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Explaining the Crisis and Electoral Decline of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Era of Welfare State Retrenchment (2002-2012)
[journal article]
Abstract The article analyzes the relationship between the drastic electoral decline of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the party's earlier leadership role in retrenching the German welfare state in the Hartz reforms after 2002. Starting with a survey of the SPD's recent political history, the a... view more
The article analyzes the relationship between the drastic electoral decline of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the party's earlier leadership role in retrenching the German welfare state in the Hartz reforms after 2002. Starting with a survey of the SPD's recent political history, the article explains how the government of Gerhard Schröder advanced welfare retrenchment policies that abandoned the SPD's core electorate. The conclusion refers to party sociologist Otto Kirchheimer's theory of the catch-all party to demonstrate how welfare retrenchment policies create new structural barriers against the ability of the SPD to compete successfully in elections.... view less
Keywords
Federal Republic of Germany; social democracy; Social Democratic Party of Germany; social welfare state; welfare state; social policy; Hartz-Reform; social dismantling; social insurance; cut in benefits; party politics; party in power; labor market policy
Classification
Social Security
Labor Market Policy
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
Catch-all Party; Welfare State Retrenchment
Document language
English
Publication Year
2012
Page/Pages
p. 271-310
Journal
Journal of the Korean-German Association for Social Sciences / Zeitschrift der Koreanisch-Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sozialwissenschaften, 22 (2012) 4
Status
Published Version; reviewed