and no contestation for suffrage rights (exception: South Africa)

• and there is a greater role for individual politicians due to the absence of strong social organisations

What does this result in?

• high electoral volatility

• personalistic politics

• patron-client linkages & clientelistic politics

Clientelism

=the reciprocal relation between patron (politicians) and client (voters)

The client offers the patron political support in exchange for material benefits like jobs, food, money and permits, loans etc.

—> strong negative connotation (anti-democratic, corrupt) —> a form of patronage (alongside nepotism), political favouritism

Where is patronage most prominent?

Patronage is seen in all systems, but particularly new democracies and post-colonial states (it is present in most countries in the Global South, but also Greece, Italy and the US)

What is patronage an alternative for?

• it is an alternative for cleavage-based/programmatic politics