Europe, A Political Profile: An American Companion to European Politics, 2 volumes

Europe, A Political Profile

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Europe, A Political Profile An American Companion to European Politics

VOLUME 1

Hans Slomp

© Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Slomp, Hans, 1945– Europe, a political profile : an American companion to European politics / Hans Slomp.      v. cm. Volume 1 is a revised and updated version of: European politics into the twenty-first century. Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2000. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-39181-1 (hard back : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8 (ebook.) 1.  Europe—Politics and government—Encyclopedias.  I. Slomp, Hans, 1945– European politics into the twenty-first century. II. Title. JN5.S56 2011 320.94—dc23                                                           2011020122 ISBN: 978-0-313-39181-1 EISBN: 978-0-313-39182-8 15╇14╇ 13╇12╇11â•…â•… 1╇2╇3╇4╇5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

About the Author

Hans Slomp is an associate professor of comparative politics at the Institute for Management Research, Political Science Department, at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Holland. Dr. Slomp is the author of Between Bargaining and Politics: An Introduction to European Labor Relations.

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Contents

List of Maps, Figures, and Tablesâ•…â•… xi Prefaceâ•…â•…xv Introduction to Volume 1â•…â•… xvii 1 Politics: Basic Conceptsâ•…â•… 1 Politics in and among Nationsâ•…â•…1 Powerâ•…â•…11 2 Democracyâ•…â•…21 From Greece to the Labor Movementâ•…â•…21 Civil Societyâ•…â•…24 Representative Democracy Challengedâ•…â•…25 3 Europeâ•…â•…31 Europe: A Quick Geographical Noteâ•…â•…32 One Europe or Many Europes?â•…â•…36 A Quick Note on the European Economiesâ•…â•…42 A Brief Note on Social and Political Lifeâ•…â•…45 4 The European Experience: A Historical Noteâ•…â•… 49 From Ancient Times to the 20th Centuryâ•…â•…50 The 20th Centuryâ•…â•…58 Comparison of US and European Historical Developmentsâ•…â•…65 The European Identityâ•…â•…66 5 The Nature of European Nationsâ•…â•… 69 Kosovoâ•…â•…69 Language and Nationhoodâ•…â•…70 Religionâ•…â•…75 vii

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The Center and the Peripheryâ•…â•…78 Social Classâ•…â•…81 Coping with Division: Integration versus Exclusionâ•…â•…82 The Decline of the Traditional Sources of Divisionâ•…â•…83 Immigrants: A New Divide?â•…â•… 84 6 The Design of European Democracyâ•…â•… 89 Division versus Diversityâ•…â•…89 Parliamentarism versus Presidentialismâ•…â•…91 Continental Democracy versus Westminster Democracyâ•…â•…93 Germanic Democracy and Latin Democracyâ•…â•…96 Unitarism versus Federalismâ•…â•…98 New Developmentsâ•…â•…99 7 European Liberals Are Not American Liberals: The European Ideologiesâ•…â•… 101 The European Political Spectrumâ•…â•…101 Conservatismâ•…â•…104 Liberalismâ•…â•…105 Labor Ideologies: Anarchism, Social Democracy, and Communismâ•…â•…108 Christian Democracyâ•…â•…112 Fascism and Nazismâ•…â•…115 New Ideologiesâ•…â•…116 Social Characteristics and Ideologiesâ•…â•…119 Regional Variations in Coping with Ideological Divisionâ•…â•…120 Americanization of European Politics?â•…â•…123 8 From Elections to Governments: The Long Wayâ•…â•… 125 Where the Votes Are: Electionsâ•…â•…125 Where the Power Is: Political Partiesâ•…â•…132 Coalition Governments and Party Systemsâ•…â•…138 Regional Variations in Elections, Parties, and Governmentâ•…â•…139 9 Government and Parliamentâ•…â•… 143 The Real Legislator: Governmentâ•…â•…143 The Final Say: Parliamentâ•…â•…147 Head of State: President or Monarchâ•…â•…152 The Constitution and the Judiciaryâ•…â•…154



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The Bureaucracyâ•…â•…158 Regional Variations in Parliamentary and Governmental Powerâ•…â•…159 The Semi-presidential Systemâ•…â•…160 Challenging Representative Democracyâ•…â•…163 10 Civil Societyâ•…â•…167 Civil Society European Styleâ•…â•…167 One of Europe’s Favorites: Business/Labor/Government Tripartismâ•…â•…170 From Doctors to Students: Other Interest Associations and Movementsâ•…â•…174 Regional Variation in Civil Societyâ•…â•…176 The Commercial Revolution: The Mass Mediaâ•…â•…178 11 Local and Regional Governmentâ•…â•… 183 Local and Regional Politicsâ•…â•…183 Federalismâ•…â•…189 12 Public Policyâ•…â•…195 Policy Stylesâ•…â•…196 Welfare Is Not Welfare: The European Welfare Stateâ•…â•…198 Educationâ•…â•…211 Immigration and Citizenship Policiesâ•…â•…213 Left and Right: Does It Make a Difference?â•…â•…216 Life and Deathâ•…â•…218 13 Supranational Politics: The European Unionâ•…â•… 223 The Euroâ•…â•…225 Toward European Integrationâ•…â•…228 Two Founding Fathers and One Active Leaderâ•…â•…231 EU Policiesâ•…â•…232 The EU Structureâ•…â•…238 Intergovernmental Decision Makingâ•…â•…238 The Supranational Structuresâ•…â•…241 Eurosclerosis?â•…â•…252 Comparison with the United Statesâ•…â•…253 14 International Politicsâ•…â•…255 Marking Territories in Multipolar Europeâ•…â•…256 The Bipolar World during the Cold Warâ•…â•…257 Europe in the New Unipolar Worldâ•…â•…260



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A Divided Continent in Search of Unityâ•…â•…264 Even Good Neighbors Have Their Quarrelsâ•…â•…267 The EU’s Foreign Policyâ•…â•…269 15 European Nations by Regionâ•…â•… 271 The British Islesâ•…â•…271 The Big Three of Continental Western Europeâ•…â•…272 The Other Germanic and Latin Nationsâ•…â•…276 Central Europeâ•…â•…281 The Balkan Peninsulaâ•…â•…284 Eastern Europeâ•…â•…288 Southeastern Europeâ•…â•…290 The Other Countriesâ•…â•…291 16 Europe and the United States: Social Class and Race—Convergence or Divergence?â•…â•… 293 Sources Quoted in Volume 1â•…â•… 297 Appendix A: 1992 EU Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), Preamble, Titles I and IIâ•…â•… 299 Appendix B: The 1999 Blair/Schröder Manifesto: Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitteâ•…â•…307 Appendix C: List of European Nations and the United Statesâ•…â•… 319

List of Maps, Figures, and Tables

Map 3.1 Map 3.2 Map 3.3 Map 3.4 Map 3.5 Map 3.6

Comparison of Some Geographical Features of Europe with the USâ•…â•… 34 Europe in 2010â•…â•… 38 Europe from 1949 to 1988â•…â•…39 Europe in 1900â•…â•…39 European Nations in Proportion to Population Sizeâ•…â•… 41 US States in Proportion to Population Sizeâ•…â•… 41

Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 7.1 Figure 9.1 Figure 9.2

The Political Systemâ•…â•… 9 The Stages and Barriers of Agenda Buildingâ•…â•… 12 The European Ideological Spectrumâ•…â•… 103 The Barriers in US Congressâ•…â•… 147 The Barriers in European National Parliamentsâ•…â•… 148

Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 3.4 Table 3.5 Table 3.6 Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 5.1 Table 5.2

European Countries Grouped by Population Sizeâ•…â•… 35 The Regions of Western Europeâ•…â•… 37 The European Nationsâ•…â•… 40 Major Languages and Religionsâ•…â•… 42 European Countries Grouped by GDP per Capitaâ•…â•… 45 Human Development Index Ranking of European Nationsâ•…â•… 47 Core Elements in European History before the 20th Centuryâ•…â•… 49 Epochal Developments in 20th-Century Europeâ•…â•… 58 Peace Treaties after World War Iâ•…â•… 60 Europe in the 20th Centuryâ•…â•… 63 Major Differences between European and US Historyâ•…â•… 65 Language Groups, Languages, and Alphabetsâ•…â•… 71 Major Language Minorities (Except Russian Speakers in Belarus and Ukraine)â•…â•…74 Table 5.3 Divided Countriesâ•…â•… 74 Table 5.4 Foreign Nationals (Immigrants and Refugees)â•…â•… 86 xi

xii |╇ List of Maps, Figures, and Tables

Table 5.5 Comparison of American and European Nationhood and Societyâ•…â•…87 Table 6.1 The Basic Ideas behind National Politicsâ•…â•… 91 Table 6.2 Comparison of the American, Westminster, and Continental European Political Systemsâ•…â•… 95 Table 6.3 Germanic Democracy versus Latin Democracyâ•…â•… 98 Table 6.4 Unitarism versus Federalismâ•…â•… 99 Table 7.1 Catholic Popes since 1945â•…â•… 114 Table 7.2 Social Characteristics and Voting Behaviorâ•…â•… 120 Table 7.3 Comparison of the American and European Political Spectrumsâ•…â•…124 Table 8.1 Belgian Governments under Wilfried Martens in the 1980sâ•…â•… 126 Table 8.2 Impact of Electoral Systems: Share of Votes, Parliamentary Seats, and Cabinet Postsâ•…â•… 130 Table 8.3 Political Parties before and after the Emergence of Social Democracyâ•…â•…135 Table 9.1 Political Leaders in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France (1974–2010)â•…â•…145 Table 9.2 Share of Parliamentary Seats Occupied by Womenâ•…â•… 150 Table 9.3 Comparison of National Parliaments in European Democracies and the US Congressâ•…â•… 151 Table 9.4 Dethroned and Remaining Royal Dynastiesâ•…â•… 152 Table 9.5 Comparison of the Executive Power in European Democracies and the United Statesâ•…â•… 153 Table 9.6 Chronology of Types of Constitutionsâ•…â•… 155 Table 9.7 Comparison of the Judiciary in European Democracies and the United Statesâ•…â•…158 Table 9.8 Early Examples of the Referendumâ•…â•… 164 Table 10.1 Unionization Rates, 2006–2008 and (1979/80)â•…â•… 169 Table 10.2 Beginning of Nationwide Labor Agreements and Tripartismâ•…â•… 171 Table 10.3 Recent Tripartite Employment Conferences and Agreementsâ•…â•… 173 Table 10.4 Comparison of European and American Civil Society and Mediaâ•…â•…181 Table 11.1 Characteristics of Regional and Local Unitsâ•…â•… 186 Table 11.2 Comparison of European and American Regional and Local Governmentâ•…â•…189 Table 11.3 Comparison of European and American Federalismâ•…â•… 192 Table 12.1 Types of Welfare Statesâ•…â•… 201



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Table 12.2 Comparison of Bismarckian and Beveridgian Social Security Programsâ•…â•…202 Table 12.3 Comparison of the European and US Welfare Statesâ•…â•… 208 Table 12.4 Leaders in Nuclear Energyâ•…â•… 211 Table 12.5 Comparison of European and American Economic Policiesâ•…â•… 211 Table 12.6 Countries at the Top of the EU Member Ranking for Promoting Integrationâ•…â•…215 Table 12.7 Priorities for the Left and Right Side of the Political Spectrumâ•…â•…217 Table 12.8 Positions on Same-Sex Marriageâ•…â•… 219 Table 12.9 Comparison of Europe and the United States on Civil Rights and Ethical Issuesâ•…â•…220 Table 13.1 EU Member States, Their Population Ranking, Numeric Representation, and Currenciesâ•…â•… 224 Table 13.2 Important European Council Meetingsâ•…â•… 234 Table 13.3 Presidents of the European Commission since 1958â•…â•… 242 Table 13.4 European Commissioners since 2010â•…â•… 243 Table 13.5 Political Groups Represented in the European Parliamentâ•…â•… 245 Table 13.6 Party Representation per Member State since 2009â•…â•… 249 Table 13.7 Comparison of the Political Structures of the EU and the United Statesâ•…â•… 253 Table 14.1 Biggest Defense Spenders as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Productâ•…â•… 259 Table 14.2 Colonies and Overseas Territoriesâ•…â•… 261 Table 14.3 Official Development Assistance (ODA): Leading Donor Countriesâ•…â•… 264 Table 14.4 International Organizations with Predominantly European Membersâ•…â•…266 Table 16.1 Social Class in Continental Europe versus Race in the United Statesâ•…â•…293 Table 16.2 Europe and the United States: Social Class and Race—Convergence or Divergence?â•…â•… 294

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Preface

T

his two-volume book is an encyclopedic survey of one of Europe’s favorite discussion topics—democratic politics, compared with U.S. politics. Do not expect any positive observations on politics, when in Europe, however, because Europeans do not like to admit that they enjoy talking politics. Their attitude toward politics resembles their attitude toward the weather: it is always too hot or too cold, too rainy or too dry, but the moment you propose a radical shift in Â�climate, or migration, they start seeing some positive signs in their fate. The book is an effort to make Europe more understandable to American and European readers by discussing what European nations have in common (in Â�volume 1) and what their differences are (in volume 2). It has been written to serve a wide audience, in particular in the United States. The two volumes cover all European countries, including nations that are often left out of discussions on Europe, such as the Caucasian countries Georgia, Â�Armenia, and Azerbaijan. To provide a complete survey, even countries that can hardly be called democracies are briefly discussed, such as Russia and Belarus. The five mini-states (i.e., Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City State) have a profile in volume 2, but they are not covered by the general discussion of European politics in volume 1. The book consists of five parts. Volume 1 opens with a brief section (chapters 1 and 2) introducing abstract terms that are used in politics and political science. The rest of volume 1 is a systematic survey of general and cross-national characteristics of European democratic politics. Volume 2 mainly consists of a discussion of politics in the individual European nations. The countries are not discussed in alphabetical order but are grouped together, just as in volume 1, on the basis of regional similarities. Volume 2 also contains an extensive glossary in which many terms related to European politics, and some historical and political science terms, are explained. At the end of volume 2 there is a list of sources and suggestions for further reading, including books and websites. I am grateful to the many students, colleagues, and friends who were helpful in this endeavor. Students in two of my classes, “Political Ideologies and Democracy” xv

xvi |╇Preface

and “Europe, A Political Profile,” in particular the 2009–2010 classes, did a great deal of research. Stefanie Andre, Bert Bomert, Machiel Bouwmans, Daphne van de Bult, Ruud van Druenen, Silvio Erkens, Anna van de Haar, Anna Khvorostyanaya, Jan ter Laak, Hans Moerel, Marjon Schols, Lieneke Slegers (Grayling Brussels), Pieter Stolwijk, and Stijn van Voorst read parts of an earlier draft or assisted in research. My friend Peter Rijkhoff (Rijkhoff Cartographic Center) has drawn the maps, which is not as easy for Europe as for North America; some national borders changed while he was drawing them. Thanks to ABC-CLIO’s Sandy Towers for promoting this project and to BookComp’s copy editor Betsy Crist for changing Euro-American to acceptable American; I take full responsibility for what is still unclear. A special word of thanks to my friend Jim Smith for allowing me to borrow his ear and pick his brain in our almost daily transatlantic e-mail talks on European and U.S. politics and for his many corrections, even on minor European events; I can only hope we will be able to continue our talks for a long time. Nick, Hiske, and Michiel, and Jolanda most of all, at times showed great interest in my work and at other times forced me back to reality to show interest in their work and lives, because there is more in life than European politics, as all Americans know. Nijmegen, Summer 2011 Hans Slomp

Introduction to Volume 1

V

olume 1 is a completely revised and updated version of European Politics into the Twenty-First Century: Integration and Division (Westport CT: Â�Praeger, 2000). Almost all chapters now contain a comparison with U.S. politics, summarized in a comparative table. In contrast to Americans, who are often ready to speak of “typical European Â�politics” when they refer to overtaxing and overspending or to old-fashioned power politics, Europeans are hardly willing to regard Europe as a whole or to see continent-wide similarities in political structures and political behavior. One of the first responses to general remarks on European politics has always been, “You may be right, but my country is different.” Of course, all European countries are different, and so are all European citizens, yet if Europe is gradually growing in the direction of more unity, it should be possible to draw some general lines that apply to all, or at least most, European countries. I hope I have made the right choice in selecting the Â�general lines in the chapters that follow. The main body of the book is devoted to national politics, and there are separate chapters on the European Union and a brief chapter on international politics. The book opens with a chapter that discusses a number of abstract concepts, followed by a second chapter on democracy, but reading these chapters is not a precondition for understanding the rest of the book. Chapter 15, a survey of the European nations by group, should serve as a bridge to the chapters on European countries in Volume 2. The appendixes of volume 1 contain two important political documents: The preamble and the first articles of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty (Appendix A), which removed the internal trade and mobility barriers in the European Union, and the 1999 Manifesto of British prime minister Tony Blair and German chancellor (Prime Minister) Gerhard Schröder on New Labour (Appendix B); Appendix C is a table of all European nations. Terms in italics are listed and explained in the glossary in volume 2.

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CHAPTER 1

Politics: Basic Concepts

A

ny book about democratic politics should open with definitions of what Â�politics is and what democracy is to show what the author is talking about and delimit the subject. Communist regimes that were in power in Central and Eastern Europe from the late 1940s until the end of the 1980s called their political system a democracy, but almost all Europeans meant something else when they used the term. To clarify the subject, this chapter and the next contain a number of classical notions or concepts as well as conceptual frameworks (combinations of Â�concepts) from political science that will be used in the chapters that follow. Because definitions of core concepts should not be too far removed from their meaning in everyday speech to prevent confusion, they are often a compromise between clarity (constructing a clear distinction with other terms) and simplicity (connection with common language). Concepts and conceptual frameworks do not tell us anything about reality; they are merely indispensable tools of precision in discussing politics. We can analyze national or international politics with concepts like power and authority, but they have to be filled in, to be given substance, by applying them to reality. In contrast, theories tell us something about reality by making substantive statements (“when x occurs, then y will follow” or “y is caused by x”). This chapter gives some examples of concepts and conceptual frameworks; theories are referred to when appropriate in the following chapters.

Politics in and among Nations When people speak about politics, they mostly have in mind the way government rules are made and executed. Politics is wider than government rules, however. Other institutions may also have the capacity to make rules for a community or society, such as the armed forces, big business, the Catholic Church, or the Mafia. The most prominent example was the communist regime in Central and Eastern 1



2 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

Europe, which had a formal government, but its only function was to execute rules that had been made by the Communist Party. The real dictator was the secretarygeneral of that party; the prime minister was no more than his henchman. For that reason, it is better not to define politics in terms of one institution (the government), but more widely, as an activity or a social process. The definition proposed for this book is that politics is the making and execution of binding decisions for a group or a society. The definition does not explicitly state who or what institution makes the rules or executes them. The main restriction is that the decisions must be binding, that the members of the group or the society are obligated to observe them, and that they do observe them to some degree. Without the restriction of “binding” all kinds of rules that are not observed would have to be covered, a sheer infinite number; yet we also have to take into account that not all binding rules are observed as they should be—just think of highway speed limits. In practice, the notion of politics is often confined to large groups, and in particular to countries as a whole, excluding families, groups of friends or peers, or even businesses. The main reason for doing so is that binding decisions are mostly made for countries as a whole and are binding upon all individuals, groups, and organizations within the country. Local governments make binding decisions for the local community, but such rules must be in accordance with the rules that apply to the country as a whole. Parents make binding decisions for their family, but such family rules, just as all group decisions, also have to observe national rules, such as those about compulsory primary education or banning of physical violence. Probably the most widely used definition of politics has been Â�proposed by the American political scientist David Easton. In his view, politics is “Those interactions through which values are allocated authoritatively for a society” (Easton 1965). The concept of values refers to all material and nonmaterial goods, ranging from religion and civil rights to education, justice, and wages. Â�“Authoritatively” means that the allocation of values is binding. So, Easton’s definition could be rephrased a bit simpler as “the social processes (interactions) in which binding rules are made (authoritatively) on the allocation of values.” Easton’s definition has the advantage of being more abstract, the disadvantage of being less clear than the definition proposed before—which, however, was influenced by Easton’s definition. The scope of the binding rules often varies in the course of time and among countries. In other words, the demarcation line may shift between the public (or political) sphere, for which binding rules are made, and the private sphere, which is to some extent beyond the scope of binding rules, or for which only very Â�general and basic rules of proper behavior are made. Securing a family income under Â�conditions of widespread unemployment was a strictly private affair until the introduction of social security and employment policies, both of which have become major public concerns in Europe.



Politics in and among Nations╇ | 3

What makes binding rules so important and so fascinating? They are often the result of conflicting interests. Interests are values, material and nonmaterial, that people expect to improve their life, and they not only conflict among people but also for a single person. Taxpayers want low taxes, but at the same time they want housing facilities and safety in the streets. As young mothers they demand paid parental leave, and as good parents they want high-quality education, �preferably around the corner. As elders they need ample health care and other provisions that are adapted to their situation. Groups of people may have common interests, and a society or community as a whole may have a common interest, or public interest, but there are often conflicting opinions about what the common or public interest is because of variations in living conditions and lifestyles among the members of the community. Decision makers need not necessarily take into account all different interests; they may be responsive to some and pay no attention or even suppress others. An important aspect of comparing nations is to analyze variations in the interests that are furthered by binding rules and those that are not.

Society and Nation If politics is making binding rules or authoritatively allocating values for a society, then what is a society? A society is a large number of people who have mutual contacts and relations, more than with other people, both directly and indirectly through groups and organizations. For smaller units, the term group is often used, like families and groups of friends whose members maintain close and direct mutual contacts. For combinations of people between small groups and large societies the word community is popularly used, especially as “local community.” Hence, shifting from group to community and then to society implies an increase in scale from small to large and a gradual expansion of contacts from primarily direct to a combination of direct and indirect contacts. In practice, the three concepts are often distinguished less strictly. The notion of group is not only used for small groups with direct contacts between the members but also for large combinations of people, sometimes called aggregates, who share one characteristic but need not have intense mutual contacts: British television watchers, German farmers, Polish workers, or Georgian Christians, for instance. The term “community” is also used as a synonym for society, for instance in the term “national community,” whereas the term “society” is mostly used for a national society, or the population of a country, united by political institutions and organizations that make binding rules for that society, for instance French society or Ukrainian society. Indeed, when speaking about politics, most people think of countries, that is, of territorially defined societies, because of the binding rules that are often made for the country as a whole. Instead of the term “country,” the term nation is often used, but strictly speaking, that concept has a more limited meaning than the word



4 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

“country.” A nation is often meant to be a territorially defined unit in which most of the inhabitants feel like forming one (national) society or one community (in the broad sense of the word), with common bonds and activities, based on shared features like a common language or religion, or even the threat of a common enemy. Sweden is more of a nation than Spain, where parts of the country (such as Â�Catalonia and Basque country) feel like forming nations of their own and for that reason strive for autonomy or even independence. Spain is more of a nation than the former Austrian Empire, with its many movements of regional autonomy, or the former Yugoslavia, which also fell apart after some time. Yet, in everyday conversation, the terms “country” and “nation” are often used as synonyms, for instance, in the name of the United Nations, which includes countries that can hardly be called nations in the strict sense of the word. Politics within nations is almost without exception hierarchical, with one institution on top, mostly the government, which enforces commitment to its rules, and that is why most people think of the national government when speaking of politics. This is even more understandable, as one might even replace the notion of “making and executing binding rules” with “governing,” which means more or less the same, and from there it is only one small step, but not a right one, to saying that politics = government. National politics without such a center of power (i.e., without a government) exists, but it is exceptional. Although politics is often confined to national politics, the term is also used for international politics, despite the absence of binding rules for the global society. To adapt the definition of politics to international society, it should be extended to making rules that are to some extent observed by the members of the “international community” (a very broad use of the term “community”), even when many of the rules are not really binding and cannot be enforced. For that reason, politics among nations, or international politics, may be said to be anarchical instead of hierarchical, that is, without a single institution that is capable of enforcing the rules among all nations (Lieshout 1995). Most international politics is anarchical; most national politics is hierarchical.

Influence, Power, and Authority Implementing (imposing) binding rules implies that the rule maker has the Â�capacity, or the power, to enforce the rules, which makes the term power one of primordial importance in politics. Some even regard power as the core element of politics and define politics as “the shaping and sharing of power” (Lasswell and Kaplan 1950). The American political scientist Robert Dahl has defined politics as any human relationship that involves to a significant extent, power, rule, or authority (Dahl 1991). According to those definitions, almost all relationships—whether those in a marriage, a family, a friendship, a company, or an educational Â�institution— are political as most of them contain an element of power to a significant extent.



Politics in and among Nations╇ | 5

Stretching the meaning of politics that way has the advantage of drawing attention to the ubiquity of politics, yet these broad definitions of politics are too far removed from the everyday use of the term. Building on Dahl’s definition, however, power is best defined as a relationship and a specific form of influence between two or more institutions, organizations, nations, or individuals, or combinations of these groups. When we do not want to specify whether we are referring to an organization, a group, a nation, or an individual, but prefer to speak in abstract terms, we use the term “actor”: actor A, actor B, and so on. An actor may be a person, a government institution, or any other group or organization. Influence, in Dahl’s view, is a relationship between actor A and actor B in which A is able to induce B to do something B would not otherwise do. Power is a stronger form of influence; it is influence “based on the threat or expectation of extremely severe penalties” (Dahl 1991). Influence and power are not personal characteristics; actor A’s influence or power over actor B does not mean A has influence or power over C or D. The Portuguese government has power over all people in Portugal, for example, but not over Portuguese citizens abroad. All influence and power are limited, depending on the resources actor A disposes to exercise influence or power over actor B: A’s influence resources or power resources. For individuals, money is often an important base of power (“there is nothing money can’t buy”), and so are knowledge (the professor’s power over the students) and status (whether formal status in a hierarchy or informal status in a group of employees, students, or inmates). Sexual appeal and love may also serve as resources of power over a person who is under the spell of them, and the effect may be very wide if the person involved is powerful on the basis of other resources, for instance, if the person is in a formal position as a country’s prime minister. In that case at least one person is directly affected by the power based on love or sexual appeal, and the rest of the nation is affected indirectly. The demarcation line between influence and power is not a very clear one but more of a gradual borderline. Power is the type of influence in which A can apply very serious sanctions to B in case of noncompliance. Less serious sanctions can include an angry remark, an angry letter, a warning not to sin again, or a not-too-painful blow. The most serious sanction is the use of force, including imprisonment, physical punishment, or even death; they will almost certainly induce actor B to comply with actor A’s wishes. Yet, extremely severe penalties are not confined to physical force; they include all sanctions that are considered as very severe by B, for instance the threat of being fired, especially under conditions of mounting unemployment. Within most democratic nations the government is the only one institution that is able to systematically apply the most severe physical sanctions, including imprisonment, and sometimes other forms of physical violence, such as the death penalty (in the United States, not in European democracies). Ordinary citizens do not have



6 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

the right to use force against other people, except for simple hand fighting or a boxing match, unless they have expressly been endowed with that right by the government. The possible use of force makes government rules into binding rules; people who do not observe the rules are liable to be imprisoned (or even executed). In addition to power resources, we distinguish the scope of power or power scope, which stands for the range of activities to which it applies; the extent of power or power extent, which refers to the number of people to which it applies; and the degree of power, or the power degree, which refers to the rate of compliance. For example, Russia’s political leader has a greater power scope than the U.S. president, because Russia is less of a democracy and has stricter rules on a wider range of social activities. The power extent of Russia’s leader is smaller, because of the smaller population, but the degree of power is probably higher because the sanctions are more severe in cases of noncompliance. In international politics, the U.S. president has more power because of the country’s economic and military power resources. Yet, the terms “power scope,” “power extent,” and “power degree” are often used indiscriminately, and sometimes the term “span of power” replaces any of them. It makes a great difference if rules have to be enforced by naked force (“at gunpoint”) or if the ruled accept the ruler’s power—in more abstract terms, if actor B accepts actor A’s power. If that is the case, A’s power enjoys legitimacy, which means it is accepted as right, and power is then called authority: legitimate power (power that is accepted as being right). Governmental authority is ultimately based on the potential use of force as the most severe sanction, but it rarely requires the use of force as people observe the state rules out of expedience (e.g., driving to the right), their own norms (e.g., sending school-age children to school), or a sense of community (e.g., paying at least some tax). Many of these rules have been internalized, which means they have become a part of the people’s mind. There would be far more criminal behavior if most people had not internalized social and government rules about decent and proper behavior toward each other, even if they would like to behave otherwise. Of course, authority may change into naked power when the state has lost legitimacy. In the early 20th century, the German social scientist Max Weber introduced a fine and very influential distinction between three types of resources that serve as a base of authority (Weber 1994). The first is tradition, which especially applies to traditional clan chiefs, medicine men in tribal communities, patriarchs in organizations, and kings in undemocratic political systems, such as the former European empires. This kind of leader often enjoys lifetime authority, yet the leadership is not bound to a specific person but to the function exercised by the person, and it is defended with the argument that it has always been that way and that it is a valuable tradition that should not be lost. Hence, kings and emperors go to great efforts to trace the roots of their family or dynasty back to the distant past.



Politics in and among Nations╇ | 7

The second type of resource is personal charisma, which is bound to one person, such as a prophet (e.g., religious leaders), war leader (e.g., Winston Churchill), demagogue (e.g., Adolf Hitler), dictator (e.g., Joseph Stalin), or democratic politician (e.g., Charles De Gaulle). Their appeal may show variation over that person’s lifetime, but it is bound to the person. Of course, for the political leaders listed here, personal charisma was only a secondary source of authority, in addition to their formal position. The third type of resource is legality, in which authority is based on competencies that are laid down in legal and rational rules. This authority is completely bound to a function and not to a person; the persons that exercise the function are interchangeable. Examples are police officers, teachers, and politicians in democratic political systems. Weber considered this to be the modern form of authority, especially embodied in governmental and other modern bureaucracies. Indeed, this kind of authority is most widely spread in industrialized countries and throughout all sectors of activity, from government bureaucracies to business companies and educational institutions. The authority of political leaders in democracies is based on legality and can be enhanced, but not replaced, by personal charisma. Â�Government ministers, civil servants, professors, and police officers are able to enforce formal rules, but only as long as they occupy their post.

State and Government Until now, the word “government” has been used for the institution that makes (most of) the binding rules, but it would be better to use the concept of state. The state is the institution that exercises national authority and enforces observation of the binding rules. Max Weber has probably given the most authoritative definition of the state, not in the sense of a country but as the institution that makes and implements the binding rules in a country (Weber 1994). According to Weber, the state is an institution of authority that has successfully upheld a claim to the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force for its authority within a given territorial area, and for that purpose concentrates the means of physical force in the hands of its leaders. Weber’s definition points to the difference between the concepts of state and government. The government is formed by the leaders of the state, in whose hands the means of physical force are concentrated, and who decide about the application of force by the state. Of course the government may grant the right to carry guns or exercise force to other institutions, or to private citizens, but it is the government that decides about such rights. In dictatorships and democracies, people may detest their government and regret its decisions or its use of the state monopoly of physical force, but most of them do not reject that the means of physical force should be concentrated in the hands of their state, if only to protect them against others and to maintain order (and prevent anarchy). What the opponents of the government want



8 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

is that a different group of leaders should decide about the use of force and make different decisions about its use from those made by the current government. In other words, although the state’s monopoly of physical force is often legitimate (no one wants anarchy), the actual use of physical force by the government-of-the-day need not be legitimate (and may be heavily disputed by opposition groups). The distinction between the state, as an abstract notion, and the government, as the decision makers, is common only in continental Europe. In Great Britain and even more in the United States, the term “state” is hardly used, or is used only in the sense of a nation or other political unit (as in the name of the United States), and the word “government” stands for both the decision makers and the abstract notion of the state. There is yet another difference, between the United States and Europe in this case, in the use of the word “government.” Americans refer to all official state institutions (Congress, the president, and the Supreme Court) when speaking about their government, not merely to the president. In Europe, the term “government” is often confined to the small group of people, sometimes called the cabinet, that have been voted into power by the national parliament, mostly after popular elections, in order to execute the rules. In Europe, the parliament is not a part of the government, whereas the U.S. Congress is. A recent notion, governance, denotes the act of governing without specifying the institution that governs. It points to the fact that it is not only the government that governs; other institutions do so as well.

The Political System When speaking about the political aspect of a community or society, the term Â�political system is often used. It is applied to nations as a whole (national political systems), to regional or local units (regional and local political systems), and even to the international political system. The term is now used in a loose way, but it was originally framed as part of a “systems approach” to politics, also introduced by David Easton. In the systems approach, politics is regarded as a continuous cycle of social processes or as a cycle of information. When describing it, the starting point is mostly that people transmit all kinds of information to their rulers—the decision makers in their community, society, or country—in the form of criticism and complaints, but also positive signs of support. The information is called the input of the system. In the decision-making process, the decision makers respond to the information they have received by taking measures; they “convert” the input into decisions, which form the output of the political system. The response need not necessarily be very responsive, and the decision makers may even be totally insensitive to the complaints that were communicated, but even suppression of demands and silencing of political protest are forms of conversion of input into output. Of course, the cycle does not end with the output. To make a cycle there must be a connection between the output and the input. That connection is called feedback, which consists



Politics in and among Nations╇ | 9

----------

---------

Input╇╇╇╇---------------------------╇Conversion╇╇╇╇----------------------------╇Output (demands, support) (decisions)

---------------------------------------╇Feedback---------------------------------------------Figure 1.1╇The Political System

of the response of the people to the output, whether positive or negative. Feedback will prompt new input in the form of increased signs of discontent or appreciation, to which the decision makers will respond with new output. (See Figure 1.1.) Figure 1.1 shows the basic version of the political system. A more elaborate version requires a further distinction in the nature of input. The usual distinction is the one between demands and support. People express demands to the decision makers based on their interests and their wants. Communicating demands could imply the threat to apply serious sanctions if the rulers are not responsive to these demands, in particular the withdrawal of support, for instance by voting the Â�government out of office or by organizing protest manifestations. Easton elaborated the notion of support most of all. He distinguished three types of support, or better, three types of recipients of support: the decision makers, the regime, and the political community (Easton 1965, 172). Support for the decision makers (the “authorities” in Easton’s words) means they are recognized by most members of the political system as having the responsibility for decision making. Such support does not mean the members comply wholeheartedly with the decisions—they may well prefer other decisions—but they do not resist the measures and wait until they have a new opportunity to vote leaders into power. The regime consists of the nature of the political system and the constitutional rules that pose constraints on the nature of decision making and the contents of the decisions. In a democratic regime, the structure and nature of decision making are bound to specific rules (for instance, parliamentary control and an independent judiciary), and some decisions, like punishing innocent people, are out of order. Such constraints form the regime, and democratic political systems cannot survive in their existing form without some support for the democratic regime. People may be highly dissatisfied with the current government, but most of them are unwilling to give up democracy for that reason. The political community refers to people who believe they belong together and, as a group (or a nation), should be committed by the binding rules. (Note that the term “community” as it is used here is not confined to small communities but refers to political systems as a whole.) Support for the political community is what makes a country into a nation. If many members do not share that feeling, the political system can only be held together by force.

10 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

Support for one element—the authorities, the regime, or the political community—can influence the degree of support for the others. The fact that decision makers in democracies are elected, directly or indirectly, and can be removed from office may increase the support they enjoy. In that case support for the regime has a positive effect on support for the decision makers. The general wave of joy in new nations about their independence as a political community may affect the inhabitants’ support of the regime and even of decision makers, if only temporarily. The political system is not the same as a society or a nation; as an abstract notion or concept it only covers one important aspect of a society or nation: the political aspect. Within that society it has an environment, a national context that consists of the economic, cultural, and other systems (e.g., capitalism, religious values, the social and spatial mobility of the population) that influence the functioning of the political system. It also has an international environment consisting of international political, economic, cultural, and other systems (e.g., the United Nations, the American entertainment culture, the Muslim world, a large and powerful neighboring country), all of which affect the functioning of the national political system. The flow of information from input to output and back as feedback is not always continuous. Throughout the cycle, gatekeepers channel the information, distort it, or stop part of it. Of course, the media are prominent gatekeepers, as they transmit information about input, output, and feedback from one actor or group(s) of actors to others. In doing so, they necessarily condense the information, because hardly any people want to have newspapers without pictures and comics, or TV news without sports or the weather forecast. The media can also distort information, for instance, to please powerful local or national actors. Yet, the media are not alone in acting as gatekeepers; interest associations, political parties, and decision makers also channel and distort information. Channeling or even temporarily stopping the flow of information is not Â�necessarily a negative process. The action may serve the important function of preventing overload of the system and the decision makers: The decision makers are not able to respond to all information but have to summarize and systematize it, just as all people do in ordinary life. But information reduction and distortion may also be dysfunctional, and it may hinder or even prevent the optimal functioning of the system, for instance, when gatekeepers suppress information about discontent among the population (e.g., saying “it is just a handful of extremists” when pointing to thousands of protesters on the national capital’s main square). If there are too many demands, the system suffers from volume stress, and the decision makers cannot respond to the volume of demands in time. For example, they might be willing to construct new highways to meet car drivers’ complaints about the long and frequent traffic jams, but the highway budget has its limits. If the demands are too varied or too heavy, the term content stress is used; this means the decision makers are unable to reconcile the divergent interests within a given period of time. They



Power╇| 11

cannot choose, for instance, between vociferous groups that demand the right of abortion and their pro-life opponents. A systems approach offers an easy way to systematize all kinds of information on politics and to clarify the nature of political decision making. Yet, it may also oversimplify the political process by making support, demands, and decisions the core elements of politics. What about discontent and decision makers who do not respond at all to popular demands? Another major problem is that Easton spoke about the political system in an ambiguous way, using the concept for the whole of input, conversion, output, and feedback, but also restricting it to the Â�decision-making process in which inputs are converted into outputs. In the first and broader meaning, inputs are part of the political system, in the second and more restricted definition, inputs come from outside the political system and enter the political system (the decision-making structure). Either way, the terms Â�“political system,” “input,” “output,” “feedback,” “demand,” “support,” Â�“gatekeepers,” and Â�“overload” have become very popular terms in political science and part of the political-Â�science jargon.

Power To understand the full scope of power (the range of activities to which it applies), the concept of agenda building is often used. Speaking about the political agenda, most people have in mind the themes and subjects that are being discussed within the government or in the state institutions. A crucial question, however, is how a topic reaches that agenda, and why some topics do and others do not. For example, why did environmentalism come up as a political issue in the 1960s and 1970s and not in previous decades, when industry was just as contaminating?

The Agenda of Politics Here, the barrier model of agenda building is discussed. This model is, to some extent, based on Easton’s systems analysis, as it best shows the many “faces” of power. In the barrier model, political topics pass through a sequence of stages before they become a subject of decision making. The central stage is that of issues, that is, disputed topics of popular debate discussed by the people and in the media. In particular the role of the media is crucial in making subjects into political issues and discussing the pros and cons of possible political decisions. Not all subjects reach the media, however. The political themes that do have often been forwarded as political demands by groups of people. For example, employment policies had been demanded by the labor movement, including trade unions and labor-based political parties before the Great Depression (in Europe always referred to as the Economic Crisis) of the 1930s, but they did not become an issue until that crisis. The next question is how a subject becomes a political demand.

12 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

To reach that stage, a number of motivated people must first of all feel a want, a need. They must believe they lack something, or that society lacks something, and they must regard that lack as an omission that needs to be addressed by government policies. In other words, they must be aware of a divergence between the real state of affairs and how it should be, the divergence between what “is” and what “ought to be,” and they must have the conviction that the “ought to be” could or should be within reach by putting it forward as a demand to the decision Â�makers. If people do not feel a want or think the want they feel can never be fulfilled (by the state), they will not demand any change or mobilize others to do likewise. Of course, people can differ in the feeling of a want and in their idea of the state as the actor that should solve their problem. In European countries, people more easily address the state than in the United States, where self-advancement is a core ingredient of political culture. The rise of wants and the conversion of wants into demands and then into issues must be followed by two other stages—the conversion of the issue into a political Â� decision and the implementation of the decision—if it is to have any effect at all. The conversion processes between all these stages are not always Â�successful; many wants do not become demands, many demands do not become issues, many issues die without ever having been the subject of a decision, and many decisions are not or are only reluctantly implemented. The difference in fate is because of the barriers between the various stages, hence, the name barrier model. (SeeÂ� Figure 1.2.) We have already met barriers in the form of gatekeepers—the media, for instance—or political party leaders who transmit, channel, stop, and sometimes distort (whether intentionally or not) information. Such gatekeepers Â�especially play a role as barriers under the third stage, the conversion of demands into issues, and to some extent also under the fourth stage, the conversion of issues into decisions. One aspect of the media’s role is that they, as well as the policy makers, are able, when shaping an issue or discussing it, to give a specific meaning to the contents of the demands that have been expressed or the contents of the issue by framing the communication. An example is speaking of policy programs in terms of war (e.g., war on poverty, war on drugs), which makes opposition more difficult,

Stages

//

Wants

Barriers 1 Actors

//

Demands

2 Individuals, Groups

//

Issues

3 Groups, Movements

//

Decisions

4 Movements, Media, Parties

// : barriers

Figure 1.2╇The Stages and Barriers of Agenda Building

//

Implementation

5 Media, Parties, Government

Government



Power╇| 13

as it can be denounced as undermining the national war effort. Another example is using the term “quarreling” in reference to a disagreement in parliament or another deliberative body, which implies a misuse of time and money and conveys the idea that people should always agree with each other. Framing is a typical example of Â�barrier 3, but it can also be part of barrier 4. Canadian social scientist Erving Â�Goffman was one of the pioneers in using the concept (Goffman 1974). Barrier 1, the emergence of wants, is mostly one of cultural values (opinions and norms) that prevent people from even thinking of an alternative to the existing situation, because they think the current situation is the normal one, created by God, and/or universal in its spread over the world. Barrier 2, the conversion of wants into demands, is also often related to cultural values, for instance, when people feel uneasy with the current situation but do not express their discontent because they will not be taken seriously, or they will be called insane, or they will meet with Â�violent reactions from the local community for being troublemakers or undermining religion. For example, hardly any woman or man in the 17th century ever thought of admitting women to universities (barrier 1). In the 19th century, some people thought about it but did not yet dare to express university admission as a demand (barrier 2) until early activists did so; there was a widespread reaction from men (and women) that such a development was unthinkable, contrary to the nature and tasks of women in life, and undermined family life (barrier 3). Then, slowly, admitting women to universities became an issue, though it was still without government support (barrier 4) or government decisions in its favor were not applied or were sabotaged by recalcitrant men and not enforced with due force (barrier 5). The main objection raised to the barrier model is its one-directedness. Many political decisions are not based on popular demands or were hardly an issue before the decision was made. Policy makers may use their power to initiate an issue in the media, thus going back on the chain of agenda building from the decision-making stage to the issue-making stage. The European Union (EU) was hardly ever a real popular demand or issue in most of the early member states, and EU policies have often been seen as very top-down, made far from the peoples involved, without any public opinion about the subject.

The Faces of Power The power of rulers to create issues points to the variety in forms of power. Mostly the term “power” refers to the stage of political decision making: Who decided the outcome of the decision-making process in the governmental institution? Who has motivated or encouraged the policy maker to act in such a way? This power is not always easy to disclose. Were specific social policies made under pressure of trade unions that threatened with a political strike? Was it the minister’s lack of a strong hand that led to this result, or were the minister’s proposals watered down under the pressure of a fellow minister in the government?

14 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

The first “power studies” were carried out in the United States in the 1950s. They were confined to local communities and have been dubbed community power studies. Two types of such research emerged. First were the reputational studies, introduced by the American political scientist Floyd Hunter. Experts on local politics, including journalists of the local newspapers, business leaders, politicians, and others who were active in local politics were asked to select the real powerful in the local community and then to rank them on the basis of their actual power (Hunter 1953).This reputational method resulted in a specific outcome. The local experts always pointed to a small and tightly knit group of businesspeople and politicians, in other words, an elite in whose hands power was reputedly concentrated. The reputational method has been under strong attack because it measures the reputation of power rather than power itself and for that reason may totally miss the mark. Yet, it is still used as one of the methods to gain insight into the intricate procedures and processes of policy making, especially if other methods are out of reach. The concept of elite denotes a group of people in which power is concentrated or, more loosely, that has more power than the rest of society. If the ranks of the elite are closed, for instance, in a military dictatorship, and access is only possible under strict conditions, we speak of a closed elite, or even of a ruling class; if access is more open to the rest of society, as it should be in a democratic society, the term “open elite” is used. The term “elite” does not necessarily have a pejorative meaning. Even in the best of democracies, some people have more power than others. Because the reputational method often resulted in the claim that a powerful (but open) elite dominated political decision making, the outcome has become known as elitism. The term elitism is now used more widely for all ideas that a society, even a democratic one, is governed by a small group of powerful people. A more sophisticated and more influential strand of community power studies used the decision method, initiated by Robert Dahl. He selected three fields of local political decision making: schooling, political appointments, and community development. The outcome of his study was that in each field it was possible to distinguish a group of powerful people, but the groups were not the same. Only politicians were powerful in all three fields (as they should be in a democracy), but businesspeople, for instance, were not involved in any way in decisions about schooling, and educators were not powerful in community development. Because power seemed to be confined to specific power areas, and a variety of groups and individuals could have power, but only in specific fields, Dahl spoke about power pluralism. Elites exist, but it is a plurality of elites, not one group. Power pluralism (simply stated: the spread of power as opposed to a concentration of power) has become one of the major subjects of debate on democracy. One of the objections to Dahl’s decision method was that it was confined to the decision-making stage, and that it did not reveal anything about previous stages of



Power╇| 15

agenda building. In one of the most frequently cited articles in political science, American political scientists Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz pointed to the “Two Faces of Power” (Bachrach and Baratz 1962). Dahl had studied only one face (decision-making power), but there was a second stage in which powerful groups might be able to prevent issues from reaching the decision-making stage: power over agenda building. Businesspeople might have threatened to remove their companies to another region or nation, for instance, and politicians could have anticipated that reaction and silently removed an item from the political agenda. Politicians, businesspeople, and others could even have influenced local public opinion by repeatedly stating or suggesting how detrimental measures would be for the health of local social life, and their pressure could also have influenced the media to be silent about the subject. In that way, the groups involved had “mobilized the bias” of the local community and kept issues from becoming decisions or demands from becoming issues. The mobilization of bias, as Bacharach and Baratz called it, extended to barriers 3 and 4 in the model of agenda building. A next step was made by British political scientist Stephen Lukes, who extended power to barriers 1 and 2. In his view the (national) culture could be so dominant that it prevents people from expressing a demand or even feeling a want. In that case, it could well be impossible to pick out specific people who have the power to close barriers 1 and 2 to others. For example, throughout history, and in Europe and the United States at least until the late 19th century, most women complied with their submission, accepting it as part of the “natural order” or “God-given order.” Who was to blame? Powerful men, religious leaders, all males, or even all males and all females? For that reason, Lukes spoke about invisible power, the third face of power, and that term has especially become popular in research about women’s rights. Invisible power is not actor bound and not concentrated in one group or one elite, or even a group of elites; it is often an intrinsic part of the culture and the political and societal structures (Lukes 1974). Why do married women have to give up their maiden name and adopt their husband’s name? Why is it not the other way around—or a matter of free choice, as it now is in a few European nations? The feature points to a male-dominated culture in which women have fewer rights than men, but in which there is not a clear group that is responsible for the situation; it has become part of a dominant and until then unquestioned culture. For that reason, this third type of power has often been called cultural hegemony. The term “hegemony” denotes a strong form of domination that stretches over specific elements of society but is accepted, or at least not challenged, by those who are dominated because of common values or common beliefs, and for that reason it need not be enforced by force. The term “hegemony” is often used in international politics for the position of the United States as a cultural and economic hegemonial power, in contrast to the domination of colonies by colonial powers, which was based on sheer force.

16 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

Invisible power poses a great problem. How can we know for sure that it exists? If people accept their place in society as natural, why feel a desire or need for change? Invisible power implies that they would, if they could, which means that others see the position of these people in society not as natural, but as one of oppression, and that this situation would lead to a desire and demand for change if the dominant culture would not prevent it. Slaves are exploited, but most slaves probably accepted not so much their own position but slavery as such as being natural, and they hoped to become slave owners themselves once they had been set free. We now tend to think that slavery is not natural, but it existed for ages and the idea that it is unnatural did not become an almost universal norm until the 19th century. The problem with invisible power then is that we (the political scientist, the Western world, all democratic persons) must see reasons for a want and a demand among people who by themselves might not feel any want. We think they are suppressed, but are they? For example, most non-Muslims see the niqab (or the burqa) as a suppressive kind of female wear, but some women who wear it claim it liberates them from sexually oriented glances from men. The way out of the dilemma for opponents of the niqab is to point to other forms of female suppression in the countries and cultures where the niqab and the burqa are common wear, and to the overwhelming majority of women in the world who do not have to wear those kinds of clothes. In other words, one refers to a more general pattern of suppression in the culture involved and to a very widespread, in this case almost universal, norm (allegedly) without that suppression. The term “interest” was defined before as what people think will improve their life. Yet, the term “invisible power” suggests that divergence is possible between what people perceive as their own interests and what others see as the real interests of these people. In that case, the concept of interest should be redefined as anything that improves a person’s or a group’s life, either in their own vision or in that of outsiders. The possible tension between the self-defined interests and the real interests, as defined by others, can only be solved by either giving up the pretension that one knows better what the interests of others are than the people involved or by making those people aware that they are mistaken in their own ideas about their interests. The 19th-century German social scientist and philosopher Karl Marx analyzed the exploitation of the working class by their employers, the capitalist class. He made a distinction between the working class as such, in the sense of all wage earners (Klasse an sich), and the working class as a class that realized its real interests, had become conscious of its exploitation, and was determined to do something about it by means of revolution (Klasse für sich). He realized that it would take some time before the Klasse an sich would develop into a Klasse für sich and stressed the need of organization as a means to arrive at that stage. Of course, opponents denied this working-class exploitation, and who is there to tell us who was right? Nowadays, most Europeans would be ready to admit it was exploitation, but in part of the



Power╇| 17

continent it was followed by even more cruel exploitation and subjugation, imposed by communists in Marx’s name in what was called a classless society.

Between Cooperation and Conflict Power is a relation between actors, whether individuals, groups, or organizations, including governments, but as Dahl noted, power is also an important aspect of all relations. It can be the defining element of a relation, dominating all other elements, but it can also be an element in the background, which only occasionally may come to the fore, for instance, in economic transactions or in an intimate relationship. If people share the same values and pursue the same goals, they often seek Â�cooperation with others in order to reach the goals, such as parental cooperation in raising children within the family or international economic or security cooperation of a number of countries. Actors that differ with respect to many values may still feel the need to cooperate in order to reach at least one goal that they have in common, for instance, peace. They then have to negotiate and find a compromise on how to cooperate without giving up their diverging values. Bargaining or negotiations need not necessarily result in compromise, but if one actor always wins, the other will not be very disposed to continue the bargaining relationship. If people do not share (most or all of) their values and goals, but at least one of them feels the need of mutual contact, they could easily engage in conflict. Conflict is a relationship in which one actor seeks to dominate in order to impose one or more values and goals on the others. Conflict need not necessarily take the form of fighting; its form depends on the importance the actors attach to the values and goals they share. If they have most values in common but are unable to reach agreement on a value or goal they do not share, conflict may be more of a dispute, and it may take the form of preventing or reducing mutual contact (e.g., long silences in a marriage) or showing anger (e.g., thumping a fist on the table) and disappointment (e.g., tears). If actors share hardly any values and goals, mutual contact more easily results in fighting, because there is not much ground for agreement. Different religious or ethnic groups in a society can tolerate each other’s existence, in which case they at least share the value of religious or ethnic tolerance. If they leave people free to choose any religion or none at all, religious tolerance amounts to freedom of religion, and then religion should no longer be a source of conflict. Religious groups (or better: religious aggregates) can also attempt to find common ground for cooperation, for instance in school education, but that requires at least some shared values. If cooperation and agreement are out of reach, the conflicting values may lead to overt conflict in the form of mutual hostilities, civil war, or even international warfare. Between the extremes of close cooperation and total war many different types of relations are possible. The possibilities form a continuum, a range of options

18 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

between two extremes or two poles. The location of the relationship on the continuum depends on the values the actors share and do not share, the intensity with which actors adhere to the values (in particular religious values) they share and do not share, and the degree of divergence between the values they do not share. The continuum runs from cooperation to bargaining to conflict, but there is a great deal of overlap between cooperation and bargaining and between bargaining and conflict. Bargaining may be very peaceful and based on mutual trust, in which case it is close to cooperation. It may also be based on mutual distrust and be done with weapons ready to add force to an argument, in which case it is close to or even overlaps with conflict. In politics, cooperation and preventing conflict among actors with diverging values often requires agreement on more than one point and willingness to compromise. If actors are able to find common goals to pursue, other than living apart together and being tolerated by each other, the term consensus is used. It applies to a situation in which actors wholeheartedly attempt to reach agreement on a number of common goals and intend to continue or even to extend their bargaining relationship or their cooperation in the future. Consensus, then, is more than agreement, but in daily use the terms are often used as synonyms. Social groups may have reached consensus on how to live together as one nation, and nations may have reached consensus on how to pursue international cooperation. Consensus, and even a single agreement, often requires parties to leave sources of dispute (in the form of conflicting values) out of considerations as much as possible, or in other words, to be pacified. Pacification of issues is a normal procedure in social life. People agree not to talk about a contentious subject so as not to disrupt or upset a family celebration, politicians agree not to discuss a disruptive and contentious item during their election campaign, and governments put hot issues in the fridge in order to be able to make policies in other fields. Religious groups can pacify most of their religious divergence by seeking religious tolerance or even freedom of religion. Ruling out totally the religious inspiration of government policies is impossible, of course, and for that reason, such values will always remain a bone of contention. In politics, pacification is a form of removing conflicting or contentious values from the political arena, in other words, depoliticization. Another popular way to depoliticize contentious political issues is to have them handled by a nonpolitical committee of experts. When actors need mutual contact and seek cooperation on one value but meanwhile stress the divergence with respect to other values, the term polarization is used. The groups tend to become opposite poles. Of course, polarization to some extent blocks the way to cooperation or agreement and facilitates the road to conflict. Although political extremists seek polarization, more moderate parties and groups that look for mutual accommodation seek cooperation and agreement, and for that reason may be willing to pacify some of their values. Groups can also



Power╇| 19

politicize or make political demands on values subjects that were not previously political subjects (e.g., abortion, gay rights), as was the case with the abolition of slavery and the development of equal rights for women. Politicization is not the same as polarization, yet demanding attention for new issues often implies some degree of polarization with those who are not willing to discuss the new themes or refuse any change in the matter. Conflict takes as many forms as cooperation and bargaining. Conflicting values are a source of potential conflict if the groups involved need mutual contact and are unable or unwilling to seek isolation. Potential conflict need not break out, that is, become overt conflict, but sometimes not much is needed to spark a fire. Ethnic and religious differences need not be a source of tension, and there may be even a lot of intermarriage between the various groups (or better: aggregates), yet futile issues may cause tension and a few incidents may grow into violence. In that case partners in peace become partners in conflict, ultimately even seeking the total domination of the others, or worse still, the elimination of the opponents, through ethnic cleansing, for instance.

Where Power Comes In This discussion of the continuum between cooperation and conflict and the various forms of bargaining in between has referred to relations in which actors or groups have more or less equal power toward each other. Yet, relations between actors who are very unequal in power can take similar forms. In that case, cooperation may actually amount to compliance by the weaker actor with the values imposed by the stronger actor. Powerful nations often conclude treaties of peaceful cooperation with smaller neighbors, who cannot but adopt the terms imposed by their powerful ally—who may in fact be their powerful enemy. A peace treaty between a victorious country and the loser may take the form of an agreement, but it is no more than an acceptance of the victor’s terms. Even multinational companies are often able to impose their conditions on small nations that are dependent on them for their export. Like all borderlines, the one between cooperation and compliance is a diffuse one, just as the dividing line between cooperation and conflict. We could even speak of a continuum between the two poles of cooperation and compliance. American economist Alfred O. Hirschman has made an influential distinction among three types of response to the exercise of power and to binding decisions: loyalty, voice, and exit (Hirschman 1970). Loyalty stands for compliance, even if one does not agree with the decision. Loyalty may range from suffering in silence to participating in actions designed to change the decisions. Voice stands for protest, when citizens or members of an organization express their dissatisfaction to the authorities or engage in forms of protest. Exit means trying to evade the measure, for instance by secret underground activities, such as a black market in goods in which trade is forbidden or regulated, Yet, one can also evade the decisions by tax

20 |╇ Politics: Basic Concepts

avoidance to low-tax countries (without migrating in person), by going into exile, or by leaving the country. Most people opt for loyalty most of the time, which takes less energy and less courage, but sometimes waves of protest are capable of mobilizing large groups of people, who then (temporarily) shift from loyalty to voice. Note the overlap with Easton’s concepts. Loyalty to some extent overlaps with support, but it could also be nominal support that hides a lot of discontent about the decision makers, the regime, and/or the political community. Voice consists of demands; exit denotes the attempt to leave the political community out of discontent about the decision makers, the regime, or the political community.

CHAPTER 2

Democracy

S

tudying politics in Europe is studying democracy, even though not all Â�European countries are generally classed as democracies. The original meaning of democracy is that the people have the power (to make binding decisions). In this original meaning it all started in ancient Greece, or more specifically in Athens, in the fifth century BC. Decisions for the city were made in meetings of the free native male citizens—a highly selective group, of course, and certainly not what we would call “the people” today.

From Greece to the Labor Movement All theories of democracy still go back to that novelty in world history, which shaped European history and culture, although in most of the 25 centuries since then democracy remained an ideal rather than political practice. Moreover, Â�present-day democracy is a long way removed from the democracy of Athens, which was a form of direct democracy: direct involvement of citizens in making the binding decisions for their society. Under the Roman Republic, the precursor of the Roman Empire, the ideal was already weakened, but a new element was added, still in a very rudimentary form, which we now think of as an indispensable element of democracy: citizen rights or civil rights. More than a thousand years later, such rights were especially developed by 17th- and 18th-century liberalism and for that reason they are often called liberal rights, including the right of free speech, religion, gathering, the free flow of information and information spreading (i.e, a free press). Such rights did not yet exist in Athens, as indicated by Socrates’ death penalty for undermining Greek religion by his impertinent questions. We now think that such rights are necessary preconditions for participation in making binding decisions. Participation that could result in punishment for participants who express deviant opinions does not count as real participation. 21

22 |╇Democracy

The 19th-century labor movement in Europe, for the greater part inspired by Karl Marx, added a new type of rights, the right to have some income, some Â�shelter, and some education: the social rights. Liberal rights are fine, in this view, but if people are hungry and lack other basic living facilities they are unable to participate in decision making, if only because their urge for food and shelter comes first. As the German playwright Bertolt Brecht stated: “Food comes first, then come the Â�morals” (Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral). A definition of democracy as we now understand it could be: participation of the people in ruling themselves, with liberal rights and at least some social rights as preconditions for participation. Direct democracy in the form of joint meetings of citizens was traditionally mainly practiced in village and town meetings, which still convene sometimes in Swiss (and New England) villages. Elsewhere, democracy has evolved from direct to indirect democracy. In indirect democracy, people participate in decision Â�making in an indirect way by electing people that take the binding decisions, checking these persons, and having the ability to remove them from office and elect others in their place at regular intervals. This type of indirect democracy is often called representative democracy, and it centers around free elections of the decision makers. The most authoritative definition of representative democracy was framed by the Austrian social scientist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942. He defined it as a democratic method: “the institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote” (Schumpeter 1950). In this definition liberal and social rights are not explicitly mentioned, but to some extent the liberal rights are implied in the term “competitive,” which presupposes variations in ideas and working methods among those who seek the people’s vote. Although direct democracy has remained a powerful ideal that reemerges from time to time, almost all democracy is now representative democracy.

Representative Democracy Versus Direct Democracy Representative democracy adapts the original ideal of direct democracy to conditions in which meetings of all citizens are no longer feasible, such as in big cities and large nations. Yet, it has also been defended as a superior form of democracy compared with direct democracy. The first proponent of representative Â�democracy was the 17th-century English philosopher John Locke, one of the founders of Â�liberalism and the Enlightenment, which proclaimed the fundamental equality of all men and their possession of inalienable natural rights. In Locke’s view the state is based on a (fictitious) social contract between the citizens to build one society and transfer a very few rights to the government for their own safety. The most influential argument in favor of representative democracy was given by James Madison, one of the Founding Fathers who framed the U.S. Constitution, the first



From Greece to the Labor Movement ╇ | 23

democratic constitution ever, which came into force in 1788, shortly before the French Revolution. In his view, expressed in the Federalist Papers (a series of newspaper articles to promote the federal system), representation would: refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. (Federalist Papers 2008, nr 10) In other words, the elected people are better decision makers than the people who elect them: election implies selection. The notion of representatives as being more reasonable than ordinary citizens is labeled elitism or democratic elitism, this time not as an empirical statement that elites do govern, but as a normative notion, that elites should govern. The idea has had a great impact on political theories and democratic practice, and it also influenced Schumpeter’s definition of democracy, in which elections are the core element of democracy as such, not merely representative democracy. The theory has been criticized, of course, on the ground that if ordinary people are unable to make the right decisions, how then can we be sure that they (s)elect the right decision makers? Madison’s preference for representation was given in his criticism of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s more radical idea of direct democracy, which influenced the French Revolution. According to Rousseau, representative democracy, as advocated by Locke and to some extent practiced in England, only benefited the rich, as they were the only ones who had the right to participate. What they claimed to be open discussion was actually no more than an expression of their own self-interest. In contrast, the only real democracy is direct democracy, that is, decision making by the citizens themselves, rather than by representatives, under conditions of (social) equality. Their full participation in decision making is the only guarantee for decisions to be in accordance with their individual reason. Rousseau even went one step further, and that proved to be one step too far. He not only wanted to reduce social inequality but also to abolish all special (liberal) rights as precondition of equality, without any unequal interests. His argument was that all men are reasonable, but special interests keep them from striving for their own good, which in the case of equality is also the common good. For that reason, the citizens should not just transfer a few rights to the state as a means to protect their own life and property, as argued by Locke. All citizens should transfer all their rights to the community. By doing so they would give themselves to the others, but all others would do likewise: “Every man, in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody (chacun se donnant à tous ne se donne à personne); and since there is no associate over whom he does not acquire the same rights as he yields to others over himself, he gains as much as he loses, plus an increase of force for the preservation of what he has” (Rousseau 1972).

24 |╇Democracy

Rousseau’s conditions are the highest ideal of democracy. All men are equal, as no one has special rights that would give a person different interests from those of the other members of the community. Because all have the same interests and are equally subject to the rules they all make, they can be completely rational in expressing the general will (volonté générale) of the community and making Â�community rules. A direct democracy à la Rousseau would work nicely if all people were rational all the time and their interests were indeed the same, but alas, reality is different. Some participants are more eloquent and/or dominant than others in group discussions, some are less interested or get easily bored, and all of them have not only equal but also different interests. Moreover, dictators have used the same phrases of transferring rights to claim that the community or the people have transferred their rights to them, which allows them to speak in the name of the people and to condemn all opposition to them as opposition to the people. The Founding Fathers rightly predicted that Rousseau’s direct democracy could easily lead to minority or majority tyranny and would leave dissidents without any protection from such a tyrannical group. They called their representative Â�democracy a republic instead of a democracy, which they thought of as direct democracy. Yet, the ideal of direct democracy has come up occasionally in Â�European history, only to result in disaster, for instance with the Russian Soviets. In European Â�democracies, the more realistic Anglo-Saxon tradition of representative democracy, invented in Great Britain and first introduced in the United States, has become the normal form of democracy—democracy as indirect, representative democracy, the subject of this book.

Civil Society An important ingredient of democracy is the organization of social life by means of voluntary groups, with or without government support. It constitutes the basis of civil society, which offers citizens opportunities to promote their common cause and share social responsibilities by means of voluntary groups and organizations, which at times may (but need not) be politically active and act as interest �associations or pressure groups, pressing for state funds or policies that further their cause. The democratic ideal encompasses not only the right to build such organizations and to express such interests as basic liberal rights but also the �concept that all interest associations are able to compete for access to the government and influence on an open market with (ideally) equal chances of reaching a willing ear. Such an open market with fairly equal opportunities of influence is called pluralism, but that term is often used in the wider sense of being synonymous with civil society. One opposite of pluralism is the systematic suppression



Representative Democracy Challenged╇ | 25

of voluntary associations and the absence of civil society, as was the case under communism, when the Communist Party and organizations that were dependent on it were the only organizations allowed and thus enjoyed a power monopoly. A more democratic opposite of pluralism consists of the absence of equal opportunities of influence and a systematic governmental bias in favor of one or two specific interests, big business for instance. Yet another opposite is corporatism, a preferential access to government and sometimes participation in governmental decision making for associations that represent opposed interests; the goal is to reduce or even prevent opposition to governmental policies and to enhance the association’s legitimacy as a contributor to democratic stability. Its most prominent form is the participation of business associations and labor unions in the making of social and economic policies, which is common in a number of European nations. Although political stability and legitimacy may be advantages of corporatism, the exclusion of rival organizations and the high degree of organizational centralization required, up to the point of strong organizational discipline, have been listed as disadvantages by American political scientist Philippe Schmitter, who reintroduced the term Â�“corporatism” in 1974 (Schmitter 1974). The term had been introduced by the Catholic Church in the late 19th century for joint activities by voluntary organizations, business and labor in particular, as an alternative to labor’s call for more state activism and state social policies. Since the end of the 20th century, civil society has also become known as social capital, a social asset of democratic society that supports democratic Â�decision Â�making and the market economy by creating mutual trust among citizens. Â�American political scientist Robert Putnam, who introduced the term “social Â�capital” as a feature of democracy, later noted its decay at the end of the 20th century. He saw the decline of the propensity to join voluntary associations for all kinds of Â�purposes (political, religious, social, cultural, sports), termed bowling alone, as part of the individualization of European and American society, which could have negative consequences for the degree of mutual trust and democratic politics generally Â�(Putnam 1993, 2000).

Representative Democracy Challenged Terms like pluralism, corporatism, and social capital were hardly linked to political developments at the time they were coined or (re)introduced. Interestingly, Putnam did not analyze the new democracies in Central Europe but the variation in social capital between northern and southern Italy. In addition, since the early 1970s various political developments have motivated the introduction of new �concepts dealing with politics and democracy. Three developments in particular have been influential in the framing of new terms:

26 |╇Democracy

• First, the rise of new social movements, including the feminist movement and the green movement, which proved to be a challenge to existing democratic structures and procedures and, later, to representative democracy as such. • Second, the growing importance of the European Union (in the 1970s still called the Common Market), which challenged the power of the national state in the member countries. • Third, the emergence of the welfare state in the 1960s and its subsequent crisis in the 1980s, which turned the attention away from input (democratic decision-making procedures) to output (welfare-state policies). Although the first element especially contributed to an extension of the definition of power, that highly theoretical discussion is not referred to here; instead, the focus is on the more practical concepts that are used in following chapters.

The Rise of Social Movements Whereas representative democracy and Dahl’s power pluralism pretended or reflected some degree of equality in access to power, new social movements that sprang up in the 1970s pointed to the hindrances and barriers to individual and collective opportunities to exercise influence. For example, the feminist movement coined the concept of the glass ceiling for the informal (and almost invisible) Â�barriers women found on their way toward positions of leadership and influence, even where formal barriers had been removed by equal rights legislation. Women were often not hired for higher-level jobs because of the risk of pregnancy in the near future, the requirement of full-time employment, or merely because they did not fit into the old boys’ network. The glass ceiling (the concept was introduced in the early 1980s) is a form of barrier 3, the conversion of wants into issues. The demand was heard, but the low share of women in higher-echelon jobs was often attributed to a lack of female ambition. Later, governments became more responsive, and quotas for ensuring a share for women in public functions addressed the issue and became a model for private business. Yet, the issue is still framed as one of women who demand equality, rather than of men who are reluctant to give up their power positions. A new concept to analyze the collective opportunities of the new movements was political opportunity structure, which denotes the openness and responsiveness of a political system to demands that are forwarded by groups outside established political organizations, such as the existing political parties and interest associations. Openness seems to increase when power is dispersed over a number of political institutions (for instance, a larger number of political parties), because dispersion offers the new social movements a number of access points to power in the form of persons and institutions to which they could direct their demands, rather than only one such point. On the other hand, once the demands have been



Representative Democracy Challenged╇ | 27

converted into issues, the concentration of power facilitates a response to such demands, because there are fewer institutions that are able to keep the government from responding to the issue. Institutions that are able to do so, or in other words, institutions that are able to veto governmental policies, are called veto points or veto players. An example is federalism, in which all or most constituent units can often prevent the introduction of new federal policies. In such a case, the units act as veto players. (Yet, federalism might also be a positive political opportunity structure, because it allows new groups to start their actions in one federal unit.) In addition to formal veto players, other individuals or groups may also be capable of applying a veto, without the formal right to do so, such as powerful interest associations or a powerful foreign nation. Access to power may also be difficult for some groups, because other groups or organizations may enjoy a privileged position as an officially recognized governmental policy adviser. If that is the case, it may well be very difficult for others to get access to the circle of privileged groups. The outstanding example is corporatism in social and economic policy making, in which labor unions and business associations serve as official policy advisers. In a number of European nations this involvement of labor and business in policy making has become a tradition, especially since World War II, in which labor and business to some extent enjoy a formal position as veto players (at least if the government allows them such a position).

Representation under Attack Some of the new social movements highlighted the specific identity of their own group as being distinct from the majority or the dominant group’s identity. An emphasis on the difference between the people in power and one’s own group was already a feature of the European labor movement, which set the exploited laboring class apart from the middle and upper class, and at first promoted the specific interests of the laboring class. The same applied to Catholics and ethnic minorities. Yet the term identity politics was not framed until the rise of the black civil rights movement in the United States and later the women’s movement. These minority groups pointed out that they had had submissive roles during most of the time democracy was being developed and stressed that their specific interests could only be defended by members of their own group. When identity politics proponents claim that a specific group can only be represented by members of the group, as the labor movement already did, it poses limits to the concept of representation. Representation then necessarily becomes group representation, and the problem becomes which groups have to be represented and whether they should be represented in proportion to their share of the population. A number of European countries have introduced an obligation of more proportionality, for instance establishing quotas for women in the parliamentary representation of political parties

28 |╇Democracy

whereby women should occupy at least 30, 40, or even 50 percent of the party seats (which is still underrepresentation, as women form a majority of the population in most European nations). The idea that parliament or other institutions must reflect the composition of the population at large (and not consist of mostly well-educated and high-income men) has also become popular with respect to ethnic minorities, and programs of affirmative action (called positive action in Europe) serve the purpose of increasing their share of public-sector jobs, including employment as university personnel, police officers, civil servants, and politicians. A problem with the idea of representation as belonging to a specific group is its applicability to all kinds of human distinctions: Should a quota also apply to criteria such as age, residence, sexual orientation, and marital status? Identity politics attacked the representatives’ pretension or ability to represent people other than their own group (but what is their own group?). It also contributed to the erosion of the notion of representation as such. Why should all important decisions be left to elected decision makers and not to the population at large? Are elected rulers really better people, or at least better decision makers than the people who voted them into power, as James Madison claimed? Or should people have the right to decide by themselves, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed? Increasingly, European nations have introduced elements of direct democracy into their political systems. Local politics was often the first field of increased participation by ordinary citizens in government decision making, through public meetings on local issues, but nationwide the popular referendum became the most prominent one. In particular, the question of whether to join the European Union became a popular subject of referendum; in some countries it was the first referendum ever. From a highly exceptional device of decision making in European countries, referendums have spread across Europe, mainly for EU-related issues. Yet, it was a transition from representative democracy to a very modest form of participatory democracy, providing more possibilities of participation by the population. Toward the end of the 20th century, new forms of participatory democracy were being discussed and practiced, mainly at the local level. One of them was a Â�citizen’s jury, which was especially promoted by American political scientist James Â�Fishkin. Such a jury is selected at random from the local population, which should reach a reasoned decision after lengthy debate and after hearing from Â�witnesses and relevant organizations. The jury is not representative by itself, but it should hear all relevant individuals, groups, and organizations and spend far more time on the project than a representative body, like the local council, could do, which prevents government overload. Such an elaborate procedure would prevent easy framing of the subject by the media and easy compromise in representative bodies, and it should be able to interest a larger proportion of the population in the issue at hand and in politics generally (Fishkin 1995). Two problems arise, however, in creating such citizens’ juries. First, should local government adopt their decisions



Representative Democracy Challenged╇ | 29

or regard them as a form of advice? In other words, should the forum be allowed to make decisions that are actually binding? The second problem is to what extent the groups should reflect the composition of the local population (and duplicate the composition of the local council). Yet, experiments with such citizens’ juries are going on in a number of countries. Devices like a citizens’ jury are part of the trend toward deliberative democracy, which adheres to the motto that people should not just vote (representative democracy) or be heard before a decision is reached (participatory democracy); instead, they should be actively involved in political deliberation (deliberative democracy).

From National to Multilevel Governance The growing importance of the European Union has popularized the use of the term multilevel governance, in which binding rules are made at various levels, and in which lower levels have some authority to adapt the rules that were made at higher levels. In the EU the national governments have to integrate EU decisions into their own legislation, but they have the right to determine how to do so; in that respect any EU decision making is multilevel governance. The term multilevel governance is now also used for relations between the national government and the local government within the European nations, as long as local government has some latitude of decision making and is not merely executing national rules. EU decision making has popularized two new notions: intergovernmental and supranational approaches. Intergovernmental means that the (leaders of the) Â�member states’ governments take the binding decisions; supranational means that the institution, the EU in this case, has decision-making authorities of its own. The growth of the EU has given rise to a wealth of EU-specific terms; some of the Â�concepts from this EU jargon are discussed in the chapter on the EU.

From Input to Output The enormous expansion of social policies in the 1960s in free Western Europe gave rise to the notion of the welfare state, which denotes a complex of stateprovided or state-controlled social provisions that secure the citizens an income if they are unable to do so by themselves. In a wider sense, it is even used for all social provisions that (poor) citizens would be unable to afford for themselves or their families, education and health care in particular. Welfare state is a positive term in Europe; it mainly focuses on social security, a term that in Europe covers not only contributory provisions, for which one has paid taxes or other contributions, but also noncontributory programs, that is, benefits in case of poverty (called welfare in the United States), whatever its cause, that are often paid out of public funds. Both the emergence of the welfare state and the reforms that were needed in the 1980s because of growing state deficits prompted new concepts to explain variations in developments. One of the first concepts was that of the welfare-state

30 |╇Democracy

regime, an internally cohesive combination of welfare state provisions based on a specific ideology and developed by a powerful political movement or a combination of movements (note the difference with Easton’s use of the term “regime”). Danish political scientist Gøsta Esping-Andersen introduced the term in 1990 when describing the “three worlds of welfare capitalism”: the liberal type, at home in Great Britain and the United States, which stresses the market as a provider of welfare state provisions; the continental type, which stresses the family; and the Scandinavian type, which emphasizes the role of the state (Esping-Andersen 1990). He attributed the stability of the three regimes to their internal cohesion, to the continuing support of the movements that had introduced them, and to path dependency. Path dependency points to the powerful constraints posed by the existing institutions and provisions (the path that had been taken) for any attempt to change the existing welfare-state regime.

CHAPTER 3

Europe

C

onsider the United States. Imagine that everything to the west of the Â�Mississippi River is one country, whose population speaks Russian. With a few exceptions, all other states are fully independent and speak their own Â�language. Â�Massachusettsian is also spoken in Connecticut; two languages are Â�spoken in both Georgia and Â�Tennessee, and in Maryland three languages are Â�spoken: Â�Pennsylvanish, Virginian, and New Jersic. To make things a bit more complicated, New York has three regional languages in addition to New Yorkish: Big Applish, Hudsonian, and Upstatic. Moreover, in the Russian-speaking region there are a number of smaller populations who strive for independence. They are concentrated around the San Francisco Bay area and speak languages like Bayish, Gayish, and Siliconian. On the long trip on Interstate 95 from New York to the Florida sun you would have to know that aus, uit, sortie, salida, and saída all stand for “exit,” and only in some of the smaller states will they understand your English. Europe is like that. Although it is only slightly larger than the United States, Europe consists of more than 40 nations, whose peoples speak more than 30 national languages, written in five different alphabets. A number of regional languages are spoken as well. The comparison does not even express the full extent of Europe’s diversity. Russians and Ukrainians—together one fifth of Europe’s population— occupy almost half of its territory. The other 40 nations and 30 languages share the other half of this crowded and divided continent. The creation of the European Union (EU) has been the most spectacular peaceful means ever to forge more unity in Europe, and it has already been joined by the great majority of European democracies. The EU was the first attempt to unite a large part of Europe on a voluntary base while leaving intact variations in national culture, including national languages. It stands in shining contrast to past empires that tried to reach unity, often without diversity, by means of military expansion. One of the latest epochal changes in the trend toward unity was the introduction of the euro

31

32 |╇Europe

in 2002, replacing the German mark, French franc, Italian lira, and a number of other national currencies. Since then, crossing borders between the EU countries no longer implies changing money. Yet, international developments toward more European unity should not divert attention from the long and difficult attempts by the European nations to bring more unity within their national borders. Coping with diversity is not only an important aim of international but also of national politics.

Europe: â•›A Quick Geographical Note As a quick glance at a world map reveals, Europe is actually no more than a peninsula on Asia’s western front. On the basis of its dominant position in world history and world culture, it has successfully claimed the status of a separate continent— and who was there to refuse it that status? As a peninsula, Europe is very irregularly shaped. It consists of a mainland that broadens as one travels east, a number of smaller peninsulas on all sides of the mainland, and a number of larger and thousands of smaller islands near its coasts. In the north, an enormous peninsula stretches beyond the Arctic Circle, and it contains two smaller, but certainly not small, peninsulas: Kola to the east and the Â�Scandinavian Peninsula to the west. The Scandinavian Peninsula looms large on any map, as a downward-looking monster that is going to take a bite out of the small Danish Jutland Peninsula. In the south, there are four or five peninsulas. From west to east they are the almost square Iberian Peninsula; the slim Â�Italian Peninsula; the Balkan Peninsula, which looks like a grossly overweight belly; the Caucasian Peninsula, which resembles an elephant foot, and the rectangular Â�Anatolian Peninsula. Before the west coast are the British Isles; to the far north are Novaya Zemlya, Svalbard (Spitsbergen), and Iceland; and in the Mediterranean there are smaller islands. Because of its many peninsulas and islands, Europe is a continent that is on all sides washed by the sea, and because there are many sides, there are also many seas. Except in the Russian and Ukrainian eastern half of the continent, which is a large landmass separated from Asia by the Ural Mountains, most of Europe is not more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) from one of the seas that surround it—the Arctic Sea, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea, which is actually a gigantic saltwater lake. And to the dismay of European schoolchildren, these seas include minor ones and gulfs, like the Gulf of Bothnia and the White Sea to the north and the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean Sea to the south. European natural conditions are shaped not only by the sea but also by the landscape. The Russian and Ukrainian eastern half and the northern half of the western mainland consist of flat or hilly plains, vaster than the US Great Plains. The Â�southern half, including the peninsulas to the south and a large part of the



Europe: ╛A Quick Geographical Note╇ | 33

Â� Scandinavian peninsula, is mountainous, crossroads of mountain ranges that not only run north–south, as in the United States, but in all directions. The term “mountainous” in Europe mostly refers to mountain ranges that reach beyond the heights of the Appalachians but do not reach Rocky Mountain heights. All peninsulas have tops of more than 8,000 feet (2,400 meters), but only the Alps in Western Europe and the Caucasian Mountains in southern Russia are comparable in height to the Rocky Mountains or California’s Sierra Nevada, which have peaks higher than 14,000 feet (4,200 meters). The Alps, spanning Switzerland, Austria, southeastern France, and northern Italy, are Europe’s prime mountain barrier; they separate Italy, which for hundreds of years was Europe’s cultural heart, from its northern and western neighbors. The fact that almost half of all European nations have peaks 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) or higher is also due, however, to the large number of small nations in southern Europe, and on the mountainous Balkan Â�Peninsula most of all. At below 650 feet (200 meters), the European Great Plains in the northern half of Europe’s mainland are less divided, although there are also some smaller nations in this part of Europe, like the Netherlands, Denmark, and the Â�Baltic States. See Map 3.1, which compares some geographical features, like latitude, mountains, large rivers, densely populated regions, and major metropolitan areas in Europe and the United States. Climatic conditions in Europe are determined by the proximity of the sea and by the mountain ranges. Only in the eastern half of the continent do polar winds reach the large plains, as they do in the United States in wintertime; this means that Russia and Ukraine are most akin to the United States in climate. To the west, the Scandinavian Mountains protect the mainland, and the sea exercises a moderating influence in winter and summer. Probably even more important, in particular for the Atlantic coasts, the warm (North) Atlantic Drift increases water temperatures and prevents waterways from freezing, even at high latitudes. London, Paris, and Berlin only occasionally suffer from snowstorms or humid heat waves like the ones that regularly afflict New York City or Washington, DC. To realize the difference from North America, one should bear in mind that Europe is located far to the north of the United States. If moved to North Â�America, not only London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, and Moscow, but also Vienna and Â�Budapest, would be located in Canada, not in the United States. New York is not located on the latitude of mid Scandinavia but is as far south as Madrid, in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula, or even in the southern half of the Italian peninsula. Seattle is on the same latitude as the Alps. If transplanted to the Old World, Los Angeles would be located in Morocco and Miami in Egypt, both in northern Africa. See Map 3.1. The climatic moderation also means that exceptional weather in the form of hurricanes or tornadoes never hits Europe, and it results in a smaller variety of landscapes in Europe than in the United States—there are no (sub)tropical forests, vast swamps, or deserts. Volcanoes are not absent, however, and volcanic activity

34 |╇Europe

700

400

700

400

mountain ranges;

densely populated areas

Map 3.1╇ Comparison of Some Geographical Features of Europe with the US �(latitude, mountains, large rivers, densely populated regions and major metropolitan areas). �(Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)



Europe: ╛A Quick Geographical Note╇ | 35

occasionally hits (empty) Iceland and southern Italy. Earthquakes are a more regular phenomenon on the Italian, Balkan, and Anatolian peninsulas, where at times they destroy whole towns and villages. Although size and space have had a profound impact on American culture, Europe is a continent of dense concentrations of people, of the “crowd”; Europe has 800 million inhabitants, some 135 inhabitants per square mile (52 inhabitants per square kilometer), compared with about 75 inhabitants per square mile (30 inhabitants per square kilometer) in the United States. The western half of Europe is even more crowded; the EU has 500 million inhabitants, or 300 per square mile (115 per square kilometer). Europeans are also more evenly spread over their continent than Americans, although there are a number of areas with large concentrations of population apart from the large metropolitan areas. They include mid-England, the Rhine Valley in Germany, the Delta region of the Rhine and other rivers in the Low Countries, the Valley of the Po River in northern Italy, and a few coastal areas, as shown in Map 3.1. In line with its higher population density, Europe contains a number of very populous countries by US standards. If it were located in Western Europe, California would modestly rank as the ninth most populous state, behind Russia, Germany, Turkey, France, Great Britain, Italy, Ukraine, Spain, and Poland. The variations in population size between the largest and the smallest states in Europe are also greater than in the United States. California has 90 times as many inhabitants as Wyoming, but the ratio between Germany (not to mention Russia) and the three smallest European states, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Malta, amounts to 200:1; the ratio between France, Great Britain, and Italy and these small countries is 150:1. A ranking of European nations based on their population size does not make much sense, since there are a few clusters of nations with great differences in between. Yet, for ranking-lovers Appendix C provides a ranking of European Â�countries based on area and population. Simply stated, there are five clusters (Table 3.1): Table 3.1╇ European Countries Grouped by Population Size Group

Population Size

Countries (Population in Millions)

Very large nations More than 75 million European Russia (110), Germany (82.3), â•… Turkey (77.8) Large nations 55 to 75 million France (62.2), Great Britain (61.3), â•… Italy (58.1) Midsize nations 35 to 55 million Spain (45.8), Ukraine (45.7), â•… Poland (38.5) Not-so-small nations 16 to 35 million Romania (21.5), Netherlands (16.7) Small nations Less than 11 million All other countries, without great gaps â•… in between

36 |╇Europe

Europe is not only crowded but also highly divided in languages and alphabets, religion, ideologies, and the most important division of all is that it is also divided into more than 40 nations; the last newcomer, Kosovo, dates from 2008. Whereas the United States is a country of continental dimensions, Europe is a continentwide patchwork of countries whose histories have to a large extent been shaped by their mutual contacts, disputes, and armed confrontations. The Scandinavian and Â�Iberian peninsulas are each split into two nations, the Balkan Peninsula into ten, and the Caucasian Peninsula into four. In spite of the relatively short distances to the nearest sea, 12 European nations are landlocked. More than half of the Â�European nations are smaller in surface than Kentucky or Indiana (ranked 37 and 38 in size in the United States); Russia and Turkey are the only European nations larger than Texas. Because of the division into nations, Europe has lacked a large permanent migration movement from the snowy north to the Sunbelt in the south or a shift in political clout from north to south, as has been the case in the United States. Increasing numbers of retired people from northern Europe pass the winter on the Spanish or Turkish coasts, but only few of them do not return to their native country in springtime. Although Americans move but don’t travel, Europeans travel but don’t move. The largest metropolitan areas in Europe are not booming Sunbelt cities; almost all of them are old national capitals, such as London, Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Rome, or former capitals like St. Petersburg and Istanbul. The only relatively recent urban concentration among the leading European urban centers is the Ruhr area (Ruhrgebiet) in Germany, which encompasses more than 10 cities. Like the American metropolitan areas on the northern East Coast and the Great Lakes, its growth dates back to the late 19th century. Most of the old capitals are not located on the coast but are more centrally situated in the interior, from where all parts of the nation, or formerly the empire, could be reached.

One Europe or Many Europes? There are many Europes. People in Great Britain regard themselves as Â�Europeans, but they speak about “Great Britain and Europe” to stress their distance from continental Europe. Even Norwegians and Swedes sometimes regard themselves as being outside the European continent and refer to Denmark as “where the continent begins.” Russians and Ukrainians also speak about their own country “and Europe,” yet in all these cases this kind of everyday talk does not mean the peoples involved do not want to be part of Europe. Turkey wishes to be part of Europe as well, but its claim is contested. In earlier times, when the Turkish Empire had conquered the Balkan Peninsula, Europe was often confined to “Christian” Europe, which felt threatened by the Turkish Muslim expansion. Most treatises on Europe



One Europe or Many Europes?╇ | 37

still only include the small “European” part of Turkey, the small territory west of Istanbul—without paying much attention to it. In contrast to the traditional and geographical use of the term “Europe,” in this book Europe’s borders are not just geographically but also culturally defined. Europe includes all the nations of geographical Europe, plus Turkey and the Â�Caucasian countries Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, which are rarely included in surveys of Europe, or of Asia either. Their relation with Europe is stronger than that with Asia, however, and for that reason they deserve to be included. As a consequence, in this book Europe stops at the Urals and borders the definitely (no doubt about it) non-European Arabs in North Africa and the Middle East and the Persians, who in ancient times were the enemy of Greece, Europe’s first civilization. Europe is often divided into Western Europe and Eastern Europe. The Â�division had its roots in the Cold War period (1946–1989), when Europe was divided into Free West Europe and communist East Europe, under control of the Russiandominated communist Soviet Union. The separation between the two parts of Europe ended in the late 1980s, when the Soviet Union fell apart and the Â�communist regimes of East Europe broke down. Since the end of the Cold War, the term Â�“Eastern Europe” has been an ambiguous one. The countries that are closest to Western Europe prefer to consider themselves part of Central Europe, a term that was previously used by Germans (Mitteleuropa) for their special location between Great Britain and France to the west and Russia to the east. The definition of Western Europe in this book is broader than the usual one. Central Europe is included, which means Western Europe covers the western half of the continent, including most of former communist East Europe. Three countries, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, make up Eastern Europe. The three nations have long shared a similar political fate; they have been part of the Russian Empire for centuries and have had the longest tradition of communist rule. Southeastern Europe refers to the countries on the Caucasian Peninsula and to Turkey, which form a bridge between Europe and Asia, but whose focus is more on Europe than on Asia. In some chapters, Western Europe is subdivided into four subregions (see Table  3.2). The subdivision is often made in everyday speech and in scientific Â�literature on European politics. Table 3.2╇ The Regions of Western Europe British Isles Great Britain and Ireland Germanic Europe Germany, Scandinavia, the Low Countries, and the â•… Alpine Nations Latin Europe France, Iberian Peninsula, Italy Central Europe Baltic States, Mid-Central Europe, Balkan Peninsula

38 |╇Europe

Germany has more inhabitants than all other Germanic nations combined, and although Latin Europe consists of only four nations, taken together the nations of Latin Europe have more inhabitants than the Germanic nations combined, including Germany. Central Europe includes all non-Russian nations that until 20 years ago were suppressed by communist Russia and the whole Balkan Â�Peninsula. Â�Central Europe constitutes the largest group by number of nations, but with the exception of Poland, all of them are small countries. Central Europe will receive less attention than the other parts of Western Europe, because a number of Central European countries are new nations, established after the 1989 downfall of communism, and their democratic experience is relatively new. A comparison of Map 3.2 (Europe in 2010), Map 3.3 (Europe between 1949 and 1988), and Map 3.4 (Europe in 1900) reveals the epochal changes in the face of Europe over the past century, most of all in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Table 3.3 lists the European nations; Map 3.5 shows the European countries in proportion to population size.

Iceland

Sweden Finland

Norway

Russia Estonia Latvia

Denmark Ireland Great Britain

Lithuania ru Belarus

Holland Belgium Poland Germany

Ukraine

lu

Czechia Slovakia

France ch

Austria si

md

Hungary Romania

Georgia

Croatia Bosnia

Serbia me ks mk

Portugal Italy Spain

az

am Iran

Bulgaria

al

Turkey

Greece Syria

Morocco

Algeria

Cyprus Tunisia

Malta

Map 3.2╇ Europe in 2010. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

Note: Abbreviations are the Internet country codes (see Appendix C).

Iraq



One Europe or Many Europes?╇ | 39

Iceland

Sweden Finland

Norway

Russia (Soviet Union)

Denmark Ireland Great Britain nl

Poland

East Germany

be lu

West Czechoslovakia Germany France

Austria

ch

Hungary Romania Yugoslavia

Portugal

Iran

Bulgaria

Italy Spain Albania

Turkey Greece Syria

(Morocco)

Iraq

(Cyprus)

(Algeria)

(Malta)

Iron Curtain

Map 3.3╇ Europe from 1949 to 1988. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

to Denmark

Sweden

Russian Empire Denmark Great Britain nl

German Empire

be lu

Austro-Hungarian Empire

France ch

Bosnia and Hercegovina Italy Portugal

Romania

Serbia Bulgaria

Spain Turkish Ottoman Empire

French

North Africa

to Great Britain

Map 3.4╇ Europe in 1900. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

Note: Abbreviations are the Internet country codes (see Appendix C).

40 |╇Europe

Table 3.3╇ The European Nations Western Europe

Countries

Group

1 Ireland, 2 Great Britain 3 Denmark, 4 Norway, 5 Sweden, 3–6: Scandinavia 6 Finland 7 the Netherlands, 8 Belgium, 7–9: Low Countries 9 Luxembourg 10 Germany 10–12: German speaking 11 Switzerland, 12 Austria 11–12: Alpine Countries 13 France 14 Portugal, 15 Spain 14–15: Iberian Peninsula 16 Italy 16: Italian Peninsula 17 Estonia, 18 Latvia, 19 Lithuania 17–19: Baltic States 20 Poland 20–23: Mid-Central Europe 21 Czechia, 22 Slovakia 21–22: Former â•…Czechoslovakia 23 Hungary 24 Slovenia, 25 Croatia, 26 Bosnia, 24–30: Former Yugoslavia 27 Serbia, 28 Montenegro, 24–35: Balkan Peninsula 29 Kosovo, 30 Macedonia 31 Albania, 32 Greece, 33 Romania, 34 Bulgaria, 35 Moldova Eastern Europe 36 Belarus, 37 Ukraine, 38 Russia 17–19, 35–38, 40–42: â•… Former Soviet Union Southeast Europe 39 Turkey 40 Georgia, 41 Armenia, 40–42: Caucasian Countries 42 Azerbaijan Other 43 Iceland, 44 Malta, 45 Cyprus Ministates Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Western Europe’s tiny â•… San Marino, Vatican City State â•… Ministates British Isles Germanic Europe Latin Europe Central Europe

In line with popular custom, Great Britain (2) stands for United Kingdom, and Bosnia (26) for Bosnia and �Herzegovina. Countries 26, 35, 40, 42 and 45 are actually split up into two separate parts.

The division of Europe that is made here for the greater part overlaps with variations in language groups and major traditional religions (although fewer and fewer people are religious in Europe). See Table 3.4. In surveys of European culture, a distinction is sometimes made among different types of European culture: Introverted and pragmatic Germanics, extroverted and passionate Latinos, and patient and melancholic Slavs. These cultural variations (whatever their value) are not very helpful, however, in explaining political differences. The division made here is based on differences in political history, political culture, and political fate during the past 50 years; its only aim is to bring some order in the multitude of European states.



One Europe or Many Europes?╇ | 41 is

no

fi Russia (European) only

se ee ie

lv

dk

Great Britain

lt nl

by Poland

Germany

be

Ukraine

lu France

cz at

ch

sk

hu

Romania

si

pt

Italy

ba me al

az

ge

rs

hr Spain

md

am

ks

bg

mk

Turkey

gr mt

cy

Bosnia, Cyprus and Moldova are actually divided.

Map 3.5╇ European Nations in Proportion to Population Size. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

NY MI

IL

PA

NJ

OH VA NC

CA

GA

TX

FL

Map 3.6╇ US States in Proportion to Population Size. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

Note: Abbreviations are the Internet country codes (see Appendix C).

42 |╇Europe

Table 3.4╇ Major Languages and Religions Group of Nations

Major Major Traditional Language(s) Religion

Other Traditional Religion(s)

British Isles English Protestant (majority Catholic (most of Ireland) â•… in Great Britain) Germanic Germanic Protestant (Scandinavia; Catholic (Austria, Belgium, â•… Europe â•… (Teutonic) â•… majorities in Germany, â•… Luxembourg; minorities in â•… languages â•… the Netherlands, â•… Germany, Holland, â•… and Switzerland) â•… and Switzerland) Latin Europe Latin Catholic â•…(Romanic) â•…languages Central Europe Slavonic Catholic (Croatia, Orthodox (Bulgaria, Greece, â•…languages â•…Czechia, Hungary, â•…Macedonia, Moldova, â•… Lithuania, Poland, â•… Montenegro, Romania, â•…Slovakia, and â•…Serbia) â•… Slovenia) â•… Lutheran (Estonia, Latvia) â•…Muslim (Albania, Kosovo; majority in Bosnia) Eastern Europe Slavonic Orthodox â•…languages Southeastern Various Islam (Turkey, National Catholic (Georgia, â•…Europe â•…Azerbaijan) â•…Armenia)

A Quick Note on the European Economies Compared with the United States, Europe is a lazy continent. Participation in the labor market is lower, the number of working hours is lower, unemployment is often higher, and Europeans even spend fewer hours in unpaid jobs, that is, volunteering for the community. In Europe, men’s participation in the labor market has steadily declined since the 1960s, reaching 70 percent, a lower share than in the United States. During the same period, women’s participation in the labor market rose to 50 to 55 percent in higherincome European countries, compared with more than 60 percent in the United States. Only the Scandinavian countries have a higher participation rate than the United States. Average annual working time on the European continent stands at less than 1,600 hours, and in several countries less than 1,500 hours, compared with 1,800 hours in the United States. The difference is attributable not only to shorter work weeks but also to longer holidays of four to six weeks. Although newlywed Â�American Â�couples must content themselves with a four-day Caribbean cruise as a honeymoon trip, Europeans might make a three-week or a four-week trip through the United States.



A Quick Note on the European Economies╇ | 43

From 1960 to the mid-1980s, unemployment was lower in Europe than in the United States; unemployment was lower in the United States than in Europe from the mid-1980s to the end of 2009, when unemployment in the eurozone (the countries that have shifted to the euro as their national currency) and the United States reached 10 percent. In the EU as a whole the unemployment rate was 9.5 percent, but there were great national variations. It was lowest in Germanic Europe (in most countries under 8 percent) and highest in Spain (almost 20 percent). In general, the European countries follow trends in the structure of the US economy. In spite of large variations in wealth and development, all European countries have entered the stage of service-oriented economies, in which the services industry employs the most people and contributes most to national wealth, but most European countries still trail the United States in the shift to a service economy. Agriculture still accounts for a higher share of total employment in Europe than in the United States, although the share varies with the level of national income. Most high-income countries have reached a share under 5 percent, or even under 3 percent, whereas in low-income countries it is still more than 10 percent. Related to its population density, Europe’s agriculture is devoted less to cattle and fodder and more to wheat, other food grains, and potatoes. One of the most conspicuous differences between Europe and the United States is farm size. Small holdings still predominate in most of Europe, despite EU efforts to merge such small holdings into large farms. Most European farms are very small businesses compared with the farms of thousands of acreages in the Corn Belt and major wheat regions of the United States. Great Britain, Belgium, and a few regions in other European countries preceded the United States in the Industrial Revolution; the rest of the European continent followed the United States in industrialization. Even when some inventions originated in Europe, the shift toward mass production almost without exception took place in the United States. US-based international companies have played a prominent role in the development of European industry, from large automobile assembly plants and other factories in several European countries to large investments in all sectors and branches. Since the early 1970s, the manufacturing workforce has also been declining in Europe, and traditional industrial areas are recovering from the shift from industry to services. Examples are the British regions around Manchester and Glasgow and the German Ruhr area. In most high-income countries, however, the share of industry in total employment (more than 30 percent in Germany and Italy) is still higher than that in the United States. Services still account for a lower share of employment in Europe than in the United States. One of the differences in services employment is that Western Europe’s stricter labor legislation has reduced the spread of unskilled and low-paid and often temporary jobs (often called “McDonaldization”) in consumer services.

44 |╇Europe

The growth of service employment has resulted in a movement from the old industrial concentrations toward new centers of growth around big airports in national sunbelts, for instance, in southeast Britain and Bavaria (southern Germany). The movement has mainly changed the regional balance of trade and power within countries, not among countries. In spite of new concentrations of offices far from downtown, with Paris’s La Défense as a prominent example, city centers have suffered to a lesser extent. Official policies have boosted housing projects, shopping centers, and cultural facilities. Railway stations, located in or close to downtown, continue to serve as the nucleus of local and national transport networks. A new network of fast trains, with France’s TGV in a pioneering role, is destined to reinforce the role of railways between the larger cities of Europe. One of the constituent elements in Central and Eastern Europe’s recent Â�economic history is that under communism priority was given to building large and heavy industry, the larger and the heavier (and the more polluting), the Â�better. Since the demise of communism, most of these countries have been forced to dismantle such industries as they were not competitive at all in a global Â�economy. At the same time, workers had to get used to the phenomenon of unemployment, which did not exist in the communist economies. All production was planned in advance, and factories had to comply with detailed and compulsory Â�product targets for all factories in the national plans. Businesses were not allowed to fire Â�people; the ban on layoffs resulted in hidden unemployment (or “underemployment”), in which superfluous employees retained their jobs but were idle most of the time. Of course, both transformations had great social and political consequences. People in these countries gained new freedom but lost the existing security of work and income. Economic and social rankings of the European countries often show that the northwestern part of the continent is better off financially, and that the more one goes to the southeast, the lower the ranking. Germany is the leading European economy, with the largest gross domestic product (GDP) and purchasing power parity (PPP; i.e., GDP corrected for the value of the national currency), followed by Russia, Great Britain, and France; the small Balkan state of Montenegro is at the bottom of the list. More important is GDP per capita, because it gives some indication of a country’s wealth and variations between rich and lower-income nations. As is the case with population size, a ranking is not very useful, as there are a few clusters of countries with similar levels and with great differences between the clusters. A division into five groups suffices, based on International Monetary Fund data (sources show great variations in national GDP per capita) for 2008. There are only two exceptional cases: The first one is Luxembourg, by far the richest country with more than $65,000 per capita; the second is Moldova, by far the poorest European nation, with less than $3,000 per capita. The five groups are listed in Table 3.5.



A Brief Note on Social and Political Life╇ | 45

Table 3.5╇ European Countries Grouped by GDP per Capita GDP per Capita

Countries

More than $34,000 14 countries: British Isles, all Germanic â•… countries, France, Iceland $29,000–$31,000 5 countries: Italy, Spain, Slovenia, â•… Greece, and Cyprus $24,000–$26,000 2 countries: Czechia and Malta $15,500–$23,000 9 countries: Portugal, Baltic States, â•… Mid-central Europe, Croatia, and Russia $4,800–$13,500 13 countries: Turkey, the Balkan Peninsula â•… (except Slovenia and Croatia), Ukraine, â•… Belarus, and the Caucasian countries

Group Label Very high income High income Medium high income Medium low income Low income

The most conspicuous developments in this grouping are that Spain has outrun Italy, or is outrunning it (various sources provide different figures), and that Ireland has risen from a medium-income position to a top position in the high-income group, to a large extent because of the productive and effective use of EU funds. The recent recession has not affected its top position. An important point to be stressed relative to the wealth of European nations is that the economies of most countries depend on fuel from Russia and the Middle East to a greater degree than does the US economy. Only Norway and Great Britain � have large oil reserves in their part of the North Sea, and the Netherlands has large gas reserves. The Scandinavian countries and the small Alpine nations have reduced their dependence by developing hydroelectricity, and France by building a number of nuclear power stations. Yet, without Russian gas and Arabian oil, most of Europe would soon run out of fuel.

A Brief Note on Social and Political Life When in Europe, only a few Americans who pass by the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, the Pushkin Theater in St. Petersburg, the Lycée Molière in Paris, or the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, would be misled in thinking that all these institutions are named after rich sponsors. Only one is (the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum). In Europe, privately Â� financed museums, theaters, libraries, or ballet schools exist but are not very Â�common. Most of these institutions are run by the national or local governments, and it is the national or local government that often chooses the name of such institutes. If the institution bears a name at all other than royal museum, municipal library, or national theater, it is often the name of a royal person (Victoria and Albert),

46 |╇Europe

a  national poet (Molière, Pushkin), a scientist (Eötvös-Loránd), or some other celebrity from the nation’s history. These persons may have written famous poems, novels, or scientific essays, but only in rare cases did they write the check with which the institution was financed or bequest their painting collection. A European nation is more than a collection of taxpayers who would prefer to do without a government. Although the government is consistently blamed for almost anything, most Europeans are accustomed to some form of authority and see the government as an institution of a higher order than other nonprofit organizations. “The state has to look after it,” or “politics should decide about it,” are current political expressions applying to the higher arts as well as to housing and health care. Many Europeans are born in state-subsidized or even state-controlled clinics or hospitals, and their growth and health are regularly checked in state-financed local health centers; in most European countries all citizens are proudly covered by health care insurance. They go to public schools (and universities), live in houses that are partly financed by means of state subventions, use public transport to get to their work (or by car, paying more than $10 a gallon for gas, much of the cost coming from taxes), and visit cultural festivities in municipal theaters that receive large state and local subsidies. For all these provisions and services European citizens pay income-tax rates that in some countries may take more than 50 percent of their income. They nurture the hope that they will never need state unemployment pay until they receive their state pension, and that finally, after having enjoyed a state pension for a number of years, they will die in the same state-subsidized hospitals they were born in. Only a few (wealthy) Europeans would prefer to do without all this state interference, but even for them escape from this great amount of stateprovided or state-subsidized services is not easy; there are not many nonsubsidized schools, private clinics, universities, or theaters, and even billionaires sometimes receive the basic old-age pension. They could move to another country to reduce their tax load, yet in search of even less state interference they would have to leave Europe and go to the United States, for instance. The many government activities (or, as Europeans would say, state activities) are part of the European welfare state. In most of Europe, welfare is a positive term; it refers to prosperity and the absence of poverty, and the term “welfare state” to a national society on a high level of economic development and a concomitant high level of state social services. In espousing welfare-state policies, European governments interfere in the free market to an extent unknown in the United States, in particular in providing income maintenance, in the health care market, in the labor market, and even to some extent in the housing market. They go to great lengths to get or keep people at work and to some extent monitor their labor conditions; and if the efforts fail they provide social security benefits to those without work and to the elderly. In many countries, social security transfer payments amount to 20 or 25 percent of



A Brief Note on Social and Political Life╇ | 47

GDP, and an additional 20 percent is spent on other state policies, compared with 30 percent for total US social expenditures, including Social Security. In contrast to the United States, income maintenance to some extent prevails over job maintenance; social security offers the unemployed a minimum living, so they do not need to accept any kind of work, irrespective of the labor conditions. Despite the current retrenchments in social policies, state social protection is still regarded as a means to foster social integration, or social citizenship, as a core ingredient of national integration. One of the aims of the welfare state is to bring about equality. Indeed, income equality is far greater than in the United States. The Gini index, or Gini coefficient, measures income inequality in countries on a scale from 1 (total equality) to 100 (total inequality); hence, the higher the index, the more unequal the distribution of income is in a country. The Gini index is 45 in the United States, which is far higher and more unequal than in the great majority of European countries, which have indexes between 25 and 35. The main exceptions are Russia, which has an index of 42, and Turkey which has an index of 44 (according to the CIA World Factbook 2010, but sources show great variations in the Gini index of all countries). The more encompassing Human Development Index (HDI), published by the United Nations Development Programme, measures the quality of social life and social well-being on the basis of a number of criteria. The HDI ranking is closely related to prosperity and the GDP per capita ranking. Table 3.6 shows the HDI rankings of European countries, again grouped in a number of clusters. Turning to the political systems of the European countries, which is the subject of this book, the great majority of them are democracies. Yet, there are great variations between the individual European countries and between groups of nations. In the British Isles, Germanic Europe, France, and Iceland, democracy dates back at least to the end of World War II, and in most of these nations to long before that. In  the other Latin European nations and Greece, democracy was introduced or reintroduced in the 1970s, after the demise of military or fascist dictatorships. In Â�Central Europe, democracy is an even more recent phenomenon, dating from the early 1990s, after the end of communism and Russian domination of these countries. Table 3.6╇ Human Development Index Ranking of European Nations Level

Nations in the Group

╇ 1 British Isles, all Germanic nations, and all Latin European nations, except ╅ Portugal and Greece ╇ 2 Portugal, Greece and Central Europe north of the Balkan Peninsula ╇ 3 Most of the Balkan Peninsula and Russia ╇ 4 Turkey, Ukraine, the three Caucasian nations, and Moldova

48 |╇Europe

The period of experience with democracy has a great impact on the nature of democracy; in various democracy rankings, the British Isles, Germanic Europe, and France score highest, followed by the Iberian Peninsula, and then the Baltic Nations, Mid-central Europe, Italy, and a few Balkan nations (Slovenia, Croatia, Greece). They are followed by the other countries in the Balkan Peninsula. Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe trail the European countries; most are still engaged in a process of democratization, though Russia and Belarus have not made much progress in that respect over the last years. The attention given to the countries in this book is in accordance with the variation between the groups in their experience with democracy. Because this book focuses especially on European democratic politics, it is mainly confined to Western Europe, with no more than occasional references to the democratizing countries of Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe. And even within Western Europe, not all regions and nations receive equal attention. The three leading Western European nations—Germany, France, and Great Britain—are discussed in greater detail, but that is because of their size and prominent position among the democracies, not the nature of their democratic systems or the degree of democracy.

CHAPTER 4

The European Experience: A Historical Note

E

uropeans sometimes stress a number of important stages in European history, some of them unique, that have shaped present-day European (political) culture. This chapter offers a brief survey of 13 core elements in European history before the 20th century (see Table 4.1). The 20th century is discussed later in the chapter. Table 4.1╇ Core Elements in European History before the 20th Century

Periods and Core Elements Regions Most Directly Affected

Ancient Culture (1200 BC–AD 500) ╇ 1 Greek culture and democracy Greece, Latin Europe ╇ 2 The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire Latin Europe â•… Middle Ages (500–1500) ╇ 3 The Roman Catholic Church and the All of Europe â•… Orthodox Churches ╇ 4 Feudal kingdoms and empires Western Europe ╇ 5 The rise of the town Western Europe ╇ 6 The status of Jews Western Europe ╇ 7 The Renaissance Western Europe New Era (1500–1789) ╇ 8 The Muslim challenge Southeastern Europe, Iberian â•… Peninsula, Balkan Peninsula ╇ 9 The Reformation Germanic Europe, British Isles 10 European expansion in the rest of the world Great Britain, Low Countries, â•… Latin Europe 11 The Age of Enlightenment and liberalism All of Europe The Nineteenth Century 12 The Industrial Revolution and the rise of All of Europe â•… the labor movement 13 The movement for ethnically based nations Central Europe

49

50 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

From Ancient Times to the 20th Century Ancient Culture (1200 BC– AD 500) 1. Greek Culture and Democracy. As the cradle of European civilization, Greece long, long ago discovered the value and beauty of the individual human being; Greek gods were actually no more than super-humans. Around 500 BC, Greece also invented democracy, although the innovation was mainly confined to Â�Athens. Greek culture and art, expressing human and godly individuality, has shaped Â�European art and culture in many fields, not only politics but also architecture (the Parthenon), sculpture (the Venus de Milo), literature (Homer, Sophocles), and philosophy (Plato, Aristotle). Ancient Greece has been the model for Europe in another respect: its division into a number of small quarreling or fighting city-states (polis), yet accompanied by the feeling of forming one community and a longing for political unity. In Greece this longing was based on a common religion, a common language, and the sense, shared by all citizens (a very selective group), that they were forming a superior civilization to be defended against foreign intruders and, if necessary, against threats from within. The two leading city-states were Athens and Sparta, which was located on the Peloponnese. First, Athens and Sparta cooperated in defeating the Persian Empire, but later, the militarily organized Sparta defeated the Â�Athenian democracy in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), which gradually ended Greece’s Golden Age. However, Greek influence in the eastern Mediterranean Â� was continued by the Greek-Macedonian king Alexander the Great, who for a short time united the Middle East and Persia in one empire, mixing elements from Greek civilization with elements from the East in the Hellenist civilization. 2. The Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Centered in Italy, the Romans adopted many elements from Greek civilization and spread their own civilization to large parts of Western and Central Europe. They founded a republic, governed by a senate consisting of large landowners and wealthy citizens (patricians) and a less powerful representative meeting of free citizens (plebeians). A more lasting accomplishment was the notion of citizen rights or civil rights, which were gradually also granted to members of conquered peoples that had not strongly resisted the conquest or had surrendered right away. Civil rights survived the transition from the Roman Republic to the very authoritarian and later dictatorial Roman Empire in 27 BC. The main instigator of this change was Gaius Julius Caesar, who had conquered all of France (Gaul) but was murdered in 44 BC (the most classical political assassination in European history) before he could become emperor. At its largest expansion under the first emperor, Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), the empire comprised all of Latin Europe, England, parts of Germany and most of the Low Countries, the whole Balkan Peninsula, plus all of Turkey and the African and Asian Mediterranean coasts. The Roman Empire heavily influenced Europe



From Ancient Times to the 20th Century╇ | 51

in language (the Latin language and Latin alphabet), arts, law, public administration, and infrastructure (roads, aqueducts), in particular in Latin Europe. The major political impacts were codified Roman law and civil rights and the creation of an empire in which conquered peoples who had surrendered easily were not enslaved but could continue their own forms of local and regional government under Roman supervision and Roman law, expressed in the notion of divide et impera (divide and rule). In a later period, the Roman Empire came under the influence of the new religion of Christianity. In the fourth century, Emperor Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium, renamed Constantinople, as a new, but now �Christianized Rome. The Roman Empire did not survive for long after; in the fifth century the westward-moving Asian tribe of the Huns set in motion the westbound barbarian invasions of Germanic tribes, during which Rome was ransacked and the empire succumbed in the year 476.

Middle Ages (500–1500) 3. The Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches. The churches emerge as new centers of power and culture. The Roman Empire only survived in the east, as the Byzantine Empire, centered in Constantinople and influenced by the Â�Hellenist culture. In the following centuries, the Byzantine Empire lost most of its territory to Muslim Turks, who in 1453 also conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. In the west, the Catholic Church revived and rebuilt Rome and constructed a religious organization of bishops and monks, who also became large Â�landowners. Germanic tribes were Christianized via the active preaching of monks from Ireland and later England. At around AD 1000 most of the continent, including Scandinavia and the larger part of Eastern Europe, was Christianized, except for Turkey. Roman Catholicism was now the European religion, and the Roman Catholic Church, with its strict centralized authority vested in the pope in Rome, became a very powerful force in Europe and a dominant force in culture and the (Romanesque and Gothic) arts. The pope was willing to crown kings and emperors in exchange for their submission to Catholic Church authority and their noninterference in church matters. Emperor Charlemagne, who had created an empire consisting of large parts of Germanic and Latin Europe, was one of the first to use this privilege in the year 800. In the first half of the Middle Ages, tension increased between popes and the eastern Catholics, under the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople (formally subordinate to the pope), because of the influence of the Byzantine emperors on the church, the difference in language and culture between the Latin and the Greek rites, and later on the issue of the right to appoint bishops. In the mid-11th century, the breach became complete, and the Orthodox Church left the Catholic Church

52 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

in 1054. In contrast to the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church recognized the right of emperors, and later of national governments, to extend their rule to church affairs and rituals. The Orthodox Church then developed into a loose combination of national churches. 4. Feudal Kingdoms and Empires. Feudal kingdoms became the core of later powers like France, Germany, and Great Britain, yet with regional power dispersion. Under feudalism, landowners combined the management of their holdings with political authority over the dependent peasantry. Kings paid landlords for their financial or military support by giving them land, which reduced their own royal power and created a kind of power balance between the crown and the large landowners (the landed nobility or aristocracy). The landowners demanded a voice in political affairs, which in some countries occasioned the creation of representative parliaments of the aristocracy. To keep them in check, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, which had emerged in Germanic Europe in the second half of the 10th century, started to appoint bishops and make them into (nonhereditary) landlords. The pope regarded this action as a violation of church rights, and the resulting Investiture Controversy between pope and emperor ended in a papal Â�victory in the early 12th century. Henceforth, only the pope could appoint bishops, but the emperor could give them land. Although the nobility and the aristocracy Â�challenged royal power, they in turn often had to share power with lower landlords to whom they had given land in exchange for services. In this way, feudalism created a hierarchical system of power sharing. The system of mutual rights and obligations between landholders did not imply total slavery for peasants; most of them worked as sharecroppers and had to deliver other services, including defense and military campaigns, but they enjoyed some nominal rights. In Western Europe, peasants became increasingly dependent on landowners to protect them from poverty or from raiders, such as the Scandinavian Vikings, who brought havoc to the Atlantic coasts in the 9th and 10th centuries. In the second half of the Middle Ages, the rise of the towns and a money economy allowed peasants to leave the landholding or to buy off their duties; in this period serfdom declined and was replaced by a simpler relation between landowner and tenant peasant and an independent peasantry. Moreover, by that time developments in infrastructure and armaments, like the invention of the cannon, made feudal castles obsolete and contributed to centralization of power by the crown. In the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Europe the development was the other way around: the peasantry was increasingly dependent and serfdom was not abolished until the mid-19th century. 5. The Rise of the Town. In the second half of the Middle Ages, towns emerged as new centers of power and culture. At first they were under the landlords’ control and close to castles to guarantee safety against the Vikings and other intruders. Yet, the hold of the landlords gradually waned, and towns increasingly offered personal freedom from feudal bonds for dependent peasants and others. Although urban



From Ancient Times to the 20th Century╇ | 53

economic life was often strictly regulated in productive guilds, there was much less direct control than in the countryside, and towns became equated with freedom. Toward the end of the Middle Ages, town dwellers wrested total autonomy from the landed nobility and developed a new urban culture. They were granted town rights from the feudal lords or from kings who regarded these rights as a means to weaken the landlord’s power. The new cities developed as centers of royal courts (Paris, London, Krakow), international trade (Venice, the Hanseatic League in northern Europe), and learning (Florence, Oxford and Cambridge, Salamanca). European culture became urban culture and to some extent the development of urban culture was related to the emergence of (national) languages in this period, with Dante Alighieri’s Italian as a prominent example. 6. The Status of Jews. The Jews, who were dispersed over the continent, were subject to stricter rules than other people or even expelled. They were concentrated in the (new) towns, where they were active in the few crafts and trades, Â�including banking, that were open to them. In the early Middle Ages Jews were generally regarded as second-class citizens. They were not systematically suppressed until the First Crusade in the late 11th century, when pogroms took place in the Holy Roman Empire, more or less with Catholic Church approval. The Â�German Ashkenazi Jews, who spoke their own German-influenced Yiddish language, Â� moved eastward to Lithuania and Poland. A century later, Jews were expelled from France and England, and at the end of the 15th century were also expelled from the Iberian Peninsula by the Spanish Catholic kings (Reyes Católicos). The Iberian Sephardim Jews, who spoke Judeo-Spanish, then settled in Italy, western Turkey, Lithuania, and Poland, where southeast Poland (Galicia) became the largest concentration of Jewish culture in Europe. At the end of the Middle Ages and later the Jews also moved to internationally oriented towns like Prague, which had had an earlier Jewish community, and Amsterdam. Islamic Europe was more tolerant than Catholic Europe; although Jews were not treated as full citizens, they were not Â�suppressed and could freely exercise their religious duties. 7. The Renaissance. To some extent the Renaissance moved the focus in culture from God to man. In 14th- and 15th-century Italian cities, like Rome and Â�Florence, and Belgian (Flemish) cities, like Brussels and Bruges, international trade flourished. Human individuality and human self-confidence were reappraised under the influence of the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture, and there were attempts to combine ancient culture with Christianity. The new trend resulted in humanism (Erasmus, Thomas More) and many discoveries in arts and sciences (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo), some of which challenged the official Catholic world view (Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo). The new focus, innovations, and discoveries spread to other parts of Western Europe, where they undermined the authority of the Catholic Church, except in Spain, which became the Â�strictest Catholic power. In Eastern Europe, which was still under the influence of the

54 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

Byzantine Empire, there was no such challenge to church authority or breach in culture and the arts.

New Era (1500–1789) 8. The Muslim Challenge. In southwestern and southeastern Europe the Muslim challenge resulted in the Islamic conquest of Turkey and the Balkan Peninsula. In southern Spain, Islamic Arabs had reached a high level of civilization, which had preserved the knowledge of ancient Greek philosophy. The last Muslim stronghold (Granada) disappeared in 1492, ending Muslim presence on the Iberian Peninsula after hundreds of years of Reconquista by the Spanish Reyes Católicos, who undertook strenuous efforts to Christianize the region. By this time, Islam had made progress on the Balkan Peninsula and in Southeastern Europe. In the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire had conquered all of Â�Turkey and large parts of the Balkan Peninsula and had reduced the Byzantine Empire to hardly more than its capital, which they took in 1453 and renamed Â�Istanbul. The conquest put an end to the Byzantine Empire and was the beginning of centuries of further expansion on the Balkan Peninsula and part of the Danube region (Hungary). Istanbul became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Vienna, though it was besieged more than once, for the last time in 1683, became the outpost of Christian civilization, and even of European civilization, as the Â�Muslim Turks were considered as non-European. Since the barbarian invasions, other Â�people from Asia had invaded Europe, but they had been Christianized. Finns and Estonians had settled in the north, Bulgarians and Hungarians in Central Europe. In Russia and Ukraine, originally Viking strongholds, another enemy to Â�Christianity, the Mongol Golden Horde had not just conquered but also destroyed large parts of Eastern Europe, continuing their reign into the 13th and 14th centuries. Their Tatar yoke did not undo the influence of the Orthodox Church, but it cut Eastern Europe off from the rest of Europe during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In the 15th century, Moscow was able to loosen the Mongols’ grip and develop into a small empire by itself in the parts of Russia and Ukraine that were not ruled by the then large Polish-Lithuanian Empire. The princes of Moscow even considered themselves heirs to the Byzantine Empire and Byzantine culture, with Moscow as the Third Rome, after Rome and Constantinople/Byzantium, and as self-appointed defenders of Christian civilization against the Turks. After the failed last Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, the Austrians and the Russian Empire conquered parts of the Balkan Peninsula, which gradually weakened the hold of the Ottoman Empire there. 9. The Reformation. The Reformation that divided Catholic Europe into a Â�Catholic and a Protestant part had its roots in Renaissance humanism and the Â�15th-century reform movements within the Catholic Church. The Czech priest Jan Hus (1369–1415) was one of the predecessors of this movement and was burned



From Ancient Times to the 20th Century╇ | 55

at the stake for his heresy. In 1517, Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) protests against Catholic Church abuses resulted in his foundation of Protestantism as a rival religion and power to the Catholic Church. The second founder of Protestantism was John Calvin (1509–1564), who created a theocratic state in Geneva. As opposed to Catholicism, the branches of Protestantism that developed stressed the relationship between the individual believer and God, without a hierarchy of priests in between. Calvinism also contained a strong work ethic, which would influence the early American settlers. Protestant expansion was facilitated by the invention of printing, which facilitated the spread of the Bible, though Protestant churches mainly spread in Germanic Europe (in Germany it served to unify and standardize the German language) and to the northern part of Latin Europe. In England, the king founded his own Protestant Church of England, the Anglican Church. The Catholic Church, and especially the new Jesuit order, actively organized a sometimes violent Counter-Reformation against the Protestant heretics. International warfare between the major powers of the 17th century, to some extent between Catholics and Protestants, most of all on German soil (Thirty Years’ War), contributed to the centralization of authority in the larger European nations, where kings established absolute authority, including their right to determine the national religion. The 1648 Westphalia Peace Treaty confirmed the principle of each nation to decide on its own religion, as a form of national sovereignty. The continental European powers of the day (France, Spain, Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire, Austria) recognized the national sovereignty of smaller countries like Protestant-dominated Netherlands and Switzerland. The recognition of national sovereignty was the start of the European system of independent and sovereign nations, whose sovereignty included the right to choose their own religion. The war and the peace treaty were the last breath of the German Holy Roman Empire, which split into more than 300 totally independent German states, of which only Prussia in the north became a European power, challenging the Â�Austrian Empire of the Habsburg family as the leader of all of Germany. The introduction of the notion of national sovereignty did not put an end to expansionist politics in Europe. At the end of the 18th century, Poland (in combination with Lithuania), one of the vastest European countries, but weakened by the struggle between royal and aristocratic power, was partitioned by Prussia, the Austrian Empire, and the emerging Russian Empire and disappeared from the map altogether in 1795. 10. European Expansion in the Rest of the World. This expansion was encouraged by the Renaissance and the growth of the Ottoman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean. Portugal and Spain took the initiative for the great discoveries. Columbus discovered America (1492), Vasco da Gama discovered the sea route to the East Indies (1498), and Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition was the first to sail around the world (1521). By that time Spain and Portugal had already divided the world, in particular the Americas, among themselves. British, Dutch, and French

56 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

sailors challenged the Portuguese domination of the sea route to the Indies and established their own trade ports. Discovery resulted in international trade, efforts to Christianize non-European peoples (especially by Spain), and international warfare between the European powers. The enormous expansion of trade overseas, with Antwerp and Amsterdam as early international ports, soon extended to the slave trade. Over more than three centuries, 10 million black people were forcibly shipped as slaves from West Africa to Latin America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States. The slave trade was abandoned in the early 19th century, but slavery continued in the colonies of the European countries until later in that century. In the 19th century, European expansionism outside Europe developed into fullfledged colonialism, in which the major European colonial powers (Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands) divided the rest of the world, the part not already under Spanish or Portuguese control, and reinforced their control of the interior of their non-European territories. Belgium later joined the group when the European powers gave Congo to the Belgian crown in order to keep it out of each other’s reach. 11. The Age of Enlightenment and Liberalism. This period was characterized by (re)discovery and redevelopment of the notions of liberal rights and democracy. In Great Britain the nobility and the rising urban bourgeoisie were able to resist royal efforts to impose absolutism; in the 1688 Glorious Revolution, a new king was allowed to ascend the throne only on condition that he sign a bill of rights. Enlightenment scholars (e.g., Immanuel Kant) redeveloped classical and Renaissance notions about human rights and human reason as the ultimate source of all authority. In the Enlightenment, liberalism emerged, with a focus on individual liberty, democracy, and free-market capitalism, regulated by an Invisible Hand according to Adam Smith. John Locke introduced parliamentary supremacy in a system of representative democracy, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau introduced the idea of direct democracy, with participation of all citizens in ruling themselves. European thinkers influenced the American Revolution (e.g., James Madison and other patriots), and the American Revolution, in turn, inspired Europe. The 1789 French Revolution and Napoleon’s conquests spread the new ideas of individual enterprise and popular rule over the continent, in combination with the Romaninspired codification of civil law and the metric system. Upon Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, the Great Powers—Great Britain, Prussia, Â�Austria, and Russia, later joined by France—established a system of mutual checks to maintain an international power balance. One of the results of the Napoleonic Wars and the power balance was a further centralization of government in the Â�European nations, if only for reasons of defense and warfare. Smaller international revolutions in 1848 in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna provided liberals with opportunities to more forcefully demand or even introduce parliamentary democracy in some countries.



From Ancient Times to the 20th Century╇ | 57

The 19th Century 12. The Industrial Revolution and the Rise of the Labor Movement. The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain and crossed the continent, beginning in Â�Belgium and France. Industry changed the face of Europe, railways its rural landscape, and urbanization the nature of its towns and cities. The Industrial Revolution also Â�conditioned a new social movement, the labor movement, whose backbone was the skilled manual workers in modern industries. Labor demanded collective social rights in order to improve the conditions of the laboring class, and it participated in the 1848 revolutions. In particular, the revolutionary movement that was inspired by Karl Marx gradually gained force as an opposition movement outside, but later also within, the existing parliaments, which were still dominated by landlords and wealthy liberal bourgeois. At the end of the century, the Marxist labor movement split into a reformist and democratic wing (social democracy) and a dictatorial and revolutionary wing (communism). Social Democrats supported the civil rights introduced by liberalism, and abandoned the revolution in favor of social reforms and participation in parliamentary politics; their main example was the German Social Democratic Party. Social democracy became a large and international movement, which, especially in Germanic Europe and parts of Latin Europe, transformed elitist liberal democracy into more popularly based mass democracy, founded on the demand of universal and equal voting rights instead of the existing forms of unequal voting rights; census suffrage, based on one’s income, wealth, or level of education; and multiple voting rights, in which rich people got more than one vote. Communists, whose most prominent leader was Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, stuck to the idea of revolution and collectivism and rejected any compromise with capitalism and capitalism-based parliamentary democracy. Both movements became very powerful in the 20th century. The 1917 Russian Â�Revolution brought the communists to power in that country; after World War II they extended their dictatorial and even totalitarian rule to Central Europe. 13. The Movement for Ethnically Based Nations. This movement totally changed Europe’s map. England, France, Austria, Russia, Spain, and Sweden had developed large and often multinational kingdoms or empires before the 19th century, but the mid-19th century became the breeding period of ethnically based nations, partly as a response to the centralization of power in the multinational empires and the suppression of minority cultures. The new nationalism was often based on a national language and encouraged by the romantic search for a common history and old sagas and folk tales of the language-based community. Autonomy movements and liberation movements sprang up in the multiethnic Austrian, Â�Russian and Â�Ottoman empires, but the reaction was mostly suppressive, in particular in the Russian Empire. The Austrian Empire at least recognized the Hungarian nation and changed the Austrian Empire into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy and Germany still consisted of a number of independent states; their unification, in 1870 for Italy and

58 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

1871 for Germany (once again as an Empire), was rooted in the same movement. Although Italy and Germany were considered latecomers, most of the present-day European nations did not reach full independence until the 20th century.

The 20th Century Five epochal developments characterized 20th-century Europe. These are listed in Table 4.2 and discussed in the following sections. 1. The Last Stage of Old-fashioned Power Play Between European Powers and the End of Empire in World War I. At the end of the 19th century, Germany overtook Great Britain as the leading industrial power in Europe. In search of (belated) colonial expansion, it looked for influence on the decaying Ottoman Empire. A series of international conflicts, including two short Balkan Wars, resulted in World War I (1914–1918), in which Germany’s aspirations to world power and the British and French defense of their oligopoly of world power were at stake. International tension mounted because of the growing German influence on the Balkan Peninsula and in the Middle East, encouraged by the weakness of the Ottoman Empire. This development posed a threat to the established colonial powers of Great Â�Britain and France and to the main Â�Russian shipping routes. Russia not only wanted access to the Mediterranean for its international trade but also because it aspired to the role of a great European power. The interests clashed in the Â�Balkan Peninsula, where the Â�Austro-Hungarian Empire started the war by an action against Russia-supported Â� Â�Serbia, after a Serbian terrorist had killed the Austrian crown prince. Germany sided Table 4.2╇ Epochal Developments in 20th-Century Europe

Developments Countries Most Directly Involved

1 The last stage of old-fashioned power play Continental Europe â•… between European powers and the end of â•… empire in World War I 2 Destruction, devastation, and death due to Almost all of Europe â•… Stalinism, fascism, World War II, and the â•…Holocaust 3 The Cold War and the reduction of the All of Europe â•… Western European powers to minor powers â•… without colonies 4 Rise of the welfare state British Isles, â•… Germanic Europe, â•… Latin Europe 5 Establishment and extension of the European Union Western Europe



The 20th Century╇ | 59

with Austro-Hungary, as the Central Powers, joined by Turkey and Bulgaria. Great Britain and France had always regarded Russian expansionism as a threat to their interests in the eastern Â�Mediterranean and the shipping routes to their colonies in Asia, but now Germany had become the new evil. With Russia, Great Britain and France formed the Entente Powers, which also included Serbia and Belgium; they were later joined by Italy and other countries and in 1917 by the United States. The main frontline and battle zone on the Western Front was northern France, where millions of soldiers were stuck in trenches for four years. In the east, Poland and western Russia became the main battle sites, but there were also fronts on the Balkan Â� Â�Peninsula, and in particular at sea, where Germany’s submarine war motivated the United States to participate. During the war, the Turkish Empire massacred as many as a million Armenians, who were forcibly removed from their territories in eastern Turkey. The war ended with a number of peace treaties, which changed the map of Europe and created a number of new independent nations, in particular in Central Europe. First, there was the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, concluded in March 1918 between Germany and Russia. Wartime hardship allowed the communists under Lenin to seize power in Russia in the 1917 Russian Revolution and later to establish the communist Soviet Union. The new communist leaders recognized defeat and ceded territory. A year later, the Entente Powers annihilated the peace treaty but left the creation of new independent nations intact: Finland, the Baltic States, and Poland. The other five peace treaties were concluded between the Entente Powers and each of the Central Powers separately; they took place in or around Paris and were named after their location. They were especially important because they created a number of new nations (see Table 4.3). The death toll from the war was more than 10 million. Four empires collapsed (Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Turkey) and a number of more or less democratic new republics emerged. In some of them, however, including the Â�German Weimar Republic, democracy was very fragile because of tension between radical labor movements and authoritarian and conservative landed interests. In the 1920s, Europe was strongly divided in terms of political system. A number of more or less democratic nations extended their democratic systems by introducing general suffrage at the end of the war (a few had done so before the war). Sweden was the first country where Social Democrats took power for a long time. Germany remained a fragile and contentious democracy, supported only by Social Democrats and Catholics, but regularly attacked by radical movements. In Italy, Benito Â�Mussolini established a fascist dictatorship in 1922, in response to postwar social upheaval. 2. Destruction, Devastation, and Death Due to Stalinism, Nazism, World War II, and the Holocaust. In 1927, under the communist dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, Russia engaged in an enormous industrialization drive, to some extent financed by grain exports, at the cost of rural food supplies in the Ukraine, the major agricultural region. The forced collectivization of agriculture in state and collective farms

60 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

Table 4.3╇ Peace Treaties after World War I Peace Treaty

With

Versailles

Germany The German emperor had fled the country, and the â•…new (Weimar) Republic had to cede territory to most of its neighbors and had to give up its few colonies. It also had to pay enormous war reparation, in particular under French pressure. Austria The Austrian emperor had also fled. The new â•…Austrian Republic lost most of its territory and was no longer connected with Hungary. Hungary Hungary also lost most of its territory. The Austrian â•…and Hungarian losses allowed for the creation of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, under Serbian leadership, and enlarged Romania and Italy. Bulgaria Bulgaria had to cede territory to Romania and Greece. Turkey The Ottoman Empire was dismantled, leaving only â•…Turkey in more or less its present borders. Two years later, Kemal Pasha Atatürk’s revolution established a republic in Turkey.

Saint-Germain

Trianon

Neuilly Sèvres

Key Elements

and the resulting food shortage caused a great famine in the Ukraine, with millions of victims. In the 1930s, Stalin’s Great Purges also took millions of lives, when alleged opponents of the communist regime were tortured and killed in prison or in Siberian concentration camps. The Great Depression of the 1930s (known in Europe as the Economic Crisis of the 1930s) brought widespread unemployment and a very authoritarian political reaction in the form of fascism and Nazism, after the example of Italy. The Â�German Nazis under Adolf Hitler, who came to power in 1933, blamed the Jews for the crisis and Germany’s defeat in World War I. The Nazis’ Dritte Reich (Third Reich or Third Empire, a reference to the medieval Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire that was founded in 1871) sought redress and glory in foreign expansion. In response, and using domestic and international tension as a pretext, authoritarian leaders in a number of other countries also abandoned democracy and installed fascist or fascist-like regimes. In two democracies, France (Front populair) and Spain (Frente popular), the whole labor movement, socialists and communists, joined hands in 1936. The labor movement’s rise to power in Spain occasioned a fascist reaction, which resulted in the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and fascist Â�victory. Meanwhile, Germany had prepared for its redress and expansion. In 1938, it invaded Austria and in the Munich Treaty was given a free hand by Great Britain and France to annex Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, where many Germans lived.



The 20th Century╇ | 61

In 1939, Germany concluded a nonaggression pact with Russia, and both countries then invaded and partitioned Poland, but this time the German invasion was reason enough for Great Britain and France, as Allied Powers, to declare war, marking the beginning of World War II (1939–1945). Germany invaded the Low Countries, part of Scandinavia, France, and in 1941, also large parts of the Balkan Peninsula and finally Russia, including Ukraine. The invasion of Russia brought that country on the side of the Allied Powers. Nazi Germany and fascist Italy formed the Axis Powers, supported by a few weak Balkan nations. They were joined by Japan after Pearl Harbor. Japan invaded China and European colonies in Asia, and from then on the United States became the leading Allied power. By the end of 1942, Europe was in German (or Italian) hands, and only four countries remained neutral: Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. Sweden declared itself neutral but to escape occupation it permitted German troops to pass through on their way to Norway. The turning point came when the German army was defeated at the Battle of Stalingrad in the very harsh winter of 1942–1943. The Allied Powers, in particular American troops, invaded North Africa and Italy, and on June 6, 1944 (D-day) they opened a full western front by invading French Normandy. By that time the Â�Russian army was already on its way in Poland, where it stopped for some time, which left Germany time to totally destroy and depopulate Warsaw. Germany Â�surrendered on May 8, 1945, after having destroyed large parts of Europe, in particular parts of Central and Eastern Europe. During the war, Germany organized the Holocaust, the systematic extermination of European Jews in the occupied territories. Jews in Eastern Europe were often shot on the spot and buried in mass graves; Western European Jews were pressed into cattle wagons and transported to concentration camps, some of which served as extermination camps, where they were killed in gas chambers. Auschwitz was the largest of these camps, and it has become the symbol of the will of mass extermination and mass destruction. Only a few people survived this hell; it remains the darkest page in European history. The death toll of all these destructive forces was unprecedented. Communist Â�terror in Russia and Ukraine, including the manmade famine after the collectivization of agriculture, took at least 25 million lives. World War II cost the lives of more than 35 million soldiers and civilians, not counting the 5 to 6 million victims of the Holocaust. And for Central Europe the suffering was not over: the Russian liberation soon turned out to be a Russian occupation (Davies 1996). 3. The Cold War and the Reduction of the Western European Powers to Minor Powers Without Colonies. After World War II, the Soviet Union imposed its communist rule in Central Europe, where its armed forces had been victorious. Great Britain and the United States had consented to the Russian domination of Central Europe at the 1945 Yalta Conference of the Allied Powers, attended by Franklin

62 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. The division of Europe into spheres of influence resulted in the Cold War and the Iron Curtain, isolating communist East Europe, including almost all Central European nations, from Free West Europe (whose recovery was helped by Marshall Plan aid from the United States). The Iron Curtain also split Germany into a western part and an eastern part: the democratic Federal Republic of Germany and the communist German Â�Democratic Republic. The division of Europe and Germany lasted until the late 1980s, which made the 40 postwar years a period of great but heavily armed stability in Europe—at the cost of Central Europe’s freedom. The Western European powers were reduced to a minor role in international politics compared with the two superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—and they and other colonial powers had to give up their colonies outside Europe in a process of decolonization, a form of peaceful transition for some, and warfare for others. In Central and Eastern Europe, Russia kept the communist satellite states under strict control and crushed a revolt in Hungary in 1956 and attempts at political reform (Prague Spring) in Czechoslovakia in 1968. On several occasions the Soviet Union threatened to invade Poland. In the second half of the 1980s a reform campaign by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union undermined the ossified communist structures. In a couple of years, communism broke down, and the Soviet Union fell to pieces. Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia also fell apart, and Germany was reunified. Central European nations started a new course toward democracy and free enterprise. 4. The Rise of the Welfare State. In democratic Western Europe, Social Â�Democrats became a leading political movement. Social Democrats participated in many national governments and took a leading role in the expansion of social security and social policies. During the booming 1960s (the Golden Sixties), the economies of the democratic countries gradually changed from coal to oil as the main fuel, and the people increasingly welcomed state intervention in the economy to phase out recessions. Under these conditions, increasing and seemingly permanent economic growth allowed an even faster expansion of social policies, and the shift of free Europe to full-fledged welfare states. The 1968 student revolt in Paris speeded up that development. In combination with international protests against US intervention in Vietnam (the Vietnam War), the 1968 revolt unleashed a youth protest movement directed against traditional authority, which tried to silence protests against capitalism by means of increased social spending. The movement resulted in the emergence of new social movements, including a new wave of feminism, and it contributed to the decline of religion and its impact on politics (secularization). It also led to a relaxation of sexual and other ethical norms in the sexual revolution, which was also fueled by the spread of the contraceptive pill. The spell of permanent economic growth and social development was broken by two consecutive oil crises, in 1973–1974 and 1979–1980, when the oil-producing



The 20th Century╇ | 63

countries multiplied the price of crude oil and for the first time changed the Â�balance of payments in favor of nonindustrialized countries outside Europe, but only to Â�oil-producing countries concentrated in the Middle East. The challenge posed by the Japanese economy added to the pressures on the European economy in the 1970s and 1980s. New spurts of economic growth in the 1990s and around the turn of the century were halted in 2008, when a financial crisis resulted in a worldwide economic recession. 5. The Establishment and Extension of the EU. In the early 1950s, France and Germany took the initiative for a new form of international cooperation to prevent a new war between these two nations (after three wars in a period of 80 years). The outcome was more European unity. It started in 1952 with a coordinating body for the steel industry and then developed a Common Market for agricultural produce. As the European Union (EU), it got a new impetus in the 1990s, with a trend toward more political and monetary unity. In 2002, the euro was introduced, and a few years later most of Central Europe joined the EU, which by then covered almost all of Western Europe—an unprecedented form of forging unity in Europe, on a voluntary basis this time. Table 4.4 summarizes 20th-century events and developments. Table 4.4╇ Europe in the 20th Century 1900s Spread of the labor movement. At the turn of the century labor â•…leaders are voted into the national parliaments in Western Europe. Growing German interest in the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East as a way to compensate for its lack of colonies leads to Â�international tension. 1914–1918 The Entente Powers, Great Britain, France, and Russia (later â•… (World War I) â•…assisted by the United States), fight the Central Powers, Austria (the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and Germany. Armenians are Â�massacred in the Turkish Empire. 1917 The Russian Revolution establishes the Soviet Union as a communist â•… dictatorship under Lenin. 1918–1919 Revolutionary movements in Central Europe and Germany â•…result in the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire, and later the Turkish Empire. New nations emerge in Central Europe. Under labor pressure universal (male) suffrage implemented in most of Western Europe. 1922 Benito Mussolini establishes fascism in Italy. 1927 Joseph Stalin starts the forced industrialization of the Soviet Union, â•…followed by the suppression of millions of opponents and class enemies in several purge campaigns. 1933 The Nazis under Adolf Hitler rise to power in Germany, followed by â•… fascist dictatorships in other countries. (Continued↜)

64 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note 1936–1939 Civil War in Spain between the Republic under a labor government â•… and the fascists, who take over. 1938 In Munich, Great Britain and France consent to the German claim of â•… parts of Czechoslovakia. 1939–1945 Germany and Russia invade Poland. Germany then invades Russia (World War II) â•…and occupies large parts of Europe until it is driven back by the Russians in the East and the Western Allies, including the United States, in the West. Millions of Jews are killed in the Holocaust. 1948 Marshall Aid to help European reconstruction. Beginning of the Cold â•…War, in which Europe (and Germany) are divided by the Iron Â�Curtain, and of the arms race between East and West. The first Asian colonies become independent, the beginning of the â•… process of de-colonization. 1952 Foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community, precursor to â•… the European Union. 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, followed by “Peaceful Coexistence” â•… between West and East Europe. 1957 Treaty of Rome, start of the European Economic Community, the â•… later European Union. 1958 President Charles De Gaulle founds the French Fifth Republic, with a â•… popular and powerful president. 1960s Booming economic conditions. Western Europe develops the Welfare â•… State. Secularization and sexual revolution in Western Europe. 1961 Berlin Wall erected to stop the flow of fugitives from communist East â•… Germany to West Germany. 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; a student revolt in Paris unleashes â•…a wave of spontaneous actions in favor of a democratization of society. 1973–1974 The first oil crisis puts an end to the booming and the “liberal” sixties. 1979–1980 Following the second oil crisis, unemployment and budget deficits â•… become major state concerns. 1985 Mikhail Gorbachov initiates his Perestroika reform program, resulting â•…in the breakdown of the communism in the Soviet Union and of the communist regimes in Central Europe. 1989–1990 Disintegration of the Soviet Union and Reunification of Germany. â•… Yugoslavia also falls apart. 1993 Introduction of the internal “Open Market” in the European Union. 2002 Introduction of the Euro, the common European Monetary Union â•…currency. 2004 Ten former communist countries or parts of the Soviet Union join the â•… EU, in 2007 followed by Romania and Bulgaria. 2004–2005 Bomb attacks in Madrid and London by Islamic terrorists. 2008 Banking crisis in the US results in a worldwide banking- and credit â•…crisis.



Comparison of US and European Historical Developments╇ | 65

Comparison of US and European Historical Developments Among the pressing political issues Europe faces in the first decades of the 21st century are the integration of the waves of overseas immigrants and refugees in Western Europe, including boat refugees who cross the Mediterranean; the relation between natives and Muslim immigrants; the relation between Western Europe and Russia; and the relationship between Western Europe and the Muslim Middle East. Important differences between European and American history since the late 18th century are listed in Table 4.5. The long-lasting European efforts of Â�foreign expansion and colonialism in Africa and Asia contrast with limited American expansionism, apart from its world hegemony after World War II. The role of Europe in international politics varied inversely with that of the United States. Until World War II several European nations were colonial powers in Africa and Asia; in 1900, the British king even formally ruled over the largest empire ever, stretching over all continents. After World War II the colonial role of the European powers was played out; they gave up their colonies, or were forced to do so, and had to accept American and Soviet Russian domination of world politics. Warfare, revolution, and dictatorship have had a great impact and have been more destructive in Europe than in the United States (except for the Civil War). Many political developments in Europe since the late 18th century have been triggered by wars and revolutions, in particular the Napoleonic wars following the 1789 French Revolution, the 1848 revolutions, the 1870–1871 German-French war, World War I (1914–1918), the Russian Revolution and Civil War (1917–1921), the Irish War of Independence and Civil War (1919–1922), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), World War II (1939–1945), and the relatively peaceful 1989 overthrow of communist rule in Russia and its European satellite countries. Some democratic political systems were established from 1830 onward, and by the early 1920s all emperors had been replaced by presidents. In several countries democracy was abolished again or severely curtailed under fascist or communist regimes, only to revive later in the 20th century. Table 4.5╇ Major Differences between European and US History Europe

United States

Foreign expansion and colonialism Limited expansionism Frequent international warfare, revolutions, Political stability except for the â•…and dictatorships â•…Civil War Separation of nation building and democracy Combination of nation building â•… and democracy Political power of the labor movement Limited political power of labor

66 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

Nation building and the introduction of democracy have been separate developments in Europe, whereas in the United States the two were combined: The new nations started as democracies. In the United States, independence and democracy were established more or less at the same time and for the greater part preceded nation building. The normal sequence in Europe consisted of building a national community first, mostly based on language, followed by independence, and much later followed by the establishment of democracy. German and Italian efforts to reach political unity lasted for centuries, until it was accomplished in 1870–1871. In nations that were part of the Austrian Empire (like Czechia) or the Russian Empire (Poland for instance) national culture developed and national history was (re)discovered or even (re)invented before these empires fell apart and independence was granted after World War I. In most European nations, the introduction of a democratic political system took place long after independence. Almost all of them have a past, some even a glorious past, as undemocratic independent states ruling the waves or ruling other states. Labor movements like social democracy and communism have had substantial power in European countries in contrast with the American labor movement. In the 20th century, European politics became increasingly influenced or even dominated by the labor movement. The “social issue” was addressed long before the US did so, and it continued to be one of the most salient issues in national politics, separating the working class Left from the middle class Right. The labor movement not only changed the contents of European politics but also European political procedures and institutions. A great deal of differences between most European nations and the United States since the late 19th century are attributable to the labor movement’s political power in most European nations and its political weakness in the United States. This difference, especially in labor power, is one of the reasons to speak of “American exceptionalism” (Lipset 1960).

The European Identity What is Europe? If the definition is not based on territory, how do we define Europe and the European identity? Two main currents may be used in answering that question. Some stress the role of the Christian churches (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Â�Protestantism) as typical European. The definition goes back to stages 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9; the Christian tradition is also called Judeo-Christian, after its beginning among the Jewish people—and in spite of long-lasting Christian suppression of Jews. It sets Europe apart from Africa and Asia and provides an argument to leave out Turkey, which is a secular country, but whose population is Muslim. Not only Islam but also to some extent an overstressed admiration for human individuality is regarded as a threat to this European uniqueness, most of all by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.



The European Identity╇ | 67

The second current points to human individuality as the unique core of European civilization, as it was discovered in stage 1, developed in stage 2 (even to a limited extent present in stage 5), rediscovered in stage 7, stressed in stage 8, and reached a zenith in stage 11 or 12. In this view, the Catholic and Orthodox churches are institutions that have suppressed or threatened the European individuality, and Islam is even more of a threat to the European heritage. The proponents of individuality as the core of the European identity are even inclined to leave out Eastern Europe because this part of Europe missed the Renaissance, and to a great extent also the liberal tradition, and as a consequence, has never come to appreciate individuality to the same degree as Western Europe. Although the two visions seem to exclude each other, both should probably be included in the construction of a European identity. Europe has been or traditionally was a predominantly Christian continent, which has never been able to come to terms with the presence of other religions, in particular Judaism and Islam. European art presents one illustratation of the dichotomy. Until the 20th century depicting biblical scenes was a dominant theme in the European art of painting. Europe is also a continent of individuality, however, so European art has also depicted scenes from Greek mythology and imitated Greek temples, and European literature has focused on the lives of human individuals. Christianity and individualism were sometimes combined, but more often the two clashed, and it was that clash in particular that has characterized the European identity. Jews have been dispersed throughout Europe, not always voluntarily, Muslims have occupied a more marginal position in European culture, mainly confined to the Balkan Peninsula, the Caucasian Peninsula, and Turkey. Interestingly, neither view on the European identity nor their combination is really able to clearly demarcate Europe from the United States (and Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). These views are definitions of the “Western World” rather than of Europe, so other elements should be added. One such element could be the international role of Europe (stage 10 of the historical developments). Far more than non-Europeans, European nations have sailed and shipped over the world seas, discovered, conquered, and traveled overland through other continents, forcibly shipped millions of people from one continent to another, and traded with all the rest of the world, though it often under threat of force and on very uneven terms of trade. There are European emigrants in all other continents; some non-European countries, for the greater part, have a population of European immigrants. And in large parts of the world European languages are spoken. In brief, Europe has been an outward-looking and outward-oriented continent up to the point of sheer imperialism. The outward-looking tradition seems to have found its limit in admitting non-Europeans, however. European countries have a tradition of emigration but have been reluctant to cope with immigration over the past 30 years.

68 |╇ The European Experience: A Historical Note

If one takes into account the influence of the labor movement (stage 12), in particular the influence of social democracy on the nature of democracy and social conditions, as well as the emergence of ethnicity-based European nations (stage  13), the picture becomes even more complete. The first point, labor, sets Europe apart from the United States, the second one, the ethnicity-based nations, sets Europe not only apart from the United States but also from countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, which are countries of immigrants. To summarize, constituent elements of the European identity seem to be, in chronological order: individualism, introduced by the Greeks; Christianity (struggling with Judaism and Islam); the outward orientation, especially since the Great Â�Discoveries; the labor movement that emerged in the 19th century; and the division of the continent into ethnicity-based nations, most of them established in the 20th century. The European identity then consists of a combination of three world views (Christianity; individualism, stressing liberal rights; and labor, stressing social rights), first within empires but later in ethnically based nations and also outside Europe, in the large parts of the world that were colonized or heavily influenced by the Old World. The developments of the 20th century have also influenced the European identity, however. It is impossible to speak about Europe without mentioning or at least having in mind the two world wars, Stalin, Hitler, the Â�Holocaust, and the developments that have taken place since World War II, such as the end of colonialism, the Cold War, the welfare state, and the EU.

CHAPTER 5

The Nature of European Nations

Kosovo On February 17, 2008, Kosovo, a part of Serbia, declared itself an independent nation. Its overwhelmingly Albanian population had endured suppression by Â�Serbia in the late 1990s, until in 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces sealed off the region from the rest of Serbia. The larger Western European nations and most of the smaller ones soon recognized the new state. Spain and Russia did not, as they feared the unilateral action would set a precedent for ethnic minorities at home. Serbia continued its claim that Kosovo was an integral part of Serbia and that secession would have severe repercussions. One of the arguments used in the claim was the 1389 Battle of Kosovo (hailed as one of the roots of the Serbian nation), in which the Serbs were defeated by the Turkish Empire but managed to kill the Turkish sultan. The new nation of Kosovo immediately responded to calls for secession by the Serbian minority (some 10 percent of the total Kosovo population and concentrated in the northern corner of the country), saying that their region was an integral part of Kosovo and that efforts of secession would have severe repercussions. Where did we hear that before? In 2010, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that the proclamation of independence did not violate international law. In response, Serbia, which had asked for a court verdict, gave a fine example of traditional contempt of the court by rejecting its decision as irrelevant. Since former Yugoslavia fell apart in 1992, seven new states have been Â�created: Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia, of which only two, Montenegro and Slovenia, are ethnically homogeneous. The other five new states comprise sizable ethnic minorities. Croatia contains Hungarian and Serbian minorities; the Bosnian population consists of Bosnians (sometimes also called Bosniaks), Croats, and Serbs; Serbia has Hungarians (and until Kosovo’s independence also Albanians); Kosovo contains a Serbian minority; and Â�Macedonia has a large Albanian minority. The Bosnian Serbs refused to recognize the Bosnian 69

70 |╇The Nature of European Nations

state and during the civil war in that region proclaimed their own Serb Republic of Bosnia. Its independence has not been recognized by any country other than Â�Serbia, but in practice the country operates as an independent nation, the eighth one on former Yugoslav soil. As the Bosnian and Kosovo conflicts show, the ethnic fragmentation of the former Yugoslavia and the Balkan Peninsula in general is not merely an internal problem of these nations. It is also an international problem, in part because most of the ethnic minorities speak the language of a neighboring country and feel akin to that country. In response, these neighbors often claim some responsibility for their “brothers and sisters” on the other side of the border. Incidentally, such suppression may prompt more than strong international protests and result in international intervention, as was the case in Kosovo in 1999.

Language and Nationhood What does ethnicity stand for? Mostly it points to language, sometimes in combination with religion. Because language and religion are major forces in shaping a culture, ethnic minorities often have a different culture from the majority, even if they have lived in the same country for a long time. Ethnic Albanians, for instance, speak Albanian and are Muslims, both of which characteristics set them apart from Serbians and Macedonians, who share the Orthodox faith. Muslim Bosnians are also considered a separate ethnic group, despite the fact that they speak more or less the same language as the Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbians who live in Bosnia. In their case religion has shaped their distinct culture. In rare cases, two peoples with the same language and religion may still consider themselves different, especially when they have lived in separate countries for a long time. In that case divergent national histories have led to different nationalities. An example is Austria, which speaks German and shares the Catholic religion of the bordering regions of Germany, yet it has grown apart from the Germans over time. Mostly, however, language (and religion) have been at the root of ethnicity. In this chapter, language, religion, and other sources of division in European politics are discussed. More than 30 languages and five different alphabets (two international alphabets: Latin and Cyrillic; three national alphabets: Greek, Georgian, and Armenian) in a small continent: Doesn’t that cause a lot of problems? Indeed, as the main means of communication, language is the most important of all lines of division. For two lovers, holding each other’s hand in the moonlight may be preferable at times, but after a while speech comes in, and many international holiday love stories soon stop after the exchange of “I love you” and “Te quiero” because of the lack of other words that both lovers understand.



Language and Nationhood╇ | 71

Table 5.1╇ Language Groups, Languages, and Alphabets Group Subgroup Languages*

Alphabet

Germanic North Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Latin â•…Germanic â•…Swedish West Dutch, English, Frisian, German Latin â•…Germanic Latin/Romanic Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Latin â•… Romanche, Romanian, Spanish Slavonic West Slavonic Czech, Polish, Slovak Latin South Slavonic Croat, Slovenian Latin Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian Cyrillic East Slavonic Belarussian (Byelorussian), Russian, Cyrillic â•…Ukrainian Celtic Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh Latin Baltic Latvian, Lithuanian Latin Finno-Ugrian Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian Latin Turkic Turkish Latin Other/no group Albanian, Azeri, Basque, Kurdish, Latin â•…Maltese Armenian Armenian Georgian Georgian Greek Greek *Italics indicates regional languages.

More than 30 languages are spoken in Europe, yet most Europeans only speak their mother tongue, with a little French (rich old people), German (the other elderly), or English (young people). Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Â�Russian no longer serves as an international language. With a few exceptions, such as Â�Finnish, Hungarian, and the languages of Southeastern Europe, European languages belong to three groups: Germanic, Latin, and Slavonic. Even within each group, however, people normally do not understand each other’s language. As Appendix C shows, even the smallest nations have their own language. Table 5.1 shows the language groups, national languages, major regional languages, and alphabets of Europe. Why is language so important in European politics? Language is an expression of culture, and at the same time, it shapes cultural identity. Language and languagebased national identity have been sources of conflict throughout European history. They have also given rise to that most important of all political organizations: the nation. The national issue has consisted of two distinct efforts, both of them geared toward creating ethnic nationality in single-language nation-states. The first activity is to get all those who speak the national language within the national boundaries

72 |╇The Nature of European Nations

(One Language → One Nation), and the second is to impose the national language on all national citizens (One Nation → One Language). The first principle, One Language → One Nation, has caused the largest problems. Important steps in that direction were German Unification in 1871, after centuries of German longing for political unity among the many independent German Â� states, and the breakup of the multiethnic Austrian (or Austro-Hungarian) Empire immediately after World War I. The latest developments have been the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia into a number of language-based nations and the reunification of West Germany and East Germany in 1989. National poets and novelists have often played a role in the growth of national consciousness. They contribute to the emergence of a real language, out of what might have been no more than a regional dialect. Of course, poets that hail the glorious past of the group involved are celebrated most of all. This national literature often determines whether a language is recognized as a language and not regarded as merely a regional dialect. Although the principle of One Language → One Nation has served as a powerful ideal in Europe, it has not been fully realized. In particular, the presence of three minorities has caused international tension and conflict: Germans, Hungarians, and Russians. The outcome of World War I, the 1918 Versailles Treaty, dissolved the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the most prominent example of a multiethnic state. A number of single-ethnic nations emerged, yet the treaty intentionally imposed restrictions to the principle of One Language → One Nation on Germany, Austria, and Hungary; these countries were held responsible for the war and were deprived of some territories in which their language was the majority tongue. Eventually, this deviation from the principle was to become one of the causes of World War II. It fueled German resentment against the peace treaty and provided the Nazis with a pretext to justify expansion, which triggered World War II, to get these Germans “back into the nation” (heim ins Reich). After World War II, the issue of Germanspeaking minorities was solved by the forced expatriation of millions of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe to West Germany. The Hungarian borders that were established in 1918 have resulted in the presence of Hungarian-speaking minorities in all surrounding countries, a source of friction between Hungary and its neighbors. This situation has been solved in a number of bilateral agreements between Hungary and each of the neighboring states. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russian minorities have posed a threat to national unity in the three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which made up part of the Soviet Union. In these new nations, Russians make up to one third of the total population. The second approach to language policies has been to integrate all inhabitants into a national culture by imposing the national language according to the principle of One Nation → One Language. The Russification of Eastern Europe before and under communism was the greatest 20th-century effort in this respect. Nowadays



Language and Nationhood╇ | 73

we think mainly of ethnic minorities that are forced to speak the national language, yet even in countries without such minorities it has taken a long time to implant an official language in the whole nation. Primary education, conscription in the army, and more recently, the mass media have been the means to bring about national integration, and transform “Peasants into Frenchmen” (Weber 1976). In Central and Eastern Europe, many minorities speak the language of a neighboring country, and most of the countries involved are new nations, which aggravates the problem of minority tongues and minority cultures. The new nations now vehemently attempt to construct national unity by way of imposing the majority language in education, the armed forces, and the mass media. Moreover, the effort of national integration coincides with the liberation from communist domination during which Central Europe forcibly imitated Soviet Russian political culture. National traditions, which are often expressions of the majority culture but were suppressed under communism, are rediscovered, churches are being restored, and old customs are being revived. The importance of a distinct language for national integration is shown by the rediscovery or reinvention of the Byelorussian language in Belarus and the Ukrainian tongue in Ukraine and their promotion to the status of national languages. The first presidents of both countries only spoke Â�Russian and had to learn their new national language. Although the examples are mainly drawn from Central and Eastern Europe, minority languages and culture as sources of political division are not confined to that part of the continent. Spain and the British Isles have long shared a history of minority suppression. Until the 1970s, Spain banned Catalan, spoken by more than 6 million people, and Basque, spoken by more than half a million people, from the schools. Moreover, the most successful effort in Europe to impose the national language was not accomplished by the Russians but by the English. Through centuries of domination, English has become the dominant language in Ireland, wiping out Gaelic, the old Celtic language of the island. The Irish Republic is now attempting to revive Gaelic by making it a compulsory subject in education, but students are not that enthusiastic about learning it and hardly any young people are willing to speak it. Table 5.2 lists the major language minorities in Europe in terms of their share in total national population. The table does not include Russian minorities in Ukraine and Belarus (where many nationals only speak Russian) or the minorities in the five countries that have split up, in spite of the lack of international recognition of these splits: Â�Azerbaijan, which has an Armenian region; Bosnia, which has an autonomous Serbian-Â�speaking and Orthodox part; Cyprus, which has an autonomous Turkish-speaking and Â�Muslim part; Georgia, with de facto independent minorities protected by Â�Russia; and Â�Moldova, which has an autonomous Russian-speaking part. See Table 5.3, which lists the countries that are de facto split, and in which the central government has no control over one or more regions.

74 |╇The Nature of European Nations

Table 5.2╇ Major Language Minorities (Except Russian Speakers in Belarus and Ukraine) Country

Population Minority (in millions)

Share (in %)*

Belgium 10.4 French â•…speaking Latvia 2.2 Russian Estonia 1.3 Russian Macedonia 2.1 Albanian Switzerland 7.6 French â•…speaking Turkey 77.8 Kurdish Spain 45.8 Catalan Slovakia 5.5 Hungarian

Minority Position

31

Federal nation since the 1970s

30 29 25 20

New nation; special rights New nation; special rights New nation; special rights Oldest federal nation in the world

18 Suppressed 17 More or less federalized nation 10 New nation; special rights

*Estimates of the share in percentages are from 2008–2009.

As Table 5.2 makes clear, language minorities are a challenge to national integration in Central Europe most of all. In two of the other three cases, Belgium and Switzerland, the French speakers do not regard themselves as French but as Belgians or Swiss, though ethnically distinct. The nature of most European countries as nation-states anchored on one �language and a national culture implies that national identity is mainly based on language. This is one of the basic differences with the United States, whose national identity has been shaped not by a common language but primarily by the common adherence to a set of values, which have been enshrined in the Constitution: the �American ideology or American Dream of freedom, equality, and democracy.

Table 5.3╇ Divided Countries Country Separate Part

Date of Split

Major Line of Division

Major Foreign Supporter

Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh 1988 Language, Armenia â•…religion Bosnia Serb Republic 1993 Religion Serbia Cyprus Turkish Cyprus 1974 Language, Turkey â•…religion Georgia Abkhazia, South Ossetia 1990–1993 Language, Russia â•…religion Moldova Trans-Dniestria 1992 Language Russia



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European history is full of countries that claimed to realize a dream, and with force: Catholic nations during the Middle Ages, empires that defended or exported conservative values, and imperial France’s crusade in the name of the French Â�Revolution. Most of these value-promoting empires were based on ethnicity, however, and suppressed other peoples in the name of religion, civilization, progress, or freedom. Since the breakup of the last empires at the end of World War I, Â�ethnicity has become the major or in some cases the only source of nationhood in Europe. The main exception turned dream-based nationhood into a nightmare: the Soviet Union’s communist paradise. Many Europeans have lived through too many nightmares (fascism, war, communism) to believe in dreams; they are relieved that only ethnicity, and sometimes religion, remains. Although the difference between value-based and ethnicity-based nationhood is not an absolute one, as we will see in the next section, it has resulted in great variations in nationalism. American democratic nationalism contrasts with European ethnic nationalism, and it is sometimes regarded as patriotism because of the commitment to democratic values rather than ethnic unity. European nations proudly boast of periods of national grandeur and reigns of great emperors or kings before the coming of democracy (Joppke 1998). Nationhood based on language means learning the language makes a child a member of the nation and serves as a form of political socialization. Most Â�Europeans do not consider themselves national citizens because they live in a particular country, but because they speak that particular language. Any conversation between two persons of the same tongue, even abroad, reinforces their national allegiance. Although large Mediterranean camping sites may appear to be international meeting points, Danes speak with Danes, Dutch with Dutch. As a consequence of the process of national integration based on a common language, European nations generally make less intensive use of national symbols like the national flag or the national anthem than the United States. A national holiday and a regular soccer match, preferably against a larger neighboring country, help to confirm national identity. Under value-based nationhood, children have to be imbued with the national values, which is one of the purposes of public education. National rituals and symbols serve that goal, whether raising the national flag, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, or learning about outstanding presidents like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln as promoters of freedom and democracy.

Religion The 1998 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two politicians from Northern Ireland, the Protestant prime minister David Trimble and a leading Catholic politician, John Hume. Both men were praised for their strenuous efforts to forge peace between

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the Protestant majority and the Catholic minority in their country. (Although it is subject to British rule, Northern Ireland is not part of Great Britain; together with Great Britain it constitutes the United Kingdom.) The religious division had been a long-lasting source of violence, with bomb attacks in the regional capital Belfast and in London. Catholics demanded that Northern Ireland join the Republic of Â�Ireland, a Catholic nation, but Protestants rejected any compromise in that direction as a first concession to papal power. After long negotiations, which involved the two communities in the region, as well as the Irish and British governments, the long overdue 1998 Good Friday Agreement introduced a kind of autonomy under common British–Irish rule. It was not until 10 years later that the first Protestant– Catholic coalition government was formed in which the most radical Protestant leader, Ian Paisley, participated. As the conflict in Northern Ireland shows, nationhood is not shaped by language alone; religion is a second force at work. The importance of religion and religious values for European national identity shows that the difference between valuebased American nationhood and ethnic nationhood in Europe is not a total one. For a long time, for example, the Netherlands shared with the United States its strict Protestantism and the legend of a manmade country (which they saw as being reclaimed from the sea, not from savages), but it is now a typical language-based nation. The country that bears most similarity to the United States in the base of nationhood (apart from Israel) is Ireland, where language was lost under English domination, but strict religious values, in this case Catholic values, have been a core element in national identity, setting the nation apart from its longtime suppressor. In Poland, Catholicism serves a similar function against Russia. Historically, the three main religions in Europe have been Catholicism, Â�Protestantism, and the Orthodox faith. European history has been full of political tensions among these religions, but by now one religion predominates in most countries. Catholicism is most widespread, but a few nations in the north, such as the Scandinavian nations, are totally Protestant, and Eastern Europe is Orthodox. In the three countries that are divided between Protestants and Â�Catholics Â�(Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland), conflict has traditionally been reduced by the regional concentration of the two religions. In all three nations, dominant Â�Protestantism prevails in the north, and the Catholic minority is concentrated in the south. The two denominations now cooperate in one political movement: Christian democracy, which leaves Northern Ireland as the only recent example of Catholic– Protestant conflict. Throughout Europe’s history, its two traditionally minor religions, Islam and Judaism, were often regarded as longstanding or alleged threats to Christian Europe. The Holocaust and the emigration of the small number of surviving Jews to Israel have made Judaism a very marginal phenomenon in postwar Europe. Islam was at the heart of a clash of civilizations between the Ottoman Empire and



Religion╇| 77

Christian Western and Central Europe. Since the early secularization of the Â�Turkish Â�Republic, Islam has been an issue in defining European identity and questions have been raised as to whether Turkey should be admitted to the European Union (EU). Apart from Islam as an issue in Western European countries that have admitted many Muslim immigrants, the struggle between Christians and Muslims has been at the heart of two recent international conflicts: The 1988–1994 war between Â�Orthodox Armenia and Muslim Azerbaijan about the demarcation of their territories, and the 1992–1995 Bosnian Civil War, in which Orthodox Serbs, assisted by Serbia, rejected a common nationality with the predominantly Muslim Bosniaks, which resulted in the division of the country. The main type of friction caused by religion is not between religions, however. It is the dividing line between Catholics (clericals) and anticlericals, who oppose the influence of the Catholic Church in social life. This line of conflict is most pronounced in Catholic countries. Although the Protestants and the Orthodox have founded national or regional churches that accept the authority of the national government in political affairs, the Catholic Church has always tried to keep a prominent say in political and social affairs. In the 19th century, liberals formed the core of an antichurch movement in Catholic countries; in the 20th century the labor movement took over as the leading antichurch force in Catholic countries. In France, the 1789 French Revolution fixed the front line between clericals Â�(Catholics) and anticlericals. French Catholics still speak in different and more negative terms about the French Revolution than the anticlericals—in striking contrast to the unanimous American praise of the American Revolution. Anticlericals have won the battle; France now has the strictest separation between state and church of all European nations. The strong clerical/anticlerical strife in countries in which almost all people are Catholics may come as a surprise. As a matter of fact, the fierce anticlericals fighting the Catholic Church’s influence in politics and society may be Catholics, at least in name. However, many Catholics in Catholic countries have very weak links with the Catholic Church. They only come to church to be baptized, to be married, to baptize their children, to attend a Christmas celebration, and to be buried. What is the political relevance of religion in Europe? First, although many European nations adhere to the separation between state and religion, the separation is far from complete. The British queen is the head of the national Anglican Church, in Sweden all citizens were officially registered as members of the Protestant Lutheran Church until 1996, and in Germany all citizens pay a church tax, unless they opt out (and pay the levy for other purposes). In some Central and Eastern European countries the fall of communism has prompted a revival of the Catholic Church, notably in Poland, and of national Orthodox Churches as part of the rediscovery of national heritage. In several European countries, either the Protestant, Catholic, or national Orthodox Church enjoys special privileges, for instance, in

78 |╇The Nature of European Nations

tax exemptions, state support of church construction, and facilities for religious education. Often, however, these privileges are matched by support of nonreligious institutions to provide for equality under the law. Second, national governments and the Catholic Church have clashed over education most of all. For the governments this school issue or school conflict has been a matter of national integration; for the Catholic Church it is an attack upon religion. All Catholic countries have had their school conflict about the rights of Catholics to run their own schools and about state funding of such schools. In 1996, an incident took place in Bavaria, Germany, when parents of school pupils protested against the Catholic crucifix on the wall of their public school. The German Supreme Court decided that the crucifix had to be removed if pupils or their parents demanded (that is, it would be removed only on demand!). Catholic politicians then denounced the Supreme Court as biased—a capital sin in Germany, just as it is in the United States. Incidentally, the issue of Catholic schools is revived when governments reorganize the school system or announce cuts in the education budget. Catholic education is no longer the major religious issue, however. Christian religion now mainly plays a role in moral issues, such as sexual morals, abortion, and euthanasia. Third, religion serves as the base of Christian democracy, one of the leading European ideologies and political movements, which is powerful in Germany and some other Germanic countries. Christian democracy is mainly based on Â�Catholicism and it draws most of its support in Catholic regions. Islam is the latest religious issue. In Central Europe, Muslims have lived in Albania, Bosnia, and Kosovo for centuries, and in Southeastern Europe they have long made a home in Turkey and Azerbaijan. In Western Europe, however, Islam is a new issue, to be discussed later in the chapter. Although the absence of a strict separation between state and church in many European countries might suggest otherwise, the role of religion does not differ that much from its role in the United States, where Protestantism has been the dominant religion for centuries. The United States formally maintains a strict separation, enshrined in Article 1 of the Constitution, yet in practice, presidents are expected to be Christians, and preferably Protestant; public meetings, including sessions of US Congress, often open with prayer; and no American politician would dare to challenge the presence of the motto “In God We Trust” on all US coins and banknotes.

The Center and the Periphery In 1996, the mock republic of Padania was proclaimed in northern Italy. The new state was a propaganda act of one of Italy’s new political movements, Lega Nord (Northern League), which claimed independence for northern Italy. Lega



The Center and the Periphery╇ | 79

Nord sprang up after the collapse of the traditional political parties. The Â�Christian Democratic and Social Democratic parties broke down under accusations of Â� links with the Mafia, and the Communist Party declined because of the international demise of communism. One of Italy’s richest men, media tycoon Silvio Â�Berlusconi, who aspired after a political career, and Lega Nord have filled the gap. Â�Berlusconi has presided over exceptionally stable governments, in spite of many scandals about corruption and his sex life. The Lega is in favor of more autonomy for Â�northern Italy. It argues that southern Italy has only exported backward migrant workers, the Mafia, and corrupt politics to the north. Both the movement and its claim were new elements in European politics, because, by way of exception, in this secessionist movement language and religion were not the main issues, and the movement had its home base in the most prosperous part of the country. Although most claims for regional autonomy in European nations are based on differences in language or religion, regional disparities may serve as a political issue in yet another form. The divergence between the political center and the periphery may give rise to protest or even separatist movements in the periphery. The center often consists of the national capital, as the political center, or, more generally, of the most prosperous regions in the country, as economic centers. These cities and regions attract the most investment and often most of the government’s attention. The periphery comprises less-developed rural areas that are far from the political and economic center and have a marginal role in the national economy and national politics. Resentment between the center and the periphery may be mutual. The center complains about the backwardness of the periphery and the cost of public assistance to the less-developed areas. The periphery points to the fact that it is either dominated or forgotten by a far-off government. Even when language and religion are not involved, the division often includes a cultural component. The rural periphery defends what it perceives as its authentic culture against the progress (and taxes) imposed by the big city. The most conspicuous example of the divergence between the national capital, as the economic, political, and cultural center of the nation, and the rest of the country, is France. The Parisians consider the rest of France as la Province, backward because it lacks all the vices for which Paris is so famous. The rest of France complains about Parisian government spending and control. Italy is a prominent example of divergence between the economic center in the north and the economic periphery in the south. The mock republic of Â�Padania was an expression of the division, in which the national capital Rome hardly played a role. A new kind of division between the center and the periphery arose in the 1980s, and it made clear that traditional centers may become new peripheries. The change was due to the rise of unemployment and the shift from traditional industries to service-oriented economies. Old industrial areas like the German Ruhrgebiet Â�

80 |╇The Nature of European Nations

(Essen, Duisburg, Dortmund) and central England (Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds) were plagued by the closure of many factories and high unemployment. They moved from being economic centers of the nation to a new kind of periphery. Investors preferred the high-tech enterprises in other parts of these countries, like the south of Germany and the southeast of England. As the new sunbelts of their nations, these regions seemed to become the new centers of the national economy and motors of economic progress. In Western Europe, most older industrial areas have been able to attract new investment, however, and have gradually retaken a prominent place in the economy. In Central Europe, however, the economic reforms have hit the old industrial centers more profoundly; the opening of the economic borders has made them easy victims of international competition. Industrial regions that used to be the pride of the nation as showpieces of industrial progress under communism are now changing into slum areas. The latest type of center/periphery division developed in Germany after the Â�German reunification of 1990, when the former communist East Germany was integrated in the West German Federal Republic. The East German economy did not survive the competition with West German enterprises and crumbled, resulting in high unemployment. East Germans (Ossies) expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the domination of their economy and politics by the West Germans Â�(Wessies). The Wessies complained about the lack of gratitude among the Ossies in spite of the billions of German marks that the West invested in the East as reconstruction funds. The political relevancy of the center/periphery issue is not only shown by separation movements like the one in Italy but also by differences in voting behavior or by the rise of political parties that defend the periphery. In some countries, the Scandinavian countries, for instance, farmers’ parties act in that way, defending rural interests against the influence of the national capital. Although the national divide between the center and the periphery has been less contentious in European nations than the American North/South division that resulted in Civil War, even Switzerland, not one of Europe’s most belligerent nations, had its 19th-century civil war between the urban and Protestant north and the more rural and Catholic south. In the rural–urban divide, Europe differs a great deal from the United States, however. American culture has been shaped by a rural and small town outlook. Americans live in towns and cities, but their attitude to urban life is a mixture of strong aversion and less strong appeal. The first immigrants were rural settlers, and rural self-advancement and self-defense became core elements in American culture, practiced in small rural communities. Cities have appeal, but they are also distrusted as centers of social problems like violence, alcoholism, prostitution, and broken families. European cities have always been held in esteem as sources of national culture and concentrations of civilization, whether for their status as royal courts, trade centers, or historic places of culture and learning. The European labor movement



Social Class╇ | 81

reinforced the idea of cities as centers of progress, as opposed to what they considered the backward countryside. Antiurban movements have been rather marginal, and often directed exclusively against the power of the national capital. Europeans proudly boast of the tradition of urban life and urban culture, and at least in peaceful times preserve, and after each war restore, their old town centers. The appeal of suburbia and urban sprawl has also affected European towns, but downtown has remained the place of culture, entertainment, relaxing, and meeting old friends, new friends, and one-night stands. After the spread of the car, European governments opted for traffic congestion and parking problems instead of large downtown parking lots, or they attempted to find a contentious compromise between the two.

Social Class Language, religion, and the center versus periphery divergence have been age-old sources of conflict and have motivated internal and international warfare. Toward the turn of the 20th century a fourth divide, social class, established itself as a prominent political issue. It has marked 20th-century European politics and has been the predominant dividing line since the end of World War I, and even more so since the end of World War II, in almost all European democracies. During most of European history, peasants used to be the poor class. Under feudalism, they were often exploited by the nobility and other landowners. With the Industrial Revolution, which spread across Europe in the 19th century, a new class of poor people arose, the industrial working class, which was concentrated in industrial towns and cities and large mining communities. Although millions of town and village laborers migrated to the New World during the second half of the 19th century, Europe did not develop a notion like the US Open Frontier. Within the national borders there were hardly any opportunities to evade harsh labor discipline or to escape political oppression. These conditions encouraged industrial labor to raise its voice in industrial protest, social revolt, and sometimes national revolution. Although some chose the exit option and moved abroad, others stayed and shifted from loyalty to voice by joining protest movements. Toward the end of the 19th century, manual workers in industry established the labor movement, which drew attention to the appalling living and labor conditions of the industrial proletariat and demanded more social and political equality. Labor succeeded in making social class the core political issue in many European nations, separating the industrial working class from the middle and the upper class, that is, the bourgeoisie. The term “working class” refers to wage-dependent workers, in particular to manual (or blue collar) workers in industry. Originally, the middle class included all people who were self-employed and often had some capital from which

82 |╇The Nature of European Nations

to derive an income, in the form of a shop or an enterprise. Later, the middle class also came to include middle- and higher-echelon office employees in the private and public sectors. The upper class forms the wealthy top of this middle class. The labor movement attacked capitalism as a system that exploited the working class. Bourgeois politics only served the small groups of middle- and upper-class industrialists, landowners, and professionals that enjoyed voting rights but denied that right to the working class. National labor movements then set up their own political organizations and trade unions in order to improve working-class living and labor conditions and, ultimately, to organize a revolution that would smash capitalism. Already in the early 20th century, the Marxists split into democratic and reformist social democracy, which swore off revolution in favor of democratic reforms, and dictatorial and revolutionary communism, which claimed to be the vanguard of the proletariat and retained the ideal of revolution. Social democracy became a leading political force in European democracies, communism in Eastern Europe and the Caucasian countries, and after World War II also in Central Europe under Russian control. The contrast between the United States and Europe has not been one of class composition, which has been more or less similar, but in the impact of social class on society. Because of the large and politically oriented labor movement, the gulf between the working class and the middle class has always been strong in Europe and became the basic divide in national politics. The European labor movement has emphasized the common interests of the working class and created a sense of community among industrial workers. Its appeal has resulted in a higher degree of class consciousness (Klasse für sich) and class identification among manual workers with their social class than in the United States.

Coping with Division: Integration versus Exclusion Language, religious affiliation, regional disparities, and the social structure of society have been disruptive forces in European politics. Several means have been tried to cope with these kinds of division. They range from violent exclusion or extermination of minorities to peaceful efforts to integrate them in national society, while granting them specific rights to continue their culture. Regretfully, efforts of violent exclusion or extermination have been most common in European politics up to modern times. By far the largest extermination campaigns during the 20th century were the Nazi Holocaust and the Soviet Great Purges of enemies of the working class and agents of international imperialism, the terms used for those convicted and killed in the Stalinist prisons and concentration camps in the 1930s. Although it is never referred to in these terms, ethnic cleansing included the forced removal of more than 10 million Germans from Central and



The Decline of the Traditional Sources of Division╇ | 83

Eastern European countries to Germany right after World War II. It was not only a reaction to the war and suppression under German occupation but also meant to prevent any new German claims on foreign territory. The ethnic-cleansing campaigns by Serbs and Croats in Bosnia in the early 1990s and by Serbs in Kosovo, until 2008, when it was still a part of Serbia, were the latest examples of forcing people to leave their homes and sometimes their country. Political exclusion may also take less violent or dramatic forms, like denying access to national politics or participation in the national government. This strategy affected Italian communists after World War II. Although they regularly received a quarter of all votes in national elections, they were systematically left out of government between 1948 and 1998, to some degree under US pressure. The Â�Americans feared that NATO, the western defense organization, would not be strong enough to oppose communism if communists held power positions in any of the larger member states. Integration in the national political system might look like the opposite of exclusion, but it may actually amount to the same thing. This is especially the case when integration takes undemocratic and violent forms and the majority does not take into account the minorities’ different culture. Once again, the most repressive forms of integration occurred in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Nazis banned all Â�organizations of the labor movement and persecuted communists and Social Â�Democrats. New and state-controlled organizations with compulsory membership were set up to integrate workers in Nazi society. The Soviet Union used the power monopoly of the Communist Party and the ban on all rival organizations to guarantee the integration of the working class in Soviet politics and to exclude minority interests. Except for multilingual Switzerland, the combination of special rights and peaceful national integration has no long history in Europe. Most developments in that direction (including federalism) date from the postwar period, and in some of the new nations of Central Europe minority rights continue to be a hot issue, such as in Turkey.

The Decline of the Traditional Sources of Division The traditional sources of division are losing force. In Western European democracies, language and ethnicity have lost their impact on politics, and minority tongues have been recognized. Only scattered and isolated terrorist groups are now fighting for full independence, for instance in the Basque region of Spain, and for autonomy, such as on the French island of Corsica. Yet, the division of Bosnia, Cyprus, and Moldova shows that ethnic disputes have not been solved in all of Western Europe. Religion, in the sense of Catholic versus Protestant or clerical versus anticlerical conflict, has also lost much of its political force due to secularization, which refers

84 |╇The Nature of European Nations

to the decline of religious affiliation combined with a weakening of the impact of religion on politics. Most Christians are Christian in name only and no longer accept strict rules on their behavior by religious leaders. In Central and Eastern Europe, the long period of communist rule, during which religious expression was banned, secularized society in a less democratic way. Yet, in Northern Ireland the voices of conflict and disharmony have not been totally silenced. It is mainly when Islam is involved, however, that overt conflicts break out, as on the Balkan Peninsula, the Caucasian Peninsula, and the Islamic Russian region of Chechnya, also located on the Caucasian Peninsula. In Europe, going to church is no social obligation and is not a constituent part of social life, as it is in rural and small-town America. Center versus periphery contrasts have also had less and less impact. The labor force in agriculture is now only a fraction of the total population in most European countries, and there are no rural states, as in the United States. Farmers’ parties still exist, but they are small and have to look for support beyond the countryside. Even more important than any of these changes is the transformation of the social structure, which has reduced the political impact of social class. Many European nations are no longer industrial economies but postindustrial and Â� service-oriented economies. Most employees think of themselves as middle class, live in middle-class suburbs, and display a great variety of lifestyles, to which they are more attached than to their class status. The change of social structure has reduced the class identification of the working class and the appeal of the labor movement. In particular, the Social Democratic parties have changed from exclusive Labor parties to more general parties, appealing not only to manual workers but also to office employees and professionals. New divisions have not (yet) replaced the old ones. An important new issue is gender. The women’s movement that emerged during the 1960s and 1970s, partly because of the weakening of religion and social class as sources of identity and division, has come to enjoy political influence. Nowadays, women’s role in society, their labor market participation, the wage gap with men, and the glass ceiling are general issues in European politics, yet are not sources of overt conflict between genderbased organizations. Age might well become another source of division because of the growing number of old-age pensioners. Increasingly, however, Western European society is characterized by what might well become the strongest source of political conflict—the waves of immigrant workers and Â�political refugees.

Immigrants: â•›A New Divide? In November 2009, in a nationwide referendum, Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets, beyond the four minarets that existed already in the country. A majority of voters voted in favor of the ban. The main arguments



Immigrants: ╛A New Divide?╇ | 85

were that minarets were symbols of Muslim power, which posed a threat to Swiss civilization and women’s rights. The government had urged the voters to vote against the ban, pointing to freedom of religion, but its call went unheeded. In 1993, girls wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf were not admitted to a school in France. Such religious symbols were considered a violation of the separation between the state and religion (or even more a visible sign of female oppression than a religious symbol). Others objected to the measure, which they regarded as an encroachment of civil and religious rights. Later, similar incidents were reported, until the issue was solved by a general ban on such expressions of religion in public schools. Yet, the issue has also come up in other countries, and the issue of Muslim power and Muslim female wear will reappear on the political agenda for years to come. In Western Europe, the issue of Islam arose in the 1960s and 1970s, when millions of Muslim workers from Turkey (2.5 million) and North Africa (2 Â�million) migrated to the industrial cities in the more prosperous countries of Western Europe. Many were originally treated as temporary “guest workers” (Gastarbeiter in German), but later they were allowed to have their families join them, and since that time their share in the population has risen continuously. In Western Europe Muslims have erected their own mosques (sometimes partly financed by rich Arab oil states) and have also asked for the same rights that Christians have enjoyed for centuries—but in which many are no longer interested. They think: Why should Christian church bells wake up Muslims, and Muslim muezzins not be permitted to call for prayer? A number of natives fear that the importance of Islam, which has been imported by millions of immigrant workers and political fugitives, is growing to such an extent that Islamization is threatening Europe’s language-based nations. The argument is that the influence of Islam, and in particular of very conservative religious leaders who reject any form of integration in Western European society, undermines democracy, civil liberties, and national virtues. Nationalist and outright racist parties focus on this loss of classical national virtues, while forgetting their nation’s past as a colonial or imperial oppressor. Their opponents point to the fact that many children of Muslim migrants (the second-generation migrants) are raised in democratic traditions and are willing to adapt to national social life. The social and political integration of the second generation is jeopardized, however, by their marginal position in economic life. Generally, they have a lower level of training than the children of the indigenous population, and they are more plagued by unemployment. Ghettos of poor African Americans and other ethnic minorities in the United States serve as a powerful incentive for European governments to step up the efforts of integration, including social measures to get these people at work. “Are we going the American way?” is a popular headline story in Europe after each outburst of racial discontent in the United States. The minority issue has explicit racial overtones in Great Britain, where the larger cities house

86 |╇The Nature of European Nations

concentrations of blacks from the former colonies. Many of them share the fate of unemployment and other social problems with the Muslim migrants in the rest of Western Europe. During the 1990s, the largest group of migrants consisted of 2 million refugees from former Yugoslavia, who left their countries because of Croatian–Serbian warfare, the Bosnian civil war, and the Kosovo conflict. In 1992, more than 400,000 of these refugees fled to Germany. Foreigners now make up nine percent of the German population, the highest share in Europe. Table 5.4 shows the spread of foreign migrants over the main recipient countries, where immigrants now make up five to nine percent of total population. The table does not include large numbers of people from former colonies that share the nationality of the country to which they have immigrated. Table 5.4╇ Foreign Nationals (Immigrants and Refugees) Country*

Total Population Main Countries (in millions) of Origin

Comments†

Germany 82.3 Turkey, Serbia, Country with largest proportion of â•… Italy, Greece, â•… foreigners (nine percent of total â•… Poland, Bosnia â•…population). During the 1990s, large numbers of political refugees were admitted. France 62.8 North Africa The country with the longest history â•… (Algeria, ╇╛╛ of immigration, including many Latin â•… Morocco) â•…European immigrant workers. In addition, many immigrants have arrived from former colonies, who are French nationals. Great 61.3 Ireland, Pakistan, Most immigrants are from former â•… Britain â•… India â•… colonies; many are black immigrants. The 16.7 Turkey, North There are also many immigrants from â•… Netherlands â•… Africa (Morocco) â•…Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana), who are Dutch nationals. Belgium 10.4 Italy, North A country with a long history of â•… Africa (Morocco) â•…immigration, including miners from Italy and Poland. Austria 8.2 Former Many refugees have traveled to â•… Yugoslavia â•…Germany; others have stayed in Austria. Switzerland 7.6 Italy Italians are employed in manual work. â•…Because of a small number of Italian-speaking Swiss, Italian is one of Switzerland’s official languages. *Countries are ranked in order of population size. † Because of the great variation in numbers according to different sources, no numbers or percentages are given here.



Immigrants: ╛A New Divide?╇ | 87

Although the share of foreigners in the total population may not be very high, migrants are often concentrated in large cities, and in some quarters of larger Western European cities and industrial towns they form a sizable minority. For example, there are 300,000 Algerians in Paris and 140,000 Turks in Berlin. France has probably the highest percentage of Muslims in Western Europe outside the Balkan Peninsula, about seven percent, followed by the Netherlands and Denmark, both between five and six percent, all of them recent immigrants. The integration of foreign migrants is mainly a problem of the more prosperous Western European countries (except, of course, for the temporary political refugees in the former Yugoslavia). In these countries, it is now by far the most pressing political issue and a topic of lively debate in public and private discussion (see chapter 12). Americans often react to these developments with astonishment, while proudly stressing their century-old experience of integrating immigrants from all over the world. The Muslim immigrants in Europe have entered in a brief period, however, in countries that are not used to mass immigration, and many of them espouse values that are very different from those of the native citizens. A more analogous comparison for Americans would be what the response has often been when a large number of blacks have moved to predominantly white communities. Table 5.5 summarizes elements from this chapter and compares Europe and the United States. Table 5.5╇ Comparison of American and European Nationhood and Society European Nations

United States

Developments since the 1970s

Nationhood based on Nationhood based â•… ethnicity (language) and â•… on values â•… sometimes also on religion Socialization consists of Socialization consists â•… learning the language â•… of internalizing basic â•…values Natives Immigrants Europe: Waves of immigration â•…have affected the ethnic base of the nation Ethnic (language, Race as major divide United States: A change from â•… religious) minorities â•…racial issues to ethnic issues between dominant whites and various ethnic minorities Crowd and frontiers Space and size Urbanized, Suburbanized, with a United States: The disparity â•… urban culture â•… strong rural thrust â•…between inner cities and suburbs has grown (Continued)

88 |╇The Nature of European Nations Catholic/Protestant/ Protestant domination Europe: Stark decline of ╅ Orthodox with Jews and ╅ is hardly contested ╇ ╛religion and religious influence, ╅ Muslims at the margins; ╇ ╛that is, secularization; growing ╅ religion is a very ╇ ╛numbers of Muslims ╅ contentious issue in ╅ Catholic nations Class divided Middle class Europe: Class division has ╅declined but continues to play a role in politics

CHAPTER 6

The Design of European Democracy

T

he lines of divisions in the various democratic nations have influenced the nature of national politics, although not in a direct way. In designing and redesigning a democratic political system, and changing it again, political leaders have taken into account the lines of division as they perceived them, or as they wanted to see them, or to forget about them. This chapter outlines the basic types of democracy; their main features will be elaborated in later chapters. As this chapter and the next chapters deal with democracy, the focus will be on Western Europe and to a lesser extent on Central Europe. The nations of Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe are very problematic democracies at best, if democracies at all, and their democratic experience is limited. Their political systems will be briefly discussed in a separate section, but there are also occasional references in the rest of the text.

Division versus Diversity The basic (liberal) idea of US society has been one of individual diversity: all individual citizens (though originally only whites) are equal and diverse, and without a permanent division rooted in one or more dominant social or cultural cleavages. Whatever their ethnic background, all white immigrants would become Americans and part of the melting pot once they had passed Ellis Island’s immigration office. They would be farmers or small-town middle-class people, adhere to Protestant values, and enjoy equal opportunities to become prosperous. Group rights were out of the question, as such rights would have to be based on the previous nationality of the immigrants, but that nationality was given up in the American ideal of a (white) melting pot. In Europe, however, it has mostly not been diversity and equality among individuals that count but inequalities between groups, like that between the aristocracy, clinging to its privileges, and the bourgeois class, advocating equality, at least for itself. The privileged position of the nobility was visible in their overrepresentation 89

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in the early national parliaments. Later, national parliaments came to reflect social and religious cleavages, like those between Protestants and Catholics, those between traditional Catholics and anticlericals, or those between the working class and the middle class. Most groups not only claimed individual but also group rights, to the advantage of society as a whole, of course. In the United States, individual diversity is accompanied by a second liberal idea: individual competition as the best form of selection in social life, including the free market and that most attractive of all sports (to play, not to watch), politics. Candidates for office compete in elections, and election secures selection, as Founding Father James Madison argued. The idea of individual competition has also been accepted in European nations, but not as enthusiastically as in the United States. Economic competition in the form of a free capitalist market has always met with resistance or at least with suspicion, first among Conservatives, later among the labor movement. Political competition has become a feature of democracy, but more in the form of groups that compete for power than in the form of individual competition. Competition by individuals mainly takes place within the various groups that compete for power. The third idea that is at the heart of American democracy, and maybe the most crucial one, is dispersion of power. Competition points to trust in humans (as rational beings) and in competing individuals seeking power; dispersion points to mistrust of people in general (as beings with human weaknesses) and of people as soon as they have acquired power. No individual should become too powerful, and that idea resulted in various devices of dispersion of power, including federalism. Dispersion of power was also part of the European heritage, for instance under feudalism with rights for local lords and in early forms of federalism, but with the exception of Switzerland, federalism was discontinued in the 19th century. The groups that made up national society claimed state power over others, for instance in the form of a Catholic or a secular state, and later even a communist workers’ state in the Soviet Union. All of these groups opted for centralization of power as a means to further their cause. Centralization was reinforced by international politics, which encouraged the growth of standing armies, as instruments of defense but also of conquest and suppression. The American combination of individual diversity, individual competition, and dispersion of power is expressed in the simplest form of democratic decision Â�making, the majority rule, in which the majority decides, hence the term majoritarianism. In American politics, the majority is kept in check, however, by the three core ideas that serve as safeguards against majority tyranny. The first idea, the presumed lack of social and cultural division (and the neglect of racial Â�division), to some extent precludes the rise of a permanent majority that would always be composed of the same kind of people. The majority’s power does not last long



Parliamentarism versus Presidentialism╇ | 91

Table 6.1╇ The Basic Ideas behind National Politics US: Basic Ideas

US: Political Devices

Europe: Basic Europe: Political Ideas Devices

Individual diversity →Presidentialism Group division →Parliamentarism Individual →Majority rule Individual and →Proportionality â•…competition â•…group competition Dispersion of →Separation of Power →Fusion of â•…power â•…powers â•…concentration â•…powers →Checks and →Parliamentary â•…balances â•…supremacy →Federalism →Centralization of â•…powers

either, because of the second idea: competition in the form of elections is always around the �corner. Dispersion of power, the third idea, prevents abuse of power. In Europe, the three basic ideas have been group division, group and individual competition, and centralization of power. Individual political preferences are more determined by deep social cleavages between groups that compete for power. In particular, groups that expected to gain power, such as the 19th-century Conservatives, favored some form of majority rule, which would allow them to continue their power monopoly. That ideal proved beyond reach, however, and often under pressure of the labor movement, a new principle was introduced: Proportionality, in which power remains centralized but is shared by competing groups, to some extent in proportion to their numerical size. Proportionalism was not a European ideal; it was the way out for groups that realized they would not easily gain power under the majority rule. The difference between American majoritarianism and European proportionalism is to some extent reflected in the American presidential and the European parliamentary systems, as well as in a number of other political devices. See Table 6.1.

Parliamentarism versus Presidentialism The original idea of representative democracy, as expressed by John Locke, was not to replace the king by an elected official but to limit royal power. An elected and representative body, the parliament, should act as legislative power and make standing laws that should be binding upon the executive power, vested in the king. Both legislative and executive powers should be to a large degree independent from each other and have their own range of competencies, yet without the right to remove each other. The distinction between the two separate powers was complemented

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by a more complete distinction between these two powers and a third power, the judiciary, whose task it was to resolve disputes between citizens and the parliamentary and executive powers. More fully than Locke had done, 18th-century French philosopher Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu introduced the concept of combining the three powers (trias politica). In Â�Montesquieu’s view, they should each have their own sphere of action, and the judicial power should function totally independently from the other two. Indeed, judicial independence has become a cornerstone of representative democracy, but the relationship between the legislative and the executive power has varied among nations. The United States went beyond the trias politica of Locke and Montesquieu. The legislature (US Congress) and the executive branch (the president), both of them elected, should keep each other in check. Because mutual dependency does not leave room for real checks, they had to be as independent from each other as possible, which resulted in the principles of separation of powers and checks and balances. Separation of powers implies that neither power should have the ability to remove the incumbents of other powers from office, except for highly exceptional circumstances. The three powers should also be masters over their own agenda and debate without any outside interference. Checks and balances implies that measures of one power can be checked by the other two powers in some way or another. Because of the independent position of the president, this system is called a presidential system of government, or presidentialism (Lijphart 1992). In most of Europe, hereditary monarchs continued to play a role in national Â�politics, and because election of these monarchs was out of the question, the ideas of Â�parliamentary supremacy and parliamentary responsibility were gradually introduced. His (or Her) Majesty’s Government should no longer be selected by and responsible to the king or queen; it should be elected by the parliament and responsible to the parliament. The parliament, as the legislative power, should be the supreme authority, which is expressed in its right not so much to remove the king but to remove the government and elect a new government in its place. The executive power, then, is not independent; it is subordinate to the legislative power, to the parliament. Because of the parliamentary supremacy, this system is called the parliamentary system of government, or parliamentarism. It is the prevailing system in Europe, even in countries that have done without monarchs since independence. Although the United States is a presidential republic, because the president is also the political leader of the country, European democracies are either Â�parliamentary republics, with a president as the formal head of the nation, or parliamentary monarchies, with a king or queen or someone with a similar Â�aristocratic title as the formal head of the nation—but always with the parliament as the supreme power. Because that power is often laid down in a constitution, parliamentary monarchies are often also called constitutional monarchies to set them apart from absolutist monarchies in which the power of the monarch



Continental Democracy versus Westminster Democracy╇ | 93

is not limited by law. Only France has made a shift from a parliamentary to a �semi-presidential system. It combines features of the two systems: government responsibility to the �parliament (parliamentarism), but also to the elected �president, who cannot be removed by the parliament (presidentialism). In Europe, the early liberals who introduced parliamentary democracy at first also thought of individual diversity rather than group representation in the national parliament. Yet, even they had to admit that such groups existed and often voiced divergent interests: the royal court, (rural) landlords, (urban) industrialists, Catholic bishops, and later the labor movement. Even when the population had the opportunity to elect a head of the nation, selecting one person as a powerful head of state would never do justice to the division of society. Hence the preference for a continuation of monarchs as national symbols, yet with depleted powers, and later for unimportant and largely ceremonial presidents. The main power should repose in the national parliament, which would reflect the ethnic, social, and religious diversity of society. The government should be responsible to the parliament and preferably consist of a coalition of groups that are represented in the parliament.

Continental Democracy versus Westminster Democracy Proportionality may be a typical European device, but it also entered the US Â�Constitution, for instance by taking into account the number of slaves in determining the share of votes in federal politics. Moreover, proportionality is not applied universally in Europe; a number of countries combine parliamentarism with the majority rule, or with a combination of majority rule and proportionality. For that reason, yet another distinction should be made, more specifically between Great Britain on the one hand and the European continent on the other. Great Britain and the continent have parliamentarism in common, but within that system they Â�differ on a number of important elements. In Great Britain, only one social cleavage has long prevailed: social class. Other social cleavages existed, but they were less prominent or did not play a role in politics at all. Moreover, in spite of depressing social conditions during industrialization, the social cleavage was less Â�profound in Great Britain than on the continent. The British labor movement was not a united front, and the Labour Party was not established to transform society and the political system. Its moderation was one of the reasons the liberal ideas of individual diversity and individual competition have continued to influence Great Britain more than the continental nations. The continental countries were more divided, and their division resulted in a party system that was more of a patchwork, with religion-based political movements and parties, regional parties, farmers’ Â�parties, political movements of ethnic minorities, and other parties based on the main social cleavages. Moreover, the continental labor movement was more radical than

94 |╇The Design of European Democracy

the British labor movement in its demand of a profound or revolutionary change of the capitalist economy and the political system. The result of these two continental features has been a partial replacement of the majority rule by the rule of proportionality, of power sharing by groups on the basis of their group size. This difference has motivated the Dutch political scientist Arend Lijphart to make a more basic distinction between two types of democratic parliamentary Â�systems: the Westminster system, so called because the British government and parliament have their seat in the London borough of Westminster, and what Lijphart calls the consensus political system, which is common in continental Europe. The consensus system includes a large number of European democracies, including countries that are often highly divided on prominent political issues and in which conflict over such issues breaks out relatively easily. For that reason the term “consensus system” seems a bit of a misnomer, and the more neutral term of “continental” is preferred here (Lijphart 1999). The Westminster political system has as a core ingredient the majority (or Â�plurality) electoral system, in which all constituencies (voting districts) may send one delegate to the national parliament, and this delegate is the one who has won the absolute majority (in a majority system) or a relative majority (in a plurality system) in a Â�voting district. Because in Great Britain the plurality system is combined with the prevalence of only one social cleavage (social class), which divides the population into two segments, the pluralist electoral system (and the majority electoral system) has tended to, but need not necessarily, result in a two-party system in which only two political parties dominate and compete for government power. Smaller parties exist, but they have no chance of winning more than a few districts, and for that reason no chance of participating in the national government. The two-party system results in one-party governments. The leader of the winning party becomes the leader of the next government. Great Britain is the only country in which the election results directly decide which party will govern the country and who will be the next prime minister, the government leader. The winning party monopolizes all government posts, without any concessions to other parties or coalitions. The continental political system includes the electoral system of proportional representation, in which all voting districts have a number of seats to occupy in the national parliament, and the seats in each district are allocated to Â�parties in proportion to their share of votes. This electoral system provides more opportunities for smaller parties to be represented in the national parliament, because they do not need to carry whole districts, and tends to result in party systems that Â�comprise more than two parties, called multiparty systems. Often there is not a clear majority for one party, which means combinations of parties are needed to form a coalition government that is based on majority support in the national parliament. Consequently, elections in multiparty systems must be followed by negotiations between some of the parties that are willing to form a



Continental Democracy versus Westminster Democracy╇ | 95

government and have a sufficient number of seats to do so. The need for coalition talks implies that the election outcome does not directly determine which party or parties will participate in the national government or who will be its leader: for instance, a coalition of small parties may prevent the largest party from forming a �government by building a coalition of their own. Whereas the Westminster �system results in government stability most of the time, coalition governments can be very unstable, and coalition talks are an elite affair without much popular participation. Yet, coalition governments often involve a range of parties, whereas in the Westminster system only one party is involved in the national government, which may be less representative of the population at large. The Westminster system differs from the American one in its parliamentary supremacy, but a number of elements are shared, the majority electoral system for instance, which makes the British system a kind of intermediate between the US political system and the continental system that is common in Europe. It is less of a liberal system than the American one and more of a liberal system than the �continental system. See Table 6.2 for a comparison of the American, Westminster, and continental political systems. Table 6.2╇ Comparison of the American, Westminster, and Continental �European Political Systems American System

Westminster Continental System System

Basic devices Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Parliamentarism, â•…majority rule â•…majority rule â•…proportionality Electoral Majority or Majority or Proportional â•…system â•…plurality â•…plurality â•…representation Party system Two-party system Two-party system Multiparty system Government One-party One-party Coalition governments â•… composition â•… government â•… governments Government Election results Election results Election results plus outcome â•… based on â•… of coalition talks Government Not necessarily Majority in Majority, sometimes â•… supported by â•… by members of â•… parliament â•… minority in parliament â•…Congress Advantages Clear winners, Clear winners, A range of parties are â•…government â•…government â•…involved in the â•…stability â•…stability â•…government Disadvantages Votes of the losing Votes of the losing Elite (and often secret) â•… party are lost â•… party are lost â•… coalition talks after â•… elections, government â•…instability

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It is important to keep in mind that a majority (or plurality) electoral system does not necessarily result in a two-party system. In Great Britain, more than two parties are actually represented in parliament, but only the two major parties count in politics. A proportional electoral system need not necessarily result in a multiparty system either, and a multiparty system does not always bring forth coalition cabinets. Scandinavian countries in particular have often been governed by oneparty governments, supported by a minority in the parliament. This means there is no completely logical relation and certainly no total causal relation between the various elements within the Westminster and the continental systems, but hybrid systems are rare in Europe; almost all countries have tended to establish either the Westminster or the continental system.

Germanic Democracy and Latin Democracy Great Britain is not the only exception with respect to the rule of proportionality. Almost all continental democracies have or had elements of proportionality, in particular the electoral system of proportional representation, yet for several countries proportional representation is the only proportional feature. Other countries have also introduced proportional elements, which has made them more proportionalist. A comparison of the scope of proportionality in European nations suggests a further distinction within Lijphart’s category of continental countries, and this time the term “consensus” may be more adequate. The smaller Germanic nations have most proportional elements, and they have even been categorized as proportional democracies (Proporzdemokratien in German). In addition to an electoral system of proportional representation, they share (at least) one of the other features of proportionalism: pillarization and corporatism. Pillarization denotes the segmentation of society into various groups or blocs (e.g., Catholics, labor, farmers), each with its own political and social organizations and sometimes its own educational institutions, health care agencies, printed media and television networks, and other organizations. The groups enjoy a great deal of autonomy in establishing their own network of organizations and spending public subventions. Educational and other state funds are often allocated proportionally, based on the number of pupils and students that attend educational institutions in each bloc or each pillar. As a form of decentralization of central government power, pillarization resembles federalism, yet the division is not a regional one, as it is in federalism, but one between nationwide groups. The terms “pillar” and “pillarization” are often used when the segments comprise both Â�middle-class and working-class people, in other words, when the segments cut through the class division. Most of the smaller Germanic nations



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had Social Democratic and/or Catholic pillars, but they have gradually waned since the 1960s and 1970s. Outside these countries, pillarization was and still is rare. The outstanding example was the Â�Netherlands, which had large Protestant (Calvinist) and Catholic pillars, later joined by a Social Democratic pillar, almost without any mutual contacts between the Â�ordinary members of the pillars (that is, between Catholics and Protestants) except for the political leadership of these pillars, which had to negotiate and supervise the terms of proportional allocation of public funds to the pillars. Corporatism (elaborated in chapter 10) features regular national-level talks between business, trade unions, and the national government on social and Â�economic issues. It is also more or less confined to the smaller Germanic nations, though Ireland is a recent newcomer. A number of Central European countries have also introduced their own forms of corporatism at the national level. Why are proportionalist devices like pillarization and corporatism at home in the smaller Germanic nations and far less so or not at all in Latin Europe and in most of Central Europe? (Of course, under communism, Central Europe could not develop any kind of voluntary organizations, as the communist regime considered them a threat to their power monopoly.) The position of Germany is a very interesting one. It has not developed pillarization and corporatism as the smaller Germanic nations have, but it has a number of political devices that come close to it, and of all the larger European countries the structure of German democracy resembles most that of the smaller Germanic nations. One of the reasons for the prominent place of these political elements in the smaller Germanic nations is the domination of the labor movement by moderate Social Democrats rather than by more extreme communists. (For an explanation, see chapter 7.) Even where social democracy started as a revolutionary movement, it soon accepted parliamentary democracy and built up large networks of organizations within capitalist society, some of which competed with private businesses. Such networks were gradually recognized by national governments as executors of social policies and were subsidized for their work. Communists did not accept parliamentary democracy, even when they participated in the national government, and they did not set up such service networks (Slomp 1998). An additional reason was the position of the Catholic Church. Of the smaller Germanic nations only Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg are predominantly Catholic, but the Catholic Church faced the democratically oriented Social Â�Democratic pillar and then built up its own pillar. In Latin Europe, the Church had no such competitor or, in the case of France, it had been prevented since the 1789 French Revolution from developing a political party or a political Â�network of its own by the strict separation between state and church and, later, by the Catholic Church’s instructions to its believers not to participate actively in Â�secularized French politics. In Italy the Catholic Church gave similar instructions

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Table 6.3╇ Germanic Democracy versus Latin Democracy

United Great Germanic Latin States Britain Europe Europe

Electoral No No Yes Yes â•…Proportionality â•…(except France) Pillarization No No Smaller nations No Corporatism No No Smaller nations, No â•… to some extent â•…Germany Polarization Limited Limited Limited Great Major subjects Tax, race, Social policies Social policies Social policies, â•…of polarization â•…religion â•…religion â•…(evangelism) â•…(Catholicism)

to its believers after the Unification of Italy in 1871, because the Papal State lost most of its territories to the new state. Because of these differences, Germanic politics has been less polarized than Latin politics. Under polarization, the various groups tend to increase or stabilize their mutual distance as extreme “poles,” rather than accepting power sharing (note the large gulf between polarization and pillarization). See Table 6.3 for a comparison of Germanic Democracy and Latin Democracy. As this brief survey shows, proportionality is a European phenomenon, but European politics is more than proportionality. It is a combination of majority rule and proportionality. Sometimes it even amounts to a conflict between the two rules, when groups see their chance under proportionality and seek to (re)introduce majority rule, or the other way around.

Unitarism versus Federalism In federalism, power is dispersed from the center to the federal units. Yet, the �federal level has power supremacy, and the constituent units have to observe the federal guidelines (within limits that are often laid down in a constitution). In other words, sovereignty, the supreme power, rests at the federal level. Several �European countries are federal systems, yet federalism is not a European invention. Throughout history, Europe has witnessed a number of confederations, in which �sovereignty rested with the federal units, sometimes with the sole restriction that the units did not have the right to leave the confederacy. By the 19th century, however, �confederations had disappeared, except for Switzerland. Switzerland had started as a confederation but in the 19th century developed into a federal system, as the United States had done before.



New Developments╇ | 99

Table 6.4╇ Unitarism versus Federalism

United Great Germanic Latin Central States Britain Europe Europe Europe

Federalism/ Federalism Recent Some Some No federalism â•…devolution â•…devolution â•…federalism â•…recent â•…or devolution â•…(Austria, â•…federalism/ â•…Belgium, â•…devolution â•…Germany) â•…(Spain, Italy) Top down Bottom up Top down Mostly top Top down No federalism â•…or bottom up â•…down â•…or devolution â•… federalism or â•… devolution

The federal systems that have developed in Europe since the end of World War II have followed a different route: from unitary states to federalism or to strong regional autonomy, in a process of devolution (handing over of power), which is more than mere decentralization of power to the regional units. The exceptional position of Switzerland shows that a unitary nation under a strong central government is the general European type of political system, in contrast to the United States, which has been a federation for more than 200 years. Although federalism is a core feature of American politics, it is not a basic element of European politics, and it is certainly not an element in the design of European democracy. See Table 6.4.

New Developments To summarize the argument so far, almost all European nations have parliamentary systems, most of them of the continental type, with proportional representation in elections and more than two political parties, some of which build coalition �governments. The smaller Germanic nations in particular share a few other political devices that reflect the rule of proportionality, such as pillarization and �corporatism. In Latin Europe, polarization has prevented the emergence of such devices, and the majority rule is more widely applied. Great Britain is the exception in Europe; it has no proportionality at all. Over the past two or three decades, there has been considerable change in democratic devices. Some of the proportionalist devices have disappeared or have lost appeal or political clout. Pillarization has dwindled or disappeared because of �secularization and the change in economic structure. Young people no longer �confine their social contacts to one religious or social-class segment of society. Corporatism has survived the economic changes in the late 20th century, but

100 |╇The Design of European Democracy

Â� governments have taken policy making into their own hands (if only to reduce budget Â�deficits), bypassing corporatism, or they have given more latitude for the free market, for instance, in the form of privatization. The core feature of Â�proportionalism—proportional representation in elections—still stands, however, and is not under attack. Moreover, the new phenomenon of positive action (as Â�affirmative action is called in Europe), in the form of preferential rights for women and ethnic groups that have suffered from discrimination, shows that proportionality is still alive. Some countries have even introduced quotas for the share of women in public employment and in parliamentary fractions of political parties. In Latin Europe polarization has declined because of the present-day reformist course of Labor parties and the reduced influence of the Catholic Church. In the United States, affirmative action for women and ethnic minorities, as well as racial gerrymandering (the adaptation of district borders to give ethnic minorities more of a chance to win at least a few districts, a device that should compensate them for a century of racist gerrymandering, which kept blacks out of politics), have also introduced a kind of group rights, which are collective rather than individual rights, and an expression of proportionality. Yet, such group rights are far more contentious in the United States than any ingredient of proportionalism in Europe.

CHAPTER 7

European Liberals Are Not American Liberals: The European Ideologies

A

narchists, Bolsheviks, Christian Democrats, Environmentalists, Feminists, Gaullists. As if more than 40 nations and more than 30 languages are not enough, Europe is also heavily divided among a great variety of ideologies, at least one for every letter in the Latin alphabet. To many Europeans the wide range of the political spectrum enhances the fascination of European politics, to most Â�Americans it is a source of frustration, the more so because some terms may cause confusion. European liberals are quite different from American liberals, and Â�Christian Democrats are not Europe’s religious right. To make matters more confusing to Americans, most European liberals are more conservative than the Â�Christian Democrats. See also chapter 13, which discusses the major ideologies that are represented in the European Parliament.

The European Political Spectrum The usual way to bring order in the apparent chaos of ideologies is to rank them from left to right on a horizontal line. The ranking is based on their position with respect to the issue of state intervention in the free-market economy in order to protect the working class and bring about more social equality. Europeans call this the social issue, not the economic issue, as it is labeled in the United States, because the European emphasis is more on the benefits of social policies and less on the (tax) costs. Labor-movement ideologies that totally reject the freemarket economy, like communism, are placed on the left end, and ideologies that oppose any state intervention in the form of social policies, yet do not necessarily oppose state intervention for other reasons, are located on the right end. There is, however, one complication to start with. The political Right consists not only of free-market apologists but also of people that support state intervention in the 101

102 |╇ European Liberals Are Not American Liberals:The European Ideologies

economy or even state control of the national economy for other reasons than promoting social equality. It might serve the economic or military strength of the nation or foreign expansion, for instance. Between the two extremes of total rejection of capitalism to the left and no market intervention at all (or no social market intervention) to the right are parties that advocate or accept some form of social state intervention, like Social Democrats and Christian Democrats. The horizontal line of division is at the heart of European politics. Most Europeans define their political position in left-right terms, and social equality and social policies constitute the core issues in European politics. European politics is not that simple, however. A second line of division on Â�ethical issues plays a role as well. This line relates to freedom and authority in moral values and family life, including sexual morals and abortion. Here the contrast is one between conservatives who stress authority by the state, a Church or one’s parents, and libertarians who espouse individual liberty. This second source of division, between authoritarianism and libertarianism in ethical issues, may be represented by a vertical line that cuts cross the horizontal line. (The term Â�“libertarian” is just applied here for reasons of clarity; there is no movement or party of that name in Europe.) As a consequence, the European political or ideological spectrum is a combination of two lines of division, a horizontal line for the left-right division and a Â�vertical one for the authoritarian-libertarian contrast. Political discussion is impeded by the fact that for both dividing lines the qualifications of progressive and conservative are used. Progressive stands for a position to the left on the horizontal line but also for a libertarian position on the vertical line; conservative denotes a place to the right and to the authoritarian side. Moreover, ideologies that are progressive in the issue of social state intervention in the economy may hold conservative views with respect to moral issues. Figure 7.1 shows the location of the most important European ideologies on the horizontal and vertical lines. Communists, who are the most radical with respect to social issues and at the same time extremely authoritarian in moral issues, are placed in the lower left corner. Conservative Liberals, who are conservative with respect to social issues but libertarian in moral issues, are in the upper right Â�corner; Social Democrats are located both to the left and more upward than Christian Democrats. Is the greater number of ideologies the only difference between the European and American ideological spectrums? No, they also differ in other respects. First, in Europe the two lines (left-right and libertarian-authoritarian) do not overlap, as they do to a large extent in the United States, where liberals and conservatives oppose each other. Second, the left-right division dominates European politics to a far greater degree than it does in the United States. The European labor movement has successfully



The European Political Spectrum╇ | 103

LIBERTARIAN ╇“progressive” anarchism

social liberalism social democracy conservative liberalism LEFT__________________________________________________RIGHT “progressive” â•…“conservative” Christian democracy â•… conservatism

communism â•… fascism

AUTHORITARIAN ╇╇“conservative” Figure 7.1╇The European Ideological Spectrum

promoted social equality as the core issue of politics, and moral issues count less than social issues. Third, the European ideological spectrum as a whole is more progressive on both lines than the American one. The European labor movement has widened the left part of the horizontal line, and in so doing it has pulled the whole political spectrum to the left. In combination with liberals the labor movement has also pulled the whole spectrum upward, toward the progressive side in moral issues. As a consequence, several large European parties occupy positions that are more progressive on both lines (i.e., more oriented to social equality and more libertarian) than that of the Democratic Party, and only a few European Â�parties share the Republicans’ attitudes to social and moral questions. European politics leans more to the Democratic than to the Republican side. Yet another difference is that, in the US sense, the terms “Democrat” and Â�“Republican” do not have any meaning in Europe. Several ideologies call themselves democrats, but one has to add a typical European adjective (e.g., liberal,

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Christian, social). Republicans exist only in France, and less so in Italy. They are the defenders of the republic against opponents to the right (very conservative Catholics and old-fashioned royalists in favor of a strong monarch). In the existing European kingdoms, abolishing monarchy is not an issue, and there are hardly any republicans in those countries. The main difference in terms between Europe and the United States, however, is in the meaning of the term “liberal,” which is discussed later. The classic ideologies appear here in the chronological order of their emergence: conservatism, liberalism, the labor ideologies, Christian democracy, fascism, and Nazism.

Conservatism “Once upon a time there was a king . . .” After some problems in finding a suitable prince for the princess, such fairy tales always end up with a happy royal family and, consequently, happy subjects. Anglo-Saxons often trace conservatism back to the Irish philosopher Edmund Burke (1729–1797), who, in his Reflections on the Revolution in France, fervently condemned the French Revolution. The revolution, or better yet any revolution, was an illegitimate overthrow of traditional society, a breach with traditional Â�values, such as church authority, royalty, the law, and hierarchy generally. Yet, if conservatism was a reaction to the French Revolution, the question arises as to what the revolutionaries attempted to overthrow, other than a conservative hierarchical order that had existed for centuries or even millenniums in Europe and the rest of the world. As the ideology of hierarchy and authority, conservatism is the oldest Â�ideological trend of humankind. The conservative vision of society is based on the traditional view of the family as a natural unity, in which the father exercises authority over his wife and children and takes care of them. Other forms of authority, like those of employers over their employees and monarchs over their subjects, are patterned after this family relationship. The relationship of inequality benefits both sides; the subordinates are under the obligation to obey, but in return they are well looked after by those in authority. Fatherly care enables the subjects to live in peace, free from concern. Conservatism was a defense of societies based on inequality, such as medieval feudalism, in which peasants were subordinate to landlords, and royal absolutism, in which all citizens had to observe royal whims. Under absolutism, the king or emperor (or czar or sultan) was the ultimate source of all power, or as the 17th-century French king Louis XIV is reported to have stated: “L’État, c’est moi” (“I am the state”). In addition to traditional fairy tales about a golden past with well-beloved kings and lovely princesses, conservatism has found its expression in the organic Â�analogy of social life, which compares society with the human body. In this vision



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all parts of the body (and society) constitute a harmonious and organic unity and perform functions necessary for a person’s (and society’s) well-being, but a clear distinction is made between lower and higher organs. Lower parts, like the feet and internal organs, have to obey a higher organ, like the head; otherwise the body will not function. Conservatives abhor rebellious lower parts. The individual is not a freedom-loving rational being but a security-seeking being. Law and order is what provides people with security and keeps them from engaging in personal attacks against others and against the authorities. For hundreds of years the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches have been the great proponents of the conservative view of society, referring to believers as the “flock of sheep” that need to recognize church authority in order to be redeemed. The Protestant Churches have been less unequivocal in that respect, as Protestantism stresses autonomous individual religious activity more than the two older churches. On defending authority, conservatism is located at the bottom of the political spectrum, advocating strict rules in ethical issues in order to maintain the right traditional order. In its attitude toward the free-market economy, conservatism has been more ambiguous. Originally, the free market was rejected as a threat to social life, as it disrupts family life and undermines traditional authority. Nowadays, most conservatives speak out strongly in favor of the free-market economy. Some conservatives advocate state intervention in the economy, but as a means to reinforce state power rather than to pursue social goals. Of course, conservatism has traditionally been supported by those in power, including absolute rulers and the aristocracy. People without any power have also embraced conservative ideas of society, however, as a natural order, an attitude that is more pronounced in the countryside than in the towns (this view is especially cherished in peripheral rural areas). The two major Conservative parties in Western Europe are the British Conservative Party and the French Gaullists, who are named after French wartime leader and president Charles De Gaulle (1959–1969). They differ in their attitude toward the free market. In that respect the British Conservatives, like Conservative Liberal parties, favor state abstention. The Gaullists have long advocated state intervention in the economy to serve French grandeur in the international economy and international politics. Charles de Gaulle was probably the most prominent Conservative statesman in Europe since the war. The current French president, Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy, is more of a Conservative Liberal in favor of state retreat in the economy.

Liberalism In striking contrast to conservatism, liberalism rejects “natural” hierarchy and stresses equality and freedom. “Men living together according to reason, without

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a common superior on earth with authority to judge between them, is properly the state of nature,” stated the English philosopher John Locke (1632–1704) in his Two Treatises on Government. The individual’s only aim in creating a commonwealth (state) is to punish crime “for the preservation of the property of all the members of that society.” Liberalism was introduced in European politics by the 1688 Glorious Â�Revolution in Great Britain, when British landlords enforced an early Bill of Rights as a condition of accepting a new king, who had just set foot on British soil. The continent had to wait another century for liberalism, until the 1789 French Revolution, and some countries had to wait another century or longer beyond that. The political liberals, of whom Locke was one of the first and one of the most influential on both sides of the Atlantic, focused on freedom from state interference in personal life, that is on liberal or civil rights, and on the relationship between the legislative power, the representation of the people, and the executive power, the monarch. The French philosopher Montesquieu (1689–1755), in his De l’Esprit des Lois (The Spirit of Laws), introduced a clear demarcation of the three powers, including the judiciary, in combination with mutual checks. Locke’s and Montesquieu’s ideas became the base of representative democracy, in which the monarch should be bound by standing laws made by the parliament. The Enlightenment, which emphasized, or more specifically, rediscovered the nature of man as a rational being, contributed to the spread of liberal theories on social contracts concluded between rational men. In the 19th century, Â�English philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) once more defined the civil rights, in particular the right of free speech, in his On Liberty and redefined the Â�relation between the legislature and the executive power. He reduced the function of Â�parliament from one of law making to one of control, not to govern but to prevent misgovernment. According to liberalism, individual freedom is the core element in society: Â�freedom from pressing bonds of authority and from total responsibility for subordinates. Society does not consist of rulers and subjects but is based on a voluntary social contract, in which free individual citizens confirm their intention to form a civic community and create a civic nationality based on citizens’ rights. In this self-chosen community all citizens should be able to develop their faculties by competing with others. The only limit to individual freedom is that one should not harm others and should not reduce the freedom of other citizens. Two elements are important for individual self-development: education and private property. Education is the base of human freedom, because it enlarges one’s capacities and capabilities and widens the range of opportunities available. Private property is the stake one has in society and provides the material foundation for engaging in nonproductive activities, like culture and political debate.



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Liberals were the early defenders of free-market competition and Â�parliamentary democracy (which is also a kind of competition). The most famous economic Â�liberal was the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723–1790), who, in his The Wealth of Nations, defended the competitive free market, in which an invisible hand would create prosperity for all participants. Representative democracy, as it developed in the American presidential system and the European parliamentary system, was a child of liberalism. Civil rights and checks upon rulers in the form of constitutions and standing laws became the core of democratic constitutions. The free market and free enterprise became the basis of democratic society. Whereas liberalism created the institutions of representative democracy, it did not extend democracy to all citizens. In early liberal thought, people without Â�education and private property were not full citizens and could not participate in political decision making as they had no stake in society. Voting rights were confined to wealthy and well-educated men, under a system of census suffrage, although John Stuart Mill strongly spoke out in favor of universal suffrage for men and women. Yet another means to secure the position of wealthy and well-educated citizens was multiple voting rights, which gave members of the elite more than one vote. After the rise of social democracy, the liberals split into two trends: conservative liberals and social liberals. Traditional liberals or conservative liberals continue to defend state abstinence, whereas social liberals have come closer to the Social Democrats in accepting social legislation. Both trends are at home in the upper half of the ideological spectrum; conservative liberals occupy a place at the right and social liberals in the middle. Liberalism finds its defenders in the towns and cities, and most of all among the urban (higher) middle class. Although businesspeople are more inclined to conservative liberalism, professionals and intellectuals constitute the backbone of social liberalism. Conservative Liberal parties exist in most European Â�countries, but only in some countries, for instance, in Belgium and occasionally in Â�Scandinavia, have they dominated national governments. Social liberal parties are still less common and smaller than conservative liberal parties. As the discussion of their priorities shows, European liberals are not the same as American liberals. Most European liberals are Conservative Liberals, located at the right end of the left-right line, exactly opposite the American liberals’ position. If transplanted to the United States, they would occupy the Left wing and the center of the Republican Party. Only the less numerous social liberals resemble American liberals. In contrast to the United States, however, social liberals are not located at the left end of the political spectrum, as that place is occupied by the ideologies of the labor movement. In Europe, freedom from state interference has not been the only type of freedom. Two other forms of freedom have also played a role: first, ethnic independence,

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accomplished in nation-states that are based on language or ethnicity more generally, and second, freedom through state policies, that is, the freedom to develop one’s talents, which is made possible by government intervention in the capitalist free market. The difference between “freedom from the state” and “freedom through the state” is also referred to as the difference between liberal rights or civil rights, which require limits to state power, and social rights, which consist of entitlement to state social services like public education, health care, and social security. The notion of freedom through the state and social rights has mainly been developed by the European labor movement.

Labor Ideologies: â•›Anarchism, Social Democracy, and€Communism “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat,” stated German philosopher Karl Marx (1818–1883) and his friend Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) in the 1848 Communist Manifesto. At the end of what is probably Europe’s most influential political manifesto, they appealed to the international proletariat to unite and forcibly overthrow all existing social conditions, because the workers had “nothing to lose but their chains.” The labor movement not only introduced a new notion of freedom that Â�contrasted with liberal freedom but also one of equality. It was no longer the liberal notion of equality of opportunities or, to be more precise, equality under the law that counted, but social equality, equality of living and working conditions; in Â�American terms it would be equality of outcome. The three major labor ideologies are anarchism, social democracy, and communism. Anarchism embraces individual and spontaneous actions by workers against their exploiters. The anarchist ideal is a wave of such actions that leads to large general strikes and ultimately results in international revolution. During the revolution the old small-scale artisanal workshop, a remnant of preindustrial society, is to be reestablished as the dominant form of production without any central authority. Preferably, private property should be abolished in favor of communal or socialist property. The rejection of the free-market economy and of any authority whatsoever places anarchism in the upper left corner of the spectrum. French and Russian philosophers have carried the torch of anarchism, in particular Frenchman PierreJoseph Proudhon (1809–1865) and Russian Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876). At the end of the 19th century, a new labor movement ideology emerged: Â�Marxism, inspired by Karl Marx. Marx rejected anarchism as a backward movement, because it denied industrial progress. Instead, industrial development would constitute the base of socialism. In Marxist theory, capitalism develops until it



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eventually collapses under its own disruptive forces and under the revolution of the organized proletariat, the final stage of the class struggle between the working class and their exploiters. The working class will eventually take over industry and establish a new socialist order of common (social) property. In contrast to anarchism, Marxism preached collective (read: state) action to bring about social equality. Yet another difference with anarchism was that Marxists established large workers’ organizations, which overtook anarchism as the leading ideology of the labor movement. Yet, at the turn of the century the Marxist movement split into Social Democrats and communists. Social Democrats are sometimes called socialists, and some of them prefer that name. They accepted parliamentary democracy but wanted to extend it to the working class through general suffrage, and they soon started to organize Â�political parties in order to participate in national politics, expecting that the workers’ vote would provide them with a majority in the national parliament and enable them to take over national government. With its demand of universal and equal Â�voting rights, social democracy was not only a social class movement but also a democratization movement, addressing the issues of social policy and parliamentary democracy. The leading party at the end of the 19th century was the Social Â�Democratic Party of Germany, which developed as a major force in Â�German Â�politics, even under the very conservative Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, and in continental politics, because German was a far more international language than it is today. The Â�British Labour Party developed in a different way, not as a Marxist movement but as an instrument of trade unions to prevent state interference in their internal affairs. The Social Democrats’ participation in parliament made them shift from revolution to reform, and the transition from a revolutionary to a revisionist or reformist movement took place in the early 20th century. The man who forced the breach was the German politician Eduard Bernstein (1850–1932). In his The Prerequisites for Socialism and the Tasks of Social Democracy, he advocated a revision of Marx, hence the term revisionism. Strong social democratic organizations should not overthrow capitalism by waging a real class struggle but should gradually reform it into socialism. In France, where social democracy remained a minor trend, Â�philosopher Jean Jaurès (1859–1914) was the leading proponent of political and economic reforms as a way toward socialism, hence the label of reformism, more or less in line with Bernstein. The developments inspired by Bernstein and Jaurès brought continental Marxism a step closer to the British Labour Party, which was reformist and not anti-capitalist from the outset. Since that time, social democracy has become the largest labor movement ideology, and since World War II it is the most widespread ideology in Europe. Social democracy has been the major proponent of social policies that protect not merely the working class but also the population at large and contribute to social

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and national integration. Its position is on the left side of the political spectrum. Because of its tolerance for moral and family values, in combination with its support of extensive educational and cultural policies, its position on the vertical line is relatively libertarian. Communists opposed the revision of Marx and stuck to revolution as the major goal of working class organization; capitalism had to be destroyed in the revolution, because social equality could only be reached after the revolution. The leader of the communist movement was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924), who rejected any compromise with any other movement in the class struggle between the working class and the exploiting class. In State and Revolution he stressed the need of a dictatorship of the proletariat after the revolution to fight the antirevolutionary forces and to lead and educate the great mass of workers with “iron discipline.” The 1917 Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union sealed the breach between the two Marxist trends. Democracy and the free-market economy have been the major issues in this split. Whereas social democracy has become one of the staunchest defenders of parliamentary democracy, communism has rejected bourgeois democracy because it helps the ruling class to exploit and oppress the working class. Instead, the working class (proletariat) should exercise dictatorial power over the other classes in order to fight enemies of the working class and to terminate class differences. In particular, after Joseph Stalin had introduced his idea of socialism in one country, that is, building up the country without waiting for the international permanent revolution his rival Leon Trotsky (1879–1940) had hoped for, the dictatorship of the proletariat amounted to a form of totalitarian state authority. It was actually exercised by the Communist Party, the vanguard of the proletariat, and implied severe sanctions against any deviation from the official doctrine. Within the Communist Party power was concentrated in the hands of the party leader, who suppressed all opposition within the party and was officially hailed as a “hero of the working class.” Communism pushed “freedom through the state” to its very extreme, leaving no room whatsoever for individual “freedom from the state.” The individual became a tool of the state. Social Democrats have not only abandoned revolution but also the idea that a free-market economy could be fully replaced by a socialist economy under one central authority. Instead, the functioning of the market economy is to be mitigated by extensive social policies. They have accepted the liberal notion of freedom from the state but combined it with the new notion of freedom through the state, a combination in which the state is not only an instrument of social equality but also a potential threat to individual liberty. In contrast, in revolutionary Russia the communists under Lenin implemented a strict disciplining of all workers by the state, without any rights against the state. Lenin argued that technological and economic progress could only be reached in a centrally planned economy and under conditions of uncompromising state control of all economic and social activities.



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In the communist command economy almost all enterprises were state property. Â�Investment and production were subject to a very rigid system of central planning under the ultimate control of the Communist Party. The communist position in the political spectrum might seem to be clear: to the far left and on the authoritarian side. However, its position to the left is not undisputed. Communism may also be called a form of conservatism, because the communist power monopoly over the economy in communist countries has served a strong state rather than the social interests of workers. Communism would then belong to the trend within conservatism that appreciates a strong state, and the Russian communists that now oppose economic reforms in the direction of the free market might be dubbed conservatives—in both meanings of that term. Throughout the century social democracy and communism have become even more hostile toward each other. They have retained some common symbols and rituals, however, like their red banners and their common song “The International” (“Arise, ye Pris’ners of Starvation. . .”), sung at party meetings, demonstrations, and strikes. Although red banners are no longer very popular among Social Â�Democrats, in Europe the term reds is still used for both Social Democrats and Communists by their adversaries. The common rituals may easily mislead Americans to forget that the two trends are sworn enemies. In a number of countries they have only cooperated in national government under conditions of emergency, like the French 1936 antifascist Front populaire and in the reconstruction period right after World War II. Social democracy is supported by the working class. Manual workers are its traditional backbone, but it has also succeeded in attracting office workers and sections of the middle class. In contrast to the United States, there is nothing politically wrong with social democracy in Europe. It has made a great contribution to the development of democracy and occupies an important place in the Â�European political spectrum. All European countries have large Social Democratic Â�parties, most of all the Germanic nations. Notable Social Democratic leaders were Â�Swedish prime minister Tage Erlander (1946–1969), German chancellor Willy Brandt (1969–1974), French president François Mitterand (1981–1995), Spanish prime minister Felipe González Márquez (1982–1996), and British prime minister Tony Blair (1997–2007). US presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton would have been prominent Social Democratic leaders if they had been born in the right continent for such a career. Although social democracy has become the predominant labor ideology, its appeal was traditionally far greater in Germanic Europe than in Latin Europe, where more radical anarchism and communism were more at home. Yet, since the 1980s social democracy has also become the dominant labor ideology in Latin Europe because of the demise of communism. Social democracy has moved to the center, however, stressing individual responsibility just as much as their traditional priority,

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state care, and also focusing more on criminality and safety issues. The clearest statement of the Social Democratic priorities is the 1999 manifesto, “Europe: The Third Way / Die Neue Mitte” (the New Center), written by British prime minister Tony Blair and German prime minister Gerhard Schröder (1998–2005), which is reproduced in appendix B. In France and other Latin European countries, Social Democrats prefer the term “socialist” instead of “Social Democrat,” in order to stress the importance of rank-and-file initiative and their nature as a movement rather than an organization (a remnant of anarchist influence). To prevent confusion, however, the term “social democrat” is used in this book for all larger parties and movements that are moderate socialists, independent of their own name. The use of the term “Social Democrat” will likely only cause confusion with reference to Portugal, where the Social Democratic Party is a Christian Democratic/Conservative Party, not a Social Democratic one. The term “socialist” will be used only in combination with the word “radical” for smaller radical socialist movements and parties, positioned to the left of social democracy, and often stronger in their rejection of capitalism. In Germanic Europe and Latin Europe, the communist appeal has been confined to the manual working class in a few countries, notably France and Italy. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, communism has dwindled; many former communists now embrace democracy and call themselves Social Democrats or socialists. Where they are still engaged in a process of ideological reorientation, communists are often simply called postcommunists. Only in Eastern Europe are old-style communists still a strong force in national politics.

Christian Democracy Condemning the Social Democrats’ class struggle, Pope Leo XIII, in his 1891 papal encyclical “Rerum Novarum,” called for “harmony among the divergent interests and the various classes that compose the state” and for “concerted action” by “men of eminence” among employers and working class leaders. Christian democracy was developed mainly by Catholics as a reaction to the rise of Marxism. It rejects the liberals’ individualism and the Social Democrats’ preference of social state action and emphasizes the social role of the family and of voluntary organizations, like business associations and labor unions. Instead of fighting each other, business and workers’ organizations should join hands to take social measures. The cooperation of business and workers’ organizations or corporations at the enterprise, sector, and national levels was called corporatism (the original meaning of that term). It is regarded as a form of subsidiarity: keeping the state in check by leaving activities to voluntary organizations of business, workers, and others. Regarding the family, Christian Democrats have stressed longer than



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other ideologies a hierarchy in which the husband is at the head of the wife and children. In contrast to the Catholic Church, the Protestant and Orthodox churches have hardly been active in initiating their own political movement. The three leading Protestant denominations—Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism—have enjoyed privileged positions as national churches in countries without separation between state and church. The Anglican Church is limited to Great Britain and is represented by bishops in the House of Lords, the Upper House of the parliament, and the queen is head of the church. The Lutheran Church prevails in Scandinavia and northern Germany; in the Scandinavian countries they were officially recognized national churches, and in Denmark and Norway they still are (Sweden gave up that position in 2000). Yet, both the Anglican and the Lutheran churches have always been subservient to the state, and they have influenced national culture more than national politics. In contrast, Calvinism, dominant in the Netherlands and Scotland, has given rise to political parties in the Netherlands; the country’s first political party was a split-off from the national Calvinist Church, later followed by other split-offs. Calvinism was stricter than Catholicism in ethical norms, but Protestantism became secularized at an early stage in the Netherlands, which made Catholics the dominant force in Christian democracy, united in one political party since 1976. In the other countries where Christian democracy was present in national politics (Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and, until its demise, Italy), it is almost totally confined to Catholics and it has or until recently had close links with the Catholic Church. The Christian democratic ideology combines a preference of authority with social measures, a kind of conservatism with a social face. The Catholic Church has not only defended its own authority but also a hierarchical structure within the Catholic organizations, in line with the one within the family. In the libertarian 1960s and 1970s Christian democracy created more distance from the Catholic Church, as the strict Catholic moral alienated many Catholic voters. The change was also due to a movement of reform within the Catholic Church, initiated by Pope John XXIII, who organized a meeting of all bishops in Rome, the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which convened a number of sessions from 1962 to 1965 to discuss papal proposals to decentralize authority within the Church, allow for the use of the national language in religious services instead of Latin, and improve contacts with other churches. The main effect was a further secularization among Catholics; within the Church Pope John XXIII’s successors reversed some of his reforms. Since that time, Christian democracy has been less compliant with papal rules than some Conservative parties in predominantly Catholic nations, like Ireland, Poland, and Spain. See Table 7.1 for the list of postwar popes. Christian Democrats are not the European religious right. They are Â�neither to the right on the left-right line, nor extremely authoritarian on the other line, but

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Table 7.1╇ Catholic Popes since 1945 Name Country of Origin

Date Age at Comments Became Start of Pope Term

Pius XII Italy 1939 63 Conservative; blamed for not condemning â•… fascism and Nazism John XXIII Italy 1958 76 Reformer; convened Vatican II, resulting â•… in a decline in the number of believers Paul VI Italy 1963 65 Relatively conservative; undid some of the â•… Vatican II reforms John Paul I Italy 1978 65 Died after a few months John Paul II Poland 1978 58 Populist traveler the world over, with a â•… worldwide popular appeal; staunch â•…anticommunist Benedict Germany 2005 78 Uncompromising defender of traditional â•…XVI â•…Catholic hierarchy

they occupy a position halfway on the left-right line and a bit to the Â�authoritarian side of the vertical line. Christian democracy is supported most of all by the Â�Catholic Â�middle class and farmers, who are attracted by its devotion to Â�authority (and Â�religion), but it has also attracted sizable parts of the working class. Its appeal to Protestants has been weaker; more than Catholics, Protestants have been inclined to support liberal, social democratic, and other nonreligious Â�political movements. Christian Democrats occupy central positions in the political spectrum of several countries, notably in nations with a mixed Protestant-Catholic population and in some Catholic nations. Their central position is due to competition with the Social Democrats for working-class support. Compromise has become the Â�Christian Democratic trademark. A prominent Christian Democratic leader was the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Konrad Adenauer (1949–1963). Its most recent heavyweight was German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (1982–1998). If the Christian Democrats are not the European religious right, who are? Â�Actually, the religious right is very small in Europe. It consists of small ultraright Catholics within Conservative parties and a few biblical Protestant parties in Protestant countries, and they are not very interested in adopting or rejecting the evolutionist theory on the origins of man. The rise of Christian democracy in the beginning of the 20th century more or less completed the patchwork of major ideological trends that still play a role in Â�European politics. A more violent response to the rise of the working-class Â�movement was yet to appear, however.



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Fascism and Nazism “Outside the State there can be neither individuals nor groups.” With these words Benito Mussolini justified his fascist dictatorship in Italy between the wars, adding that the “nation is created by the State, which gives to the people, conscious of its own moral unity, a will and therefore an effective existence.” Fascism represented the most extreme reaction against the 1917 Russian Revolution and the growth of social democracy. It denounced the social democratic and communist division of national society into two classes, totally rejected their class struggle, and proclaimed national unity and a national cause. In some cases the national cause required foreign expansion, for which the nation as a whole should be mobilized. Hence its banner was the national one, its favorite music was military marches, and its favorite dress military capes and boots, for males only, of course. Its conservatism was expressed in the appraisal of hierarchy and order. Even stronger than in traditional Catholicism, males were considered to be the head of the family, and their mission was to engage in national activities for the fascist cause, while women had to stay at home, take care of husband and children, and give birth to future soldiers. Mussolini introduced fascism in Italy in 1922, as a direct reaction to the postwar social unrest in the country. Germany followed his example in 1933, when the Nazis under Adolf Hitler took power, using the weak position of the political parties that supported the Weimar Republic but were challenged by communist opposition from the left and Nazi opposition from the right. Both Italian fascism and German Nazism abolished democracy and proclaimed their national leaders (the Italian duce and the German Führer) to be the personification of national unity and the people’s will, and endowed them with almost absolute power. Fascism became a widespread phenomenon during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Mass unemployment and growing international tension provided national leaders with an easy motive to install a fascist order. Portugal got a version with well-elaborated corporatism and state-controlled fascist trade unions, Austria one that was explicitly based on Catholic ideas, and Spain one after the 1936–1939 Civil War, also with Catholic-inspired corporatism. On the Balkan Peninsula, fascism bore more similarity to ordinary military dictatorships, such as the first example of them all, in Hungary in 1919, and later in the Baltic nations. Nazism, the most fanatical movement, reinforced national hierarchy and order to absolute dimensions, with total repression of all opposition and the extermination of millions Â� of Jews in the Holocaust. Fascism and Nazism succumbed at the end of World War II; only in Portugal and Spain did fascism survive until the 1970s. As a very authoritarian movement, fascism is located at the bottom of the political spectrum. Although fascist leaders implemented a number of labor reforms, fascism is not located to the left, but to the right. Fascism owes this place to the

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fact that the main aim of state involvement in the economy was not social equality but a strong state and foreign expansion. The stress on hierarchy and the suppression of the labor movement made fascism an attractive ideology for conservative people in rural areas. Nazism was more of an industrial ideology and enjoyed a wider appeal, especially among small entrepreneurs and other sections of the urban middle classes. However, manual workers and large industrialists also supported it. Nowadays, there are hardly any parties that explicitly call themselves fascist, but new racist parties bear some similarities with them. Fascism was the last of the epoch-making European ideologies. Since its decline, the other ideologies discussed earlier represent the traditional European ideologies.

New Ideologies Since the 1960s and 1970s, new ideologies have gained prominence. They include feminism, environmentalism, new nationalism, populism, and neoconservatism.

Feminism Feminism’s primary target is the sexual or gender division of labor in society between two social spheres, a public one, dominated by men, and a subservient private one, based on unpaid female labor (care) within the family. The first women’s movement emerged at the turn of the century; these Â�suffragettes focused on the introduction of universal suffrage instead of merely universal male suffrage. The movement dwindled when a number of countries introduced general suffrage, either during or shortly after World War I, following the example of Finland, which had introduced it already in 1906, when it was still a part of the Russian Empire. The second feminist movement arose during the late 1960s, as part of the youth revolt against traditional authority. It demanded equal treatment in the labor market, including wage equality between men and women and the removal of the glass ceiling, as well as equal access to social Â�provisions, not only for single women but also for married women, independent of their husbands’ position. The second feminist movement has raised the new issue of female autonomy, with rights of women in sexual matters, and the right of Â�abortion has served as a unifying cause. The spread of women’s studies at universities since the 1970s has raised interest in the difference in power between men and women and its often hidden reflection in all kinds of expressions of Â�culture, including daily speech. The feminist movement has made its voice heard especially in social democracy, which is more open to demands of equality, but the other ideologies have been influenced as well. Equality in the labor market and a ban on sexual harassment have become popular political issues, both nationally and at the European



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Union (EU) level. The only country that had a feminist party was Iceland, but in 1999 it integrated into a broader political movement.

Environmentalism The oil crises of the 1970s stimulated the public discussion on energy consumption and intensified environmental concerns. The late 1970s and the 1980s saw the rise of action groups, like Greenpeace, and green political parties, some of which had started as antinuclear power groups. A serious 1986 accident in the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine, widened the appeal of the green cause. �Gradually, the warming of the earth due to the use of fossil fuel and the overexploitation of natural resources have become widespread concerns, resulting in a number of international conferences, which have attempted to fix national limits to carbon �dioxide emission, yet without much success so far. Still, the concern is Europe-wide, and nowadays hardly any major change in infrastructure is introduced in Western Europe without green protests and without investigation of the ecological effects. As a political movement, environmentalism has become a Left-wing alternative to Social Democratic parties, a partial transition from red to green. Its main supporters are young people in the towns, and students most of all. Its place is to the left, often close to radical socialism, and to the libertarian side, because of its tolerance (or lack of interest) regarding morality and sexual norms. Green political parties now exist in a number of countries, most of all in Germanic Europe and less so in Central Europe, where politics is still too dominated by economic reforms to create much latitude for environmentalist parties. In Germany, red-green coalitions have become an accepted phenomenon in national and regional politics.

New Nationalism The emergence of nation-states in Europe was often preceded by nationalism, which focused on the building of a nation that was to be based on language and/or religion, and sometimes other common elements. The change in economic conditions in the 1970s and 1980s and the influx of non-Europeans in the richer countries of Western Europe have given rise to a new form of nationalism and sometimes to racist outcries. Although the new nationalism fights the alleged depreciation of national culture by the influx of foreigners, racism once again proclaims the superiority of the indigenous population over foreigners, in particular over those from overseas. Racism has deep roots in European history, exemplified by the international slave trade, which lasted until the 19th century, and the treatment of Jews throughout European history. Its current victims are foreign workers and political refugees, most of them Muslims. The immigrant workers were called in during the Golden Sixties as cheap labor in unattractive jobs. Because of the decline of traditional industry many of them lost their jobs in the 1980s, and after first having been accused of taking the natives’ jobs, they then were blamed for being idle.

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Recent waves of political fugitives from Africa and the Middle East (many of them Muslims) have reinforced nationalism. At first, the new nationalism embarrassed proponents of the other Â�ideological trends and political parties, who feared a revival of fascism. To their relief, it has remained a single-issue movement, without a leadership cult or Â� public Â�manifestations of mass hysteria, in contrast to fascism. To reduce its appeal, stricter Â�immigration and integration rules have generally been adopted, and some countries have started a new search of what (in particular positive) characteristics and traditions are the core of their nationhood and make the inhabitants into one people. Is it only the language or is there more that makes French citizens truly French, for instance, and on a more profound level than just their daily baguette? Nationalist movements and parties that focus on recent immigrants are mainly confined to Germanic and Latin Europe, where most Muslim immigrants live, Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front National in France, for instance. They draw support from people in towns and cities with high unemployment and in which Â�immigrants have settled in great numbers. The new nationalism is located in the lower right corner of the spectrum; it is authoritarian in ethical issues and pays hardly any attention to social equality. It will be called radical right in this book. Some of the movements are more libertarian, however; fighting Islamic suppression of women and basic liberal rights, their position is in the upper right corner.

Populism Nationalism has sometimes taken the form of populism, a trend that stresses the unity of the people in a nation, neglecting lines of division, or creating such lines between the native population on the one hand and minorities or immigrants on the other. It shows some disdain for the established democratic structures and highlights the direct relation between the people and the leader of the movement. All attacks by other ideologies and parties are regarded as personal attacks on the leader of the populist movement. Because of its appraisal of national unity, populism is especially present in nationalist radical-right parties, but not only there; the movement of the Italian prime minister Silvio �Berlusconi is often regarded (by fans and foes alike) as an example of such populism, and so are some smaller leftist parties. For that reason, populism is sometimes regarded as a form of communication by political movements rather than a movement in its own right, except for its attempt to have a personal appeal to the nation as a whole.

Neoconservatism The oil crises of the 1970s also prompted a new kind of economic policy and economic thinking: neoconservatism. Neoconservatism attributes rising inflation and unemployment and large state deficits to the expansion of state policies.



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� eoconservatives believe government should no longer regulate the economy but N should take its hands off and let the free market do its work again. Increasingly, neoconservatism has extended from a new economic paradigm to a full-fledged ideology, demanding more opportunities for private initiative and individual responsibility, which is actually more in line with classical liberalism than with conservatism. Neoconservatism has heavily influenced European politics. State intervention in the economy and state regulation have sharply decreased (deregulation), public sectors have been privatized and commercialized (privatization), and the state budget and the national debt have become primary political concerns. The EU has contributed to these developments by imposing strict limits on state subvention of enterprises and by opening up public sectors to international competition. The reappraisal of the free market has affected all traditional ideologies. Even Social Democrats have mitigated their traditional claim of more state social policies. Under the pressure of state deficits and high unemployment they have �partially shifted their attention to private initiative and speak less and less about state action. The shift has yielded a general turn to the right on the horizontal line, with more interest in the free market and less concern for social equality. Mostly, neoconservatives are present within the existing Conservative parties and Conservative Liberal parties; in some cases also in the Nationalist and Radical Rightist parties.

Social Characteristics and Ideologies European politics has always been identity politics, in which specific groups (or categories) of people voted for a party of their own. The rise of feminism only added a new group, in this case even a majority of the population, that wanted to raise its voice and be represented by its own group, though within the existing parties and movements. The traditional ideologies have long enjoyed a stable appeal among specific groups in society, like social democracy among manual labor and conservatism among farmers. Limiting the focus to the left-right axis, which is the main political dividing line in Europe, there is still a difference between those who lean to the left and those who are often on the right side of the ideological spectrum, as expressed in their voting behavior. Protestants lean more to the left than Catholics, young and urban people are also often on the left side of the spectrum. Table 7.2 lists groups who lean more than the average to the right or to the left, and compares their location in the spectrum with that in the United States. Groups that are not listed have average scores on the leftright axis. Of course, the table only lists very general trends and hides a lot of regional variation.

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Table 7.2╇ Social Characteristics and Voting Behavior* Left Right

United States (Democrat/Republican)

Gender Women + Men + Comparable to Europe Ethnicity New immigrants + Blacks: left â•… Most Latinos: left â•… Southern whites: right Religion Protestants + Catholics + Catholics: left; â•… Nonbelievers + Protestants: right Age Young (18–25 Comparable to Europe â•… years old) + Education Less than high Comparable to Europe â•… school ++ Income Low ++ High ++ Comparable to Europe Employment Unemployed ++ Comparable to Europe â•… Students + Rural/urban Urban + Rural + Suburban + Comparable to Europe Region Scandinavia ++ France, Italy ++ Northeast: left South: right *The number of plusses represents the strength of voting preference. For the United States: Left: Democratic Party; Right: Republican Party. Source: Gallagher 2006, 204–225, 385. For the United States, McKay 2005, 105–126.

Regional Variations in Coping with Ideological Division Not all ideologies are represented in all countries; in most nations the spectrum is confined to three or four major parties, including Social Democrats, Christian �Democrats, Liberals, and Conservatives. These major political parties still reflect and express lines of division that already existed in the beginning of the 20th century. For this reason, political scientists speak of a frozen party system in Western Europe, with only small green parties and racist groups as newcomers. There are some regionally distinctive patterns, however. A breakdown of Europe into a few groups of nations reveals the regional variations in the composition of the political spectrum. Great Britain occupies an exceptional position as one of the least divided societies in Europe, and its political spectrum is smaller than that on the continent. The two main parties, Labour and Tory, are primarily based on social class; this �division is not very disruptive, however, because the Labour Party has never had a revolutionary ideology and there is no extreme left. Religion does not act as a splitting force either, except in Northern Ireland, and the national Anglican Church occupies a marginal position in social life. To some extent the two-party system also expresses regional interests: Scotland votes Labour, but the intensity of regional identity is limited.



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In Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland) the political spectrum is Â�relatively small, too, and the degree of conflict between left and right is limited. There are hardly any language minorities, and in these Protestant countries religion is not politically relevant either. As is the case in Great Britain, social class is the main line of division, and large Social Democratic parties have long dominated national politics, closely cooperating with the social democratic trade unions in what has been called the social democratic complex. The political right is divided among Conservatives and Conservative Liberals, and increasingly also Radical Right Nationalists. The line of division between the national capitals (the only big city in these nations) and the countryside has given rise to farmers’ parties, which make up part of the divided right but are more to the center than the Conservatives. In combination, the rightist parties have been able to reduce the Social Democrats’ power position. In the other small Germanic nations (the Low Countries and the Alpine Â�Countries) and in Germany, the political spectrum is also small, but more lines of division are operative. Belgium and Switzerland are Western Europe’s most prominent multilanguage nations, but both now possess federal structures. In contrast to Great Britain and Scandinavia, religion plays a prominent role in politics in all five nations, and the political spectrum is dominated by Catholic Christian Democrats, who also represent the farmers’ interests. In Germany, the role of religion implies a division between the Protestant north, where social democracy gets most of its support, and the Catholic south, dominated by Christian Democrats. In all these nations, the saliency of social class as a dividing line is limited, because large Christian Democratic parties occupy a position in the middle of the spectrum, flanked by Social Democrats to the left and Conservative Liberals to the right. Both are forced to keep their distance from Christian democracy small in order to be acceptable as coalition partners for the Christian Democrats. Moreover, in addition to the social democratic labor movement there exists a Catholic labor movement or a labor wing within the Christian Democratic parties, which enhances the Christian Democratic parties’ sensitiveness to the issue of social equality. In Latin Europe (France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy), the political spectrum used to be far wider than in Germanic Europe, with anticlerical communists and anarchists to the left, and very Conservative parties, supported by the Catholic Church, to the right. The combination of social class and religion as sources of division caused a high level of left-right polarization, but it has decreased since the 1980s because of various developments. Communism has almost disappeared as a force in national politics; social democracy has taken over as the leading party to the left; secularization has reduced the importance of religion; and Conservatives and Conservative Liberals, who were traditionally strong in the countryside and in small towns, have widened their base of support. Social class remains a stronger source of division than in Germanic Europe, however, and shifts from left to right governments result in more radical changes in public policy, as shown for instance by the

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social democratic government under José Luis Zapatero in Spain (2004–), which has moved the country far into the libertarian direction, and the rightist Â�Berlusconi governments in Italy (1994–1995, 2001–2006, 2008–), which have taken a firm free-market stance. An additional contentious issue that still stands in Latin Europe is the pressure for more regional autonomy or regional independence, in particular in Spain but also in France and Italy. The difference in level of polarization between Germanic Europe and Latin Europe has been mainly due to the domination of the labor movement by moderate Social Democrats in Germanic Europe and more radical anarchists and communists in Latin Europe. Why did the Germanic labor movement become less radical than the Latin one? At least three conditions seem to have been at the root of the divergence. First, in Latin Europe, industry was concentrated in a few industrial areas, which were far removed from the political center, making it hard for labor to establish one unified political movement. The second condition was the sheer size of the labor movement. In most Germanic nations, including Germany, it could nurture the hope of constituting a parliamentary majority in the not-all-too-distant future—on condition of general and equal voting rights. In Latin Europe, the working class for a long time remained a relatively small minority, which added to the appeal of a revolutionary course bypassing parliamentary politics. Third, in the smaller Â�Germanic nations there was more of a gradual democratization of politics in the form of an extension of voting rights, which made a course of reform promising for the near future. In Latin Europe, periods of liberal rule alternated with periods of conservative rule, mainly supported by agrarian interests and the Â�Catholic Church, with more violent clashes between labor protesters and police forces, which did not enhance the popularity of the reformist and parliamentary course. In Central Europe new political movements have sprung up in recent years. Although some resemble trends like social democracy, Christian democracy, and farmers’ parties, the political spectrum is not easily comparable to that in Western Europe. The main dividing line is not social class, but in some countries it is one between rural and urban interests, sometimes overlapping with a religious split between clericals and anticlericals, in Poland for instance. The Polish Catholics are not just a rural movement, however, they are also an offspring of Solidarity, which was the first opposition movement under a communist regime in the early 1980s and now espouses traditional Catholic values. In some countries there are no clear demarcation and dividing lines, or the spectrum is more fluid, based on the issue of the pace of the transition toward a market economy. Postcommunists oppose the economic reforms, but their lack of attention to social equality places them in the lower right corner of the spectrum; they are Central Europe’s new Conservatives. Because it is more issue based, and the issue need not be a permanent one, Central Europe’s political spectrum has probably not yet reached its final shape, and it might well result in a variety of polarized (Poland) and less polarized (Slovenia)



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spectrums. Moreover, in some countries a few leading personalities rather than more stable groups or organizations dominate national politics. Eastern European politics is even more dominated by personalities, in the form of autocratic rulers, and it is difficult to speak of ideological movements. Â�Language, or ethnicity in general, is an issue in Russia and the Ukraine. Some minorities claim regional autonomy or total independence, as Islamic Chechnya in Russia and Russian-speaking Crimea in Ukraine. Religion is less of an issue, because all three governments seek the support of the national Orthodox Churches for their regimes. Old-fashioned authoritarian communism continues to exercise a wide appeal in Â�Eastern Europe because of the economic uncertainties during the current stage of economic reform—even if the direction of that reform is not always clear. Turkey has a clear dividing line between Muslims in favor of a greater role for Islam in national politics and anticlerical Muslims opposed to such a role. In the Caucasian Â� nations, authoritarian leaders rather than ideological movements dominate national politics.

Americanization of European Politics? The prominent role of political leaders and specific issues rather than political ideologies in Central Europe might well become a model for the rest of Western Europe, where the decline of the traditional sources of division and the weakening appeal of the major ideologies are currently changing national politics. Farmers’ parties can no longer rely on farmers’ votes only, Christian Democrats have to reckon with the weakening of religious affiliation, and Social Democrats have to take into account the dwindling of their traditional backbone, the manual working class. One of the traditional means to cope with division, the segmentation or pillarization of society, with networks of social organizations for each religious group or social class, has also come to an end. Many young people no longer identify with such Catholic or social democratic blocs and establish bonds independent of such blocs. These changes are also reshaping the composition of the political spectrum in Europe. The left-right division continues to prevail as the major determinant of political attitudes and voting behavior, but it has lost some of its saliency. The authority-liberty line has been gaining attention since the 1960s. For part of Europe’s generations that have been raised in peace and relative affluence since World War II, the left-right line is an outdated one; they think the Social Democrats and Conservatives are obsessed with material values and forget about differences in lifestyle, individual self-expression in rock music, selecting elements from various religions, and the environment. This turn away from material values, or postmaterialism, favors libertarian values at the expense of social ideas (Inglehart 1977). The result of ideological decline and the rise of postmaterialism may be a gradual transition from politics based on social class or religious affiliation to a new kind of politics, focused on political issues that do not necessarily have to do with class,

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religion, or region and may be even more focused on persons. In their election campaigns, politicians try to appeal to large sections of the population rather than to their own religious group or one social class only. This wider appeal may entail a growing populism, or in a more limited sense the increasing prominence of persons instead of ideologies in election campaigns, and a greater focus on the Â�personal qualities of the contestants rather than the policies they propose. Â�Pessimists (!) call this the Americanization of elections. The term refers to the shift in attention from party platforms and the parties’ past performance to personal characteristics (“An experienced leader”; “Just read his lips”) and in particular to the more superficial characteristics (how one looks when on television, dress, haircut). Americanization implies growing attention on the personal appearance, family life, and even the sex life of the political leaders rather than on what they stand for. American presidential elections have always been more personal than parliamentary elections, but the decline of traditional ideologies might also lead toward more personal politics in Europe. Table 7.3 compares the main features of the European and the American political spectrums. Table 7.3╇ Comparison of the American and European Political Spectrums

Europe

United States

Developments

Social issues Dominant Very important Ethical issues Less important Very important Europe: Increasingly â•… important because of â•… Muslim immigration United States: â•… growing importance â•… because of the â•… religious right Race/ethnicity Traditionally not Important Europe: Increasingly â•… issues â•… important, except â•… important because of â•… for the position of â•… immigration â•… the Jews Main Social democrat, Liberal, Europe: Communists â•…ideologies â•…Christian democrat, â•…conservative â•…have almost â•… conservative liberal, â•… disappeared; Greens â•… conservative â•… are on the rise. Comparison of More to the left More to the right Europe: shift to the right â•… spectrums â•… and the top â•… and the bottom â•… since the 1980s Differences in Protestants are Born-again Europe: Growing â•… ideological â•… more liberal than â•… Protestants, very â•… Muslim population â•…orientation â•…Catholics â•…conservative â•…that is very â•… conservative on â•… ethical issues

CHAPTER 8

From Elections to Governments: The€ Long Way

E

urope’s longest-serving democratic prime minister since World War II was not German chancellor Helmut Kohl with his 16 years in office (1982–1998), but Sweden’s Tage Erlander, a Social Democrat who held office from 1946 to 1969 (almost six US presidential terms!). However, one of the persons who as prime minister led most governments or cabinets was the Belgian Christian Democrat Wilfried Martens. For a look at the successive Martens cabinets of the 1980s, see Table 8.1. Belgian politics is not always like this. Frequent cabinet turnover in the early 1980s was attributable to the oil crisis and even more to the federalization of the country, separating the Flemish from the Walloons. To those who wonder about the seeming instability of Belgian politics, look at it from the other side. The country, one of the most divided in Western Europe, had one and the same political leader for more than 10 years, and his party dominated all cabinets. In many other European countries national politics is even more stable, with one or two prime ministers during each decade but with fewer cabinets, and with a more decisive role for elections than in Belgium.

Where the Votes ↜Are: Elections European politics is parliamentary politics. In addition to the differences in national identity this is yet another basic difference between Europe and the United States. Europeans are not primarily represented by a president but by members of parliament, and parliamentary representation serves to promote the people’s causes: their language, their religion, their regional interests, their social class, and the various ideologies related to these lines of division. There are only a few exceptions to the preponderant role of the parliament. In a couple of nations the president

125

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Table 8.1╇ Belgian Governments under Wilfried Martens in the 1980s* Government Starting Date

Composition

Comments

Martens I April 1979 Christian Democrats, Government formed after â•… Social Democrats and â•… national elections; coalition â•… a regional party â•… building took four months. Martens II January 1980 Christian Democrats New government formed â•… and Social Democrats â•… when the regional party quits. Martens III May 1980 Christian Democrats, New government formed â•… Social Democrats, â•… when conservative liberals â•… Conservative Liberals â•… join the cabinet. Martens IV October 1980 Christian Democrats, New government formed when â•… Social Democrats â•… conservative liberals quit. Other prime April 1981 Christian Democrats, After the breakdown of â•… minister â•… Social Democrats â•…Martens IV, Mark Eyskens became prime minister Martens V December 1981 Christian Democrats, New government formed â•… Conservative Liberals â•… after snap elections. Martens VI October 1985 Christian Democrats, New government formed â•… Conservative Liberals â•… after snap elections. Martens VII October 1987 Christian Democrats, New government formed â•… Social Democrats, â•… when social democrats join â•… Conservative Liberals â•… the cabinet. Martens VIII May 1988 Christian Democrats, After regular elections, the â•… Social Democrats, â•… cabinet stays in power until â•… and a regional party â•… 1991. *Note that in all European countries different governments under the same prime minister are always given roman numerals.

has powers as well, is elected in separate elections, and is not responsible to the parliament. Until a few years ago France and Finland were the major democratic examples of this system, but some countries in Central and Eastern Europe are now experimenting with an independent president. Presidential politics will be discussed in chapter 9. With the parliament as the core of the political system in most of Europe, the election of the parliament and the role of the political parties making up the parliament are of primordial interest. This is a clear contrast to American politics, where presidential elections dominate the political scene. Once every four or five years European citizens are supposed to go to the polls to decide about the composition of the national parliament. In practice they go to the polls more often, up to every other year, after a government breakdown. In a number of countries, the government may also dissolve parliament and call for snap elections, but such an action is usually confined to periods of crisis in a



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coalition government. Except for France, where presidential elections eclipse all other elections, the day of parliamentary elections is the most important event in national democratic politics. In less democratic Eastern Europe and Southeastern European countries, presidential elections are more important because of the president’s dominant role in national politics and the weakness of parliamentary checks upon the president. Ukraine is to some extent an exception, because parliamentary and presidential elections are both important events, and opposing results can lead to stalemates between the legislative and executive branches. In Turkey, parliamentary elections are important, but the legislature and the executive power are restricted by the dominant role of the armed forces, as the watchdog of Kemal Pasha Atatürk’s heritage of secularization and national unity. In the democratic countries, parliamentary elections are preceded by the parties’ campaigns and followed by the parliamentary decision about government composition. National, regional, and local elections are often held at different times; national elections are the most popular, with a turnout of more than 70 percent in most countries, considerably higher than in the United States. One of the reasons for the higher turnout is the importance of national politics compared with regional or local politics. Another reason is that in most of Europe you do not need to register as a voter; the state has your personal details and your address because the tax bill (or the welfare payment) is sent to the same address, so you will automatically get a call to vote. In a few countries, Belgium for instance, showing up at the polls is still compulsory, but failure to do so is hardly ever sanctioned. In almost all nations, representatives are not elected by the nationwide electorate but in voting districts (constituencies). District voting has been a tradition since the emergence of representative democracy, because it is the only way to secure personal contact between representatives and the persons who are represented. The system all started with rich landlords and other gentlemen who discussed national politics and then sent one of their own as their representative to the national parliament to tell the other representatives what the gentlemen in his region, to most of whom he had spoken in person, thought about the issues of the day. At first, the representative was one from the gentlemen’s club who offered to do the job on a voluntary basis; real voting was not introduced until different and opposed groups emerged and began to compete for the representation. In the early 20th century, a new electoral system of counting votes per district came up, and since that time there have been two main electoral systems, both with minor variations: the plurality or majority electoral system and the electoral system of proportional representation. They were already mentioned in chapter 6 as being typical of the Westminster and the continental political systems. Under the first and oldest electoral system, called the majority system or plurality system, the number of constituencies equals the number of seats in parliament,

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and each constituency may return only one representative to the parliament. The candidate who gets a relative majority (more votes than any competitor) or an absolute majority (more than 50 percent) of the district votes is elected, hence the names plurality system (relative majority) or majority system (absolute majority). It is also called first past the post, or winner takes all, because each district has only one winner, and the votes for the other candidates are lost. Better luck next time. The most common system in Europe is proportional representation. Under this system each of the voting districts (constituencies) may elect a number of representatives, depending on district size. The parliamentary seats available for each voting district are allocated to the political parties according to the total number of votes that the parties win in the district. A party that obtains 10 percent of the votes in a district also gets 10 percent of the district seats in parliament. The system is called proportional representation because the number of seats for each party is roughly in proportion with the number of votes for each party within the voting districts. Because parties will always have more votes in each district than they need for a specific number of seats, however (which are not enough for winning yet another seat), the number of seats that parties win is never totally in proportion to the national number of votes nationwide. For that reason, some countries with proportional representation use a special device to increase the proportionality of seats with the number of votes nationwide. They allocate a number of seats on a nationwide basis to those parties whose total share of the votes nationwide outnumbers their share of parliamentary seats, once all constituencies are taken together. This second-tier allocation, which is common in Scandinavia, corrects for the disproportionalities that always arise from the constituency elections. Ukraine, Slovakia, and a few other nations have an even simpler form of reaching almost complete proportionality between number of seats and share of votes: the whole country is one constituency. In most other small nations the number of constituencies varies from 4 to 50, though not always in proportion to population size. Great Britain is the only country that has continuously applied the majority system. France has switched back and forth between the two systems and now has a majority system with two consecutive rounds of voting, except in those constituencies in which one candidate obtains an absolute majority in the first round. The second ballot (scrutin de ballotage, as the system is called) allows parties to forge alliances for the second round and withdraw their own candidates in favor of those of the other parties in the alliance, if necessary. In this second ballot the largest number of votes (plurality) decides the election; an absolute majority is not required. In Germany, proportional representation is the dominant system, but it is complemented by an element that is more characteristic of the plurality system. German voters can cast two votes, in an intricate system of “dual votes.” Their first vote (Erststimme) is for a regional candidate of a party, the second vote



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(Zweitstimme) is for a nationwide party list. This need not be the same party as that of the regional candidate the voter has chosen; the system of dual votes offers voters the opportunity of voting a split ticket in a single election. In accordance with proportional representation it is the Zweitstimme, the vote for the party list, that decides the total number of seats for that party. The winning slate consists of the regional candidates that have been elected directly by means of the Erststimme, complemented by the required number of candidates on the party slate elected by the Zweitstimme. Similar systems of dual votes, which allow for split-ticket voting in the form of selecting a person from one party with the first vote and voting for another party with the second, have been introduced in other countries, but Ireland offers the most opportunities to vote for individual candidates on different party lists by means of its Single Transferable Vote system. Both the majority system and proportional representation have a number of national variations as well. The difference between the two electoral systems accounts for quite a range of other variations in national politics. The majority system tends to reduce the number of parties, which serves the country’s governability, as it facilitates the decisions in parliament about which parties will participate in the government, as exemplified in the Westminster political system. Under proportional representation, the parliament better reflects the various interests in society, but the resulting greater number of parties often requires coalition cabinets, as is the case in the continental political system. Under proportional representation, small political parties have a much better chance to enter parliament, especially when their supporters live scattered over the country, yet a number of countries try to prevent a proliferation of small parties, by means of a threshold, a German invention. In that country the threshold (Sperrklausel) stands at five percent of the votes; parties that fail to win five percent of the votes in the Zweitstimme (or to win three districts with the Erststimme) will not be represented in the parliament. Other countries have followed Germany’s Â�example and have set thresholds ranging from two to five percent of the votes. Under the majority system there is less need of a threshold; small parties survive only if they are highly concentrated locally and able to carry a number of constituencies. Ideally, under the majority system all districts or constituencies should contain the same number of voters, because all of them elect only one representative. The implication could be a constant rearranging of district borders to take into account the growth of new suburbs and new towns, or migration from one region to another. Such redrawing of district borders leaves room for arbitrary decisions. Parties may try to redraw the district borders in such a way as to ensure themselves a number of narrow victories, rather than a few overwhelming landslides, believing it is better to carry two districts with 55 percent of the vote than carry one with 80 percent and lose the second with 30 percent of the vote. Such gerrymandering, as it is called in the United States, is very rare under proportional representation, in which districts

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have more than one seat. This explains why gerrymandering is more or less absent in Europe. France used to be the main exception; under the French Fourth Republic (1944–1958) French governments often started their term of office with efforts to redraw district borders to ensure yet another electoral victory. The majority system boasts a stronger relationship between voter and representative and a better representation of local interests. Local minority votes are lost, but that puts the representative under the moral obligation to represent the local people who did not vote for him or her, and to take care of local interests more generally. Under proportional representation, differences in local and regional interests are often downplayed in favor of a reflection of the national electorate. During the 19th century the majority system was common on the continent, but Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, and others pressed for proportional representation, especially if their followers were locally concentrated, like the laboring class in a few industrial towns or Catholics in rural areas. Under the majority system these parties carried only a few districts; under proportional representation they would win a larger number of seats. The relative weakness of the various lines of division in Great Britain reduced the pressure to change its electoral system. In its two-party system, only the Conservative and Labour parties play a role in government building, even though smaller parties exist. All continental countries are multiparty systems, where more than two (dominant) parties compete for seats, and government building often requires coalition building. Whereas Germany has had a very small number of parties represented in the parliament, mostly three or four, Poland had 29 parties in its Sejm before introducing a five percent threshold in 1993. A number of small and traditional democracies of Western Europe, like Denmark and the Netherlands, have also had large numbers of political parties, sometimes more than 10, because of a low threshold (Denmark) or the absence of a threshold (the Netherlands). Table 8.2 shows the impact of electoral systems. Table 8.2╇ Impact of Electoral Systems: Share of Votes, Parliamentary Seats, and Cabinet Posts Nation Date Parties Votes Seats Govern- Comments of (%) (%) ment Election posts Great 2005 Labour Party* 35.3% 55.2% 100% Majority system â•… Britain Conservative Party 32.3% 30.7% â•… favors large parties, Liberal-Democratic 22.1% 9.6% â•… in particular the â•…Party â•…winning party. UK Independence 2.2% Scottish National 1.5% 0.9% â•…Party (Continued)



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Green Party 1.0% Democratic 0.9% â•…Unionists 4.7% 0.9% Others 1.4% 2.6% Czechia 2006 ODS (Conservative 35.38% 40.5% 50% Has proportional â•… Liberal)* â•… representation with an CˇSSD (Social 32.32% 37.0% â•… effective five percent â•…Democrat) â•…threshold. KSCˇM (Communist) 12.81% 13.0% Koalice (Christian 7.23% 6.5% 28% â•… Democrat plus â•…others) SZ (Green) 6.29% 3.0% SNK (Europeanists) 2.04% Others 3.88% - 22% Denmark 2007 Venstre (Conservative 26.3% 26.3% 68% Features proportional â•… Liberal)* â•… representation with a SD (Social Democrat) 25.5% 25.7% â•… low two percent DF (Radical Right) 13.9% 14.3% â•… threshold. SF (Green Radical 13.0% 13.1% â•…Left) KF (Conservative) 10.4% 10.3% Many governments RV (Social Liberal) 5.1% 5.1% â•… are minority cabinets, Ny Alliance 2.8% 2.9% â•… including this one. â•…(Conservative â•…Liberal) Enhedslisten 2.2% 2.3% 32% â•… (Radical Green) KF (Christian 0.9% â•…Democrat) Germany 2005 CDU/CSU 35.2% 36.8% 50.0% Features proportional â•…(combination â•…representation with â•… of two Christian â•… elements of a majority â•… Democratic parties)* â•… system and a five SPD (Social 34.2% 36.2% â•… percent threshold. â•…Democrat) SPD (Social 9.8% 9.9% 50.0% â•…Democrat) Postcommunist 8.7% 8.8% â•… plus Radical Left Grünen (Green) 8.1% 8.3% (Continued)

132 |╇ From Elections to Governments: The Long Way Germany 1998 SPD (Social 40.9% 44.5% 81.2% A big party/small â•… Democrat)* â•… party coalition usually CDU/CSU (Christian 35.2% 36.6% â•… favors the smaller â•…Democrat) â•…coalition partner. Grünen (Green) 6.7% 7.0% FDP (Conservative 6.2% 6.4% 18.8% â•…Liberal) Postcommunist plus 5.4% 5.4% â•… Radical Left * Prime minister’s party.

Where the Power Is: Political Parties In 1997, Tony Blair introduced a new style of election campaign in Great Â�Britain, stressing his youth and personal dynamics rather than the Labour program he stood for. In contrast to the European tradition of leaving wife and children at home in relative anonymity, he showed up on television with his wife and children in an American-style campaign. Some party members accused him of forgetting about the traditional values of the party, but they soon fell silent after his victory, the first Labour success after several failed attempts to take over. He even managed to get the highly partisan and anti-Labour popular press on his side, which hailed his landslide with headlines like “YES! Tony rips ’em apart with 160 majority.” In 1998, the German candidate for chancellor Gerhard Schröder imitated Blair’s success after a similar personality show in which he campaigned with his fourth wife. (Campaigning with one’s fourth partner would not have been a recommendation in most other European countries or in the United States.) Disregarding objections from within his party about his lack of policy plans, Schröder turned the tide for the German Social Democrats after several failed attempts by others to oust Christian Democratic chancellor Helmut Kohl. Yet, even when an aspiring prime minister shows up with his wife at public meetings during the campaign, she hardly ever occupies a position of First Lady after the elections. (The husbands of the few female prime ministers have always remained in the background, too.) Both campaigns reinforced the impression that the role of ideologies in European politics was in decline, leading to the Americanization of political campaigns. A first and conscious move toward ideological decline was made by the Social Democrats. After World War II they increasingly gave up part of their Marxist ideology, as well as Marxist symbols and rituals, in order to appeal to the new middle class of office employees and to win middle-class votes. In 1945, the Dutch Social Democrats had already changed the name of their party from Workers’ Party to Labor Party (catering to all people at work, not only manual workers); the



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German Social Democrats gave up their Marxist ideology in their 1959 Godesberg Â�Program. Such changes were a response to the fact that Conservatives, Liberals, and Christian Democrats increasingly appealed to a portion of the working class, to some extent because of the decline of the manual-labor working class and the rise of the number of white-collar jobs in industry and services. Ideological decline suggested a trend towards catch-all parties, which attempt to “catch all” voters instead of just the party’s original constituents, like manual laborers for the Social Democrats and Catholics for the Christian Democrats. It implies loosening the ties with the original backbone of the party, which then may complain about the gentrification of the Social Democratic Party for instance. The result is a general development of political de-alignment, a decline in party allegiance not only among young people but also among older people who always used to vote for the same party and lost that lifetime alignment. The number of floating voters, those who switch from one party to another, is on the rise, which in turn increases the influence of the mass media. The parties increasingly attract voters as shopping clients, instead of catering to a stable group of people who feel a lifetime commitment to “their” party. Selling the ideology and adapting it to consumers’ preferences have become just as important as or even more important than offering a relatively stable set of ideological preferences. In spite of de-alignment, most Europeans still vote for a party, not for a person. European politics is party politics, and even in Great Britain’s majority system there is no direct relation between voters and their members of parliament. The relation is an indirect one—the political party is in between. It is not the representative personally who matters but the party the candidate represents. The party draws up the list of candidates for parliamentary seats and presents the candidate; once elected, the candidate represents the party. Running mates are absent in Europe; the party tickets or, in European terms, the party lists are headed by one person; all others are equal in rank. Political parties perform crucial functions for the political system. Party functions include the aggregation of interests for their own supporters, and maybe even for others, and the party is also an omnipresent link between the people at large and the government, between the ruled and their rulers. The parties select the rulers and socialize them into their own ideology, political culture, and organizational network. Why this party dominance? The answer is simple. Catholics traditionally wanted to be represented by Catholics and operate as a unity, and the same applied and to some extent still applies to Social Democrats, farmers, liberal industrialists, and others. In Europe, what counts is the party platform (ideology) rather than the party ticket (the persons on the party list); political parties express ideologies and represent segments of the population. Representatives do not air their own opinion but speak on behalf of their party, and their speeches are weighed accordingly. Most continental democracies present party lists to the voters, with a

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number of names listed for each party, but voters often just mark the first name of their party of choice. Many voters may only know one or two names on the party list, and often the first name on the list gets all the votes; the others may only get the votes of their families, friends, and colleagues. In rare cases, candidates may be so popular that they receive a lot of personal votes, yet generally, parties do not appreciate such personal votes, as they reduce the party hold over the representative. In some countries, however, voters have the opportunity to vote more for individuals rather than for parties, and by doing so they can change the final order of the party list. Parties thus act as brokers of voter ideologies and voter preferences. They select representatives who will defend the party ideology and party preferences in the national parliament and mostly vote as a unit in the national parliament so they can safeguard the interests of their voters. Although the 19th-century Liberal and Conservative parties were still a kind of gentlemen’s club, and each member of parliament decided how to vote (such personal decisions are still the case in the United States), the European labor movement introduced mass parties, with a large number of members that paid membership dues. These parties introduced party discipline: unanimous votes by the party representation in the parliament. The argument was that the laboring class did not benefit from a split party, only from a party that maintained unity on all major issues. Against the gentlemen’s parties that praised free debate but only defended the gentlemen’s interests, the laborbased parties defended working-class interests, and that could only be done if the representation of the working class acted as a unity. They were also instrumental in abolishing census suffrage and multiple voting rights and introducing general and equal suffrage. Since that time, party discipline has become a central element in European democracies, and the representatives in the national parliament are actually party representatives who vote in line with party priorities. The party selects the candidates and finances and carries on the election campaign; in return, the candidates promise to express party views and to vote in accordance with the party line, at least on major items. If a candidate deviates too often from the party line, that Â�person may be refused a next term of office; European parties don’t like mavericks. Interestingly, in a number of countries this vision of the representative as a person who executes party decisions and party views violates the oath new members of parliament have to swear that they will decide independently. To most Europeans, this discrepancy between norm and practice is no problem, as the new members of parliament participate in the party decisions they have to comply with. Individuals who seek a seat in parliament as independent candidates without party support are unusual. Table 8.3 shows the differences between the early European parties, which resemble US parties, and the parties as they changed under influence of the labor movement.



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Table 8.3╇ Political Parties before and after the Emergence of Social Democracy Party Features

Before (19th Century)

After (20th Century)

Candidate nomination Self nomination Party nomination Election campaigns Self financed (if any) Party financed Campaign orientation Candidate oriented Party oriented Type of political parties Loose elite clubs Well-organized mass organizations Party discipline No Yes Status of members Independent Bound by party loyalty â•… of parliament

Party discipline makes the representatives in the national parliaments of Europe into party delegates. They can act relatively independently from their constituencies, but they must vote in accordance with the party line. In the United States, party discipline is far less developed, and most members of the US Congress act as independent trustees, who are really independent, yet their short term (two years for members of the House of Representatives) makes them to some extent delegates without the mandate of their constituencies. In the 19th century, the members of parliaments in Europe also used to be independent trustees, but the rise of strong Labor parties has changed their position into one of party delegates. If most Europeans still vote for a party, not for a person, what then are these parties? European political parties are standing organizations. The members pay party dues and are organized in networks of party locals, which are also active in local politics. The locals organize regular meetings for their members, at which political issues are discussed or a member of parliament is the main speaker and answers questions from the public. The party members elect regional representatives who attend the party congress, which is held once a year or less often. There, the longterm policies are discussed, and especially in the Social Democratic parties, the party locals put forward a lot of motions. In all parties the discussion is well prepared by the party committee or party council, a small group of people elected by the congress; it constitutes the factual party top, meets every (other) week, and makes all organizational decisions. The rather bureaucratic party structure reduces the amount of influence ordinary party members may have. Their influence is curtailed even more by the fact that the party leader is a member of parliament or a minister in the government, and in the latter case those persons are bound by their loyalty to the government. In practice, party leaders need to defend themselves before party meetings only after a heavy defeat in elections, which is often a reason for retreat (and their move to better-paid posts in private enterprise). The other party representatives in parliament lose credit only if they cast too many deviant votes or are too passive at party meetings or in the national parliament.

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How does one get on the party list? A US-style primary is rare in Europe, as they focus on candidates rather than issues. Preferably, two conditions should be met: connections with relevant interest associations and expertise in a specific policy field. Most parties have long maintained, and some still maintain, formal and informal relations with a number of interest associations, up to the point of offering them the guarantee of one or more seats in parliament. Christian Democratic parties reserve a number of seats for small-business owners and farmers, as do Social Democrats for trade union leaders; Liberal and Conservative parties persuade prominent businesspeople to join their list. This allocation of a number of seats does not mean parties are mere combinations of interest associations. Rather, they aggregate interests that are expressed by interest associations. At the same time, both parties and interest associations attempt to prevent too strong a mutual dependency. As for expertise, the larger parties have their specialists in all policy fields. These experts speak on behalf of the party when issues in those fields are being discussed. Often, they are the same people who have connections with interest associations in a specific field. A long experience with distributing election flyers during rainy evening hours does not bring one much closer to a seat in parliament and neither does money, as election campaigns are financed by the parties, not by candidates. The parties get financial support from a variety of sources, including membership dues, voluntary donations from individuals and companies, and government subventions. Funds from businesses have increasingly fallen under suspicion, however, as these funds may easily cross the borderline between a normal donation and bribery. In several countries there have been scandals about financing election campaigns with the help of secret gifts from companies looking for state contracts. In 1998 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secretary general Willy Claes had to resign because he was under suspicion, and later condemned, for accepting such secret campaigning funds at the time he was still a leading politician in Belgium. After he stepped down, German chancellor Kohl even refused to tell in court the name of one benefactor; in the United States this would certainly have resulted in a heavy sentence for contempt of court. In a number of countries political donations must be made public, but Liberals and Conservatives, because they lean more on this kind of support than Social Democrats or Communists, have preferred to keep them secret for privacy reasons. The secrecy about finance is in line with the more general reluctance of Europeans to tell how much money they make and what their sources of income are. Government funding has become increasingly important for political parties in Europe. Parties represented in parliament often receive state funds for research and other activities and to cover the costs of election campaigns. In addition, they get time on public broadcasting channels at fixed hours. Buying additional time at commercial rates is not very popular and is forbidden in a number of countries.



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Ranking the candidates is the prerogative of the party top or the party Â�members. The party leaders submit a provisional list to the members, who discuss it in their branch meetings; the final decision is made in the party committee or the party council. The background of European parliamentarians differs from that of members of US Congress, where the overwhelming majority are lawyers and businesspeople. European parliaments have many members who are employed in the public service, including education, and who lack a personal fortune. Although Europeans may detest the predominance of (relatively) wealthy professionals in the US Congress, Americans may point to the fact that in European parliaments public-sector employees decide about the size of the public sector. Recently, the share of women and ethnic minorities has become a popular issue. Women have attempted to secure a minimum number or even a fixed quota of seats and have organized “women vote for women” campaigns in their parties. In almost all Germanic and Latin European nations the share of seats in the Lower Chamber of parliament occupied by women is above the US rate of 17 percent (in 2010). Scandinavia and the Low Countries lead with more than 35 percent; in most Central and Eastern European nations the share is still below 25 percent. The loosening of party links with their traditional clientele in the catch-all parties, the parties’ bureaucratic nature, and the increasing dependence on state funding have motivated a new term for current parties: cartel parties (Katz and Mair 1995), which points to a third stage in the life of the traditional parties. The early (Liberal and Conservative) parties were small elitist clubs. These were followed by (Social Democratic and Christian Democratic) mass parties, first for a specific group, and later as catch-all parties attempting to appeal to a wider public, but still cherishing the links with the people. In the third stage, the new term, cartel parties, emphasizes the dependence on their strong links with the government, in which the parties act almost like a kind of governmental agency (Europeans would say state agency), with only weak links with society. A new type of political party has emerged, however, in particular among radical rightist parties. They are founded by an active and enthusiastic individual to serve just one goal, like reducing taxes or stopping immigration, especially for Muslim immigrants. In the United States they would probably become single-issue associations. This kind of party has a less formal structure, but it is totally dominated by the original leader, who more or less rules the party as an old-fashioned monarch. As a consequence, the party succumbs when the leader stops his (such parties have invariably been led by men) activities. This kind of party is often called populist, because of the rightist populist ideology that focuses on the leader’s only point of concern, but also because of the dominance of the party leader (he is the party) and the absence of any form of party democracy. An early example was Mogens Glistrup’s antitax party in Denmark in the 1970s. Recent examples are Austria’s liberal party, which changed from a typical Conservative Liberal party to a Populist Rightist Party under Jörg

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Haider, and Filip Dewinter’s Flemish Party in Belgian Flanders. Such populism is not only characteristic of the extreme right, however; Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia also displays some of these features, such as total domination by Berlusconi himself, and characterizing all political attacks, political opposition, and even judicial verdicts in corruption scandals as infamous personal attacks.

Coalition Governments and Party Systems In Great Britain’s Westminster system, the name of the new head of government is known the very moment the last election results come in from remote areas. On the continent, however, another question has to be solved after the election: Which parties will participate in the government? Usually the leader of the largest party is elected by the parliament as formateur, the person who will start the negotiating talks and form a new cabinet. In a few countries the formateur is appointed by the formal head of state, which is a remnant of the time when the cabinet ministers were no more than advisers to the monarch (that is, when it was his or her majesty’s government). If there is no clear winner in the elections, or if two leading parties have equal strength, the head of state may first appoint an informateur who investigates the feasible options and makes suggestions about which coalition will probably be most stable. The informateur then steps down in favor of the formateur. If the leader of the largest party fails as formateur, the job goes to the leader of a smaller party. In many nations the parties prefer a solid government program or government declaration as the basis of a coalition, and as a result the coalition negotiations may cover in detail the core policy fields and may last several weeks or months. German coalition negotiations usually only take a couple of days, but the 1998 redgreen coalition negotiations took three weeks, and the 2005 Grand Coalition talks between the two major parties also took a couple of weeks. The Belgian coalition periods of four and five months mentioned in the introduction to this chapter are exceptionally long, but the Netherlands still holds the record with 207 days in 1977, thought it was almost surpassed by Belgium in 2008. Outsiders sometimes see this period as one of political crisis, which it is not. It is a period of laying the foundation of a new cabinet and laying a foundation, whether in politics, construction, or applying makeup, always gives the impression that nothing is happening. The periods of coalition building only point to political crisis if they last longer than the resulting cabinet, which occasionally happens in Italy. If the parties in government have won a majority, the coalition talks may be confined to changes within the cabinet to bring its composition more in accordance with the new numerical force of the participating parties. Switzerland is exceptional in that the major parties in parliament are always represented in the government as a permanent broad coalition, or even a cartel, hence the term cartel democracy (Kartelldemokratie).



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In the government program the coalition parties lay down the main policies that they have agreed upon and will defend in parliament. This shows an important function of party discipline; without such discipline all representatives of these parties would be free to withdraw their support at any moment, thus making stable governments impossible. Once the parties involved have pledged their support, the person who built the coalition officially invites prominent members of the coalition parties to join the new cabinet as ministers. Sometimes the process may involve new bargaining on the allocation of cabinet posts among the participant parties and about the persons to be selected. As soon as cabinet building is completed, the cabinet leader becomes prime minister, the nation’s chief executive. The prime minister and the ministers are sworn in by the head of state, a ceremonial activity and often the only occasion at which the head of state meets the full government. Usually a distinction is made between narrow coalitions, which have just enough parties to form a majority government, and broad coalitions. Narrow coalitions have the obvious advantage of lower construction costs and less coordination trouble, but they often provide disproportionate power to the second or third party that is needed to secure a majority support in parliament. This is especially the case in Germany, where the two largest parties, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, have almost always needed the support of a much smaller second party, usually either the Conservative Liberals or the Green Party. Broad coalitions consist of a number of parties that together enjoy a very large majority, for instance the German Grand Coalition (Große Koalition) of 2005–2009 and a previous one in 1965–1969, or they have more parties than is strictly necessary for a majority. In broad coalitions, the power of each party in the cabinet tends to be more in proportion to its number of seats (see Table 8.2). Parties that are too arrogant may encounter a negative reaction from the other parties or may even be thrown out of the cabinet. Broad coalitions sometimes serve to reduce opposition and to widen popular support for unpopular measures. In addition to coalition governments, one-party or multiparty minority governments also belong to the regular stock of variations in European government composition. They cannot be based on a majority in parliament, but they either get the tacit support of other parties or count on support from various sides, depending on the issues at hand. Minority governments especially prevail when the parties involved occupy a strong position in parliament and face a divided opposition consisting of parties that are unable to combine and bring down the cabinet.

Regional Variations in Elections, Parties, and Government In accordance with the degree of party discipline and the nature of social divisions, there is a great deal of regional variation in type of government. In Great �Britain the elections determine the government; they are the clearest left-right contest

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in Europe. In contrast, in Irish politics there is almost never a left-right divide, because there is no major Labor Party and the two competing leading parties are center-right or right. In Scandinavia, at least until recently, elections are contests of the Social Â�Democrats versus all others. In that sense they are also a clear left-right contest, but they do not necessarily determine the government. A single-party government of the Social Democratic Party is a common type, and it is relatively independent of the number of votes for the Social Democrats. It may even be a minority government, as regularly happens in Denmark, and in that case it faces opposition from the radical left and the (highly divided) right, but the two opposition forces are often unable and unwilling to join forces against the Social Democrats. During the late 1970s and 1980s, Conservative and Liberal coalitions were in power for some time; in the 1990s, the Social Democrats took over again, but only in Norway have they been able to stay in power. In most other Germanic countries, Germany included, Christian Democrats have long been the dominant party, and elections are less of a left-right contest. In Belgium and the Netherlands the Christian Democrats, as the political center, either build center-left coalitions with Social Democrats or center-right combinations with Liberals. Elections mainly determine whether both options enjoy a majority or not and are available to the Christian Democrats. Social Democratic/Liberal coalitions are not uncommon in Belgium, though in the Netherlands they are; the only purple coalition in the Netherlands, consisting of (red) Social Democrats and (blue) Conservative Liberals, was in power from 1994 until 2002, putting an end to almost a century of Christian Democratic government domination. In recent elections, radical rightist parties came to the fore, focusing on immigration and integration of (Muslim) immigrants. In Germany, the small Conservative Liberal Party used to be the coalition partner of both major parties until 1998. That favorable position, of being permanently needed as a junior coalition partner, even secured the party’s participation in government for a longer period than both large parties. In 1998, Gerhard Schröder put an end to that situation by opting for a red-green coalition, one of the first times in Europe a Green Party participated in a national government. In Germany, participation of the greens in cabinets of the federal units has given rise to new names for such coalitions: a traffic-light coalition (Ampelkoalition) consists of (red) Social Democrats, (yellow) Liberals, and Greens, and a Jamaica coalition, named for the colors of Jamaica’s flag, consists of (black) Christian Democrats, (yellow) Â�Liberals, and Greens. In Latin Europe either the left or the right governs, often in the form of leftist or rightist coalitions under one leading party, which make the elections a contest between left and right, but because of the many shades of left and right this contest is less severe than in British elections. Actually, coalitions are often uneasy



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combinations. In accordance with the greater degree of polarization between left and right, broad coalitions that are formed by parties from the left and the right are virtually absent. Italy is an exception; in that country a tradition has long survived that also existed in France before the introduction of the presidential system. In this Latin tradition, parliament has to some extent remained an open-market place for debate between individual representatives. Classical oratory in the French Assemblée Nationale used to be an appeal to individual reason and was not always in line with party views. With the exception of the defunct Communist Party, the parties involved were and to some extent still are neither willing nor able to impose party discipline. Even the term “party” has long been suspect in France for that reason; French parties prefer to call themselves Rassemblement, Front, or Mouvement. Weak party discipline implies that the parties cannot count on the permanent support of their own representatives, and the government is not ensured of the permanent support of the participating parties. During the second half of the 20th century, both Italy and France were governed by more than 50 governments, on the average one new government each year. In France, the introduction of a semi-presidential system under the Fifth Republic in 1958 put an end to that situation; in Italy a week without a new government is still considered a lost week, but in that country Silvio Berlusconi has been able to forge stable governments using all of his personal charisma. Moreover, Italy has switched forth and back between the two electoral systems. The majority system was introduced in 1993 as a means to clean up the party system and reduce the number of political parties; one of its effects, however, was to reinforce the political gap between north and south—and the birth of the mock republic of Padania. In 2005, the country returned to proportional representation, combined with a few majority-system elements. In Central Europe almost all nations are ruled by coalition governments. They often include a number of parties, or combinations of political parties, called party alliances, which consist of groups of political parties that promise to work together either in government or in opposition—though they fall apart as easily as they are built. Alliances also exist in Germanic and Latin Europe (for instance alliances of all Conservative parties or all leftist parties), but the term “party alliance” did not come into use until the emergence of such party combinations in Central Europe. It is often not easy to typify Central European coalition governments, as sometimes very different types of parties label themselves Social Democrat, Socialist, and Christian Democratic. Many coalitions are combinations of either leftist or rightist parties, but in some countries combinations at the left are hard to make because socialists refuse to cooperate with postcommunists and are forced to combine with Conservative or Liberal Conservative parties. The first 10 to 15 years of democratic politics were characterized by high cabinet turnover. Latvia and Romania had a new cabinet every year, while in

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Hungary and Czechia most governments remained in power for more than two years. �Government stability need not always be an asset, as it may also point to the domination of politics by a strong man, as was the case in Croatia and Serbia in the 1990s. In these former Yugoslav republics the first presidents were authoritarian war heroes from the time Yugoslavia fell apart and new nations sprang up. A fine example of Central European complexity was Macedonia, the southern part of former Yugoslavia. At the end of the 20th century, the former Communist Party split into three parts, and there were also three parties that specifically represent the Albanian minority. The 1997 government consisted of three parties: two of the three offsprings of the former Communist Party, which called themselves socialist and liberal, and the third was an alliance of two of the three parties representing the Albanian minority. The government faced an opposition that comprised the third party that had grown out of the former Communist Party, the third Albanian party, and a number of other parties.

CHAPTER 9

Government and Parliament

MP, standing: Does the minister know that her policy . . .? Minister, seated: nods an affirmative. MP: Does the minister know that many people are now worse off? Minister, standing: The Right Honourable Gentleman and his political friends know very well that this policy has improved the living conditions of . . . Backbenchers, loud: Hear, hear. Speaker, louder: Order! Order!

T

he question hour in the British Parliament, the oldest parliament of any independent nation, is one of the finest (and most amusing) democratic rituals. Members of parliament (MPs) pose questions, and the prime minister responds. Their political friends, including the backbenchers, the newcomers in the last rows, function as the background vocals with sounds that resemble something in between muttering and shouting, which allows the chairperson (speaker) to drown out them all and call for order and new questions. The ritual may look a bit out of date, yet the whole world recognizes the Houses of Parliament on a postcard from London, while hardly anyone knows where the French Assemblée Nationale meets (in the Palais Bourbon, on the Seine bank, facing the Place de la Concorde) or even in which city the German Bundestag met before 1999 (the city of Bonn on the Rhine, south of Cologne; the third German capital after Berlin and Weimar, which had served as the capital for a short time after World War I (the beginning of the 1919–1933 Weimar Republic).

The Real Legislator: Government European governments consist of at least two layers. The government as such represents the first layer; it includes all ministers and vice ministers, often more than 30 people in total. Full meetings of this group only take place on occasion. 143

144 |╇ Government and Parliament

More frequent are the meetings of the second layer, the cabinet, in which only the cabinet ministers or full ministers participate, some 15 or so people who meet every week and form the national government, as the term is mostly used in Europe. In everyday usage, however, the words government and cabinet are used interchangeably for this council of ministers, as it is also called. (In France, however, the term “cabinet” means something else: a minister’s small group of personal advisers.) Cabinet ministers have two functions to fulfill: To run their department and develop policy in their field and to take part in the process of Â�collective decision making by the cabinet as a whole during the weekly meetings. The cabinet decides on crucial issues; the individual ministers make the other decisions themselves. Prime ministers and ministers are mostly recruited from the ranks of the members of parliament. The implication is that the party’s main speaker in a policy field is more or less certain of nomination as a cabinet minister when the party participates in government. The persons involved follow the coalition negotiations with distrust, hoping to ensure that their field of expertise is not claimed by one of the other coalition partners. A small minority of cabinet ministers in Europe Â�consists of nonpolitical persons, for instance former civil servants or businesspeople, who are selected because of their expert knowledge and/or administrative skills in addition to their political party. Within the cabinet two important, and sometimes overlapping, subgroups exist. The first is the group consisting of the leaders of the parties represented in the cabinet; it is their task to keep the coalition together. The second is the small circle consisting of the prime minister and the ministers of finance, economic affairs, and social affairs, which meets between regular cabinet sessions to provide a quick response to changes in economic and social conditions, such as inflation and employment; to maintain contacts with trade unions and business associations, the two major pressure groups in European politics; and to participate in tripartite talks, if any. The prime minister, called chancellor (Bundeskanzler) in Austria and Â�Germany, chairs the council of ministers and sometimes heads a small ministry of Â�general affairs. This does not mean the prime minister is merely the “first among equals”; prime ministers are the political leaders of their countries—the face of the nation— and they often exercise considerable power over the cabinet and their own political party. Increased television coverage of politics and regular international Â�summits have reinforced the preponderance of prime ministers and have contributed to the presidentialization of national politics in Europe, in which prime ministers act almost as heads of state, as presidents. Because of the growing concern over Â�budget deficits since the early 1980s and the development of the European Â�Monetary Union, ministers of finance have also become key figures in national politics based on their “power of the purse.”



The Real Legislator: Government╇ | 145

Prime ministers resign right after elections (to prepare for a new term of office and a new cabinet if they win the elections), or as soon as one or more of the Â�coalition partners withdraw their support. The prime minister may then attempt to build a new cabinet without elections, which allows that person to stay in power and head a number of cabinets. As described in chapter 8, it is possible to replace the prime minister and forge a new coalition between elections. In the case of a conflict between a minister and the parliament, a conflict between a minister and the rest of the cabinet, or a scandal of some kind the minister involved may resign without jeopardizing the cabinet. Formal votes of confidence are popular in only a few countries. Votes of no confidence, or censure motions, are more common, although most European cabinets do not fall because of such a motion but because of internal disputes within the coalition. Table 9.1 lists the Â�British, German, and Italian prime ministers and the French presidents from 1974 to 2010. It shows the stability of British and German governments compared with Italian cabinets; French presidents cannot be removed from office; instead, they are hors concours (out of competition). The British prime ministers from the Conservative Party have the most uniform background; almost all of them sÂ�tudied in Oxford (and none in Cambridge). Table 9.1╇ Political Leaders in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France (1974–2010) Great Britain: Prime Minister

Germany: Bundeskanzler

Italy: Presidente France: Président del Consiglio de la République

Margaret Thatcher Helmut Schmidt Arnaldo Forlani Valérie Giscard â•…(Conservative) â•…(Social Democrat) â•… (Christian â•… d’Estaing â•…1979–1990 â•…1974–1982 â•…Democrat) â•…(Conservative Liberal) â•…1980–1981 â•…1974–1981 Giovanni François Mitterand â•…Spadolini â•…(Social Democrat) â•…(Republican) â•…1981–1995 â•…1981–1982 Helmut Kohl Amintore Fanfani â•…(Christian â•… (Christian Democrat) â•… Democrat) â•…1982–1983 â•… 1982–1998 Bettino Craxi â•…(Social Democrat) â•…1983–1987 Amintore Fanfani â•…(Christian Democrat) â•…1987 (Continued)

146 |╇ Government and Parliament Giovanni Goria â•…(Christian Democrat) â•…1987–1988 Ciriaco de Mita â•…(Christian Democrat) â•…1988–1989 Giulio Andreotti â•…(Christian â•… Democrat) â•…1989–1992 John Major Giuliano Amato â•… (Conservative) â•…(Social Democrat) â•…1990–1997 â•…1992–1993 Carlo Ciampi â•…(Independent) â•…1993–1994 Silvio Berlusconi â•… (Conservative) â•…1994–1995 Lamberto Dini Jacques Chirac (Gaullist) (Independent) â•…1995–2007 â•…1995–1996 Romano Prodi â•…(Social Democrat) Tony Blair â•… 1996–1998 â•…(Labour) Massimo D’Alema â•…1997–2008 Gerhard Schröder â•…(Postcommunist) â•…(Social Democrat) â•… 1998–2000 â•… 1999–2005 Giuliano Amato â•…(Social Democrat) â•…2000–2001 Silvio Berlusconi Angela Merkel â•… (Conservative) â•…(Christian â•…2001–2006 â•… Democrat) 2005– Romano Prodi â•…(Social Democrat) â•…2006–2008 Gordon Brown Silvio Berlusconi Nicolas Sarkozy â•…(Labour) â•…(Conservative) â•… (Gaullist) 2007– â•…2008–2010 â•…2008– David Cameron (Conservative) â•… â•…2010–



The Final Say: Parliament╇ | 147

The Final Say: Parliament National parliaments in Europe often look like university conference halls during the last minutes of a written examination, when only a few students are left, and they are pretending they still have something to add to what they have written. Aren’t the members of parliament interested in making laws, then? No, they are not. Although law making is considered the primary function of the parliament, its main activity is not to make rules but to check the cabinet. Â�Ireland once had a period of 40 years during which members of parliament did not initiate a single law. In Europe, governments make the rules; parliaments have the final say. The governing parties are bound by their support of the government, Â� however, and are no longer free to reject major government bills, at the risk of a cabinet crisis. Once a government has been formed, the parliamentary function of Â�checking the government may be divided into three distinct activities. First, the Â�parliament decides on all laws by adding amendments that change or add Â�elements to the Â�original bill and by casting the final vote. In this process the cabinet or Â�individual ministers defend the bill before the parliament; major bills are Â�discussed first with the minister in Â�parliamentary committees. The committees consist of party Â�specialists in a Â�particular field. Committee seats are allocated more or less in Â�proportion to the size of the party representation in the parliament, and committee presidencies are allocated in the same way; a seniority rule, as in the United States, does not exist in the Â�European democracies. Committee meetings take place in a rather informal way, and the focus is on the details as much as on the main thrust of the bill. For these reasons, Â�committee meetings (whether behind closed doors or in public) allow more room for influence by the opposition Â�parties than full parliamentary sessions. A committee’s agenda is determined more by the minister involved, however, than by the committee chairperson or its members. The discussion continues in the main hall, between party Â�specialists and the minister. Television Â�broadcasting of plenary sessions often show an empty hall, because most representatives come in for a final vote only. Figures 9.1 and 9.2 show the barriers bills have to overcome. In contrast to the US Â�Congress, whose committees, Â�subcommittees, and chairpersons have the right to refuse or to delay discussion of a bill (Figure 9.1), in Europe, committees and the parliament can reject a bill but do not have the

Full House/ Senate //

Committee Subcommittee

Committee Ways & Means

//

//╇x╇x

//╇x╇x╇x

Figure 9.1╇The Barriers in US Congress

//╇x╇x

Full House/ Senate x╇x

Conference Committee (x╇x)

148 |╇ Government and Parliament Full Lower Chamber

Committee

Full Lower Full Upper Chamber Chamber x╇x x╇x╇x x // 5 barrier of agenda setting; x 5 barrier consisting of debate, delay, vital amendments, and approval; (x) 5 incidental barrier; number of x’s indicates importance of debate. Figure 9.2╇The Barriers in European National Parliaments

right to refuse discussing a bill. Agenda setting is for the greater part in the hands of the cabinet (Figure 9.2). The second parliamentary task is to scrutinize and approve the government budget. Budget talks constitute the main confrontation between government and parliament; these talks determine the business of government and the continuity of state services and subsidized organizations. Because of the wide scope of the talks and the possible implications for government continuity, these meetings are at the heart of the parliament’s job. Budget talks get wide coverage in the national mass media, and most MPs attend the sessions. The budget debate mostly starts right after the annual reading of the government’s program (the national “state of the union”) and the presentation of its Â�budget. In some countries the government program is read by the head of state in a ceremonial meeting, with due pomp, in particular in the kingdoms. The debate on the general budget is followed by a separate discussion of each minister’s budget. All parties propose a number of changes, even the parties supporting the government, after first checking that the minister does not consider the changes to be an attack on the coalition. If the parliament rejects the total budget, the government will change the budget or resign; if the parliament rejects a specific ministry’s budget, either the government or only the minister involved resigns. When a cabinet steps down, it often stays on as a caretaker cabinet until new elections are held or a new cabinet is formed, and the current budget remains in force until the coming of a new cabinet or a new minister to guarantee the payment of salaries and subventions. Almost all schools and universities would have to shut down if such a provision did not exist. If there are serious conflicts between the major parties, the head of state may appoint another prime minister as temporary caretaker. The third parliamentary activity is the weekly or daily question hour in which the prime minister and other ministers are questioned about the implications of their plans for specific groups, unforeseen effects of their policies, and current developments in general, in short, they can be asked about everything. These oral questions are a fine opportunity for the opposition to show its oratorical skills in attempts to take on a minister. Members of the parties that support the government defend the minister or reduce the minister’s loss of face by proposing small



The Final Say: Parliament╇ | 149

adjustments in policy. Although the question hour is often the liveliest part of the parliament’s activities, especially when an experienced opposition debater has the floor, it is also the least important one because of its limited effect on national policies. Between the parliamentary meetings, the MPs keep in contact with organizations and individuals that are active in their field of specialization. Going back to the constituency is mainly important in Great Britain, with its majority electoral system. Yet, in other countries the MPs also provide small services to their voters in the form of giving information, helping them find the right government agency for requests, and helping them fill out official forms. Such case work reinforces the bond between the representatives and their voters, independent of the MP’s political party. Parliamentarians have only a small staff (nothing to compare with the staff of members of US Congress, who have to serve far larger constituencies), but they also rely on party assistants and the party’s research or documentation departments, which are often subsidized by state funds. National parliaments leave almost all initiative to the government; the Â�parliament mainly responds to government activities and bills in direct contact with cabinet ministers, which does not create much latitude for American-style logrolling or pork barrels. Members of parliament do not mutually negotiate without government participation, and neither does the government negotiate with individual MPs, except when they act as the official speakers of their parties. In accordance, the relation between the government and the parliament in most countries is not so much one of hierarchy with the parliament on top but rather a power balance between the two: a situation of dual power. Governments must be responsive to constructive changes in the original coalition plans by the parties represented in government. Parliaments can send home a minister or vote down cabinets. In a few countries, the government may also dissolve the parliament and force snap elections, a prerogative that is used especially if it is unable to build a new cabinet after a coalition party has withdrawn its support, if there is strong disagreement between the coalition partners, or under heavy pressure of political protests outside the parliament. The strong links between parliament and government (ministers often occupy seats in the parliament) are reflected in the interior of most continental houses of parliament. Like the US Congress, all continental parliaments are seated in a half circle and face the person who has the floor, but unlike the arrangement in the US Congress, part of the time that person is a cabinet minister. In the British Â�parliament, it is not the parliament facing the government but two parties, one of them constituting the government, that face each other. The two main parties (and the few minor parties) occupy seats on opposites sides of the center table, the Â�ministers occupy the more prominent seats on their side, and the MPs who have the floor just stand up from their seat.

150 |╇ Government and Parliament

Table 9.2╇ Share of Parliamentary Seats Occupied by Women

Countries with Highest and Lowest Percent of Seats

Share >35 percent Sweden (46), Iceland (43), Netherlands (41), Finland (40), â•…Â�Norway (40), Belgium (39), Denmark (38), Spain (37) Share <12 percent Azerbaijan (11), Romania (11), Montenegro (11), Armenia (9), â•… Turkey (9), Hungary (9), Ukraine (8), Georgia (7) Source: Inter-parliamentary Union Web site, “Women in national parliaments,” www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm; most data are for 2010.

There are wide variations among the European countries in the share of �parliamentary seats occupied by women. Positive (affirmative) action or even quota systems by some parties, in particular Social Democrats, have raised the number of women considerably in some countries. As Table 9.2 shows, the largest � shares are found in Scandinavia and the Low Countries (except Luxembourg); the lowest shares are found in Southeastern Europe. So far, this chapter has focused on the main chamber of parliament, yet most national parliaments in Europe are bicameral, which means they consist of two houses: a lower house or chamber and an upper house or senate, but the names vary across nations. The lower house is the real representation of the nation; it has more weight and garners far wider media attention. The senate is often smaller and has less power than the lower house. For instance, the senate can veto a measure, though the veto may be overturned by the lower house, but only rarely can the senate oust a government; that right is reserved for the lower house. Many European senates represent regions or federal units and are elected by means of proportional representation in which the regions serve as constituencies. In contrast to the US Senate, most European senates that are based on such a form of regional or federal state representation take into account the relative size of the constituent units. Most senates are directly elected by the people of the regions or the �federal units, but in that respect the German Bundesrat is an exception; it is not elected but consists of the representatives of the 16 federal state governments, often �cabinet ministers, and the delegation of each federal unit (Land) has to vote as a bloc. The composition makes Germany an even stronger federal representation than the US Senate but, one could argue, also a less democratic one. Although the German senate mostly remains in the shadow of the real chamber, the �Bundestag (Federal Meeting), the opposition parties are able to veto almost any national government plans when they enjoy a majority in the German Bundesrat, and �governments facing a hostile Bundesrat often attempt to prevent deadlock through negotiations with the opposition. In spite of the often hostile rhetoric used between the two leading parties, the recurrent need to bargain



The Final Say: Parliament╇ | 151

Table 9.3╇ Comparison of National Parliaments in European Democracies and the US Congress

Parliaments in Europe

US Congress

General features Size Large Small Chambers Mostly two: lower house/ Two: House of Representatives, â•… upper house; â•…Senate some countries have one â•… house More powerful house Lower house More or less equal powers Main function Legislation, checking the Legislation, checking the â•… executive branch â•… executive branch Staff Small, mainly serving Very big, mainly serving the â•…legislative work â•…constituency Distribution of power Entity that decides Executive, governmental Legislative â•…the agenda â•…parties Entity that frames Executive Executive, legislative â•… the bills Main type of debate Committee and floor Committee and subcommittee â•… discussion with executive â•… discussion among members Committee chair Proportionality: in proportion Majority rule: members of â•… allocation â•… to share of party seats â•… majority party Power distribution Concentrated in party Dispersed among party leaders â•… leaders, including the head â•… and committee/subcommittee â•… of the executive branch â•… chairs, all of majority party Power vis-à-vis the Power to amend or reject Power to ban, amend, delay, or â•… executive â•… bills, but the executive â•… reject bills; no power to â•… branch dominates debate; â•… remove executive (except â•… power to remove the executive â•… under rare circumstances)

with the �opposition has changed the German political system into a negotiating �democracy (Verhandslungsdemokratie). A number of smaller countries in Scandinavia and Central Europe (as well as Ukraine) do without a senate; they have a unicameral parliament. A strange relic from the past is the British House of Lords, in which even after the reforms by the Labor government under Tony Blair seats are still reserved for bishops and archbishops of the national Anglican Church, for nobility, and for elderly statesmen and others that have been promoted into the nobility ranks. They use the house to take a nap while tourists swarm the bedrooms in their castles. Table 9.3 compares the national parliaments in Europe with the US Congress.

152 |╇ Government and Parliament

Head of State: President or Monarch Except in France and Eastern Europe, the head of state is not so much the head of state as its symbol. Until the mid-19th century or early 20th century most countries were monarchies (duchies, grand duchies, kingdoms, empires), and their heads of state were hereditary dukes, grand dukes, princes, kings, queens, czars, sultans, or emperors. National constitutions reduced their power or removed them from office and transformed absolute monarchies into �constitutional monarchies or republics. European presidents are often elderly statesmen elected by the parliament. Like constitutional monarchs they mainly exercise ceremonial tasks, like swearing in a new cabinet or dining with other heads of state. Great Britain, Scandinavia (except �Finland), the Low Countries, and Spain continue to appreciate their royalty as a fine, be it very expensive, relic from the past, and as an element of stability in national allegiance, because it offers a century-old object of identification (fairy tales always feature kings and queens, never presidents) and some juicy sex scandals of idle crown princes and the husbands of reigning queens. (As busy elder statesmen, presidents are less interesting in that respect.) The kingdoms are the only countries that have a First Lady, either in the form of a reigning queen, such as Queen Elizabeth II in Great Britain, or as the wife of a reigning king, such as Queen Sofia in Spain. Switzerland does not like such costly royal pomp and has by far the cheapest head of state; the leaders of the big parties are permanently represented in the national government, and in turn, one of them serves as head of state for a year. Table 9.4 shows the remaining royal dynasties and the dynasties that were removed from the throne since 1871. Six of the eight dynasties that are still on the throne are of German descent. Table 9.4╇ Dethroned and Remaining Royal Dynasties Country

Royal Dynasty

Former monarchies â•… (year monarchy ended) France (1871) Bonaparte Portugal (1910) Bragança Russia (1917) Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, called Romanov â•…(German/Russian) Austria/Hungary (1918) Habsburg Germany (1918) Hohenzollern Turkey (1922) Ottoman Albania (1938) Zogoe (only one king, not a dynasty) Yugoslavia (1945) Karageorgevicˇ Italy (1946) Savoye Bulgaria (1946) Saxe-Coburg (German) (Continued)



Head of State: President or Monarch╇ | 153

Romania (1948) Greece (1974) Remaining monarchies Great Britain Denmark Norway Sweden The Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg Spain

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (German) Oldenburg (Danish)

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, since 1917 named Windsor (German) Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg (German) Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg (German) Bernadotte (French) Orange (Oranje-Nassau, German) Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (German) Nassau (German) Bourbon (French)

Note: the two ministates of Liechtenstein and Monaco are also hereditary monarchies.

In some countries, the heads of state play a role in building a new cabinet, because they appoint the formateur. In politics, however, the main function of the heads of state is to sign laws. This may provide them with some informal �influence in the contents of laws, facilitated by regular working visits by the prime minister to the presidential or royal palace. The heads of state are no longer in a position to refuse to sign, however, as is shown by a 1994 incident in which the Catholic Belgian king refused to sign a law relaxing the rules on abortion. The Belgians found a creative solution by having him declared unable to reign. The combined chambers of parliament then took over his powers and signed the law. The next day they restored their king to power, or more specifically, to his �function. The Swedish king and the Luxembourg grand duke have lost the power to sign laws; the Swedish king no longer has any political functions at all, apart from ceremonial ones. Table 9.5 compares the executive power in European democracies and the United States. Table 9.5╇ Comparison of the Executive Power in European Democracies and the United States

European Prime Ministers

Main Position Head of nation No National symbol No How elected By the parliament (except â•… in Great Britain) Position as head of â•…executive

American Presidents Yes Yes By the people

(Continued)

154 |╇ Government and Parliament Decides about composition Partially, in combination Yes ╅ of government ╅ with leaders of coalition ╅party/parties Political appointments in Few Many ╅ civil service and judiciary Who makes the final Collectively by the cabinet Individually by the ╅ decisions in the cabinet president Role in legislation Role in legislation Almost exclusive legislator Chief legislator Main decision maker Yes, in government No, in Congress ╅ on bills Relation with legislature Executive is predominant Separation, but bills ╅ but legislative support is ╅ require congressional ╅ needed and the parliament ╅ support ╅ may dismiss the government; ╅ in some countries, the ╅ government can dissolve ╅ the parliament

The Constitution and the Judiciary All European nations possess a constitution. Most of these constitutions have mainly served one goal, either to establish national independence or to make a transition Â� to democracy—or to dictatorship and then back to democracy again. Hardly any constitution has combined nation building with the introduction of democracy, as the US Constitution did. Where independence and democracy were established simultaneously, national identity and nationhood had often been formed earlier but had been suppressed by a foreign power. Consequently, Europeans do not identify their nationhood or democracy with their constitution, and European constitutions are more a combination of regulations than a real charter or statute. It is not the constitution but national culture, based on the national language, that contains and expresses the basic values of the nation. The text of the constitution is not on display in any European country, and would not draw many visitors anyway, but national museums present showpieces of national art as a source of national pride. Constitutions of new nations were mainly framed after wars and the breakup of empires, for instance in 1815 (the Netherlands, after Napoleon’s empire broke down); at the end of World War I, when the Austrian and Russian empires fell apart Â�(Austria, Czechoslovakia, Baltic nations); and in the 1990s, when the Soviet Union and Â�Yugoslavia were split up (Croatia, Slovenia, Baltic nations). Constitutions that established new political systems in existing countries can be grouped together on the basis of the changes they brought about, but there is also a chronological order. See Table 9.6.



The Constitution and the Judiciary╇ | 155

Table 9.6╇ Chronology of Types of Constitutions Phase

Contents of the Constitution

Countries

19th century, early Change from absolutist France, most Germanic ╅ 20th century ╅ monarchy to a constitutional ╅ countries, Latin European ╅ monarchy or a republic ╅ countries Early and mid-20th Switch to a dictatorship Soviet Union and most of ╅ century ╅ Central Europe after World ╅ War II Mid to late 20th (Re)introduction of democracy Austria, Italy, and Germany ╅ century ╅ after World War II; Iberian ╅ Peninsula in the 1970s; ╅�Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s Late 20th century More limited reforms France, the Fifth �Republic ╅in 1958; Sweden, the end of all royal powers in 1974; �Belgium, the shift to �federalism in 1989

Because of this variety of political change and because of many minor changes in the political system that prompted general revisions of the constitution or even a new constitution, most European countries have had more than one constitution since their independence. The rights contained in the US Bill of Rights, such as free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of gathering, and a free press, have often formed an integral part or even the core of the democratic European constitutions. In general, the older the democracy, the less the constitution is referred to in everyday politics and the fewer opportunities of judicial review. Great Britain, as the first country to limit royal power in a series of documents, some of them Â�dating back to medieval times, does not even have a written constitution in the strict sense. The idea behind this absence of a formal constitution is that a longstanding democracy hardly needs a constitution, and in the hypothetical case a dictator takes over, a written constitution would not stop that person. Judicial review is far less common and powerful in Europe than in the United States. The original European attitude was opposed to judicial review, in Britain because of the absence or rudimentary form of a written constitution, and in revolutionary France because it interfered with the people’s will, as expressed by parliament. After the French Revolution, continental Europe adopted the French view, and most of the older democracies (Scandinavia, Low Countries) still do not permit formal judicial review. Judicial review has become widespread in

156 |╇ Government and Parliament

Europe, however, as a response to fascist and communist dictatorship. It was introduced first in Italy and Germany after World War II; in Spain and Portugal in the 1980s, also after the end of fascism; and in the early 1990s in Central Europe, after the overthrow of communism. Its spread has also been due to the European Union (EU), because the basic EU treaties contain civil rights, and even in countries that do not allow judicial review, judges have the right to test national laws against such international treaties to which the country is a party. Moreover, the European Court of Justice, seated in Luxembourg, is being endowed with powers similar to those of the US Supreme Court. Europe is leaving behind the idea that laws adopted by parliament are sacred in favor of judicial review. Judicial review is mostly the privilege of a special constitutional court, of which the German constitutional court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) is the most famous. Such courts are not necessarily the apex of the national judicial pyramid, but, as in Germany, some of them occupy a separate place outside the pyramid of local, regional, and national courts. In most nations, constitutional courts enjoy an independent position comparable to that of the US Supreme Court, and they are not involved in daily politics. An exception is France, where judicial review of laws is prohibited, but the French have found a way to circumvent that restriction: The (highly partisan) Conseil Constitutionel is called in by the parties in opposition to test almost every piece of legislation that has just passed parliament but has not yet become formal law. Whereas impeachment of the prime minister or the head of state by the national parliament does not exist in Europe, the judiciary can play a role in convicting such a person for criminal behavior. In some countries the head of state can be prosecuted while still in office; in other countries the head of state has to quit office first, which means proceedings cannot start until the head of state voluntarily steps down or his or her term is over. The parliament can investigate the case, but criminal proceedings are always done by the judiciary. In any event, Europe is much less strict than the United States in convicting national politicians for corruption or other nonviolent forms of criminal behavior. Branding the �person as corrupt is often thought to be enough of a sanction. Moreover, �corruption is widespread in parts of Central Europe and most of Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe. The earlier weak nature or even absence of judicial review had to do with the continental system of civil law. Although the idea of trias politica might suggest otherwise, ordinary courts and judges are not supposed to play a role in politics. In most countries the courts function only to interpret laws and apply them to specific cases. Even in their interpretation they have no free hand but must look at what the government had in mind when framing the law; in other words, they must take



The Constitution and the Judiciary╇ | 157

into account the intentions of the law, not merely its actual contents. In continental countries the application of legal rules is facilitated by the fact that they have been codified in a civil code, a penal code, and a few other codes, most of them based on Roman law (dating from the Roman Empire), on postrevolutionary French codes, and in some other countries on the 1900 German civil code (Bürgerliches Â�Gesetzbuch). In the continental tradition, civil law, criminal law, and public law consist of basic and strict state rules that cover almost all human activities and do not leave much room for variations in interpretation by judges. Great Britain is the only country that does not enjoy this kind of codified civil law. Its system of common law (which also prevails in the United States) gives British judges a greater range of freedom in their jurisdiction than their colleagues on the continent. They do not have to look at the legislators’ intentions but only at the text of the law, and in interpreting laws, they mainly follow precedent (earlier verdicts in similar cases), so they consult voluminous archives of judicial cases rather than law books. In the absence of precedent, judges to a limited extent may shape new law, rather than merely interpret existing legislation. Related to the difference between civil law and common law are two basic variations between American and European court procedures: the practice of jury trial and the judge’s role in a jury trial. Because of the codification of legal rules and the group division of European society, juries are less common in Europe than in the United States. The European judiciary system is more elitist and lacks the popular base and the trust in ordinary citizens that characterize the American system. European governments would never have allowed trials of rebellious laborers by their peers, especially given that their peers might include other rebels. Europeans also realize the great impact of differences in ethnicity, religion, and social class on a jury’s judgment. Still, jury trial became a modest part of European judicial procedures in the early 19th century, introduced by the French Revolution and inspired by the British tradition that suited its slogan of equality. Most countries abandoned the system later, but since World War II, the jury trial has spread again on a limited scale, although it is often confined to very serious and political crimes. The stronger role of judges in European court cases also plays a role in the Â�limited use of juries. Whereas in American jury trials the judge’s role is Â�primarily a procedural one, in the continental European trial tradition, the state, in the person of the judge, is the core actor, the one who actively seeks all information and all evidence needed to make a balanced decision. For those reasons, the Â�European system is called an inquisitorial one versus the adversarial system in the United States, in which the judge mainly guarantees fair play between the two adversaries. Table 9.7 compares US and European judiciaries.

158 |╇ Government and Parliament

Table 9.7╇ Comparison of the Judiciary in European Democracies and the United States

Europe

United States

Legal system Type of legal system Civil law (except Common law â•… Great Britain) What the system is based on Codified legal texts Precedent in courts Type of trials Inquisitorial Adversarial Court system Court structure One pyramid, three Two pyramids, three â•… or four levels â•… levels each Latitude of judicial Small, limited by strict laws Wide, limited by â•…decision making â•…precedent Juries Found in a number of Yes, for specific â•… countries, but rare â•… types of trials Political role Judicial review Originally not, but now Yes â•…widespread Political role of judiciary Not important (except At times very important â•… in France) Appointment Judicial nominations By executive or legislative; By the executive; â•… professional, yet some â•… explicitly political â•… political proportionality Election of judges No Only in (lower) state â•…courts Independence Independent Independent

The Bureaucracy The standing bureaucracy in the ministries or government departments occupies a prominent position in politics throughout Europe. The departments are headed by a minister or vice minister but managed by a senior civil servant; with their specialized knowledge, higher-ranking civil servants may sometimes dominate � a minister who is new to the field. The basic distinction in the nature of the civil service is, once again, one between Great Britain and the continent. In Great Britain, senior civil servants are generalists, selected not because of their expertise in their policy field but because of their general administrative skills and adherence to group norms (and the use of upper-class English), preferably learned and practiced at Oxford �University (with Cambridge as a second choice). Most of the continent prefers



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civil servants with technical knowledge in the policy field involved, for which any university or technical college will do. This preference for specialization probably goes back to the standing military bureaucracies on the continent, whereas Great Britain, as an island, lacked a standing army. For a long time its major state service was the Royal Navy, which did not play a role in domestic politics but ruled the waves. On the continent, France is a bit exceptional with its special educational institutes for top civil servants, the Grandes Écoles, in particular the École nationale d’administration (ENA). The system creates a closed elite of alumni, énarques, who share the same educational background, but the influence of the schools is waning, and some of the schools have even been removed to cities far from Paris, the worst fate for any administrative or political career in France. In all of Europe the civil service is considered to be apolitical, but in some Â�countries new ministers may appoint a small group of personal assistants or Â�consultants who will leave when their minister resigns. This is not unlike the American spoils system, but on a more limited scale, and the appointments are not a reward for campaign activities or funds. Hardly any European country has a Â� is person who serves as chief of staff of the government leader; mostly that function performed by a relatively anonymous top bureaucrat. In Â�several countries, the rule is observed that the top of the civil service should to some extent reflect the political divisions in the country. This kind of political Â�investiture may be an informal affair, or even a public secret. Of course, the department will stress that technical knowledge was crucial for an appointment, but the rest of the country knows that the appointee also had the right political affiliation. State bureaucracies and public services are often very hierarchical organizations, with strictly defined competencies and tasks. These static institutions are currently being changed into more dynamic and businesslike organizations. This transition from more static and rule-based public administration to more dynamic and process-oriented public management originated in the United States and in Great Britain under Margaret Thatcher. Although most governments rejected Thatcher’s crusade against big government as too radical, the British example of public management has been, or is being, imitated in a Â�number of countries to increase efficiency, effectiveness, and service orientation in a more businesslike way.

Regional Variations in Parliamentary and Governmental Power The regional differences in the relation between government and parliament are just as pronounced as the social and ideological divisions. In Great Britain’s Â�Westminster model, strong one-party cabinets rely on stable majority support and do not need to compromise with the opposition. In the smaller Germanic nations,

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governments are either one-party cabinets (almost confined to Â� Scandinavia) or multiparty coalitions that have to take care not to lose majority support in Â�parliament. The cabinet listens carefully to what the opposition has to say and preferably tries to integrate at least a few of the opposition’s ideas in its policies, if only because the major parties in opposition might well be the next partners in government. In Scandinavia, influence of the opposition is secured by means of the parliamentary committees, which play a more active role than their counterparts elsewhere and encourage intense exchange of views on state policies. In other Germanic nations, committees are less influential but national government still seeks to find some kind of compromise or consensus with the opposition. In Germany, the parties are less consensus oriented, but a hostile Bundesrat (senate) and the federal system itself encourage regular negotiations between government and opposition. Whereas in Great Britain the opposition’s main role is to criticize the government, and in Germanic nations to influence the government, in Latin Europe its main role is to undermine the government until the government quits. Later than in Great Britain and Germanic Europe, the Latin European parliaments have also become used to strict party discipline, which has increased government stability and reduced the opportunities for sending the government home every now and then or for practicing oratory skills. The second Berlusconi cabinet (2001–2006) even became the first Italian government to serve the full term. Although most governments in Latin Europe are coalitions, the strong left-right division does not encourage consensus-oriented talks with the opposition. In Central Europe, the very process of coalition building is already a Â�difficult and tiresome one. The attempts to forge some form of understanding and Â�agreements among parties and alliances of parties do not leave much time or energy for Â�consensus-seeking talks with the opposition, and often the Â�parliamentary right to send home the government has been curtailed to Â�guarantee government Â�stability. The fierce opposition between former communists and anticommunists, where often one side is in government and the other is the opposition, does not facilitate understanding of the government opposition either. Moreover, in Â�several of these nations, strong prime ministers or Â�presidents occupy the forefront of national politics and some have opted for a semi-presidential system, which has been the greatest political innovation in European democratic politics since World War II.

The Semi-presidential System Europe has hardly any experience with an American-style democratic �presidential system in which both the president, as the head of government, and the parliament are elected by popular vote and are independent of each other. Although Finland



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was first, one might say that France has introduced a Â�presidential type of political system in Europe, but not to the full extent. Under the interwar Third Republic (1918–1940) and the postwar Fourth Republic (1944–1958), government instability was a serious problem, and in some years the French were governed by a sequence of governments. The lack of Â�continuity was compensated to some extent by the strong network of top civil servants, recruited from the Grandes Écoles. Their power reduced the impact of parties and government on state policies, which actually amounts to yet another form of depoliticization. In 1958, Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French liberation army during World War II, put a drastic end to frequent party deadlocks and established the Fifth Republic, in which the parliament and the president are both elected by the French people. It is not a full presidential system, but a semi-presidential system, a hybrid of parliamentarism and presidentialism in which the national government, led by a prime minister (premier ministre) who is selected by the president, is not only responsible to the president but also to the Assemblée Nationale. The president has to take into account the composition of parliament when appointing a prime minister. The president lacks explicit powers in domestic affairs but enjoys extensive powers in foreign policy, which has made the French president the most powerful head of state in Western Europe and has given France a stable face in Europe. Although some French presidents, including De Gaulle himself, preferred to treat their prime ministers in public as their senior assistants, the prime ministers are much more than that, yet far less than their colleagues outside France, who are the political leaders of their countries. The unclear division of competencies between president and prime minister creates tension if a president faces a hostile parliament and has to tolerate, and to cooperate in domestic policies with, a prime minister who has opposite views. In that case, the French speak of cohabitation, because the situation resembles a kind of uneasy situation where two people live together without shaking hands in the morning (which requires unusual restraint in France). Cohabitation is even more of a predicament for the president than the potentially hilarious situation in which an American presidential candidate would have to accept a hostile person as running mate, because unlike US vice presidents, French prime ministers are real policy makers in domestic politics. The situation is more like that of a US president who has to deal with a hostile Senate majority leader. The French president may attempt to stop cohabitation through dissolving parliament and calling for new elections. In 1997, President Jacques Chirac, a Gaullist, called for new elections in which he hoped to enlarge his majority in the Assemblée Nationale. Surprisingly, the Social Democrats won and Chirac had to appoint their leader, Lionel Jospin, as prime minister, the beginning of a period of cohabitation. Chirac had experience with cohabitation; he had served as prime

162 |╇ Government and Parliament

minister under President François Mitterand, a Social Democrat. Actually, both a hostile and a friendly prime minister may serve as a scapegoat, getting all the blame for economic and social problems, while the president gets all the credits for France’s international position. Â� In France, presidential elections are two-ballot elections; only the two winners of the first ballot compete in the second round (if a candidate did not win a Â�majority of the votes right away in the first round). The political landscape in France has also been changed by reducing the number of major parties to six: socialists and communists on the left, conservative Gaullists and Conservative Liberals to the right, and the radical rightist Front National and the Greens as newcomers. In the parliamentary and sometimes even in the presidential elections the traditional factionalism is continued, but most presidential elections, in particular the second round, are left–right contests. A number of Central European countries have transformed their political systems into parliamentary democracies, but at the same time they have endowed their presidents with more power than those in Western Europe, France excepted. In several democratic countries, like Poland and Romania, the president is elected by popular vote and has a voice in building a cabinet. Yet, presidential powers are most extensive in conditions of political deadlock or crisis; under normal conditions the prime minister is in charge. In less democratic countries like Albania, presidents have been able to absorb great powers irrespective of the constitution. The stability of the executive power has also been at stake in other countries, though it has not resulted in changes in the nature of the parliamentary system. Germany has made it more difficult to vote down the chancellor. Parties may only do so (by means of a vote of no confidence) on the condition that they are able to vote into office a new chancellor, hence the term constructive vote of no Â�confidence (konstruktives Mißtrauensvotum). The new departure in no-confidence voting is to prevent large parties that are unwilling to cooperate in a coalition from forcing a government to step down; in the 1930s, the Nazis and the communists did so and this contributed to the breakdown of democracy and Hitler’s rise to power. The Â�constructive vote of no confidence has been successfully used only once, in 1982 when the small Liberal Party changed sides from the Social Democrats to the Christian Democrats and voted Helmut Kohl in power, replacing Social Â�Democratic chancellor Helmut Schmidt. The German invention has been adopted in a number of nations, including Spain and Poland. One would also expect innovations in that apparently most unstable of Â�Western European nations, Italy. Like the leaning Tower of Pisa it always seems about to crumble, but it still stands. How does Italy cope with political instability? First, until recently Christian Democrats dominated Italian Â�politics; they were the major party in government, provided most prime ministers, and left only small margins for other parties. Second, more than any other Â�country, Italian politics has been characterized



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by family-based clientelism. This phenomenon consists of offering favors like a job, social security benefits, approval of company plans, or other forms of preferential treatment in return for electoral support. In the rest of Europe clientelism is limited, and mainly confined to case work or providing information; real quid pro quo clientelism is condemned as an almost certain source of corruption. Yet, clientelism has the advantage of providing stability in party allegiances. A third element that contributes to stability is the limited impact of politics on Italian society. Both in the prosperous north and the poorer south, politics in Rome is far off, not very relevant, and hardly to be complied with. Although governments come and go, business tycoons in the north, like the Agnelli family that runs the Fiat empire, and party (and Mafia) bosses in the south have a rather free hand to manage their business—as happens now with Prime Minister Berlusconi, who continues to direct his media companies during his term of office. The introduction of the majority system in 1993 and the return to proportional representation have not been much help in creating a more stable party system. Under the influence of Berlusconi’s accomplishment in leading a government for the full five years, voices are now raised to shift to a presidential system. Table 9.1 lists the British and Italian prime ministers, German chancellors, and French presidents since 1980. The semi-presidential system as it exists in France is something completely different from the less democratic presidential systems in Eastern Europe, in particular in Russia and Belarus. Although the United States and the European democracies supported the first democratically elected Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, the appreciation of Russian-style democracy changed during his term and under his successor, Vladimir Putin, who was president from 1999 until 2008 and then took the post of prime minister under President Dimitri Medvedev. To many foreign observers Putin actually remained in charge, which changed the presidential system to a hardly democratic semi-presidential one in which the prime minister is responsible neither to the president nor to the parliament. Ukraine, which is more democratic than the rest of Eastern Europe, has some form between a parliamentary and a semi-presidential system, and it has been plagued by serious conflicts between the elected president and the prime minister.

Challenging Representative Democracy The principle of parliamentary representation is currently being criticized because of the gulf it supposedly creates between citizens and politics. The emergence of feminist identity politics has stressed the need for parliament to reflect the composition of the population at large, which has given rise to quotas and other measures to increase the number of women in the parliament. The number of MPs from immigrant families has also become an issue, but without far-reaching

164 |╇ Government and Parliament

measures so far, to some extent because of the immigrants’ low political profile. Probably the strongest challenge to representative democracy is the introduction of elements of direct democracy in the form of a referendum. Only in Switzerland (beginning before World War II) and in Italy since 1974, has the referendum been a constituent ingredient of national politics. In both countries all kinds of issues can be subject to a referendum, once 50,000 citizens (Switzerland) or 500,000 citizens (Italy) have signed a petition to that order. Ireland has also become quite active in calling referendums, especially on ethical questions like abortion and divorce. In most other nations referendums did not become common until the EU became a national issue, and almost all recent referendums in Europe have dealt with EU affairs. Proponents of direct democracy praise the advantage of citizen involvement and the opportunities for strongly involved groups to draw attention to their cause and convince a majority. In Italy, the radical party was the most ardent proponent, and in the 1970s and 1980s it succeeded in saving legislation that legalized divorce and abortion. In the countries that have been reluctant to introduce the referendum, Germany for instance, opponents point to the potential power of those who are able to mobilize the public, a not very promising prospect in that country because of the Nazi mass mobilization of the 1930s. The power of those who phrase the questions is another objection to referendums; it has materialized in dictatorial Belarus, where referendums have been used by the president to put parliament aside. Table 9.8 contains a list of early referendums that were not related to EU matters. Table 9.8╇ Early Examples of the Referendum Country Year Subject

Comment

Independence Iceland 1944 Independence from Denmark More than 99 percent in favor Constitution France 1945– Three referendums in Overwhelming majority in â•… 1946 â•… 1945–1946 to terminate the â•… favor of ending the Third â•… Third Republic and adopt the â•… Republic, but the new â•… constitution of the Fourth â•… constitution was first rejected â•… Republic â•…and then approved with small majority 1958 On De Gaulle’s Fifth The 1958 referendum had a â•… Republic â•… great majority in favor Denmark 1953 New constitution that A great majority in favor â•… abolished the upper chamber (Continued)



Challenging Representative Democracy╇ | 165

Spain 1966 Referendum on dictatorial Adopted with more than a â•… constitution â•… 90 percent majority 1978 On return to a democratic Adopted with more than a â•… constitution â•… 90 percent majority Greece 1968 New undemocratic More than 90 percent in favor â•… constitution â•… but under a military â•… dictatorship that had silenced â•… all opposition Monarchy Italy 1946 Choice between republic or Small majority in favor of â•… monarchy, after easy royal â•… republic, but there was a deep â•… compliance by King Victor â•… gap between the republican â•… Emmanuel with fascist rule; â•… north and the royalist south â•… after liberation (and â•… (including Rome); results â•… one month before â•… were long contested by â•… the referendum) his son â•… royalists. The day of the â•… Umberto became king â•… referendum, June 2, became â•… national holiday (Festa della â•…Repubblica). Greece 1946 Return of King George II Large majority in favor at the â•… time of a civil war; â•… communists were the leading â•… antiroyalist force 1973– Two referendums on the shift First referendum was under the 1974 â•… from monarchy to republic â•… military dictatorship and was â•… and return to democracy â•… intended to abolish the â•… monarch; the second â•… referendum was for a new â•… and democratic constitution Belgium 1950 Return of King Leopold III, â•… Majority in favor, but â•… who had sought cooperation â•… regionally divided; large â•… with the German occupants â•… protests in French-speaking â•… Wallonia forced the king to â•… abdicate in favor of the â•… crown prince Abortion Italy 1981 Repeal of a law permitting A great majority was opposed â•… abortion â•… to the repeal of the 1978 law â•… that legalized abortion Ireland 1983 Amendment to the Ban on abortion; in 1992 â•… constitution â•… referendums secured the right â•… to travel overseas and the â•… right for pregnant women to â•… obtain information on abortion (Continued)

166 |╇ Government and Parliament Social policies Sweden 1957 Three alternatives for Adopted plan of occupational â•… old-age pensions â•… pensions to be financed by â•… employers’ contributions â•… gained 46 percent of votes, â•… but the outcome was long â•…disputed Miscellaneous Sweden 1955 Driving to the right An overwhelming majority was â•… against, but 10 years later the â•… parliament approved the shift â•… from left-hand to right-hand â•…traffic Switzerland 1959– Voting rights for women Opposed by a majority in 1959; 1971 â•… adopted in the 1971 â•…referendum 1962– Rise of liquor tax (1962) Both were rejected 1968 â•… and tobacco tax (1968) â•… to fight alcoholism and â•…smoking 1973 For Jesuits to be allowed to Adopted; Jesuits had been banned â•… work in the country again â•… under the 1848 constitution Italy 1974 Repeal of the law legalizing A great majority was opposed â•… divorce â•… to the repeal

CHAPTER 10

Civil Society

New Talks Announced by White House Washington, DC, September 29. The White House has announced a new Â�meeting with business and labor representatives after today’s successful talks about wage restraint and employee training facilities. The White House speaker said that labor unions were convinced of the need to reduce wage claims below productivity Â� growth levels in order not to endanger the government’s employment policies. Business leaders promised a boost in training provisions for their employees to catch up with Germany and Japan. The concessions will be laid down in an official Â� business/labor union/government pact later this month. On leaving the White House, AFL-CIO secretary Boy Dime declared that his organization was very Â�positive about the president’s initiative and inspiring leadership during the talks. Â�Business leader Boss Dinero said the talks had been hard but fair. He would blame AFL-CIO for any wage claims in violation of the pact. While Americans may be appalled by this scenario, to many Europeans these kinds of tripartite (government/business/labor union) contacts are part of normal political life. Why are they so popular in Europe?

Civil Society European Style Social capital in the form of active citizen involvement in voluntary associations is abundant in most European nations, but organizational life and pressure politics are different from those in the United States. Membership is more concentrated in a small number of national organizations, partly because of the more dominant role of the national government in social and political life. Most European interest associations are well-organized nationwide associations that engage in nationwide activities, are coordinated by top national organizations, and mainly address the national government. They often maintain links with a political party and exercise pressure within that party, which reinforces the position of political parties in 167

168 |╇Civil Society

European politics. Early Social Democrats developed networks of organizations that served working-class interests, ranging from political parties and labor unions to production cooperatives, cooperative stores, and libraries. In response, the Catholic Church became even more active in establishing national networks of Catholic organizations, including private schools. Together with the Roman Catholic Church and national churches, labor unions (called trade unions in Europe) continue to be among the largest interest associations in Europe. They are in steady decline, however, because of changes in social structure and the shift from manual to office work. Yet, the declining number of organizations is a more general phenomenon, which applies to many voluntary associations and is also attributable to secularization (for religious organizations) and individualization. Secularization is not a new phenomenon; epochal developments in the secularization of politics were the 1789 French Revolution and the beginning of the Turkish Republic in the early 1920s, both of which introduced a strict separation between religion and state. Individualization is relatively new; more than before young adults form one-person households and are less inclined to join voluntary associations and clubs for common activities, preferring individual fitness to team sports (bowling alone) and watching television instead of participating in common family activities. Except for Scandinavia, the unionization rate (the share of union members among all wage earners) has decreased in almost all countries, and in some countries has halved since the 1960s and 1970s. Table 10.1 shows the unionization rate in the British Isles, Germanic Europe, and Latin Europe in 2006–2008; union decline is shown by the 1980 figures (in parentheses). Business associations (called employers’ organizations or employers’ associations in Europe) have a high density among corporations and individual businesspeople. Associations that coordinate parental school activities and local community groups that sponsor local culture and other local projects, such as removing highway litter, are not very common. Europeans expect local or national government to take care of these concerns. Under pressure of budget deficits and the reduction of state activities, however, business sponsorship and private promotion of cultural and recreational activities are on the rise. Public-interest groups and single-issue groups are relatively rare in Europe; the tasks of public-interest groups are performed by political parties, in particular those outside the national government. The Green parties have become a popular—and strongly divided—forum of voices that are critical of the political system, and they are testimony to the easy transition from single-issue movement to multi-issue political party. There is no European equivalent to the National Rifle Association, because the right to bear arms has never been a human right in Europe, and guns are more linked to and associated with revolt, revolution, and warfare. Abortion is a bone of contention between multi-issue organizations, the Catholic Church versus feminists and Social Democrats.



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Table 10.1╇ Unionization Rates, 2006–2008 (1979/80)* Unionization British Isles Germanic Europe Latin Europe Central â•…Rate â•…Europe >60% Finland 74 (69) Denmark 69 (79) Sweden 68 (78) 40–59% Norway 52 (58) Belgium 52 (54) 20–39% Ireland 31 (64) Austria 35 (57) Italy 34 (50) Great Britain Netherlands Portugal 22(60) â•… 28 (51) â•… 24 (35) Germany 22 (35) <20% Switzerland 19 (31) Spain 17 (19) France 8 (18)

Romania 50 Slovenia 44 Greece 28 Czechia 22 Slovakia 20 Bulgaria 18 Latvia 18 Hungary 17 Poland 16 Lithuania 10 Estonia 8

*Central European data for 1979/80 are missing because there were no free trade unions or no reliable data. Only countries with over one million inhabitants are included. By way of comparison, the US unionization rate is 12 (22). Some data are for 1979 instead of 1980. Sources: 2006–2008, European Foundation: Trade union membership 2003–2008, www.eurofound.com; 1979/80: Visser 2006.

The link between organized interests and political parties is a mutual one. Parties promote themselves as the natural representative of specific interests in parliament and the government, and they sometimes reserve seats in parliament for prominent interest group leaders, which means the interest associations involved are able to lobby from within the parliament. In contrast, in the United States lobbying mainly consists of lobbying from outside US Congress and the executive power. With the exception of labor union funds in support of social democratic election campaigns, interest associations as a rule do not contribute to the parties’ election funds. For that reason, and because of the greater secrecy in private contributions to election funds, political action committees (PACs) are unknown in Europe. The close contacts and sometimes formal links between the major interest groups and political parties reduce the role of publicity in competing for parliamentary or governmental attention and reduce the need for lobbying in the corridors of the parliament. Because of these contacts (and party discipline), the press or interest associations do not publish score cards of individual voting records in the parliament. If an organization seeks a change in government policy or wants to focus attention on its members’ misfortune, it contacts its representatives within its party first and discusses further tactics with them, like talking to the press or to

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representatives of other parties. However, everything is done in conformity with the principle of party allegiance first.

One of Europe’s Favorites: Business/Labor/Government Tripartism In many countries, formal meetings are held between the national government, national employers’ organizations, and trade union confederations at least once or twice a year. When the meetings are frequent and not too contentious, the tripartite contacts are labeled tripartism; when tripartism has become a normal ingredient of business/labor contacts or government/business/labor contacts, the term corporatism is used. The term “corporatism” is derived from the early Catholic notion of corporatism. In the 1930s, fascist dictators (Italy and Portugal, not the German Nazis) forcibly imposed this kind of business/labor cooperation not as an alternative to state policies but as an instrument of fascist state control of labor (after having eliminated independent unions and replaced them by fascist organizations). Neglecting this negative overtone of the term corporatism that resulted from this abuse, political scientists once again use the term as a neutral concept, because the countries in which this new form of corporatism prevails are stable democracies. The organizations involved in corporatism still do not like the term, however, because in their view it still has the connotation of too much (forced) mutual cooperation and political integration. The tripartite business/trade union/government contacts that constitute the core ingredient of corporatism developed especially after the economic crisis of the 1930s and World War II. They were motivated by the need to reconstruct the devastated nations in a common effort, uninterrupted by major labor conflicts, and to secure trade union participation in social and economic state policies, sometimes to compensate for union pledges of voluntary wage restraint. Corporatism is based on a tradition of multiemployer collective bargaining for industrial branches, economic sectors, or businesses nationwide. Collective bargaining has gradually created a sense of mutual trust among employers and unions and a willingness to share responsibility for the national economy and the social well-being of the population. The attitude is expressed in the widely used term social partners for employers and unions; Scandinavians prefer the more neutral term of labor market parties instead. The rise of nationwide collective bargaining and corporatism in the smaller Â�Germanic nations (Scandinavia, the Low Countries, the Alpine Countries) has been attributed to a combination of economic and political causes, including the small size and economic vulnerability of these nations, the numerical and organizational strength of their union movement, and the close relationship between the trade unions and the Social Democratic Party. Economic vulnerability has stimulated the idea of a “common effort to survive,” and the nationwide force of the trade



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unions has allowed them to impose restraint on affiliated and nonaffiliated workers. Corporatism emerged when Social Democrats assumed government power in the 1930s or right after World War II; their participation in government encouraged the trade unions to refrain from action that would hinder economic and social �policies, such as large strikes or wage demands that were too high. It also stimulated business to compromise with the unions, if only to prevent social democratic state policies that were farther reaching. Once a tradition, corporatism has �easily �survived changes in government composition, because it is also rooted in the �orientation toward political consensus in these nations and in the opportunities for opposition groups to influence the government. Although European unionism is often set against American (apolitical) business unionism, the participation of trade unions in corporatism actually means they are more business-minded (toward national business, not separate companies) than US labor unionism. In the � European countries involved, �corporatism is regarded as a form of depoliticization of policy building, by means of handing over the task of formulating policies from the national government to civil society organizations. Table 10.2 shows the early forms of nationwide bargaining and corporatism and the evolution of the term corporatism. Table 10.2╇ Beginning of Nationwide Labor Agreements and Tripartism Type of Corporatism

Countries or Organizations

Catholic corporatism Cooperation between employers and trade unions Mainly developed in two papal encyclicals: Rerum Novarum 1891 and Quadragesimo Anno 1931 Fascist corporatism Compulsory cooperation between employers and stateâ•…controlled trade unions Imposed in fascist Italy, Portugal, and Spain (Democratic) corporatism Nationwide collective bargaining between employers and â•… trade unions, resulting in frequent bargaining with the â•… national government 1935 Norway: Basic agreement between employers and â•… trade unions to peacefully regulate labor relations 1936 Belgium: Tripartite National Labor Conference on â•… labor relations after a nationwide wave of strikes. 1937 Switzerland: Agreement in the Swiss machine industry â•… to peacefully resolve disputes, later extended to other sectors 1938 Sweden: Nationwide Saltsjöbaden Agreement to â•… peacefully resolve labor disputes 1944 Belgium: Tripartite social pact covering labor relations, â•… labor conditions, and social security 1951 the Netherlands: Foundation of tripartite social and â•… economic council

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Corporatism takes different shapes. The Scandinavians have preferred regular, up to weekly tripartite contacts; the Low Countries and Austria have established special tripartite councils for these contacts, like the Social and Economic Council in the Netherlands and the Joint Committee (Paritätische Kommission) in Austria. Frequent contact does not mean permanent union–employer agreement. Unions are only willing to moderate wages if employers create jobs; employers want to confine tripartite talks to a small range of topics in order not to reduce enterprise flexibility. Corporatism has been under strain since the change of economic conditions in the 1980s, and under the pressure of government deficits national governments have found it more and more difficult to facilitate compromise by means of additional funds for social security or improved employment policies as a compensation for wage moderation. Despite (temporary?) decline, several of the smaller corporatist countries have served as international models of how to implement successful social and economic policies. Sweden, with its Swedish Model, was once one of the prominent corporatist countries, but in 1991 the employers withdrew their representatives in joint government and business–labor agencies, which marked the end of Swedish corporatism and the shift to a more US-like open Â�market of influence. Although corporatism may be most at home in the smaller Germanic nations, Central European countries have also established tripartite councils, though their success does not match that in the smaller Germanic nations. In Great Britain tripartism is absent; labor unions and employers do not want to involve the national government in their mutual contacts, which mostly take place at the enterprise level or even more informally within the enterprise at shop-floor level. In Latin Europe, the adversarial relationship between left and right extends to labor and business, and it does not allow for regular nationwide contacts. Organizations prefer the political handling of their conflicts by the national government (politicization) to joint agreements that remove social and economic issues from the political agenda (depoliticization). Because of their mutually hostile attitude, organizations do not want to tie their hands, as they like to be free to use any opportunity to trip up each other or the national government. For that reason, tripartite contacts take place more incidentally, and they are less common than direct bilateral contacts between the government and business and between the government and labor unions. In the 1990s, mounting unemployment served as a motive to call special tripartite conferences, employment conferences for instance, in which the trade unions promised to moderate wage claims and accept flexible forms of employment, and business promised to create more jobs and expand training facilities. Agreement was difficult to reach, however, and sometimes organizations that had participated in the talks refused to sign the agreement. Table 10.3 lists a number of tripartite conferences; those in Central Europe were sometimes organized to establish national traditions of nationwide tripartite contacts.



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Table 10.3╇ Recent Tripartite Employment Conferences and Agreements Country Year Subject Bulgaria 1990

Comment

Reform policies One of the first tripartite pacts in Central â•… Europe, before a tripartite council was set up. Poland 1993 Reform policies Concluded at the time the independent trade â•…union movement Solidarity (Solidarnošcˇ) dominated the government, but under pressure of actions by the Solidarnošcˇ locals. Czechia 1994 Wage policies The last in a series of annual pacts on â•…reform policies; because of government disinterest, no more pacts were concluded. Portugal 1996 42-hour work week The largest (communist) trade union â•…confederation took part in the negotiations but refused to sign the agreement. Italy 1997 35-hour work week Under pressure of the Communist Party, which â•…preferred legislation, the national government refused to sanction the agreement. France 1997 35-hour work week Right after the conference, the government â•…imposed the 35-hour work week by law, in spite of fierce employer resistance during the conference. Ireland 1997 Developing social This Partnership 2000 agreement provided â•… partnership â•…for wage moderation, more overall social participation, and less social exclusion. New for Western Europe was the participation of a number of social-aid organizations in this project. Germany 1998 Unemployment An exceptional effort in Germany, called â•… Bündnis für Arbeit (Coalition for Employment), but the participants failed to reach an agreement. Greece 2001 Social security This was especially focused on pension â•…reforms. Belgium 2003 Employment Focused on employment growth through â•…cutting costs for employers of low-pay workers. Slovakia 2007 Safety at work Took place after an accident in a munition â•… depot that killed eight workers. France 2007 Working conditions Effort of recently elected French president â•…to get business and labor to improve labor conditions, under threat of legislation. France 2007 Gender equality Initiative of the recently elected French â•…president to get business and labor to improve labor conditions, focused on addressing the still-existing gender gap in pay.

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Tripartite consultation presupposes strong national federations that are able to speak on behalf of their members and are capable of imposing wage and price restraint upon their member organizations and upon the rank and file. The closed circuit of selected organizations is sometimes put forward as an objection to corporatism, but it is not taken very seriously in the countries involved, because often one or two national trade union confederations and employers’ associations predominate. Under corporatism, the government creates an artificial power balance between business and labor. The idea is based on the (also artificial) power balance in multiemployer collective bargaining. The proponents of corporatism argue that the alternative to this power balance would not be a pluralist open market for influence but a preferential treatment of (big) business, which has more power resources or influence resources. The impact of tripartism on government responsibility before the parliament is hardly felt as a disadvantage either, because the Â�government can always cancel any promises it has made to business or labor. A more recent objection is that corporatism imposes clumsy procedures for those making any changes in corporate strategy and affects flexibility. National employers’ federations sometimes propose this argument as a motive to decrease the Â�contacts with the labor unions and the national government. A different approach to integrate labor unions and employers’ associations is to appoint their leaders as government ministers. In cabinets dominated by Social Democrats, ministers of social affairs are often recruited among trade union leaders; in Liberal or Conservative governments ministers of economic affairs often come from business ranks.

From Doctors to Students: Other Interest Associations and Movements While European interest associations engage in regular and sometimes formal contacts with governments in order to influence state policies, governments seek contacts with “the field” in order to enhance political legitimacy and ensure that policies are implemented. The establishment of mutual contacts often leads to the emergence of networks of politicians, government officials, civil servants, and interest association leaders. Most networking is between corporatism, with its strong and formal links between government and organizations, and lobbying. In contrast to US-style lobbying, it often involves some kind of official government recognition (and selection) of specific organizations as representatives of the field. In Europe, networking is more valued than lobbying mainly because the government has greater initiative in selecting the organizations with which it wants to talk, which may compensate for variations in resources among the interest organizations.



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Corporatist-style networking is most common in agriculture and health care. In agriculture, farmers’ organizations, agricultural workers, and the food industry play a role; in health care, national medical associations, umbrella associations of hospitals, and public and private insurance companies are involved. In France, agriculture is one of the few fields in which corporatism has flourished, yet frequent actions by French peasants (e.g., destroying truckloads of Spanish fruit or British meat imports that undermine their own marketing opportunities) show that it is not generally, or at least not permanently, accepted. More than in social and economic policy, what helps promote networking (or even corporatism) in these policy fields is the fact that they have never been open markets of supply and demand of products and services, and there has often been great variation in the power of the suppliers and the demanders. Either the national government has come to exercise a strong degree of control, as in health care, or the European Union (EU) does, as in agriculture. If a kind of power balance can be achieved between the organizations involved, however, and at least a minimum degree of mutual trust, national government may even try to leave some of the decisions and their implementation to these organizations. In that case Â�networking resembles corporatism, with similar advantages (de-politicization) and disadvantages (closed circuits). An example is corporatism in health care. European medical associations would probably be even more powerful, like the American Medical Association in the United States, if the government did not construct an artificial power balance by supporting or imposing public or private health insurance and by having the public and private insurance companies act as a counterbalance during tripartite sessions. Because of the importance of national education for promoting national unity and imposing specific values and norms, corporatism in education is limited. Top school, university, and teachers’ organizations (and sometimes even the students’ movement) may be involved, but governments are more reluctant to leave education to interest organizations than social and economic policies. In Catholic countries, educational policy can involve confrontation with the Catholic Church, which often conducts political activities outside formal networks. The resulting polarization between pros and cons (clericals and anticlericals) also has to do with the nature of issues on which the Catholic Church speaks out; in addition to education it is concerned with ethical and family questions and even more so with sexual attitudes and sexual behavior, its favorite field of expertise. The Protestant and Orthodox churches have been far more modest in aspiring to an ethical watchdog role in society and politics. Lasting examples of the new social movements that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s are the feminist movement, gay rights organizations, the environmentalists, and the small autonomous trade unions, which have no links with the Â�existing large trade union organizations, reject involvement in top-level

176 |╇Civil Society

contacts, and stress their grass roots base and local actions. The Â�environmentalist movement emerged out of the anti–nuclear energy movement and started with attacks on nuclear sites and sit-down actions aimed at preventing the dumping Â� of nuclear waste. Some of these actions led to violent clashes with large police forces. Other movements have not survived, like the peace movement, which faded away with the end of the Cold War. A form of spontaneous protest that has dwindled is the occupation of empty houses in the large cities as a means of protest against (and to solve) housing shortages. Only in Berlin do such radical protesters (Autonomen) still form a sizable movement, sometimes engaging in violent clashes with the police. At first, the new social movements rejected formal organization and preferred to continue as flexible movements without old-fashioned hierarchy and bureaucracy. Many also refused any form of integration in formal networks, because they believed that would amount to manipulation by the state, but gradually such organizations have come to appreciate formal bargaining and even compromising. One of the results has been a change from closed circuits into the direction of more open networks or a pluralist open market in which smaller organizations and more radical movements are also heard. The traditional interest associations have distanced themselves from political parties and have stressed the relationship with their base instead, a partial shift from elite politics to the grassroots; some labor unions have even given up their seats in Social Democratic Party representations in the parliament. The more open and more pluralist competition for influence has also changed the social movements that continue to exist: they have abandoned mass actions and have accepted integration in consultation networks, which by now are much less formal. They have also stimulated a more open media coverage of national politics, in which organizations and movements that feel neglected in formal consultation increasingly turn to television channels to express their grievance, to the dismay of the more established pressure groups, in particular in Germanic Europe, which advocates restraint in that respect.

Regional Variations in Civil Society Pressure politics and the nature of civil society show great variations throughout Europe. Great Britain’s culture of voluntarism is closest to the United States in its rejection of corporatism as being not very democratic and inhibiting rank-and-file initiative (and self-advancement) in and through voluntary associations. In line with this tradition, the unions have hardly ever demanded labor legislation, for instance, and as a consequence, political strikes are rare; miners’ strikes against mine closures are the only exceptions. Interestingly, Ireland, which shares the British decentralization of business and union contacts, has joined the corporatist countries, and



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has even pioneered in extending tripartism by involving other Â�nationwide interest organizations (see Table 10.3). In Germanic Europe, conflict between labor and government in the form of Â�political strikes is rare; in several countries there has not been a single political strike since World War II (public sector strikes against the government as an employer are the exception). The absence of political strikes applies also to Germany, where corporatism is less developed, collective bargaining is regionally decentralized, and the national umbrella organizations have less power, which makes it harder for them to conclude binding agreements with the government. In Latin Europe, corporatist depoliticization of issues is prevalent only in a few policy sectors. Employers’ associations and trade unions have strongly opposed views, and even within the ideologically split trade union movement cooperation between the various national confederations has been difficult. Employers and unions sometimes prefer to deal with the national government rather than with each other, but they do not shrink from using strong words and strong deeds to get the government on their side. Political strikes against government policies occur frequently and are considered by the organizing unions as “victories of the working class,” at least if enough participants show up. The festive nature of these actions is shown by the fact that they are also initiated to celebrate the start of labor-friendly governments. Tripartite councils have been short-lived or inactive for long periods; yet, periods of government–labor polarization alternate with times of government–labor bargaining (government/business talks take place more frequently). In Central Europe, civil society is still in the making after 40 years of Â�communist rule. Under communism autonomous organizations did not exist; communist labor unions functioned as transmission belts of the communist parties, transmitting party orders to the workers and ensuring worker compliance with communist Â�priorities. Hungary and, at times, Poland had a more relaxed communist regime. In Hungary the communist power monopoly was gradually relaxed during the 1970s and 1980s; independent local trade unions emerged and some independent candidates even entered the communist-dominated parliament. As a consequence, the transition to democratic civil society was more gradual in Hungary than in other Central European nations. In Poland the Catholic Church regularly spoke out on political issues and acted as a general opposition movement. In 1980, the Polish labor union Solidarnošcˇ, based in the Gdansk shipyards but soon active nationwide, emerged as the first independent labor union, that is, the first autonomous interest association in any communist nation (except for the Catholic Church), but it was outlawed after two years. In most of Central Europe the communist trade unions have transformed Â�themselves into more democratic organizations and are always referred to as the “old unions.” The so-called “new” unions, including the revived Solidarnošcˇ in

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Poland, challenge these transformed old unions, but in a number of nations the old unions continue to dominate trade unionsim. One of the problems in the Â�Central European process of creating a civil society is that it is done more from above by former party leaders, than from below by real private initiative. A number of countries are now experimenting with tripartite councils or regular tripartite meetings. Probably the best-known example is the Hungarian National Â�Interest Reconciliation Council, which has served since 1988 (since 2002 under its Â�current name). Despite the large number of organizations represented (at times seven on either side), it has played an active role in advising on labor bills and preventing and solving labor conflicts. Collective bargaining (and incipient) corporatism in Central Europe suffer from the weakness of employers’ Â�associations; employers tend to be former Communist Party bureaucrats who took over privatized enterprises, foreign multinational companies that are not very interested in collective bargaining, or small domestic entrepreneurs, who are hard to Â�organize. Beyond social and economic policies, networking is still limited. In Eastern and Southeastern Europe, civil society is limited and often operates within strict limits set by authoritarian governments.

The Commercial Revolution: The â•› Mass Media While the US media have become increasingly investigative in attempting to disclose public (and private) scandals in national politics, their continental European counterparts have remained more discreet. At the burial of former French president François Mitterand in 1996, his illegitimate daughter showed up. Her existence had been a secret until then, although the French press knew Mitterand had such a child but did not write about it. German chancellor’s Helmut Kohl’s longtime affair with his secretary was another public secret that was hardly ever written about. Although in Great Britain such love affairs make great headlines, on the European continent they are not typically reported on. The advantage of the continental attitude is that prominent politicians are allowed to have a private life, and for that reason all leading politicians expressed their sympathy with US president Clinton during the scandal of his Lewinsky affair. A disadvantage is that sex and corruption scandals are not easily revealed either. In 1998, a woman published a book on her affair with a former French minister of foreign affairs, Roland Dumas. A foreign company had paid the woman to persuade him to buy armament. Was this still a private sex affair or was it corruption? Although the French hesitated to call it such, in most other countries the situation would have been regarded as a (potential) form of corruption. In Great Britain, similar cases have become public scandals and resulted in the resignation of the minister involved. In France it typically takes more than one affair to resign.



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Only in Great Britain, and to some extent in Germany, does a tabloid press or yellow press exist that pays little attention to political and social developments, highlighting instead human-interest features, sex, sports, and crime. In Great Â�Britain, such papers focus on royalty on the front page, sex on their famous “page 3” (which until recently featured daily a bare-breasted girl), and preferably a combination of both. On the continent, as in the United States, royalty and the rich and famous are more of a topic in weeklies that specialize in such celebrities than in the daily newspapers. However, the tabloids’ focus pays off; the most unscrupulous British tabloid papers have the widest circulation of all European newspapers; The Sun and the Daily Mirror have a combined circulation of more than six million, more than the total European quality press taken together. These papers are very conservative, and Tony Blair’s success in getting some of them on his side during his 1997 election campaign was a big surprise and accomplishment. In contrast to the British tabloid press, the continental press has always made a strict separation between critically following politicians and following policies. Scandals involving royal families or leading politicians have mostly passed without notice; they are considered private affairs, which a responsible press does not write about. The reluctance to write about personal scandals has to do with the fact that parties rather than individuals count in continental politics. It is also motivated by the fact that until the 1970s political leaders were regarded and treated as men of authority, addressed by terms such as “Your Excellency,” and interviewed only by leading journalists in a humble way with questions that had been handed over before. Since that time the reluctance to cover such topics has decreased, but newspapers still try to maintain a low profile in these personal matters. Moreover, in particular in Latin countries, a minister having a mistress is not news. The main political functions of the press, then, are to write about living and social conditions, to promote public discussion, to explain state policies, and occasionally to unravel a case of corruption. Most European nations possess a nationwide press consisting of one or two leading quality newspapers, like The Times and The Guardian in Great Britain, Le Monde in France, and El Pais in Spain, and a number of more popular national newspapers, all of which devote most of their attention to national and international political, social, and economic matters and represent a variety of ideologies. The continental countries, including the smaller ones, also possess a wide network of regional newspapers, some of which enjoy a local monopoly position. Almost all the regional newspapers have a Conservative or Conservative-Liberal outlook. On two points, independence and professionalism, the European dailies differ from those in the United States. Traditionally, the European daily press was a party press, which explicitly voiced the political views of a political party and often maintained formal links with a political party, in particular social democracy and communism, and religious organizations like the Catholic Church. In this

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political parallelism between media and social movements, political comment and �interpretation were just as important as fact finding, and objectivity was sometimes lost altogether. This priority has resulted in lower standards of professionalism, in particular in Latin Europe, where the political links were strongest and politics was more polarized. Since the 1960s, the party press has either died or become more independent, with the exception of a few remaining communist newspapers, yet the newer European tradition of investigative journalism still trails the American one (Hallin and Mancini 2004). As is the case in the United States, a free press is hailed as one of the pillars of European democracy, and democratic governments do not attempt to monitor the press; however, they do monitor television and radio channels. For a long time European television stations were either public broadcasting stations or statesponsored private organizations, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) being by far the most independent one. On the continent the government monitored the public channels in a stricter way, and the ruling parties always took care to nominate their own people for leading functions. In Germanic Europe, supervision to some extent served the purpose of equality of access and coverage, in line with the corporatist tradition in civil society. Channels were assigned to different social groups, for example, and any supervision was indirect. In Latin Europe, political control was more direct, and in accordance with the greater degree of political polarization, it was used by the parties in power to guarantee their dominance in television coverage. The spread of commercial TV stations and the opportunity to watch foreign �stations such as CNN and the BBC have completely changed the media landscape in Europe. The contrasting patterns of corporatism in Germanic Europe and �politicization in Latin Europe are still apparent, but they are giving way to commercialization, a reduction of government control, and the Americanization of the European media landscapes and of (political) programming. Commercial stations have become more popular than the few public channels because of their soaps, soccer matches, and the combination of Oprah, Jerry, and Dr. Phil, who are or were on the screen throughout Europe. Political programs also increasingly focus on human-interest features in politics, and on persons rather than parties or ideologies, with politicians as guests on popular programs like quizzes and live shows. Gradually, European politicians have adjusted and have come to learn and appreciate the right way to behave in front of the camera. Another effect is that the �traditional policy of keeping silent about personal scandals is losing effect, because the scandals might be disclosed by CNN anyway. Commercial mass media have also become a political issue themselves, because in some countries they are highly concentrated in a few hands, which is regarded as a threat to the free flow of information. Concentration of media ownership in a few hands used to be a problem with regard to the national press and regional



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newspapers, but commercial television has made it even more acute. The worst example has been Italy, where media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi has used his position to promote his role in national politics and vice versa. At present, government influence on television channels is waning because of the penetration of national markets by the commercial television stations and foreign channels. In most of Central Europe, the government monopoly of the mass media has been continued to some extent, in particular in television stations, which are still monitored by the national government. Since the end of communism, such control is no longer undisputed. In 1998, Bulgarian State TV decided to stop a popular satirical program as a presumed danger to political stability, but the announcement motivated street fighting between proponents and opponents. The countries that are the most Western oriented, such as Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia, also enjoy the most freedom in this respect. In Russia, journalists who openly criticize national politics or attempt to disclose corruption scandals are in danger; a number of them have been assassinated, and these assassinations are always followed by an official investigation without any results. Table 10.4 compares civil society in Europe and the United States, including the media landscape.

Table 10.4╇ Comparison of European and American Civil Society and Media

European Democracies

United States

Civil Society Composition Large national organizations; Large numbers of local ╅ declining civic engagement ╅ associations Base To some extent determined by social class Individual voluntaristic ╅ and religion, but increasing voluntarism ╅ choice Associations Dominant Business, labor (decreasing unionization), Business, labor, ╅ associations ╅ and the Catholic Church, though church ╅ professionals, ╅ influence has declined ╅ Protestant groups Political ╅ Activities Lobbying Established links with parties, which Informal links with ╅ are now being loosened; lobbying from ╅ politicians; lobbying ╅ inside and outside ╅ from outside Election Exceptional, but always partisan; often Either partisan or ╅ contributions ╅ secret, without legal ceilings; increasingly ╅ bipartisan; published; ╅ stricter rules after contribution scandals ╅ legal ceilings Ratings of Party ratings instead of individual ratings Individual rating of ╅legislators ╅voting behavior (Continued↜)

182 |╇Civil Society Contacts with – Great Britain: open market Open market; pluralism, â•… government – Germanic Europe: corporatism and open market â•… at least as an ideal – Latin Europe: politicization and open market – Central Europe: combination Collective Widespread, including tripartism, in particular Very limited â•… bargaining â•… in Germanic Europe; not in Great Britain Media Daily press National serious and yellow press predominates Local; serious Television Public (formally independent) Many stations, but â•… and increasing number of commercial â•… a few networks offer â•… networks (Americanization) â•… most programs Government – Great Britain: independent Hardly any government â•… involvement – Germanic Europe: corporatism â•… involvement – Latin Europe: politicization – Central Europe: still stronger state control, â•…but overall declining state control because of commercialization

CHAPTER 11

Local and Regional Government

B

efore becoming party leader or assuming office as prime minister, most national political leaders in Europe have already held a job in a nationwide organization, for instance, in their party, in a trade union confederation, or in another interest association. Only some leaders were active in local politics before becoming national politicians, notably French president Jacques Chirac, who was mayor of Paris. A shift from regional politics to national politics is even more unusual in Europe. This kind of promotion is almost totally confined to Germany, a federal republic. Similar to US presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Â�Reagan, and Jimmy Carter, who served first as state governors, chancellor Gerhard Schröder first served as prime minister (state governor) of the Land Lower Saxony, and his predecessor, Helmut Kohl, had been prime minister of Rhineland-Palatinate. Kohl’s three previous social democratic opponents were also prime ministers in one of the German Länder. Present-day chancellor Angela Merkel was not. The fact that almost all European nations are nonfederal nations, that is, unitary nations with a strong and centralized national government, accounts for the predominance of national politics in Europe compared with the United States. In contrast to the careers of these German chancellors, the usual political career patterns typically reflect the prominence of national politics in Europe. Local politics is not very important, and regional politics even less so, except in federal nations like Germany and Switzerland. Whereas some say about US politics that “all politics is local,” in Europe “all politics is national.”

Local and Regional Politics Europeans do not elect their sheriffs. If that office were a political one, it might easily become a source of friction between the various ethnic, religious, and ideological groups; police officers should not be responsible to the voters but to local government, and local government is responsible to national government. The 183

184 |╇ Local and Regional Government

reluctance to elect local officers is only one of the examples of the lower degree of local autonomy (and grassroots democracy) in Europe compared with the United States. However, all nations possess some form of local government, though sometimes without any distinction between rural and urban units, and in that case all local units are called municipalities or communes. Local autonomy dates back to the Middle Ages when rather autonomous towns enforced town rights from feudal overlords or kings; absolutism and the rise of the nation-state affected this position, but local decision making did not disappear completely. Since the 19th century, a certain amount of local autonomy is laid down in many constitutions. The small nation of Malta occupies a unique position because it has no local units at all. The degree of local autonomy varies a lot among the European nations, and there is no direct relation between country size and degree of local or regional autonomy. Some of the smaller nations are federal systems, like Austria and Switzerland, and some of the larger nations, like Great Britain and France, are relatively centralized. Despite the variation in degree of local and regional autonomy, some uniformity exists in the tasks local communities perform. Typical local government areas of responsibilities include the administration of public utilities, such as water, electricity, gas, and garbage collection; land zoning and local infrastructure, such as building permits, local roads, and sewage; policing and safety; cultural facilities, such as libraries, theaters, and museums; primary public education; housing projects, including social housing; and social assistance. To perform these tasks—always under strict national control—local government relies on its own financial sources and national leverage. Local financial resources consist of local taxes and user payments for local services; in contrast to the United States, property taxes are not a very prominent source of government income in Europe. Local taxes are often based on income or enterprise profit; sometimes they consist of an additional levy on top of national income taxes, but local tax resources cover only a small portion of total local community expenditure, and most local funds are provided by the national government by means of unspecified grants or earmarked funds (categorical subsidies for specific projects and activities). There is no clear relation, however, between dependence on state funds and local autonomy. Even in countries where communities are financed almost totally by the national government, they could still enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy because countries may prefer a comprehensive national tax system for Â�reasons of efficiency or control. As has happened in the United States, local government functions have gradually expanded over the past decades. During the 1960s and 1970s, the increase in the number of local tasks had to do with the expansion of the welfare state. In the 1980s and 1990s, decentralization became a popular means for national governments to reduce the state deficit by shifting state services to local authorities without a corresponding transfer of funds. Moreover, decentralization was



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often accompanied by an expansion of government rules on local government competencies. The consequence has not been greater local autonomy but increasing mutual dependence of local and national government, sometimes resulting in friction between the two, because the communities have to perform more tasks with less funding. One of the solutions has been an increase in user payments for local public services. In many countries larger urban centers enjoy special status and have more autonomy than villages and small towns. The national capitals sometimes enjoy an even more special status, which is understandable in view of their relative size. London is the most outstanding example of such a special position; Brussels also occupies an unusual position in Belgium, but that is part of federal arrangements, discussed later. Paris does not have special status, and French presidents often interfere in local Parisian politics, if only to become immortal by leaving their mark on the city with grands projets, such as the Centre Georges Pompidou (the modern arts center and museum, better known as Beaubourg). Economic separation or competition between exurbs and other suburbs on the one hand and city centers on the other is far less pronounced in Europe than in the United States, because incorporation as an autonomous local unit is subject to national decision making; big cities often encompass not only the city center but also most or all of the suburbs and the greater part of the metropolitan area. Moreover, local autonomy is more limited than in the United States, and autonomous suburbs are often forced to cooperate or are coordinated by new communautés de communes, as they are called in France. To Europeans, the term “incorporation” even suggests the opposite of its meaning in the United States, that is, not a suburb splitting off, but the integration of new suburbs in the core city of the metropolitan area. And one should not forget that national governments to a larger degree than in the United States determine local spending, subsidize poorer communes, and keep urban sprawl in check. Decentralization has also expanded the functions of regional government. In the larger countries, regional units include two layers, large regions and smaller provinces or counties. The combination amounts to a four-tiered structure: national, regional, provincial, and local. Smaller countries typically possess only one regional layer, in the form of provinces, and the structure of these nations is a three-tiered one: national, regional, and local. Only the smallest nations, like Â�Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia do without any regional units and have a direct relation between national and local government. The functions of the regional units overlap with those of the local Â�government and include larger-scale services, such as regional planning and infrastructural works, and secondary education and health care, both of which are under state supervision. In addition, the regional units often monitor local government. Table 11.1 compares the forms of local and regional units in the larger and a few

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Table 11.1╇ Characteristics of Regional and Local Units Country

Population Regional Units* (in millions)

Local Units

Russia 110.0 81 not overlapping regional units Five different types â•… (European) â•… (58 in Europe), including 21 (16†) â•… of local units, in â•… republics; 4 (1) autonomous okrugi â•… total more than â•… (districts); 46 (38) oblasti (provinces), â•… 30,000 â•… 9 (3) kray (regions); 1 (0) autonomous â•…oblast; and 2 (2) autonomous cities Germany 82.3 (a) 16 federal Länder 16,043 Gemeinden (b) 426 Kreise and 117 kreisfreie â•…Städte (cities) Turkey 77.8 81 provinces, subdivided into more 850 towns and 2,294 â•… than 600 districts â•… villages France 62.8 (a) 22 régions 36,763 communes (b) 96 départements Great Britain 61.3 (a) 8 regions, including the capital Metropolitan and (b) 34 counties â•…nonmetropolitan districts, subdivided into electoral wards, but there are great variations between England, Scotland, and Wales Italy 58.1 (a) 20 regioni 8,074 communi (b) 94 provincie Spain 45.8 (a) 17 comunidades 8,111 municipios (b) 50 provincias Ukraine 45.7 (a) 24 regions, 2 cities, and 1 457 cities, 887 towns, â•… autonomous republic and 28,552 villages (b) 490 raions Poland 38.5 16 regions 379 counties and â•… 2.478 districts Romania 22.2 41 counties and 1 capital city 86 municipalities, â•… municipality â•…280 townships, and 2,800 communes Netherlands 16.8 12 provinces 496 municipalities Belgium 10.4 (a) 3 communities and 3 regions 589 communes (b) 10 provinces Hungary 9.9 19 counties, 20 urban counties, and 195 towns and 2,913 â•… 1 capital city county â•… villages Switzerland 7.6 20 cantons and 6 half-cantons 3,000 communes (Continued)



Local and Regional Politics╇ | 187

Slovakia 5.5 Finland 5.3 Ireland 4.2 Lithuania 3.6

Slovenia

2.0

Iceland

0.3

(a) 8 counties 2,891 municipalities (b) 79 districts 6 provinces 448 municipalities (a) 4 provinces 80 towns, including (b) 26 counties and 5 cities â•… 5 town boroughs 10 counties 60 municipalities â•… (43 districts, 8 cities, â•… 9 other) No regional units 220 municipalities, â•… including 11 urban â•…municipalities 23 counties and 14 towns 200 communes

*(a) indicates highest regional authority; (b) indicates lower regional authority. †Russian figures in parentheses refer to the European part of Russia. All numbers refer to the years 2003–2008.

smaller Western European nations. It shows that there is no relation between Â�country size and the number of regional and local units; some smaller countries have more local units than large nations. The way in which local and regional democracy functions shows similarities with national politics. Elections for the mayoralty and the city council are always partisan and at-large elections, not ward elections, yet in Germanic Europe they are less partisan than national elections (and less partisan than similar elections elsewhere in Europe). Big cities that have been divided into relatively autonomous boroughs have their own partisan borough council elections. Other than the mayor, local executive officers are never elected in popular elections, and neither are Â�justices, who are part of the national judiciary and appointed by the minister of justice. Local politics looks like national politics in the sense that in Great Britain the elected local council is always dominated by one party, just as the national Â�parliament in Great Britain’s Westminster type of democracy. On the Â�continent, several parties make up the local and regional councils, and they often form Â�coalitions, as they do in the national parliaments under the continental type of democracy. The mayor is elected by direct local vote or by the council. Europe shows great variations in community size and local politics. Great B Â� ritain and Ireland have by far the largest local communities, with an average size several times those in Germanic Europe. Whereas on the continent national Â�governments imposed cuts in local budgets by shifting tasks to that level without additional funds, the conservative British governments of the 1980s and early 1990s did it the other way. They considerably reduced the range of local services and imposed stricter political and financial control, an attack that was aimed specifically at Labour-dominated local councils. The conservatives also tried to change from

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property tax to a flat-rate individual poll tax, with fixed rates per person. The lack of fairness in the new system aroused a storm of protests, and after some years the government gave in and returned to the former system of property tax, but the new council tax retained some elements of the individual poll tax. In Germanic Europe, most local units have well over 10,000 inhabitants; smaller communities were merged in the 1970s to improve management of the increasing number of welfare-state services and utilities. An example of this extension of scale was the reduction of the number of Swedish municipalities by several thousands. In Germanic Europe, the post of mayor is often more an administrative position than a political one. In Latin Europe, the average community size is still under 10,000. More than in Germanic Europe the mayor is a political figure, and the stronger political nature (politicization) of local government is one of the reasons local communities in Latin Europe were not merged during the 1970s. Any attempt in that direction met with loud local opposition, with the mayor conducting the protest choir. The more pronounced political nature of local government does not imply more local autonomy; actually, the small size of the localities in Latin Europe means they have less autonomy than the local units in Germanic Europe, because of their fewer resources. However, Latin mayors may also play a role in national politics, for instance when they combine their post with a seat in the parliament. In contrast to the typical career pattern of national political leaders, a number of French politicians are town mayors and members of parliament at the same time, a cumul (accumulation) de mandats that has been frequent in France and has given the communities a voice in national politics. On the other hand, France has always been a highly centralized state, in which state supervision over local government is exercised by the préfects who head the 96 départements. Since the early 1980s, the country has joined the general decentralization movement; the prefect is no longer the chairperson of the regional council but merely a kind of state commissioner with reduced powers. In Central and Eastern Europe, local and regional autonomy used to be very limited under communism. In the past 10 years new forms of local government have been introduced, without a uniform pattern. In some countries reforms have consisted of a merger of local and regional units, in others such units have been split up. School districts and other special single-purpose districts are not very common in Europe, because almost all functions performed by such institutions in the United States are tasks of the local or regional unit in most European nations. However, these tasks are increasingly handled by combinations of public and Â�private management, which are more sensitive to citizens’ needs and questions. Table 11.2 compares local and regional government in Europe and the United States.



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Table 11.2╇ Comparison of European and American Regional and Local Government

Europe

United States

Nature of units Subnational – States (federal nations only) – States â•… multipurpose units – Regions (sometimes 2 tiers) – Counties – Local units – Municipalities/towns Subnational Not very common (in – School districts â•… single-purpose units â•…Great Britain school districts – Other special districts are service institutions) Election/appointment Election type Partisan, at large Partisan or nonpartisan; â•… at large or ward system Legislature Election, partisan Election, partisan Executive Election of mayor only, Election of several officials, â•… partisan â•… partisan or nonpartisan Judiciary Appointed Appointed or elected Popular involvement Relatively low Relatively high Autonomy Degree of autonomy Federal units: very high States: very high Regional/local units: low Regional/local units: high Neighborhoods and Mostly under city government Prospects of autonomy â•…suburbs â•…control â•…through incorporation

Federalism There are only four full-fledged federalized nations in Europe: Austria, Â�Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland, although Spain is a potential newcomer. Russia is officially a federal nation but only in name. Until World War II, federalism was unusual. Throughout European history there have been a number of federations and confederations; the various confederations of German states are the most famous example, but Napoleonic France introduced unitary nations under strong central governments and with uniform policies throughout countries as a whole. Later in the 19th century, Germany and Italy were unified, Germany as a federal empire, but federalism was abandoned by the Nazis in 1933. This left Â�Switzerland as the only longstanding federal system. Since World War II, federalism has gained some Â�popularity. Partly under US influence, Germany and Austria adopted a Â�federal political structure right after the war; in the 1980s they were followed by Â�Belgium and, to some extent, Spain. As the examples show, federalism has not been Â�confined to larger nations. Although the German federal Länder have, on average, about the same number of inhabitants as American states, around five

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million people, the average size of the Swiss cantons is only 250,000 people. Â�Interestingly, Germany includes three city-states, in the form of Länder that consist of one city only: Â�Berlin, Bremen (which is actually two cities), and Hamburg. The variation in population size (25:1) between the most- and least-populous Â�German units is slightly greater than that in Switzerland but far smaller than the ratio between California and Wyoming in the United States. There are a number of differences between US federalism and federalism in Europe. First, all postwar federal systems in Europe have been federalized from above, rather than becoming federalized as a bottom-up initiative of the participating units. German federalism was introduced to serve a number of purposes, including reducing the fear of a strong German state in the surrounding countries, preventing a new dictatorial takeover of the whole state (as happened when the Nazis seized power), and providing more opportunities for democratic grassroots initiatives. Second, the borders between federal units often overlap, and dividing lines may separate different ethnic or religious groups or other minorities from the majority or from each other. As the short history of the new and fragile Bosnian nation shows, such a split along major lines of social division could well increase rather than reduce tension, especially if the participating units compete for power. In Germany, potential conflict between the Länder is a minor problem. The borders between the 16 German Länder follow historical frontiers, but the formerly dominant state of Prussia, throughout the ages the core of the German Empire, has been split up. Part of it is Polish territory and a very small part is Russian territory (the Â�Kaliningrad Enclave between Poland and Lithuania). By far the most populous of the 16 Â�Länder is Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia); with 19 million inhabitants it is larger than any of the smaller European nations. Not only does it contain the largest concentration of industry in Europe, the Ruhr Area, but it also has a Â�sizable Â�nonindustrial population and includes Protestants as well as Â�Catholics. This commingling of various groups within each federal unit (crosscutting cleavages) is typical of US-inspired federalism, which attempts to increase mutual contacts and create a sense of community among various religious (and language) groups within each unit. In multilingual Switzerland, almost all cantons are single-language units, but conflict is prevented by the existence of religious crosscutting cleavages. Â�Protestant German speakers make up the majority, but the country also includes Catholic Â�German-speaking cantons, and the French-speaking cantons also include Protestant and Catholic cantons. Third, although American federalism, at least in theory, is characterized by a separation between federal (enumerated and implied) and state (reserved) powers, in Europe separated powers are the exception. German federalism, for instance, is more like American cooperative federalism (under which the increasing Â�federal use of the implied powers has undermined the strict separation of powers). The German federal government has wide legislative powers; federal units fill in the



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details and implement the combination of federal frameworks and state-made details. Â�Moreover, the new federal structure of Spain is asymmetrical, which means that some communities (e.g., Basque country) have greater powers than others. This kind of asymmetrical federalism implies the absence of a clear-cut separation of competencies. The other federal systems in Europe have symmetrical federalism, just like American federalism. Austria is the least federalized of the federal nations; its nine Länder have fewer legislative powers and lack the right to make their own educational policy. In the other federal nations, the decentralization of education is one of the cornerstones of federalism; Germany and Switzerland do not even possess a full-fledged national ministry of education. Fourth, the absence in the United States of any financial redistribution among regions is at variance with European efforts to redistribute wealth. Almost all federal and unitary nations engage in regional redistribution by investing in the poorer regions to help them catch up with the richer parts of the country. Germany has a very elaborate system of federal financial leveling, which channels funds from the richer to the poorer Länder. This contrasts with unitary Great Britain, in which conservative governments tended to forget about central England and Scotland, which are traditional Labour strongholds. The British example points to a relation between electoral system and regional spending: A majority electoral system tends to result in stronger regional favors to one’s own electoral base than proportional representation, and even more so if proportional representation is combined with federalism. In all federal systems, the national senate (the upper house of parliament) represents the constituent political units, as is the case in the German Bundesrat; it is not called senate, however, because that term refers to the city governments of the three city Länder, including the Berliner Senat. In none of the federal nations is there a solid block of states that to some extent monopolizes national legislation, as the solid South did in the United States until the 1970s. As distinct from federalism, a number of nations grant special rights to distinct regions because of their minority culture. This form of regional autonomy was often established by a powerful country after it had conquered or acquired neighboring states or regions, such as Scotland and Wales in Great Britain and South Tirol in Italy. It could result in a kind of federal system, but with a very powerful center, which means that these countries would remain more of a unitary nation than a federation, providing extensive regional autonomy for some regions. In Great Britain, England is by far the most populous unit and in national politics overshadows the other units, Scotland and Wales. Actually, the most prominent example of this type of regional autonomy is Russia, officially named Russian Federation, which contains 21 republics, 16 of them in European Russia, and all of them housing ethnic minorities. Almost all of these republics are located on the edges of the country (eight, including rebellious

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Chechnya, in the Caucasian Mountains), yet most have fewer than one million inhabitants each, compared with more than 100 million in Russia proper, the real center of power in this federal country. The two largest are Bashkortostan with 4 million people and Tatarstan with 3.8 million, both of which are located on the Volga and have Muslim majorities. By way of contrast to this kind of limited devolution, Spain is gradually Â�moving from regional autonomy for minorities to a full-fledged federal system. It has not only granted autonomy to the three language minorities, Catalonia (the Â�largest language minority in Western Europe), the Basque country, and Galicia, but it has also divided the dominant Castilian (Spanish)-speaking part into a number of Â�comunidades, some of which have developed or rediscovered regional languages since that time. The differentiation of regional tongues decreases the impact of language as a highly contentious line of division. Spain’s federalism is not yet fully developed, however, because the comunidades with a different language enjoy more rights than the Castilian-speaking ones, and the rights are not equal for the minority units. Table 11.3╇ Comparison of European and American Federalism

European Nations

United States

Major principles Centralization of power Unitary nations, with a few federal Federalism â•…exceptions Guiding principle Power concentration Power dispersion Main purpose National unity Democracy Current federal systems Date founded Switzerland, 1848 (medieval roots); 1789 â•… Germany, 1949; Austria, 1955; â•… Belgium, 1980s; Spain, ongoing Way of foundation Top down, except Switzerland Bottom up Unit borders Overlap with language or religious Arbitrary â•… divisions (only partly so in â•… Germany and Austria) Division of tasks Examples of federal tasks Taxation (shared with units), Interstate commerce, â•… economic and social policies â•… civil rights â•… (shared), justice, civil rights Major tasks of the Federal systems: education, Education, justice, â•… constituent units economics, and social policies â•… welfare Symmetry between the Yes, except for Spain and in the case Yes â•… units â•…of regional devolution of powers (e.g., Italy, Great Britain)

(Continued)



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Power distribution Units’ power at the Senates only Especially the Senate â•… federal level Major power In unitary nations the national Solid South until the concentration â•… capitals; in federal nations no â•… 1970s â•… power concentrations

Probably the most contentious process of federalization is the one in �Belgium, mainly because the mainly French-speaking city of Brussels is located in the Dutch-speaking part of the country. Belgium has been subdivided along two lines: the first division is into three regions, whose main responsibilities are economic (including employment) and land-based (zoning, housing, transport); the second is into three communities, which mainly take care of citizen-based policy fields like education, culture, and welfare. The three regions are Dutch-speaking �Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia, and the officially bilingual capital Brussels. The three communities are the Flemish one, which includes all Flemish speakers in �Flanders and Brussels; the French-speaking community, which includes all French �speakers in Wallonia and Brussels; and a small German-speaking �community on the �German border in Wallonia. The double structure of partly overlapping regions and �communities was introduced to prevent a division into three units (Flanders, �Wallonia, Brussels), which would have been highly contentious because of the intricate number of crisscrossing dividing lines. Although Wallonia and most of Brussels speak French, they are far apart on the social-class dividing line, for instance. To make matters a bit simpler, the Flemish region and the Dutch-�speaking community have to some extent merged their governments into one government of the Flemish community. The development of the European Union (EU) and the consequent weakening of national boundaries, as well as the EU focus on regional policies, have contributed to a growing regional consciousness among minority groups, which might increase the popularity of federal structures in the future. Even more than in �Western Europe, some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that have minority languages could constitute a breeding ground of federalism, although the first attempt, in Bosnia, was unsuccessful. Some proponents of European unification regard the EU as the definitive federal system in Europe, a multinational unity of a large number of ethnic groups that live together in peace under some kind of federal authority. Opponents see European federalism as a danger to national independence and try to stop it by all means. Table 11.3 compares European unitarism and federalism with US federalism.

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CHAPTER 12

Public Policy

A

lthough most Conservatives and Conservative Liberals regard the United States as a superior model of free-market capitalism, many Social Democrats and Christian Democrats have looked with admiration to specific European countries, which for a time served as shining models, only to lose that position again after some time. The admiration was either based on the nature of policy making; the policy content, in particular of social policies; or the combination of policy making and policy content, that is, policy style. For a long time, Sweden, governed by Social Democrats, was a model of social and economic policy making. The Swedish Model combined high wages with great efforts of vocational training and retraining in order to direct workers who had lost their job into technologically more advanced sectors, and especially women into the elaborate network of public-service jobs. In the early 1970s, under the influence of the 1968 youth revolt and the new social movements, the democratization of economic and social life became a prominent issue, and for some time even Yugoslavia’s system of worker control of enterprise management (under a communist political dictatorship) aroused international interest. In the early 1980s, attention shifted to the German Model, in which enterprise works councils and employee representation on the supervisory board of large companies (called Mitbestimmung, which means codetermination in the enterprise) forced company management to raise productivity without laying off workers, while in return the trade unions had to accept job flexibility and constant retraining. In the 1990s, the Dutch Model or Polder Model was praised for combining relatively smooth policymaking procedures, including corporatist agreements, with a high level of state expenditure for social policies; it also garnered a strong support from business and labor alike to make the national economy more competitive by increasing labor flexibility. Early in the 21st century, Finland became a new model of high-tech employment, yet it was combined with a relatively high level of unemployment. The financial crisis and the recession of 2009 put an end to all such modeling.

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The focus shifted to what country would be best able to handle the crisis without investing enormous public funds, but that question was still unanswered in 2010.

Policy Styles Policy making in Europe requires a lot of deliberation and negotiations. Unlike federal policy making in the United States, these processes do not primarily take place between the executive and the parliament (especially if there is a hostile majority in Congress) or among members of Congress (in the case of logrolling). Policymaking negotiations in Europe take place first of all within coalition cabinets, and in corporatist countries they also take place between the cabinet, employers’ associations, trade unions, or other prominent interest associations. Once the cabinet has made a decision, and business and trade unions have not raised serious objections or announced protest actions, there is not much room for many amendments that serve local constituencies of the members of parliament, let alone for logrolling. Within this overall pattern, policy styles in Europe show a great deal of variation. The divergences are related to the nations’ different paths toward democracy— a course of gradual reform in some nations and one of great and revolutionary upheaval in others. The composition of the political spectrum and the nature of the party system, whether polarized or not, and the nature of civil society also influence policy styles. In Great Britain, the long tradition of gradual political and social reform and the absence of any revolutionary movement have resulted in a rejection of allencompassing ideologies or great schemes. The political culture is one of pragmatic muddling through or trial and error, which does not, however, exclude occasional radical initiatives by the Conservative Party, which has been in power most of the time. This approach is facilitated by the absence of corporatist consultation with trade unions and employers and by Britain’s one-party government. Bold steps need not be negotiated between parties within the cabinet; in fact, prime minister Tony Blair (1997–2008) reputedly hardly consulted his own cabinet in making landmark decisions—as befits the most powerful prime minister in democratic Europe. In the smaller Germanic nations, the prevalence of large Social Democratic parties or big Christian Democratic parties that maintain links with the labor movement as well as corporatism have fostered a policy style of gradual reform, in line with the 19th century’s gradual course toward parliamentary democracy. Although gradualism does not exclude radical changes in policy, changes do not take place overnight; they are the result of a number of small steps. This approach results in many laws passed primarily to sanction what was previously negotiated between powerful interest associations or between these organizations and the



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government. In the case of labor legislation, laws often confirm and extend what has already become current practice in a number of firms or sectors. Under this system of bargaining before legislation, government policies are usually adaptive rather than innovative, with the exception of legislation regarding employee participation in enterprise decision making, which has always been a hotly contested issue. Germany has also become used to a policy style of gradual reform. Before World War II and under the Nazis, the country often implemented radical (“final”) solutions to economic and social problems, but since then the term “radical” has a bad connotation because of the horrifying examples of the Nazi period and the postwar communist suppression of East Germany. The millions of immigrants who were expelled from Poland and Czechoslovakia right after the war, who blamed communism rather than Nazism for their fate, reinforced the trend toward moderate conservative policies that abhor radical solutions. The position of the Christian Democrats in the center of the political spectrum has also been conducive to the new politics of gradual reform. In Latin Europe, the aversion to more permanent corporatist consultation and compromise imposes fewer limits on government initiative than in Germanic Europe. Moreover, in France, the sovereignty of l’État (the State) over social and economic issues is a more dominant principle than in other countries, and corporatism is rejected as an infringement upon that sovereignty. Trade unions and employers regularly call in the state to support their conflicting positions, and social measures have often been introduced under the pressure of political strikes or during long stalemates between employers and trade unions. Consequently, social policies in particular may sometimes be more of a break with the past, and their introduction sometimes seriously strains political life. Rather than focusing on standing organizations that impose organizational Â�discipline, spontaneous individual and collective political action is highly appreciated in Latin Europe. At times such action directe, as it is called in France, may “provide the spark” (a typical anarchist expression) for nationwide political action in the form of a local or national strike or some other protest manifestation. The popularity of collective (but not very organized) action and the rejection of organizational discipline result in a political process in which periods of great innovation under the pressure of collective action alternate with long intervals of immobility. Although the difference between the Germanic and the Latin pattern of preparing and introducing social legislation might suggest otherwise, it does not say much about the level of state intervention in social issues. Although France has fine examples of labor laws, these laws are often hardly complied with by employers. In contrast, the strong Scandinavian unions have often accomplished extensive labor regulation by means of joint agreements between business and labor without any government involvement.

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In Central Europe, subsequent governments within one country may display great variations in the way they make public policy. Radical solutions without any consultation with pressure groups may be followed by cautious efforts at reform after intense talks with employers and trade unions. In some countries, periods characterized by frequent corporatist talks have been followed by a total neglect of tripartite councils by the next national government. A major problem on the Balkan Pensinsula and in the southern regions of Latin Europe is not merely the weakness of civil society but also the high rate of corruption in civil society and public administration. International comparisons of governmental corruption show a similar ranking for other aspects of democracy; the Scandinavian countries, followed by the other Germanic nations, are the least corrupt and Eastern Europe is the most corrupt. The corruption ranking shows a strong relation with level of economic prosperity, importance of religion, and degree of polarization: high-income countries and Protestant countries are less corrupt than Catholic nations, and the stronger the social cleavages, the more corruption is found. Of course, Central Europe’s position is also attributable to the long tradition of corrupt communist rule, and a number of Central European countries are improving their position, partly because of EU pressure.

Welfare Is Not Welfare: The European Welfare State In addition to Europe’s language-based national identities and its parliamentary rather than presidential political systems, the all-encompassing welfare state is another basic difference with the United States. In many countries, social expenditure amounts to 40 to 45 percent of gross national product (GNP) (compared to 30 percent in the United States), and half of that amount is spent on social security and welfare. In espousing welfare-state policies, European governments interfere in the free market to an extent unknown in the United States, in particular in the health care market, in the labor market, and to some extent in the housing market, even going so far as to provide income maintenance. Governments go to great lengths to get or keep people at work; to monitor their labor conditions to some extent; and, in case these efforts fail, to provide social security benefits to those without work and to the elderly. In contrast to the United States, income maintenance to some extent prevails over job maintenance; social security offers the unemployed a minimum living, so they do not need to accept any kind of work, irrespective of the labor conditions. Despite the current retrenchments in social policies, state social protection is still regarded as a means to foster social integration, or social citizenship, as a core ingredient of national integration.



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The European welfare state is not simply a social democratic invention. In the mid-19th century, cholera epidemics already stimulated bourgeois interest in public health, and later that century conservative political leaders recognized the importance of social integration by means of social legislation. It was the authoritarian and conservative German chancellor Otto von Bismarck who, in the 1880s, broke with the liberal creed that social legislation should remain restricted to women and children; he introduced social security for male workers as a means to foster national integration and prevent the further rise of the socialist labor movement. The initiative was widely imitated by Social Liberals and Christian Democrats (Social Democrats were not in power in any European country at that time) and resulted in the general start of European social legislation around the turn of the century, during a period of fast economic growth. At the end of World War I, a second wave of social legislation accomplished the realization of Social Democratic priority number one: the eight-hour working day. This time communist and Social Democratic governments took the initiative, and frightened liberals and conservatives followed almost overnight, in an attempt to stop the spread of the 1917 Russian Revolution. In contrast to the United States, with its New Deal programs and projects, the 1930s economic crisis was not a time of large-scale social innovation. A third sequence of social laws took place at the end of World War II, when the ideas of two British liberal experts were generally acclaimed and adopted. Already before the war, John Maynard Keynes had recommended anti-cyclical state intervention in the economy (Keynesianism) in order to foster economic growth, keep unemployment low, and prevent a repetition of the 1930s crisis. In the same vein, in 1944, the British Liberal politician William Beveridge advocated an extension of social security to the population at large, because everyone had suffered from the war. In health care, universal coverage was introduced, and governments also stimulated social housing to overcome wartime destruction. It was not until the 1960s, however, that social policies, supported by almost all ideologies, overshadowed other state policies, and the term “welfare state” was used, once again in a time of fast economic growth. As the brief historical note shows, various developments have contributed to the expansion of social policies. Probably most important has been the rise and the influence of the labor movement. It prompted Bismarck to initiate his social security program, and in later years, the labor movement took the initiative into its own hands. Economic boom periods have also favored social spending, for instance at the turn of the 20th century and in the 1960s. A third element has been the two world wars, both of which were followed by waves of social legislation, the first as a response to the Russian Revolution and postwar social unrest, and the second as a response to wartime suffering and as a main priority of labor-dominated governments. This combination

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of forces explains why Europeans are more devoted to social policies than Americans, why the European labor movement played a crucial role in politics, and why the two world wars had a far greater impact in Europe than in the United States. Two other factors that are conducive to social policies with universal coverage are the centralization of most European nations and the electoral system of proportional representation. Centralization forces conservative regions to comply with nationally imposed standards, and the electoral system of proportional representation offers fewer opportunities for regional favors and promises of regional programs than the first-past-the post system. Drawing from various fields of social policy, a distinction can be made in various types of welfare state. The distinction between the first three types was first made in 1990 by Danish political scientist Gøsta Esping-Andersen, who (leaving out Central Europe) described “Three Worlds of Welfare” (EspingAndersen 1990), a distinction that since has dominated the literature on the welfare state. The liberal welfare state in the British Isles is the most market-oriented, the most capitalist of the different types, and its main function is one of last resort, to alleviate poverty, and for that reason it is called a residual welfare state. In both countries (Great Britain and Ireland), the labor movement has been fragmented and has not pressed for social legislation to the same degree as Social Democrats have on the continent. The liberal or residual welfare state resembles American social policies, which are still more residual. The state-oriented welfare state in Scandinavia, where Social Democrats have dominated the national government and have implemented very active and elaborate state social policies for the population as a whole, is the least market-oriented of the four types. The basic idea is less one of individual failure on the labor market than of market failure, and any type of market failure is well compensated for by a wide range of state social policies for the population at large or for sections of it, hence the universal coverage. The continental welfare state is found in the other Germanic and the Latin nations. Although the labor movement has been divided in these countries, Christian Democrats and Conservatives have opposed too much state activism. Many social initiatives started as labor-based or Catholic projects for specific groups and were later extended to other groups or to the population at large, but with less state control and uniformity than in the Scandinavian welfare state. For women, the family (rather than the market or the state) has for a long time been the major source of social provisions. The three types of welfare state are summarized in Table 12.1. In constrast to the three main types of welfare state, the Central European Â�welfare states have to deal with the communist legacy of state care (and control)



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Table 12.1╇ Types of Welfare States Type Main Basis

Main Function

Labor’s Position

Liberal Market Alleviate poverty Trade unions fragmented; Labour â•… Party not as interested as continental â•… social democrats State- State Compensate for market Trade unions and social democratic â•… oriented â•… failure â•… parties form solid social democratic â•…complex Continental Groups, Compensate for market Trade unions ideologically divided; â•… family â•… failure; family values â•… social democrats not often in power

from the cradle to the grave for the whole population. One of the differences between �communist Central Europe and capitalist Western Europe was the absence of unemployment, because workers enjoyed lifetime employment, even if they did not add to enterprise productivity. This was accomplished by way of a form of employing superfluous workers that is regarded as hidden unemployment in a capitalist market economy. A second difference was the large-scale subvention of foodstuffs, house rents, and fuel in order to keep consumer prices low. After the collapse of communism, governments were reluctant to do away with these subventions, if only because they feared widespread discontent and revolt. A third difference consisted of enterprise-based social provisions, like health care centers and housing facilities, which are being transferred from the enterprises to the local communities. Central Europe is now moving toward a combination of the stateoriented and the continental welfare state.

Social Security Social security is often regarded as the very core of the welfare state. In Europe it stands for the combination of contributory social security and noncontributory welfare. The two types are combined because, in contrast to the United States, no distinction is made between deserving poor and undeserving poor; either one has paid for the benefits, and for that reason deserves them, or one has been unable to pay, in which case society is to blame as much as the individual. Consequently, food stamps hardly exist in Europe, because they stigmatize the recipients as a special group of people. All European countries have a range of universal social security programs, such as child allowance, unemployment benefits, and old-age pensions, but they also provide welfare for people without any income at a far more elevated level than in the United States. As a proportion of the average income, welfare benefits in the richer European countries are twice as high as American welfare benefits (Adema 2006, 19).

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Social security started with Bismarck’s sickness and disability funds for Â�manual workers in the 1880s. Social protection was extended to other sections of the population in almost universal schemes under the influence of William Beveridge’s 1944 report on poverty in Britain. Since that time a distinction has been made between the Bismarckian social security program and the Beveridgian social security program. The Bismarckian type serves specific groups, like wage-dependent employees, and is financed by contributions paid by employers and/or employees. Employers’ associations and trade unions often have a say in or even control the social security funds, resulting in a differentiation between industrial branches, economic sectors, and types of occupations. Moreover, the level of benefits is related to the recipient’s income level before sickness, unemployment, or retirement. The Beveridgian type provides for almost universal coverage, is financed out of a payroll tax, and provides flat-rate benefits, with no connection to previous income. The original differences between the two types of social security programs are summarized in Table 12.2. The distinction between Bismarckian and Beveridgian social security is at the base of the distinction between the first three types of welfare states. In a liberal welfare state, social security follows the Beveridgian logic; benefits are very low, are provided on a flat-rate basis, and serve a large part of the population, but they are often means-tested (which means benefits are lower or withheld if the recipient has some capital or owns a house). State social spending is lower than in the other types, resulting in greater social inequality than on the continent. People from the continent are often astonished or appalled by the great disparities in working and living conditions in Great Britain. In a state-oriented welfare state, social security consists of a combination of high (Beveridgian) flat-rate benefits provided on a universal basis that are complemented to some extent by (Bismarckian) income-related benefits and a large range of state services for the unemployed, the elderly, and others. The main goal of this system of benefits and services is to offer opportunities for a new start on the labor market (except for the elderly) through a high level of vocational (re)training. In Table 12.2╇ Comparison of Bismarckian and Beveridgian Social Security Programs Characteristics Bismarckian

Beveridgian

Eligibility Specific groups Funding Employer/employee contributions Level of benefits Related to previous income from â•…employment Control Employers associations and trade â•… unions under state supervision

Universal Taxation Flat rate State control



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practice, the state becomes a major employer, and as a consequence, the level of social spending (and taxation) is higher than in the other types of welfare states. In the continental type of welfare state, Bismarckian (group-specific) social security provisions predominate; these are income-related and provide an income to prevent poverty if income from work stops. The basic idea is to maintain the recipient’s relative standard of living in case of a temporary or more permanent exit from the labor market; there is less priority on retraining than on income maintenance or income replacement. For a long time, some of these welfare states hardly imposed any obligation on welfare recipients to accept any new job. Beneficiaries were obligated to take jobs related to their skills levels, but not any job, independent of the skills levels required. To many Americans, the right of social security and welfare recipients to refuse jobs is one of the causes of what they perceive as the rigid European labor market, just as are sector level and nationwide collective bargaining. Within this large group of nations a further distinction can be made between the non-Scandinavian Germanic nations and France on the one hand, and the other Latin nations on the other. The first group provides higher social security benefits than the second, and the difference is not only due to variations in levels of economic prosperity, as Italy’s welfare-state standards are very low. The continental type of welfare state is sometimes called conservative or corporatist type, but only the Germanic nations can be labeled corporatist, and the term “conservative” applies specifically to the Latin members of this group, so the more neutral term “continental” seems preferable. The Germans have coined the term Soziale Marktwirtschaft (social market economy) for the continental combination of free market and extensive social policies. Since the rise of unemployment and state deficits after the oil crises in 1973– 1974 and 1979–1980, some have spoken of a crisis of the welfare state or about its abolition. Deregulation, privatization, and liberalization—all of them intended to encourage more flexibility in producing goods and services—have become the new catchwords of national economic and social policies. Governments have cut state budgets and stimulated private business by generally reducing labor protection, social security, and state rules. At the same time, state retreat meets the demands of more freedom and personal responsibility in social life. In the continental type of welfare state, the prevalence of income maintenance over job maintenance is in decline and there is strong pressure to rescind the right of benefit recipients to refuse jobs and implement Scandinavian-type employment policies that increasingly force the unemployed to accept low-pay jobs. Social security costs are being reduced by lowering benefit levels, tightening eligibility rules, and introducing unpaid sick days as well as by strictly observing these provisions to reduce abuse. The main thrust of state policies so far has been reforming the welfare state, however, rather than saying goodbye to it. Reforming the welfare state is a contentious process, which regularly gives rise to heated debate in parliament. Although most political parties, including the Social Democrats, have come to accept the

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new realities of economic life, the trade unions are less resigned and are involved in disputes with national governments, including governments dominated by Social Democrats, concerning labor legislation and social security. In the debate on the welfare state, incentives to work have become a pressing topic, especially the question of whether high unemployment-pay stops the unemployed from searching for a job. The debate is a more general one than the US debate on the welfare trap, however, and it focuses more on whether the Â�poverty trap creates a new social underclass of long-term unemployed. Their possible social exclusion from participation in social life and civil society has become a major state concern, and new ventures in social policies, like community work, are meant to promote reintegration and social citizenship. In spite of a growing tendency toward precarious employment, Europe persists in social integration by means of social policies rather than by offering insecure jobs that do not prevent social exclusion. This approach promotes employment, but not at any price. The largest single item in social security, and one of the most hotly debated issues, is old-age pensions. In this field the distinction between Bismarckian and Beveridgian systems can also be made, but a more common distinction is in the way of pension funding, which cuts through the distinction between types of welfare states. In an unfunded or pay-as-you-go system, pensions are financed by taxing those who are at work at the time the pensions are being paid. Pensions consist of transfers from one generation to another one and are based on a high level of intergenerational solidarity. In a funded system, pensions are financed by pension payments that are Â�provided by large occupational or semipublic pension funds, built up by contributions of those at work for their own old age. Under this system each generation takes care of the greater part of its own pension by saving and investing pension Â�contributions collectively, in other words, by means of building pension capital or capitalization. The unfunded system prevails in France, Germany, and Sweden, and the funded system in Great Britain, Denmark, and the Netherlands, which is the biggest saver and the only country where total size of the pension funds exceeds the GNP. An aging population has a critical effect on unfunded systems, because the downsizing of the working population and the growth in the numbers of retired people put the pay-as-you-go system under stress. Under pressure of the EU, pay-as-yougo countries have now started to establish pension funds as part of a shift to the system of capitalization. Both this shift and recent retrenchments in this area have been contested issues, which contributed to Silvio Berlusconi’s 1995 resignation from office in Italy and Helmut Kohl’s 1998 election defeat in Germany, prompted new anti-Berlusconi strikes in 2003 in Italy, and even motivated the rise of a shortlived pensioners’ party in the Netherlands. Because of the opposition, governments prefer to look for other sources of downsizing, in particular by cutting unemployment pay and reinforcing the obligation of social security and welfare recipients to accept lower skilled and more poorly remunerated work.



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Health Care and Housing In contrast to the United States, almost all European nations have had universal health care programs since World War II. The aim is equal access for all, but there are differences in how health care is handled in the three types of welfare states. Great Britain was the first country where trade unions were active in organizing social insurance funds in the mid-19th century and the first to set up a universal but very basic National Health Service after World War II, when the influence of Beveridge was strongest. In such a tax-based national health service system, doctors are in public service, and patients either pay nothing at all or a small amount per visit or per prescription. State-oriented and continental welfare states also developed similar insurance funds, but the state-oriented welfare states replaced them with relatively generous universal programs, and the continental welfare states extended the various Bismarckian programs to more encompassing (Beveridgian) schemes and later to almost universal coverage, so the differences in coverage between these two types of welfare state have more or less disappeared overtime. On the continent, doctors have their private practice, and they are paid by patients and by public and private health insurance funds. Political decision making in health care issues often takes place between the insurance funds, associations of doctors, associations of hospitals, and the national government. Since the 1980s, efficiency and stabilizing health care costs have become major concerns throughout Europe. Uninsured people have not yet become a problem, but the current waves of illegal immigration, in which growing numbers of uninsured, unregistered, and noncontributing people seek access to health care, may pose similar problems in the near future as exist already in the United States. In contrast to health care, housing has never been a primary object of the welfare state, and governments have not interfered in the housing market to the same extent as they have in other markets of social policy. Yet, even in housing there is a clear demarcation between the liberal welfare state and the other types. Great Britain and Ireland have the highest rates of home ownership, more than two-thirds of all houses (on a par with the United States), and there are locally controlled projects of residual council housing for the poor, more than similar local housing projects for the poor in the United States. On the continent, home ownership is less widespread, and there is a large segment of nonprofit house rental by local or national (corporatist) associations and a smaller segment of for-profit rental, both of which cater not only to the poor but also to mid-income groups—and there is less of a gap in housing standards and living conditions between those who own and those who rent houses. In health care and housing, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1979– 1990) was responsible for the only instance of dismantling a welfare state in Europe by reducing health care provisions and selling part of the council-housing

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stock; both actions increased the difference between Great Britain’s welfare state and others.

Labor Conditions In the regulation of working conditions, the difference is once again one between the liberal welfare state and the other types. The liberal welfare state has fewest legal rules regulating working conditions. In Great Britain, Conservative governments rejected such rules, and the unions were not in favor either, because they cared only for their own members, and statutory improvements in labor conditions would keep workers from joining a union. It was not until the Labour governments of the 1990s that Great Britain introduced a few legal provisions. The other welfare states, in other words, the European continent, have a larger body of legal rules. In the Scandinavian countries these are often based on nationwide joint agreements between employers and unions. The labor rules on the continent often cover statutory minimum wages and maximum number of daily or weekly work hours (actual working time in Europe is less than 40 hours a week). In addition, state or joint rules cover holidays (in most countries amounting to four or five weeks, and during the holiday period employees even receive a vacation bonus), parental leave, and sometimes educational leave. National rules also apply to working conditions within the enterprise, including those in the areas of health and safety conditions, sexual harassment, trade union representation in the enterprise, and employee participation in company decision making. Employee participation within the enterprise in continental Europe is the task of works councils, which are elected by the company labor force and must be involved in major decisions that affect working conditions and employment prospects. In Germanic Europe, trade unions monitor this participation to prevent the works councils from interfering with the wage agreements they conclude with employers’ associations. Although by doing so the unions help maintain labor discipline and raise productivity, which are common goals of corporatism, many Americans regard employee participation as yet another cause of the rigidity of the European labor market. The difference is expressed in the different meanings of the terms right to work and job protection. Whereas in Great Britain, as in the United States, these terms refer to legal rules that protect individual employees against labor-union efforts to enforce a union shop or a closed shop, in continental Europe, where closed shops do not make much sense because of the prevalence of sector collective bargaining, the terms refer to protection of employees against their company in case of dismissal or layoffs or to governmental employment policies. Since the 1980s, the trade unions have demanded a reduction of working time as a device to reduce unemployment, though employers have stressed the need for working time flexibility. To stimulate flex work, rules on part-time work and



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temporary work contracts are being relaxed, and more opportunities are created for commercial work exchange agencies that specialize in temporary work contracts. In conformity with the less adversarial relationship between employers and labor unions, strike rates in Germanic Europe have mostly been lower than in Latin Europe, and far lower than in the United States. Italy and Spain have the highest strike rates, followed by Great Britain. Germany and the Netherlands have low rates, and in Austria and Switzerland years pass without any strike at all. Table 12.3 compares the main features of the European and the American welfare states.

Taxation and Economic Policies To enjoy their welfare state, Europeans pay high tax rates. Whereas Americans attempt to ban taxes, Europeans can only attempt to evade them. During the 19th century, indirect taxes in the form of levies on food products were the main source of state funds, and because poor people spent a larger part of their income on foodstuffs, they carried a relatively higher tax burden (as a percentage of their income) than the middle class. This motivated the Social Democrats to enforce a change from indirect taxes to direct taxation on wages and other income. Such direct taxes may even have different rates for lower and higher incomes, in order to secure a heavier burden for those who can afford it. In that case the tax is called progressive tax, in the sense that higher-income people pay higher rates than lower-income groups. In the 20th century, progressive systems of income tax were implemented throughout Western Europe. High progressive taxes have a serious disadvantage, however: They motivate high-income receivers to think of all kinds of escape in the form of finding costs to deduct from the tax bill, transferring part of their business to tax havens (such as some of Europe’s mini-states), or moving their residence to low-tax nations. Moreover, tax deductibility of mortgage costs favors house owners who have higher tax rates, because any deduction reduces their tax bill by a larger sum than that of lowincome groups who pay lower tax rates. In combination with problems of control, these disadvantages have resulted in a combination of indirect and direct taxes in most of Western Europe and now in Central Europe. Since the 1980s, however, the higher income-tax rates in particular have been reduced in a number of countries to stimulate investment, but the level of income tax remains higher in Europe than in the United States. The EU has stimulated a continent-wide trend toward indirect taxes, in particular the value-added tax (VAT), because it is easier to harmonize than income taxes, which most governments regard as one of their own competencies—and needed to finance their national social programs. At present, the higher tax rate in Europe is no longer attributable to a higher income tax but to higher indirect tax and higher social security contributions.

Liberal Welfare State: United States

Liberal Continental State-oriented Welfare Welfare Welfare State: State: Great State Scandinavia Britain

Central European Welfare State

Social Universal, Universal Bismarckian, Universal Universal, â•…security â•…low level â•…(Beveridgian), â•…extended to â•…(Beveridgian), â•…low level â•…coverage â•… â•…low level â•…universal â•…high level â•…coverage, â•… various levels Health Specific groups, Universal, Development Universal, Universal, â•…care â•…with moderate â•…moderate â•…from specific â•…high level â•…moderate â•…public coverage; â•…level â•…to universal, â•…level â•…employers â•…moderate to â•… provide limited â•… high level â•… coverage for â•… most employees Social Very limited Limited Extensive Extensive Extensive â•…housing â•…provisions for â•…provisions â•…nonprofit â•…nonprofit rental â•…state-owned â•…the poor â•…for the poor â•…rental sector â•…sector â•…sector Labor Few regulations, Few Extensive Extensive state Extensive â•…conditions â•…mainly by â•…regulations; â•…state â•…or joint â•…state â•…courts; weak â•…weak â•…regulation â•…regulation and â•…regulation â•…employment â•…employment â•…and â•…employment â•…and â•…protection â•…protection â•…employment â•…protection or â•…employment â•…protection â•…job guarantee â•…protection

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Table 12.3╇ Comparison of the European and US Welfare States



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Keynesian economic policies used to involve steering private and public demand (demand management) and investment by means of adapting tax levels, transfer payments, and public spending to the state of the national economy. These policies allowed for some inflation to boost the economy and employment, but attempts to counter the oil crises in 1974 and 1979–1980 by means of public spending resulted in large budget deficits and an increase in public debt, in some countries to a higher level than the nation’s gross national product (GNP). In Latin Europe, Keynesian planning was facilitated by the nationalization of basic industries, in particular in France and Italy, immediately after World War II. This was intended to facilitate state monitoring of postwar reconstruction and economic growth in general and to build large public sectors; interestingly, nationalization occurred most often in countries that were governed by Conservatives or Christian Democrats. In addition to energy distribution, national railroads, and other public utilities, which used to be in state hands in most of Europe, the public sectors in Latin Europe included shipyards, oil industries, and even car factories, like Renault. The close link between the state bureaucracy and national enterprises in France also provided the énarques from the Grandes Écoles ample opportunities to move from public administration to management functions in the public sector. The 1979–1980 oil crisis sealed the fate of Keynesian state intervention, as it proved unable to prevent growing inflation and rising unemployment (stagflation) at the same time. French president François Mitterand was one of the last believers in the Keynesian approach, but he had to give up Keynesian demand management within two years of the oil crisis and shift to “la rigueur,” that is, rigorous cuts in spending. Throughout Western Europe, the focus shifted from Keynesian demand management to supply-side economics, whose priorities were technological innovation and cost reduction in the production process instead of promoting demand. Although inflation and budget deficits were not very serious concerns under Keynesianism, because they were thought of as stimulating economic growth in times of slow growth, in the 1980s they were considered evils that drove up costs for private enterprise. In the early 1980s, inflation was running high because of the oil crises; in addition, growing deficit spending resulted in an increase in public debt and the need to reserve part of the public budget for interest payments. The new combination of inflation, deficit spending and rising public debt prompted national governments to curb public spending and to promote private enterprise. One means of fostering private enterprise is the stimulation of small business by limiting or relaxing the rules on how to set up one’s own shop, workplace, or service agency. A second element is privatization, that is, the sale of state enterprises; even public utilities have been privatized that used to be an integral part of the state sector because of their natural monopoly position or their strategic value, such as national railway companies and electricity works. In countries where public services were used to set the unemployed to work, this policy has been given up or

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reduced, because it ran counter to the general idea of a smaller state and a leaner budget. Nowadays governments provide tax reductions or other forms of subvention for companies that hire the long-term unemployed or young unemployed workers, and new forms of apprenticeship have been introduced that combine paid work with unpaid days of training. Vocational training has even become a new catchword in labor relations and labor legislation. The 2009 financial crisis and the recession that followed have brought the state back in, and there have been large state investments in the banking sector and financial support of other sectors plagued by rising unemployment. These measures have been accompanied by new calls for a return to Keynesian government intervention in the market economy, or at least to more extensive state monitoring of the economy. Privatization of public companies in Central (and Eastern) Europe differed from related trends in Western Europe. Under communism, almost all large enterprises were in state hands and only in small-scale agriculture and services was there any room for private initiative. An exception was Hungary, where economic state control had already declined under communism, and the transition to the free market economy was more gradual. Czechia and Hungary experimented with voucher capitalism by issuing enterprise shares (vouchers) to the enterprise workforce. In other countries, the leaders of the Communist parties and state enterprise managers were able to concentrate wealth in their own hands. Even where the elite was more scrupulous, the governments did not always have the capacity or the desire to monitor the process, and to stop the Russian oligarchs, for instance. In two main elements of economic policies, energy and the environment, Europe is ahead of the United States, not only in fighting carbon dioxide emissions, which have become a source of international friction, but also in halting the use of nuclear energy. Although the United States is still expanding the number of nuclear power stations, a number of European countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, and most of the smaller Germanic nations, have either phased out nuclear power or have decided not to build any new power stations. In particular, the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Ukrainian Chernobyl power plant played a role in this turn away from nuclear energy. Such decisions are regular topics of renewed debate, Â�however, especially after the rise to power of Conservative governments, which are more favorably disposed toward nuclear energy, and in some cases (Sweden, Italy) have already undone the moratorium or ban on new nuclear power plants. Table 12.4 lists the countries that are most dependent on nuclear energy and the share of total electricity generated by nuclear energy. France is at the opposite end of the spectrum; its many nuclear power plants now provide almost 80 percent of its electricity and have made the country one of the world’s leading electricity exporters (contributing to a low level of carbon dioxide emissions), in many cases to countries that have phased out or closed their own nuclear power plants.



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Table 12.4╇ Leaders in Nuclear Energy

Country

Percent of Electricity

1 Lithuania 2 France 3 Slovakia 4 Belgium 5 Ukraine

76.2 75.2 53.3 51.7 48.6

Source: European Nuclear Society: Nuclear Share in Electricity Generation 2009 www.euronuclear.org/1-information/map-worldwide.htm.

Table 12.5╇ Comparison of European and American Economic Policies

Europe

United States

Tax More focus on the destination of Widespread and highly â•…tax funds but gradual reduction â•…outspoken antitax culture â•… of taxes Forms of Direct tax, social security Primarily direct tax on income â•… taxation â•… contributions, and indirect tax â•… and profit â•… bring in more or less equal â•…shares Economic More extensive intervention, but Low level of governmental â•… policies â•… strong Keynesianism has been â•… intervention, further reduced â•… dropped since the 1980s â•… since the 1980s Central bank Independent national central Independent central bank: â•… banks and European bank â•… the Federal Reserve Board, â•… commonly known as the Fed Environment Strict (EU) rules but no strict Court ruling predominant â•…control Nuclear energy Phasing out in many countries, Expansion of nuclear power â•… except France

Table 12.5 compares a number of features of economic policies in Europe and the United States, for example, taxation, environmental policies and nuclear energy.

Education Europe has no match for the Ivy League of outstanding private universities, such as Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Yale—these are among the many prestigious private universities in the United States. In Europe, however, only Great Britain has

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prestigious private universities (Oxford and Cambridge) where students pay a bit more but where the best professors and visiting fellows are waiting in fine medieval buildings. On the continent, private education is a rather marginal phenomenon, and almost all universities are state-financed, though they are increasingly receiving supplements from private research contracts. Professors are mostly paid the same salaries throughout the country, and students pay the same fee for enrollment in all national universities. It is not individual universities that provide student grants, but the national government, independent of the university of choice. Variations and differences in quality of research and teaching qualities are attributable to the activities of professors rather than to different fees or to a strict selection of students. As a major agent of economic and social development, and even more as an instrument of social and political integration, education is a core policy area of national politics, and often one of the largest single items on the national state budget. Scandinavia devotes the largest share of national GDP to education, more than six percent; Central Europe allots between four and five percent. Great Britain’s public and publicly funded private schools are governed by rather autonomous local school boards. It was not until the late 1980s that the Conservative government tried to impose more uniformity in school curriculums. In continental Europe, primary schools are the responsibility of local government, but the national government sets the standards and the curriculum. Public schools predominate in Europe, except in the Netherlands, where more than 75 percent of all primary and secondary schools have been set up by Catholic and Protestant foundations as part of the pillarization of society, and in Belgium, which has 57 percent private schools, mostly Catholic. Yet, even in these countries almost all private schools are totally financed out of the state budget on the same basis as public schools, and the state exercises tight control over the curriculum through this financial leverage. In other countries, the Catholic Church has also been a provider of education, in particular of primary schools, and in some Latin nations Catholic education has resulted in a school conflict between the state and the Catholic Church about state control of the remaining Catholic schools. In 1984, a Social Democratic French minister resigned after failed attempts to extend state surveillance of Catholic schools and under pressure of street marches against his proposals. Parents are often represented on school boards or in parental commissions, but the parental commissions’ scope of power is limited to determining the school plan and drawing up rules for everyday life at school; it does not extend to teacher recruitment, the termination of teaching contracts, or curriculum. Despite a century of Social Democratic pressure, European society is still more of a class-based society than the United States, and this is reflected in education. Selection of students for different school types is still to some extent based on social class. The most prestigious secondary schools, grammar schools (gymnasium), are mainly attended by middle- and upper-class pupils, and universities also enroll fewer working-class students than in the United States. Many countries provide a two-track



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system in secondary and tertiary education, with a practice and occupation-oriented track, which is more popular among working-class students, and a theory-oriented track. Polytechnics or technical colleges form the highest level of the first track, regular universities of the second one. Efforts have been made, especially by Social Democrats, to do away with the gymnasium and create comprehensive schools or middle schools for all pupils, with differentiation in levels of teaching. These efforts have been most successful in Scandinavia. Only in gender equality has Europe been successful; women now outnumber men in university and college education. A new source of concern in Western European education is the concentration of immigrant children, in particular those of Arab and Turkish descent, in some schools, which makes it more difficult to reach national standards and foster social integration. Especially in big cities, a growing gap separates educational institutions with many children of foreign (mostly Muslim) descent from institutions that are mainly attended by children of the native population. A number of countries have introduced systems of quality assessment that set minimum standards for primary and secondary schools. Often, final exams are monitored or organized on a nationwide scale for public and private schools. In the federalized countries, Germany, Switzerland, and more recently, Â�Belgium and Spain, education is left to the federal units. National education policy in Â�Germany is made during meetings of the ministers of education of the 16 Länder. In practice, they often leave decision making to the common educational agency they have set up, but they have been careful to not make this into a federal institution. There have been incidental conflicts about recognizing school diplomas of another German Land, such as when the Christian Democrats in Bavaria refused to accept new types of comprehensive schools introduced by Social Democrats elsewhere in the nation. Belgian politics reveals the problems of leaving education to lower levels of state authority; in that country, education was one of the last items transferred to the competency of the federal communities. At first, Â�Christian Democrats blocked decentralization, arguing that it would lead to “red” (i.e. social democratic) education in French-speaking Wallonia, which is dominated by Social Democrats. Social Democrats also opposed decentralization, because they predicted a monopoly of “papal” education in Dutch-speaking Flanders, where Â�Christian Democracy prevails. In Spain, another nation that is now federalizing, tension has arisen between the national government and some autonomous Â�comunidades about the contents of history schoolbooks, which describe the evolution of the Spanish state without paying much attention to regional diversity.

Immigration and Citizenship Policies The response to the mass influx of immigrants and refugees, in particular from Islamic nations in the Middle East, has varied among the European nations, for

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instance, between former colonial powers and countries without colonies. One area of policy, immigration policy, is concerned with the admission of foreigners, their naturalization, and their access to full citizenship; a second type of policy, citizenship policy, deals with the integration of the new citizens in the national society and culture. In immigration policy, a traditional distinction is the one between ethnic nationality based on family descent (ius sanguinis, or blood-based rights) and civic nationality based on place of birth (ius soli, or soil-based rights). Ethnic nationality has been common in a number of European countries, Germany most of all. Whereas people of German descent, for instance those who were forcibly removed from Central Europe after World War II, found no problem in naturalizing into citizens of the German Federal Republic, Turkish immigrants, and even their children and grandchildren had to go through lengthy procedures. One of the objections raised to reducing paperwork and the waiting time or even shifting from ius sanguinis to ius soli was that it could lead to a double nationality if the parents do not give up their (and their children’s) original nationality (e.g., several Middle East nations do not allow their citizens to give up their nationality). German opponents of double nationality feared that it could lead to split national allegiance of the people involved and to increasing numbers of foreigners that only use their German passports for social security benefits or perhaps for criminal purposes and do not consider themselves Germans. (The traditional European objection to a double nationality was, of course, the security risk that would arise if the two countries engaged in mutual warfare.) Soil-based nationality applied to the United States first of all, and in Europe it applied to France and other colonial powers, such as Great Britain, which at first applied citizenship to all immigrants that had been born in its colonial empire. With the disappearance of the colonial ties and the appearance of large numbers of immigrants from the former colonies, Great Britain in particular implemented stricter laws and introduced elements of ius sanguinis, such as the requirement of having at least one British parent. Germany made some steps in the other direction, making it easier for German-born children of immigrants to naturalize, and by doing so, introducing elements of ius soli. Nowadays, a double nationality is no longer a problem in most European nations, but admission rules have been tightened. There has been some convergence toward the general application of the ius soli but also to stricter guarding of the national gates of entry. Countries that are the least strict now also demand that immigrants pass formal exams to show that they have mastered the national language to some extent and have some knowledge of the culture of their country of destiny. Generally speaking, Central Europe is stricter in its naturalization policy than Germanic and Latin Europe and the British Isles. The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) ranking of EU members based on their policies that favor integration of immigrants shows Sweden at the top; it



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Table 12.6╇ Countries at the Top of the EU Member Ranking for Promoting Integration Rank

EU Member Country

Area of Best National Score

1 2 3 4 5

Sweden Portugal Belgium Netherlands Finland

Labor market access Labor market access Labor market access Force of antidiscrimination legislation Political participation

Source: Migrant Integration Policy Index, www.integrationindex.eu.

leads in almost every respect. MIPEX scores are based on labor-market access, the possibilities of family reunion, long-term residence and political participation, access to nationality, and the force of antidiscrimination legislation. Denmark has lost its position at the top because of very strict naturalization laws promoted by the radical right. At the bottom of the list are Latvia and Cyprus, because of their limits on political participation of immigrants, and Austria, because it instituted very strict naturalization rules under pressure from the sizable radical right party in the country. See Table 12.6 for a list of the EU member countries whose policies are most favorable for promoting integration of immigrants. Even greater differences exist regarding the degree and kind of adaptation required once people have received permission to stay in a country, which is the second type of citizenship policy. Germany at first imposed a kind of official ethnic segregation on the Turkish Gastarbeiter (guest workers), because it was thought that they would stay only for a brief period, and the country even subsidized lessons in the Turkish language and Turkish culture to facilitate return. When it became clear that most of the guest workers would stay, rules were introduced for their adaptation, without many special group rights. France has applied a totally different approach, of civic republicanism, which has also ruled out any group rights, but that is because France officially treats all its citizens on an equal base without any distinction as to religion, ethnicity, or minority tongue (the heritage of the French Revolution’s motto: liberté, égalité, fraternité, or liberty, equality, brotherhood). France does not even know how many “foreign French people” there are, because official statistics do not list the parents’ nationality. Some of the smaller Germanic nations, like Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden, do recognize group rights and have financially supported organizations of immigrants, including Muslim schools in the Netherlands, because of its traditional pillarization of social life and education between Protestants and Catholics, with Muslims now asking for the same rights. Although such an approach might seem close to the ideal of multiculturalism, the group rights are under stress because they could lead to a new kind of ethnic segregation and prevent integration in national society if members of the

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immigrant communities are always addressed as members of an ethnic minority, from which it is hard to “escape.” Great Britain has also set up some organizations for immigrants, but in line with the nature of its welfare state, the labor market is regarded as the only instrument of national integration of immigrants. There is some relation between the nature of naturalization policy and the policies toward immigrants. Once again, Sweden offers most opportunities of work, family reunion, and political participation, and it also has the strongest antidiscrimination laws. It is followed by Portugal. Central Europe offers least opportunities for immigrants to participate in politics, probably because of the countries’ recent nationhood or independence from communist Russian rule. Regarding admission policies and citizenship policies again, the MIPEX ranking puts Sweden at the top and Portugal in the second position. Of the largest countries, Great Britain is more supportive of integration than France and Germany.

Left and Right: Does It Make a Difference? In a number of cities, one can admire famous housing projects that were constructed during the 1920s by Social Democratic–dominated local councils. The Karl Marx Hof in Vienna and the housing estates by the Amsterdam School of Architecture still stand as models of 20th-century architecture, though many outstanding projects in Berlin were destroyed during World War II. Such housing projects are visual expressions of differences between left and right in politics. Rightist governments have also initiated housing projects, but they have preferred to leave housing to the free market and to stimulate house ownership by means of tax deductibility of mortgage costs. The left has also promoted such tax facilities, but especially for lower-income groups. After the war, the German trade union movement established large funds to finance home ownership among its members. Generally, the Social Democratic priority has not been with state care per se but with bringing about more social equality. The preference is to serve that goal by instituting state measures that equally apply to all citizens (universal coverage), because they are a better expression of national solidarity than provisions aimed at specific groups. Conservatives and Conservative Liberals prefer the functioning of the free market to state care, but they are willing to make an exception for the poor, who should be helped by support programs that exclusively focus on that group. Their preference means they object less to limited coverage than to universal coverage. Christian Democrats have also favored differentiation; they embrace collective initiative by voluntary associations (subsidiarity), but for a wider segment of the population than the poor only, and they have given the family a greater role in social policies. Variations between left and right priorities apply to a number of policy areas, not only to the ways in which state money (Americans would say taxpayers’ money) is to be spent but also on how it should be generated (see Table 12.7).



Left and Right: Does It Make a Difference?╇ | 217

Interestingly, since the 1980s, Social Democrats have also been more active in implementing cuts in the state budget than the Conservative and Liberal parties. When in opposition, Social Democrats can fight any conservative savings in public spending as immoral, and mobilize protests, but when in government, they are forced to reduce the budget themselves, and Conservatives and Liberals cannot oppose such policies. The right can only point to the fact that the left is espousing similar policies to what they had opposed just before.

Table 12.7╇ Priorities for the Left and Right Side of the Political Spectrum Subject Left

Right

Comments

Corporatism In support, because of Only interested if The relationship between â•… the prominent role for â•… it leads to wage â•… Social Democratic parties â•… Social Democratic â•… restraint â•… and trade unions has â•… trade unions â•… fostered corporatism. Education Comprehensive Differentiation The trend toward â•… schools â•… in school types â•… comprehensive schools â•… has not been successful. Environment Sensitive to green Hardly interested Green parties now participate â•… demands and willing â•… and opposed to â•… in a number of “red-green” â•… to conclude coalitions â•… restrictions to â•… coalitions. â•… with the greens â•… free enterprise Health care State insurance or Private Almost all the European â•… state-supervised â•… insurance; state â•… countries possess state (i.e., â•… private insurance â•… insurance for â•… state-supervised) health care â•… with wide coverage â•… those with very â•… insurance systems. â•… low incomes Housing Social housing estates Mortgage Social housing was â•… and cheap mortgage â•… deductibility â•… especially popular after â•… facilities â•… both world wars. Social Universal coverage, Limited Low flat-rate benefits prevail â•… security â•… with high flat-rate â•… coverage, with â•… in Great Britain; high flat â•… benefits or high â•… low flat-rate â•… rate or income-related â•…income-related â•…benefits â•…benefits prevail â•… benefits â•… on the continent. Taxation Progressive direct Indirect taxes Indirect taxes are becoming â•… taxes (income tax) â•… (levies) â•… more popular, partly â•… because of the European â•…Union. Women’s Sensitive to feminist Against state Feminists have been most â•…rights â•…demands â•…interference â•…active within Social â•… Democratic parties.

218 |╇Public Policy

Life and Death A president with an illegitimate child, a chancellor who is having a longstanding affair with his secretary, his successor campaigning with his fourth wife—and in the Protestant countries, gay or lesbian ministers have already been accepted by most of the population. Social and economic issues dominate national politics in Europe, but questions of sexual morals, family values, and the attitude toward termination of life (the vertical line in the spectrum expressing the libertarian-authoritarian continuum in the ideological spectrum) are often headline stories in the serious press. In these matters Western Europe has moved to the libertarian side of the United States, especially since the 1970s, because of the influence of postmaterialism, the feminist movement, and the youth revolt against traditional authority in general. Strict rules relating to sexual morals have been relaxed or abandoned. Contraceptives are for sale almost everywhere, and restrictions on abortion were lifted or mitigated during the 1980s and 1990s. Homosexuality is recognized, at least formally, as a way of life, in most Western European nations, and discrimination against homosexuals is liable to punishment, just like any other form of discrimination. Some Germanic countries have already provided homosexual relationships with the same or a similar legal status as regular marriage: the same-sex marriage. Social Liberals and Social Democrats in particular forced new openings in this area of policy making during the 1980s and 1990s, under strong pressure from the women’s movement. Until that time, women had to resort to illegal abortion or go to specialized clinics in London, which had come to function as an international abortion center. If the left had always been more libertarian than the right, the horizontal and the vertical lines of the European political spectrum would overlap, and it would resemble the American spectrum, but communists have been very strict in their rejection of homosexuality and Conservative Liberals have been more libertarian than Christian Democrats. Moreover, probably even more than ideology, religion matters in these moral issues. The communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe were least strict in their abortion policy. That had to do mainly with their rejection of religion and religious morals and with their promotion of population growth. (All dictators like to see the number of their subjects grow.) Contraceptives were rarely available, which left abortion as the regular rather than the ultimate contraceptive. For that reason, East German women protested when after reunification the stricter West German laws on abortion were adopted. In Western Europe, the Protestant nations are most permissive. The Catholic nations used to be stricter than the Muslim countries, but almost all of them have also legalized abortion. Beside the Catholic Church, which does not tolerate abortion, whatever the circumstances, hardly any single-issue pro-life movement exists. In Poland, the Catholic Church used the fall of communism to demand stricter abortion laws. Ireland was the last nation to abolish the ban



Life and Death╇ | 219

Table 12.8╇ Positions on Same-Sex Marriage Most tolerant Netherlands (2001), Belgium (2003), Spain (2005), Norway (2009), ╅ countries: legal ╅ Sweden (2009), Iceland (2010), Portugal (2010), Luxembourg ╅(2010) Strictest countries: Central Europe: Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, ╅ constitutional ban ╅ Montenegro, Poland, Serbia Eastern Europe: Belarus, Ukraine

on the sale of contraceptives and the ban on foreign travel for pregnant women who were suspected of seeking abortion, and the country is now an exporter of contraceptives. With respect to homosexuality, efforts by the French Social Democrats to improve the legal status of homosexual relations met combined resistance from Gaullists and Conservative Liberals. Spanish Social Democrats accomplished an enormous shift in ethical issues like abortion and gay rights from authoritarian to libertarian in spite of heavy Catholic Church opposition. Table 12.8 lists the extreme positions with respect to same-sex marriage: the countries that have legalized it and the countries in which the constitution bans it. In spite of the greater general tolerance of Protestants, Catholic Belgium and Spain were among the first to legalize same-sex marriage, and of the four countries that have to some extent and under strict conditions legalized euthanasia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, two are traditionally Catholic (Belgium and Luxembourg), and the other two have large Catholic minorities. European tolerance extends to pornography and prostitution. In contrast to the American women’s movement, its European counterpart has accepted these phenomena as facts of life that would be better to tolerate than to criminalize. All bookshops that sell magazines have a stock of pornography, and in addition to the New Testament, the better European hotels offer a choice of Pay TV, including pornographic films. In most of the Germanic nations, prostitution is tolerated, and in a few it has even been legalized. Brothels need not hide in the desert, as in Nevada, and a few cities, such as Amsterdam, even recommend their red-light districts as tourist attractions. The greater permissiveness of the left and Protestants in sexual matters is not only an expression of a more libertarian attitude but also of more women’s rights, because it is women, not men, who fall victim to strict rules on contraceptives and abortion. Consequently, a libertarian stance with respect to these issues need not necessarily be an expression of general permissiveness but may be part of public policies to improve the position of women in society. A prominent example is Sweden, which is in many respects Western Europe’s most regulated country. In 1999, it made paying prostitutes, not prostitution as such, liable to punishment, in a typical effort to erase prostitution once and for all by means of legislation.

220 |╇Public Policy

(One of the effects was to stimulate ferry crossings to the nearby Danish Â�capital Copenhagen). Sweden also possesses Europe’s strictest laws on alcoholic beverages. In drug policies, almost all the European countries possess strict rules. In practice, however, some nations tolerate the use of soft drugs and concentrate on the hunt for hard drugs like heroin. The Netherlands is most tolerant in this respect, with its legal sale of small quantities of soft drugs for personal use in the Dutch coffee shops, where coffee has now become a side dish. Swiss cities have experimented with the free distribution of hard drugs or methadon to the local addicts to keep them from stealing. These policies and experiments often meet with hostility from the US government, but the countries involved point to their low addiction and low crime rates. Europe not only (increasingly) differs from the United States in its more permissive attitude in sexual matters but also in rules on security. Europe has always attached less value to the rights of suspects, but it has also imprisoned fewer people than the United States. The number of prison inmates per 100,000 inhabitants (the incarceration rate) of most European countries stands far below the rate of 743 in the United States. Only Russia rivals the United States with a rate of 577. Â�Georgia’s rate is 538, and Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia have a rate of more than 300. In most Table 12.9╇ Comparison of Europe and the United States on Civil Rights and Ethical Issues

European Democracies

United States

Civil rights Debate on voting rights for Racially oriented, most â•… immigrants; affirmative action â•… prominent in education and â•… voting rights; affirmative â•… action in decline Penal system Low incarceration rate Extremely high incarceration â•…rate Rights of Less important, but more Important issue, dealt with by â•… suspects â•… attention is paid to extenuating â•… the Supreme Court â•… circumstances in judicial â•…verdicts Death penalty No, expressly banned by Yes, in most states â•… law and the EU Gun control Strict and undisputed control Varying state rules but no â•… general control; fierce debate Abortion Legal, except in a few Legal, but fierce debate â•… Catholic countries Gay rights Increasingly same rights as Antigay culture in most states, â•…heterosexuals â•…but evolving



Life and Death╇ | 221

other nations the rate is below 200 (all data for 2010; ICPS: World Prison Brief, www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/law/research/icps/worldbrief). All European countries except Belarus have abolished the death penalty, which is one of the criteria of admission to the EU, and since the end of fascist rule in Spain and Portugal, and of communist rule in Central Europe, these countries have joined the rest of Western Europe in that respect. Yet another prominent difference between Europe and the United States is gun control and the general European ban on firearms. Although the ban on the death penalty is not supported by all �Europeans, the ban on firearms is. In Europe, guns and armed militia are closely linked to armed uprisings, suppression, revolt, civil war, and international warfare, that is, to the domination of one group by another; hence, a gun is not a thing of beauty but an instrument of suppression or crime. The more urban European �culture also forbids widespread gun ownership. Table 12.9 compares policies �pertaining to civil rights and ethical issues in Europe and the United States.

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CHAPTER 13

Supranational Politics:╇ The European Union

I

n Europe, London is the capital of international finance and Paris and Milan are capitals of Latin culture, including new fashion. Geneva stands for international negotiations and the International Red Cross, Amsterdam stands for nonconformist youth culture, and Prague is the symbol of Central European revival. Brussels has gradually joined these cities as the capital of the European Union, although it has to share that position with other centers of EU decision making, including Luxembourg (the European Court of Justice) and Strasbourg (where full sessions of the European Parliament are held). Moreover, other EU institutions are spread over the EU members; the European Central Bank has its seat in Frankfurt, for instance. Yet, most people refer (mostly not very positively) to Brussels when they discuss EU trends or policies. The latest epochal changes in the face of Europe were the introduction of the euro as an international European currency in 2002 and the admission of 12 new members states in 2004 and 2007, 10 of them former Russian-dominated communist dictatorships in Central Europe. Monetary cooperation and monetary integration had been on the agenda since the 1960s, but without any lasting results; the latest effort had been a system of fixed exchange rates between a number of continental currencies. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent German reunification, which reinforced the already towering position of the German mark in the system of fixed exchange rates, provided the final impetus to definite integration, if only to spread monetary power beyond Germany. The European Monetary Union (EMU) was introduced in 1991, but it did not become visible until its final stage, the introduction of the euro in the member states that fulfilled the preconditions and did not opt out of the common currency (only Great Britain, Sweden, and Denmark opted out). In 2002, the euro replaced the national currencies in twelve member states. With a lot of nostalgia they bade farewell to their Austrian schillings, Belgian francs, French 223

224 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

francs, Luxembourg francs, Dutch guilders, Finnish marks, German marks, Greek drachms, Irish pounds, Italian liras, Portuguese escudos, and Spanish pesetas (see Table 13.1). The admission of 10 Central European nations in 2004 (eight) and 2007 (two) put a definite end to the traumatic division of Europe into free West Europe and communist East Europe. Central Europe was back in Europe again. The new member states celebrated their admission with festivities, although some of their political leaders expressed their hesitation to hand over part of their newly (re)won sovereignty to Brussels. Of course, the expansion of the EU had a great impact on the EU, because room had to be made for the new members, without too much expansion of the decision-making institutions, and the newcomers’ national per capita income was below that of the low-income nations Portugal and Greece, which had joined the EU much earlier. Table 13.1╇ EU Member States, Their Population Ranking, Numeric Representation, and Currencies* Country Population Population CM Votes EP Seats EP Seats Current (in millions) Rank Until up to after Currency 2014 2009 2010 (Former â•… Currency) Founders â•… 1951 Germany 82.3 1 29 99 96 (99 Euro (mark) ╇ until 2014) France 64.2 2 29 78 74 Euro (franc) Italy 58.1 4 29 78 73 Euro (lira) Netherlands 16.7 8 13 27 26 Euro (gulden) Belgium 10.4 10 12 24 22 Euro (franc) Luxembourg 0.5 26 4 6 6 Euro (franc) Joined 1973 Great 61.3 3 29 78 73 Pound â•…Britain â•…sterling Denmark 5.5 17 7 14 13 krone Ireland 4.4 20 7 13 12 Euro (pound) Joined 1981 Greece 10.8 9 12 24 Euro â•…(drachme) Joined 1985 Spain 45.8 5 27 54 54 Euro (peseta) Portugal 10.7 11 12 24 22 Euro (escudo) Joined 1995 Sweden 9.1 15 10 19 20 Krone (Continued)

Austria

The Euro╇ | 225 8.2

16

10

18

19 Euro â•…(schilling) Finland 5.3 19 7 14 13 Euro (mark) Joined 2004 Poland 38.5 6 27 54 51 Zloty Czechia 10.2 12 12 24 22 Koruna Hungary 10.0 13 12 24 22 Forint Slovakia 5.5 18 7 14 13 Euro (koruna) Lithuania 3.6 21 7 13 12 Lita Latvia 2.2 22 4 9 9 Lat Slovenia 2.0 23 4 7 8 Euro (tolar) Estonia 1.3 24 4 6 6 Kroon Cyprus 1.1 25 4 6 6 Euro (pound) Malta 0.4 27 3 5 6 Euro (lira) Joined 2007 Romania 21.5 7 14 35 33 Leu Bulgaria 7.2 14 10 18 18 Lev Total ca. 500.0 255 785 751 *CM indicates Council of Ministers; EP, European Parliament.

The Euro The German mark, Europe’s strongest currency, was the main foundation of the EMU; it owed its rock-solid position to the industrial power of that country and to the independent position of Frankfurt (the seat of the Bundesbank, the German national bank). German governments have hardly any influence on the Bundesbank’s decisions with respect to the interest rate and the printing of new money. One of the first activities of the 1998 Schröder government was to pressure the bank to reduce the interest rate, but Frankfurt won and the minister of finance resigned. The bank’s independence is due to the great fear of inflation in Germany. In the early 1920s the country suffered from running inflation, when even small food items cost millions of marks, which led to great political instability, including the rise of Nazism, and the Germans are determined not to let that happen once again. Until the introduction of the euro, the leading international position of the German currency forced several smaller nations to adapt their currencies to changes in the exchange rate of the mark; the Dutch often did so within an hour, even at midnight. Consequently, Frankfurt guaranteed a stable currency system in a large part of Western Europe. The pivotal role of the German mark started in the 1960s, when the position of the US dollar was under pressure because of the rising US public debt from the Vietnam War and the growing levels of economic productivity and prosperity in West Europe, and Germany first of all. The postwar system of currency exchange

226 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

rates had been set up by the United States and West Europe at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944, with the US dollar as the base of a system of fixed exchange rates. In 1972, when the US dollar became too weak to support the system of fixed exchange rates, and the exchange rate of 4:1 between the dollar and the mark proved untenable, a number of European countries set up a new system of exchange rates, still based on the dollar, but allowing the European currencies to move relative to the dollar, within bands of 2.25 percent. The system, called “Snake in the Tunnel” because of the possibility for movement in either direction (devaluation or revaluation) within strict bonds, collapsed the next year, and since then the German mark became the core of new forms of a Snake, which in the 1980s evolved into a new system of more or less fixed exchange rates, the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). A new European counting unit was created, the ecu, which existed only virtually; its value was based on the national currencies of the participating countries, in proportion to their economic power, with the German mark having the largest share in the basket of currencies. On several occasions the ERM encountered problems, for instance when currency speculations prevented the British pound from joining it, but by then the euro was in sight. The European Central Bank (ECB) has taken over the responsibility of guaranteeing a stable European currency system, as a kind of European Fed (Federal Reserve System). The ECB has less power than the Fed, however, because of its more limited autonomy: the national banks of the participating countries bring in more votes than the ECB by itself. France was among the main champions of the ECB; the introduction of the euro and the establishment of the ECB would finally stop, or so France hoped, its second-rank position vis-à-vis Germany and that of its French franc to the Â�German mark. Germany was very reluctant to exchange its strong and stable mark for an international currency that could be influenced by the French government or by any government at all, but it finally welcomed the new currency and the ECB as new symbols of European unity, as long as the independence of the institution was safeguarded and its seat would be in Frankfurt (and certainly not in London or Paris). In the 1990s all EU member states (as well as aspiring members) prepared for the EMU. They undertook urgent efforts to meet the formal requirements, which still include a rate of inflation no higher than one and a half times the three lowest national levels within the EU, a government budget deficit under three percent, and total public debt that does not exceed 60 percent of gross national product (GNP). Few countries met all the criteria, so obvious development in the right direction also qualified for admission. In particular the maximum level of three percent for the state deficit prompted hasty cuts in state budgets. French efforts to implement retrenchments in public spending unleashed large strike actions in 1996. Germany, whose membership was indispensable, faced problems in 1997 and thought about



The Euro╇ | 227

selling part of its gold stock to reduce the deficit, but this idea was met with opposition from Frankfurt. Frankfurt won. The EMU has created the eurozone of countries in which the euro has replaced the national currency. Of the countries that were already EU members by 2000, Denmark, Great Britain, and Sweden have remained outside the eurozone. The British have not changed currency because they believe the British pound sterling continues to be a major international currency, the pound sterling is one of the last remnants of the British Empire, and the London “City” has a longstanding position as an international banking center. Four newcomers to the EU, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia have joined the eurozone, bringing the total number of eurozone members to 16. (Estonia joined in January 2011.) Moreover, non–EU members Montenegro and Kosovo have also introduced the euro on an informal base, and so have the three ministates, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City. A few other countries are in the preparatory stage of joining. Pertaining to the three economic conditions for joining the EMU, and for its success over time, the reduction of inflation has been quite successful. During the first decade of the 21st century, the inflation rate in the eurozone of countries that have adopted the euro has been under three percent, even during the financial crisis, except for the year 2008. The new EU members in Central Europe have been even more successful; in Romania inflation dropped from 59.1 percent in 1998 to 6.1 percent in 2010, in Bulgaria from 18.6 to 3.0 percent, and in Hungary from 14.2 to 4.7 percent (Eurostat 2011: epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu). The government deficit remained a bone of contention among the member states, in particular between Germanic European countries on the one hand and Latin Europe on the other. In practice, the three percent limit proved rather flexible, and it was not until 2010 that there was real concern over national deficits because of the 2008 banking crisis. Greece was the main evildoer; it had a deficit of more than 12 percent, covered up by false government statistics, and was seemingly unable to reduce that figure. Great Britain and Ireland had similar two-digit deficits, but Great Britain was outside the eurozone and the ECB was more afraid of the growing Spanish deficit, which had also reached two digits (just as the US deficit had). The creation of an enormous fund for such cases, only to be allocated to countries if they impose very strict budget retrenchments, in combination with funding from the International Monetary Fund, solved the crisis. As for public debt, almost all eurozone countries were able to reduce it to less than 60 percent of GNP at the time they joined the EMU, except for Belgium, Italy, and Greece, where public debt was close to or even exceeded GNP, and 10 years later the situation was more or less the same. Public debt outside the eurozone, in particular in Central Europe, was lower because the access of these countries to international capital dated from the 1990s. The 2009 financial crisis increased Â�public debt, but no other country reached Belgian, Italian, or Greek levels.

228 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

Toward European Integration The long lines of trucks waiting at the borders in Western Europe have dwindled, custom officers’ uniforms have become museum pieces, and the need for tourists to change money at each border crossing has gone. Since the early 1990s, a number of EU member states have even abolished all passport controls, at least in principle. One can now travel thousands of kilometers through several countries without any border stop at all, a unique feature in European history. These advantages are merely the more visible effects of the EU. In a wide range of fields national policies increasingly have to take into account or implement the EU directives (rulings) from Brussels. As one might expect—most European innovation originates with war—the history of European integration has deep historical roots, but the final steps were not made until the end of World War II. In particular the French–German rivalry, one of the backgrounds to both world wars, was a motive to look for international cooperation. In vain, the United States tried to forge European cooperation as a condition of Marshall Plan aid, which they offered for the postwar reconstruction of Europe, but the Cold War at least stimulated the integration of West Germany in Western Europe. The first step toward broader and deeper integration was not taken, however, until France realized that German heavy industry would soon outmatch French industry once again and would not only reduce France to the position of a minor power but also pose a potential threat for European security, as it could serve as a base of new war mongering. Two Frenchmen played a prominent role in urging for more unity: businessman Jean Monnet and politician Robert Schuman. Already in 1945, Monnet proposed limits to the reconstruction of German heavy industry and coal mining and international monitoring of those sectors to prevent new war preparations. In 1950, Schuman, as French minister of foreign affairs, formally issued the Schuman Declaration, which proposed international control of all steel industry and coal mining in Western Europe. The next year, six Founding Nations agreed to set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951, as a kind of international coordinating body for these industries, which would also stop the clumsy system of national protection in coal and steel. It brought together France and West Germany, joined by Italy and the Low Countries. To the newly founded German Federal Republic, whose first chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, was an enthusiastic driving force behind more international unity, the new organization offered a means to integrate Western Europe as a full-fledged sovereign state and to continue the further expansion of German industry as a contribution to German prosperity. At the same time, it offered France ample opportunities to catch up with the Germans and some international supervision of German growth, which served French–German rapprochement and political stability in Europe.



Toward European Integration╇ | 229

The 1957 Treaty of Rome extended cooperation to a customs union and a common market in agricultural products to guarantee stability in food supply and food prices and provide another base of political stability. Because of the Cold War and the limits imposed on German rearmament, the French concern over the Â�German steel industry withered away, and the Common Market in agriculture (officially named the European Economic Community [EEC]) soon overshadowed the ECSC. In the Common Market, internal trade barriers in agriculture were reduced, and an intricate system of differential prices was set up for food products. Protracted annual negotiations adapted the prices to world market conditions and even more to political considerations. A third European agency, beside the ECSC and EEC, Euratom, was set up to check nuclear energy policies. For the Common Market, the Benelux to some extent served as a model. It was a customs union, initiated in 1948 and in force in 1948 between the three Low Countries Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. During the 1960s, French president De Gaulle halted further integration and blocked British membership, arguing that because Great Britain was only interested in its ties with the United States and its former colonies and not at all in Europe, its participation would be detrimental to efforts of European coordination. France did not give up its opposition to British membership until it realized that Germany had become the foremost economic power in Europe. Great Britain was finally admitted in 1973, together with Ireland and Denmark. In the 1970s regular summit meetings of the heads of government and frequent meetings of foreign ministers became a tradition and provided new impulses toward European integration. Even when disagreement predominated, the government leaders sought grand bargains, package deals that extended common objectives to new policy fields, that is, the so-called spillover from one field to another. In the 1980s, Greece, Spain, and Portugal joined the EEC after they had thrown off fascist rule, and their admission to some extent moved the axis of the community to the less industrialized south. Two diverging trends dominated further efforts at integration. On the one hand, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher started a crusade against Brussels as a big and unchecked spending machine and against political integration as undermining national interests. On the other hand, the 1979– 1980 oil crisis and growing East Asian competition stimulated the quest for common economic policies. The president of the European Commission (the executive position of the EEC and later the EU), the very active Frenchman Jacques Delors, drafted a series of economic and social plans and used the British intransigence to get the continental countries into line. A time schedule was set for the completion of a fully integrated market, not only in agriculture but also in industrial products and services. All states except Great Britain also adopted a social charter outlining some common social policies, and even foreign-policy coordination became

230 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

a regular item on the agenda of the summits. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty, which contained the plans for a monetary and a political union, introduced far-reaching changes in structure and policies; the EEC (Common Market) became a real open market in which internal border checks were abolished. Together with the other two existing institutions, the ECSC and Euratom, it merged into the European Community (EC), which became the first, and by far most important pillar, of the new European Union, which also covered two far less developed pillars: common foreign and security policies (the second pillar) and common policies in justice (the third pillar). The Maastricht Treaty also restated the goals and basic principles of the EU, and for that reason the first part of it is reproduced in Appendix A. In 1995, three new members joined, Austria, Finland, and Sweden, all of them democracies that had been formally neutral during the Cold War. In spite of general reluctance among a number of nations, including Great Britain and the new members, to engage in efforts to build a political union, the bold steps of the Maastricht Treaty were soon followed by the even more epochal changes described earlier: the foundation of the EMU, the introduction of the euro, and the admission of 10 new members in 2004 (Cyprus and Malta in the Mediterranean and Chechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia in Central Europe) and two in 2007 (Bulgaria and Romania). In 2004, efforts to introduce a real EU constitution failed. The concept constitution was an effort to adapt the EU to its recent extension to Central Europe, but it was a very intricate text, quite the opposite of the US Constitution, and it was rejected by national referendums in France and Holland. The project was then terminated and replaced by more modest efforts to adapt the EU structures to the wider membership in the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which went into effect in December 2009. At first it seemed that the more modest project would also fail, when Ireland rejected it in a referendum, but Ireland approved it in a second referendum. One of the measures contained in the Lisbon Treaty was to do away with the three pillars and integrate all EU institutions, including the ECB, the European Community, and the other two pillars into the EU. Some of the measures contained in the Lisbon Treaty will not be implemented until 2014, in particular the member nations’ share of votes in the EU institutions. Twenty-seven Western European nations are now EU members (see Table 13.1). Only three countries that would easily qualify for admission have kept aloof: Iceland, Norway (which has rejected membership twice by referendum), and Â�Switzerland, all of them small-scale societies that fear the import of big (urban) problems and the loss of sovereignty. Yet, under the influence of the 2009 financial crisis and its imminent bankruptcy, Iceland has cautiously applied for membership. Some nations, in particular those on the Balkan Peninsula, would like to join the EU but have not yet met the Copenhagen criteria, decided upon in 1993, which include a democratic political system, a market-based economy, a developed system of



Two Founding Fathers and One Active Leader╇ | 231

public administration without too much corruption, human rights (including the abolition of the death penalty), and the acceptance of all existing EU legislation, that is, the acquis communautaire, the communitarian achievements. A contentious issue is whether Turkey should ever be allowed to join. Turkey has been an associate member of the EU since 1963, but it has pressed several times for full membership. Those who stress the common Christian heritage as part of the European identity point to the fact that Turkey is a Muslim country (albeit with a strict separation between state and religion). Those who highlight individualism and liberal rights as the core of the European identity point to the relative absence of such accomplishments in the country—even if it meets the Copenhagen criteria. Many Europeans fear its potential power as a member Â� (it  would be the second-largest member behind Germany), in particular as a country of Muslims; the enormous problems of economic development of such a populous country; and competition from its cheap labor forces. Yet, others fear the possible re-Islamization of the country if Europe refuses any kind of special relationship with it.

Two Founding Fathers and One Active Leader The French urge to start a new era in Europe, no longer based on a power balance between Great Powers but on French–German rapprochement and cooperation, is shown by the fact that two Frenchmen, Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman, were among the small group of founding fathers of the EU and one, Jacques Delors, was among its most active leaders; all three were devout Catholics. Jean Monnet (1888–1979) was a politically active businessman in a family cognac firm; he was an active traveler not only to promote his fine family drink but also to foster international political cooperation. During World War I he attempted to reach some form of coordination of the French and British war efforts. After the war he worked some time for the League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations, but after a few years he returned to his family business and to international finance. During World War II he once again tried to convince the leading politicians to coordinate the war efforts and to get the United States on the allied side. In 1945, he launched his Monnet Plan to limit German heavy industry and coal mining and move the German steel industry to France, thus changing the balance of economic power to the advantage of France. One of the effects was that France annexed a small part of Germany, Saarland, with its steel works and coal mines; it was not returned until 1957. Monnet also advocated international control of heavy industry and coal mining, and the idea became part of the 1950 Schuman Declaration, of which Monnet was one of the editors. Once the ECSC was created in 1952, Monnet remained active in other Europe-wide initiatives for stronger unification.

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Robert Schuman (1886–1963) was born in a French/German family, studied in Germany, and then settled in the French town of Metz, in German-occupied Alsace-Lorraine, in northeastern France. After World War I the region was returned to France and Schuman received French nationality, on the basis of ius soli, in addition to his German nationality, which was based on ius sanguinis. He was active in local and regional politics as a Christian Democrat, and after World War II he served as minister of finance and was twice prime minister (1947–1948)—one of the 16 different prime ministers during the 14 years of the French Fourth Republic (1944–1958)—and later he served as minister of foreign affairs. As prime minister Schuman proposed plans for the Council of Europe and was also active in promoting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On May 9, 1950, as the French minister of foreign affairs, he issued the Schuman Declaration on supranational European cooperation, in particular the ECSC; the declaration is now regarded as the origin of the EU, and for that reason May 9 has been declared Europe Day by the EU. For some time Schuman served as president of the precursor to the European Â� Parliament, and he is now hailed as the real father of European unification. Jacques Delors (1925–) is a French civil servant and technocrat, though not a student of one of the French Grandes Écoles. Until the 1960s he held jobs in French banking and state planning and was active in the very small Catholic trade union in France. At first an adviser to a Gaullist government, he joined the French Socialist Party and became a member of the European Parliament. In the early 1980s he was minister of economy and finance under President François Mitterrand, but in 1985 he returned to European politics, to become president of the European Commission until 1995. Delors put an end to the by then widely felt eurosclerosis, the deception about the slow progress in unification, and actively promoted the single market that had been agreed upon in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. Meanwhile, though he was actively opposed by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher for his socialism, he was successful in changing the British Labour Party into fervent supporters of the EU. To date he had been the most active European Commission president in stimulating new ventures in European cooperation and “building bridges” among the EU member states. Since 1995 he has held jobs in all kinds of European institutions and associations.

EU Policies The publicity and hype about the introduction of the euro may hide the fact that it is not monetary or economic policies but agricultural policies that have been the core EU activity. During most of its existence, agriculture absorbed 70 percent of the EU budget; at present that share is still more than 40 percent, including rural development. It mainly consists of agricultural subsidies aimed at removing



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internal trade barriers (agriculture has always been the sector most liable to state protection in Europe) and improving the farmers’ standard of living; this is accomplished by means of high and stable prices for agricultural produce (made possible by external tariff walls) and production growth. Agricultural policy is complicated by the fact that the member states have opposing interests in this field, in particular between the northern states (milk, butter) and the southern members (wine, olive oil). Until the turn of the century, the different interests had to reach compromise in long and protracted annual negotiations. The costs of compromise were high, in the form of a costly, intricate, and arbitrary system of guaranteed prices for farmers, internal prices, and export prices. The system was highly successful, however, in raising farmer income and agricultural production, even to the point of an enormous overproduction of dairy products, beef, olive oil, and wine, resulting in butter mountains and wine lakes. The EU then reduced production by lowering guaranteed prices and instituting production ceilings and national production Â�quotas. (Even a wine lake has its limits.) In the 1980s, the arbitrary nature of agricultural subsidies and guaranteed prices became a source of internal EU concern, starting with the British demand for more balance in its national contributions and benefits, as it hardly received any subsidies because of the small size of its agricultural sector. In Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s immortal words: “I want my money back.” Until that time, national imbalances had not been a problem, because the Germans were the largest net payers and did not raise any complaints. The trade barriers had also strained relations with agricultural exporters: third world countries protested about unfair treatment of their exports, and trade disputes with the United States resulted in a series of tariff wars between the EU and the United States. The reforms and cuts in agricultural spending then became a prominent issue at European Council meetings (see Table 13.2). The recent admission of countries with relatively large agricultural sectors has required new adaptations, including a shift of subsidies from Germanic and Latin countries to Central Europe. The EU budget was also reformed; a ceiling was established (a 1.24 percent share of the member nations’ combined GNP), and national contributions were no longer based on population but on GNP. The national contributions now account for 70 percent of the EU budget; the rest comes from value-added tax revenues and custom duties on imports from outside the EU. The introduction of the euro as a multinational currency shows that the EU’s scope has extended far beyond steel and agriculture, and it now covers a range of policy areas. The spillover from one policy area to another was not an automatic process; it was encouraged by member states that wanted to have their interests taken care of, by the need to forge package deals as grand bargains, and by pressure from interest associations that demanded Europe-wide policies. According to some, it is these groups and organizations, rather than the national governments,

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Table 13.2╇ Important European Council Meetings Year Location

Subjects

1991 Maastricht, Netherlands Most important meeting of the 1990s, resulting in the â•…Maastricht Treaty. It dealt with the European Â�Monetary Union (EMU), more political unity, the new name European Union, and the introduction of the European Parliament’s (EP) right of co-decision. The Maastricht Treaty had to be ratified by the member states. The first part, containing goals and basic principles of the EU is reproduced in Appendix A. 1992 Lisbon, Portugal; Discussion of the political problems faced by â•… Birmingham, â•… several governments in ratifying the Maastricht â•… Great Britain â•…Treaty. 1993 Copenhagen, Denmark Criteria for admission of new members are set. 1994 Corfu, Greece Conflict about the presidency of the European â•…Commission after Jacques Delors resigned. The question was solved at a later extra meeting in Brussels, where Luxembourg’s prime minister Jacques Santer was elected. 1995 Madrid, Spain The final stage of the EMU; procedures for â•… institutional reforms. 1996 Dublin, Ireland Stability Pact, with sanctions for countries that have â•…large budget deficits after the introduction of the euro as the common currency. 1997 Amsterdam, Netherlands Treaty of Amsterdam, extension of the EP’s â•… co-decision rights. 1997 Luxembourg Extra meeting on unemployment, which is â•… considered to be a national affair. 1997 Luxembourg Agenda 2000, with reforms in institutions, decisionâ•…making procedures, and agrarian policies to prepare the extension toward Central Europe. 1998 Vienna, Austria Agenda 2000; more equality in contributions by the â•…richer member states (Germany is the largest net payer; Netherlands the largest payer relative to its gross national product). 2001 Nice, France Extension of the EP’s co-decision rights. Very â•…contentious Nice Treaty on the number of votes in EU structures for each nation following the future extension to Central Europe. 2007 Lisbon, Portugal Agreement on Lisbon Treaty, which restructured the â•…EU after failed attempts to introduce an EU constitution in 2004–2005. 2009 Brussels, Belgium Appointment of the first president of the European Union.



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that are the real motors behind the integration process. Governments not only bring in their own interests but they also use Brussels as a pretext to silence opposition toward government proposals by saying,“We can’t help; we are merely implementing EU directives.” A prominent form of policy extension is to follow the example of one or more member states and develop their policy into EU policy, a practice that is called following best practice or benchmarking. The Maastricht Treaty, however, recoined the term subsidiarity (an old Catholic word for reducing state power by leaving policies to corporatist cooperation between groups and associations) to mean that the EU would leave all policies to the member states that these states could perform better—a very general principle, of course. In addition to agriculture, three policy fields stand out as objects of EU concern: economic policies, including the single-market policy; regional policy; and social policies. The EU’s single-market policy in industry and services is a major accomplishment; it has removed internal industrial and commercial trade barriers and has created more equality in international competition by setting strict limits to state financial support of national industries and national services. It has even opened sectors for national and international competition that were traditionally monopolized by one public company, such as telephone networks and sometimes railways. An international railway strike in 1998 failed to stop this policy of allowing competition on the tracks. To remove any barriers to internal competition, the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, has been very keen on disclosing and if possible punishing financial state support of companies in trouble (France is a habitual wrongdoer). One of the results of opening up national markets for capital from other member states was international mergers of companies, which brought about a large increase in the scale of service industries. And, once again, the European Commission has scrutinized any merger of leading firms to check that the new combination does not dominate the market with too large a market share, and mergers of very large firms have to be approved by the European Commission. The removal of barriers to capital flows is combined with increasing freedom of movement in the form of labor mobility from one member state to another without any legal barriers. In practice, labor mobility remains curtailed by language diversity and great variations in national social security systems, even apart from the fact that it is still very difficult for people who move to other member states to transfer the collective old-age pension rights they have earned in their country of origin (pension gap). Some of the richer member states have also set temporary caps to immigration from the Central European newcomers, in particular Poland and Romania. More generally, trade unions in the richer countries have expressed concerns that labor standards will be undermined by labor immigrants, who can come and go when they want.

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Free movement of individuals was the subject of a special agreement, the 1985 Schengen Treaty, named after the Luxembourg village where the agreement was signed. Actually, it was signed very symbolically on a boat on the Rhine River, where France meets Germany (and Luxembourg). The treaty abolished visa requirements for the citizens of the joining states and stipulated that a visa for one country was also valid in the other nations. Border checks between the countries that signed the Schengen Treaty were also abolished. At first, only five countries signed, France, Germany, and the Low Countries, but gradually almost all EU members joined, as have three other nations, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland (in the latter country after a referendum). In the EU only Great Britain, Ireland, and Cyprus have retained their border checks. The core of the EU’s regional policy (Objective 1) should make less-developed regions (those whose GNP per capita is below 75 percent of the EU average) more competitive, in particular by improving their infrastructure (roads, ports), a transfer policy from richer to poorer regions that is absent in the United States. Southern Europe and Ireland have benefited most from the regional policy, and some entire nations are classified as regions in need of support. The Irish have been  most Â�successful in the use of European funds. Ireland has attracted huge foreign investment, has almost become the EU’s greenfield, and has moved from a position as one of the less prosperous EU member states to a position as one of the richer member states, before Italy. Right before the 2008 financial crisis, which hit the country particularly hard, it was even for some time the second-richest member state behind Luxembourg. Since the admission of the Central European nations, these newcomers almost entirely qualify for assistance under Objective 1. The less important Objectives 2 and 3 of the regional policies pertain to former industrial regions that are in decline and promote employment and education in regions that do not meet the criteria for Objective 1, respectively. In contrast to practice in most member states, the EU’s social policies have been low profile and have hardly covered any active employment policies. The unemployment rate of the member nations has consistently been higher than the US rate, and in spite of EU exhortation, the member states have hardly been willing to Europeanize their unemployment policies or social policies in general. The EU can boast, however, of a social record in health and safety regulations, equal conditions for women and men in the labor market and in social security, and employee participation in multinational enterprises. Health and safety at work were among the first EU areas of activity given its start as a coordinating body for coal mining and the steel industry, in which safety was a very early concern. EU regulation in safety and health at work has benefited from the fact that it is mainly a technical matter and has not been very contentious, because no member state wants to be accused of opposing safety measures. Moreover, the traditional coal and steel sectors have dwindled.



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Gender equality in the labor market and social security has been another EU accomplishment, and rules on equal pay, equal opportunities to enter the labor process and opportunities of vocational training, and equality in social security have been established. In particular, the regulations have forced some of the countries with a continental (Bismarckian) system of social security to leave behind the notion of the family as a source of social protection for women and move in the direction of universal social security; later EU rules covered minimum maternity leave. Employee participation in the enterprise has been promoted in the form of forcing large multinational companies that are active in at least two EU member states to establish European works councils, or Euro-works councils. Such international works councils consist of representatives from the national works councils; they have no negotiation rights, but company management is obligated to disclose future plans, in particular on closing plants, which allows the works council to prepare alternative solutions. In some multinational corporations, the Euro-works councils have acquired a great deal of influence, short of real bargaining power. A new area of EU regulations is the environment, and there are strict rules on carbon dioxide and other emissions, which have already delayed the construction of new roads in Netherlands. Environmental policies have improved conditions in southern Latin Europe and are currently improving conditions in Central Europe, but they also meet with opposition from the member states, not only in Central Europe, with its outdated and polluting industrial plants, but also from countries with extensive legislation in the field, like Germany, which are slow in revising their body of laws (if only to please their automobile works). Most of the subjects of EU policies have been covered by a number of EU directives, which must be integrated into national legislation. This kind of national application of EU measures is a source of concern, because national governments use all kinds of arguments to postpone the adaptation of their laws. The weak development of social policies other than those listed here has reinforced opposition to the EU among those who argue that the EU is mainly an economic instrument serving multinational companies, and that the EMU only adds to the predominance of economic considerations over social aims. Others attribute the relative lack of social policies to the strenuous efforts by the national governments to keep the policy domain for themselves, as one of the main instruments to forge national allegiance toward the national government and the national state. However, the member states do not have the same social interests. The richer northern countries favor some form of social harmonization, and they have often expressed fear of social dumping, in the form of shifts in investments toward the less-developed southern countries and the influx of workers from those countries and from Great Britain (the latter are often disguised under British law as self-employed people not subject to social security regulations). Optimists, however, regard the internal migration as just another version of labor mobility. The

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British position has been at stake most of all, because the country’s Conservative governments refused to implement any EU social directives, a stubborn attitude that was undone by Tony Blair’s Labour government.

The EU Structure When Europeans talk about state power, they still mean the national state. The EU is a supranational institution, able to impose decisions on the national member states, but it is less than a federal union, because the member states make the binding decisions. Is the EU a state? Because the member states dominate political decision making, the EU is not a state in the classical sense of a territory with a central authority. Some argue that it is a new kind of state, in which only some aspects of social life are covered by central authority, while others are left to the participating units. In that case it would be a weak form of confederal state, with limited confederal powers and the rights to secede from the confederacy. Like the member states, the EU officially acknowledges the Trias Politica principle: it has a European Parliament, an executive branch called the European Commission, and a European Court of Justice. A crucial difference with most member states, however, is that national politics in most European countries consists of the interplay between the parliament and the government, which is not the case in the EU. The EU is governed by a combination of supranational decision making via EU structures and by intergovernmental decision making, in which the national governments of the member states play first trumpet. Supranationalism is mainly confined to the traditional EU policies, that is, the open market and economic and social policies (the former first pillar), but even in these areas decision making consists of a combination of the two principles, because both the national governments and the EU structures are core actors. In foreign and security policies (the former second pillar) and justice and internal affairs, such as drug policies and �admission procedures for political refugees (the former third pillar), the role of the EU structures is very limited and intergovernmentalism predominates. Although there has been some progress toward supranational decision making in justice and in the fight against terrorism, common policies in foreign affairs and security (discussed in chapter 14) are still hard to attain.

Intergovernmental Decision Making The heads of the 27 national governments form the European Council: 24 prime ministers and three presidents (Cyprus, Finland, France). The official picture taken of the council reveals the difference in rank: As heads of state, the presidents, in particular the French president, always occupy a prominent position in the first row.



Intergovernmental Decision Making╇ | 239

The European Council formally meets four times a year, but increasingly there are informal sessions between the formal meetings. Council decisions require unanimity. Until 2010, each member state enjoyed the presidency of the council for half a year, that is, for two meetings, under a system of rotation. The country that was going to preside over the next meetings set the targets to be reached in the half year of its presidency and prepared the sessions, which included some hectic traveling by the country’s prime minister or president to the other member states in order to gain support for their plans. Since 2010, the European Council has had a permanent president (one of the changes brought about by the 2007 Lisbon Treaty). The president is appointed for 2½ years, with the possibility of one more term. The current and first president is the Belgian Christian Democrat Herman Van Rompuy, who gave up his post of Belgian prime minister for this newly created job. As of 2003, the summit meetings are no longer held in the president’s country but in Brussels. European Council meetings are not open to the public or the press, and consequently, different versions of what transpires inside the room reach the media. The main subjects tabled are typically new ventures in common policies (where to go); new challenges and predicaments, like the banking crisis that has plagued Europe (and the United States) since 2008 (how to face); and issues on which the Council of Ministers were unable to reach a decision (how to solve). More than results, agreement or even consensus is what counts; a meeting of the European leaders should always result in agreement, if only about minor points or vague guidelines. Hardly any coalitions are forged before or during the summit meetings, not even between natural partners like Sweden and Finland, or Portugal and Spain; each nation speaks for itself. Generally, France and Germany to some extent dominate the meetings; if they agree on a proposal, it is likely to become European policy, if not, the proposal will be dropped. The French presidents are far less compromising when their economic or political interests are at stake than the German chancellors, who are more sensitive to the needs of the smaller nations and often enjoy the support of some of these nations. The difference in policy style between the two government leaders is in accordance with internal policies in the two nations: preferably no compromise in France, and with permanent negotiations in coalition governments and federal units in Germany. Moreover, for Germany one of the main advantages of European integration is the reduced fear of German political power in the surrounding countries. Great Britain has successfully fulfilled De Gaulle’s fears that its lack of interest in Europe and its strong ties with the United States would hamper European cooperation; of the three major Western European powers it has been least interested in Europe and has often been more of a veto player than a participant, in particular under Conservative governments, which are least EU-friendly.

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Policy guidelines adopted at the summits are elaborated at meetings of the national ministers, the Council of Ministers, whose presidency still rotates among the member nations, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs Council meetings, which, since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, have been chaired by Catherine Ashton, the high representative of the Union of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Until the end of the 1980s, the ministers of agriculture of the EU nations were the most frequent flyers to Brussels or Luxembourg, where decisions were made about agricultural tariffs, prices, and, later, production quotas. The extension of the policy range since the 1970s has meant that other ministers are also frequent attendees of EU meetings, including the ministers of industry and economic affairs, finance, social affairs and employment, foreign affairs, justice, and the interior. In the 1970s and 1980s, the agricultural ministers’ meetings used to last until early in the morning before a package deal could be reached that was acceptable to all member states. Since the late 1980s, the need for nocturnal compromises has decreased because the rule of unanimity has been given up for the Council of Ministers, except for very important matters; a qualified majority vote (QMV) now suffices for most decisions. Qualified does not stand for 14 of 27, howver, because the principle of “one country, one vote” would be very unfair to the more populous member states (Germany has more than 200 times the population of Malta, for instance). The 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which introduced the post of president of the European Council, also changed the weighing of votes in the Council of Ministers. Until 2014 the current system will apply, in which the 27 ministers cast 345 votes in total: The four largest countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy) have 29 votes each, Spain and Poland have 27, Romania has 14, the Netherlands has 12, and the others between 10 and 3 (see Table 13.1). A QMV means a triple majority: the majority of the votes (that is, 255 out of the 345 votes or 73.9 percent), which must also represent a majority of all member states (14 out of 27), and the 14 nations must represent at least 62 percent of the total EU population. Of course, the numbers and shares of votes have to be changed after each round of new members, and it has taken quite a few European Council summits to elaborate and agree upon this latest version, but the consequence is that neither a very unlikely combination of the four to six larger member states, nor a coalition of all the smaller states, can overrule the others. From 2014 on, the total number of votes will be 498, and instead of the number of votes, it will be the share of votes that will count, based on population size, ranging from 16.5 percent for Germany, 12.9 for France, 12.4 for Great Britain, and 12.0 for Italy to less than 10 percent for smaller member nations, and to less than one percent for the eight least populous member states. The share is not fixed; it can be changed by the Council of Ministers in accordance with changes in a nation’s population. Under the new Lisbon system, which will be implemented by 2014, QMV consists of a 55 percent



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majority of all member states representing at least 65 percent of the total EU population, once again a compromise between the larger and the smaller nations. It means that the 13 least populous nations in combination, that is, 45 percent of the member states, cannot block legislation because they have less than 35 percent of the total population. Between the Council of Ministers meetings, the permanent representatives of the member states carry on the negotiations. These high-ranking diplomats serve as the watchdogs of their nations’ interests, and at the same time they have to keep decision making going. Together, they form the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper). The work of the permanent representatives is prepared by attachés, specialists in the various policy fields, who meet regularly in working party meetings.

The Supranational Structures Although the major decisions are made in the European Council and the Council of Ministers, both of which consist of representatives of the national governments, the EU possesses three truly supranational government bodies: the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Court of Justice. Their competencies are mainly confined to the first pillar, the internal market. The EU’s standing executive entity, the European Commission, has come to play an increasingly active role in all policy fields. It consists of 27 commissioners, one from each member state. They are appointed by their own nation for a five-year term but are supposed to be independent, and they are not appointed until they have been screened by the European Parliament. Most are former ministers in national governments or prominent opposition leaders. (In some cases their appointment was used as a means to get rid of them in national politics.) One of the commissioners is the president of the European Commission, nominated and appointed by the European Council. The president is supposed to be fluent in English and to speak at least some French—which excludes many candidates from Scandinavia and the Baltic nations, where only a few people speak that language. The European Commission president has always been elected unanimously, but mostly after long debate and negotiations. In 1994, the selection of Jacques Delors’s (1985–1995) successor became a major problem when two candidates showed up, the Belgian prime minister and a former Dutch prime minister, both of them Christian Democrats. France and Germany together spoke out in favor of the Belgian candidate; Great Britain then felt isolated and supported the Dutch candidate. As a result, agreement was not reached until an extraordinary meeting of the European Council (of government leaders) was called, where Luxembourg’s Christian Democrat prime minister Jacques Santer

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Table 13.3╇ Presidents of the European Commission since 1958

President

Nationality

Party

Begin Months

╇ 1 ╇ 2 ╇ 3 ╇ 4 ╇ 5 ╇ 6 ╇ 7 ╇ 8 ╇ 9 ╛ ╛* 10 11

Walter Hallstein Jean Rey Franco Maria Malfatti Sicco Mansholt François-Xavier Ortoli Roy Jenkins Gaston Thorn Jacques Delors Jacques Santer Manuel Marín Romano Prodi José Manuel Barroso

Germany Belgium Italy Netherlands France Great Britain Luxembourg France Luxembourg Spain Italy Portugal

Christian Democrat Conservative Liberal Christian Democrat Social Democrat Christian Democrat Social Democrat Conservative Liberal Social Democrat Christian Democrat Social Democrat Social Democrat Christian Democrat

1958 1967 1970 1972 1973 1977 1981 1985 1995 1999 1999 2004–

114 36 20 10 48 48 48 120 50 6 50

*The Marín Commission was an interim commission after the resignation of Jacques Santer. Except for the commission president, all other members of the commission remained in their posts.

was elected, a weak compromise. At the turn of the 21st century, the Italian Social Democrat Romano Prodi (1999–2004) was president, a reward for his efforts as Italian prime minister to clean up the Italian public budget, which allowed Italy to join the eurozone. He was succeeded by the Portuguese Conservative prime minister José Manuel Barroso, a surprisingly strong compromise between the Belgian prime minister, supported by France and Germany, and a British politician, supported by Great Britain and Italy. See Table 13.3 for a list of the European Commission presidents since 1958. The president of the European Commission has the prerogative of attending the European Council summits. Since 2010 the incumbent has had to compete for influence with the new post of president of the European Council, occupied by the former Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy. The 26 other commissioners cover one or more policy fields, of which the most important are agriculture, internal market, competition, trade, and increasingly, justice. One commissioner has a special post, as a kind of EU minister of foreign affairs; this is the post of high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, which was created by the Amsterdam Treaty. Before the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, a similar post, though not combined with membership on the European Commission, was occupied for 10 years by the former Spanish minister of foreign affairs and secretary general of NATO Javier Solana. The Lisbon Treaty upgraded the post, which is now combined with the first vice presidency of the European Commission. Table 13.4 shows the composition of the European Commission as of 2010; the term of the European Commission lasts until 2014.



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Table 13.4╇ European Commissioners since 2010 European Post Country Political â•…Commissioner â•…Affiliation José Manuel Barroso President Portugal Conservative Joaquín Almunia Competition Spain Social Democrat Catherine Ashton Foreign Affairs and Great Britain Social Democrat â•… Security Policy Michel Barnier Internal Market France Conservative â•… and Services Dacian Ciolos¸ Agriculture and Rule Romania Conservative â•…Development John Dalli Health and Malta Conservative â•… Consumer Policy Maria Damanaki Fisheries and Greece Social Democrat â•… Maritime Affairs Karel De Gucht Trade Belgium Conservative â•…Liberal Štefan Füle Enlargement and Czechia Social Democrat â•…European â•… Neighborhood Policy Máire Geoghegan- Research and Ireland Conservative â•…Quinn â•…Innovation Kristalina Georgieva International Cooperation, Bulgaria Conservative â•… Humanitarian Aid and â•… Crisis Response Johannes Hahn Regional Policy Austria Christian â•…Democrat Connie Hedegaard Climate Action Denmark Conservative Siim Kallas Transport Estonia Conservative â•…Liberal Neelie Kroes Digital Agenda Netherlands Conservative â•…Liberal Andor László Employment, Social Hungary Social Democrat â•… Affairs and Inclusion Janusz Lewandowski Financial Programming Poland Conservative â•… and Budget Cecilia Malmström Home Affairs Sweden Social Liberal Günther Oettinger Energy Germany Christian â•…Democrat Andris Piebalgs Development Latvia Conservative Janez Potocˇnik Environment Slovenia Conservative â•…Liberal (Continued)

244 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union Viviane Reding Justice, Fundamental Luxembourg Christian â•… Rights and Citizenship â•… Democrat Olli Rehn Economic and Monetary Finland Conservative â•…Affairs â•…Liberal Maroš Šefcˇovicˇ Inter-Institutional Relations Slovakia Social Democrat â•… and Administration Algiral Šemeta Taxation and Customs Union, Lithuania Conservative â•… Audit and Anti-Fraud Antonio Tajani Industry and Italy Conservative â•…Intrepreneurship Androulla Vasiliou Education, Culture, Cyprus Conservative â•…Multilingualism and Youth â•…Liberal

The European Commission meets once a week; it sets the agenda of the Council of Ministers, proposes new European legislation (a right called its exclusive right of initiative until the European Parliament also got that right in 2010), and executes decisions made by the European Council and the Council of Ministers. The right of initiative means that the Council of Ministers (and the European Parliament) submits proposals to the European Commission, which then puts them on the agenda, or not. Since 2010, the European Parliament shares the right of initiative with the European Commission, and in principle, the European Commission must honor any initiative coming from the European Parliament. For these purposes the European Commission is assisted by a modest bureaucracy, divided into 23 directorates-general, whose posts (and in particular the higher-ranking posts) are allocated among the member states, but in a rather informal way. Becoming a member of the EU bureaucracy, which counts fewer than 25,000 posts, is not easy; one has to be very experienced and to pass written and oral exams. Because it is less checked by a parliament than most national governments, the European Commission’s activities have displayed a dynamic of their own, leading to very detailed rules, in particular in agriculture, and to complaints about the Brussels bureaucracy. The connotation of a bureaucracy, hardly democratically checked by others, has made the EU a source of concern rather than pride for many Europeans. Although it has expanded continuously, the role of the European Parliament is still rather limited and does not yet match that of national parliaments. European Parliament members are still elected under different types of national electoral systems (e.g., proportional representation, first past the post) and European Parliament elections have a very low turnout, which reflects the large distance between national electorates and Brussels, as well as the lack of real parliamentary power. European politics is rightly considered far off by many nonvoters, handled by the national



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governments and the European Commission, and with a very limited say for the parliament. The total number of members of parliament is 785; the share of each country varies according to country size, from 99 for Germany to 78 for France, Great Britain, and Italy and 5 for Malta (see Table 13.1). Actually, �Germany should have more than 100 seats, but that number proved to be beyond the psychological limit to some member states. Before the 2014 elections the numbers will be adjusted. National allegiance used to dominate in the European Parliament, but the introduction of direct European Parliament elections in all member states in 1979 has contributed to increasing prevalence of party allegiance over national sentiment. All major party groups are now represented at the EU level, with the Christian Democrats (and sympathizing Conservatives) and Social Democrats the largest; each of them has one quarter or more of all seats, and they often combine to reach an easy majority. The EU-level combinations of national political parties have changed composition almost after each European Parliament election, but since 2009 the following groups have occupied the seats, listed in Table 13.5 in order of size. Table 13.5╇ Political Groups Represented in the European Parliament Name and Formal ╅Acronym

Members

European People’s Christian Democratic and continental Conservative â•… Party (EPP) â•…parties, including French Gaullists and Italian followers of Silvio Berlusconi Progressive Alliance Social Democratic parties â•… of Socialists and â•… Democrats (S&D) Alliance of Liberals Social Liberals and Conservative Liberals â•… and Democrats â•… for Europe (ALDE) European Free Alliance Greens and leftist regional parties that strive for more â•… (Greens/EFA) â•…autonomy, for instance parties from Corsica, Catalonia, and Basque Country European Conservatives New combination of eurosceptic British, Polish, and â•… and Reformists (ECR) â•…Czech Conservative parties; the British Conservatives left the EPP out of protest over the Lisbon Treaty European United Left/ Combination of radical leftist parties â•… Nordic Green Left â•…(EUL/NGL) Europe of Freedom Eurosceptic group of radical rightist parties â•… and Democracy (EFD) Nonattached members Mainly radical right and some independent mavericks â•…(NA)

246 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

A few of the groups have published on the Internet brief statements of their basic principles or demands. The Christian Democrats and Conservatives of the European People’s Party have listed 10 priorities for the years 2009–2014 under the title “Putting people at the heart of Europe,” of which the first section, “For a Europe of values: Upholding strong values,” opens as follows: The European Union needs to update, reassert and modernize its values: freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, along with respect for human rights, including those of minority groups. These values are common to all Member States, in a society characterized by pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between men and women. The essential pillar of our political activity must be to safeguard family values—particularly in response to challenging demographic trends and a falling birth rate—and to defend freedom of education. After all the family is the basic unit that enables people to overcome crises, help each other, and prepare for the future. Our policy must be to strengthen families, ensure intergenerational solidarity and the passing on of values and heritage. The EPP Group supports the laicism of the State where this is a positive secularism that protects freedom of religion in a spirit of cooperation based on dialogue, mutual respect and reciprocal independence. Economic rights are not secondary rights. They must be forcefully reasserted. Our group believes that freedom of education, research, enterprise and competition are individual rights and the basis of a healthy and prosperous economy. There can be no justification for infringing these rights, which must, on the contrary, be further enhanced. The value of effort, work, ownership and saving is insufficiently upheld. The current reforms aimed at reducing the burden on those wishing to work, save and invest must be continued. (http://stream.epp-ed.eu/Activities/docs/year2009/) The Social Democrats have published “Top priorities for Europe: 12 key demands.” The first three demands deal with economic policies to face the financial crisis, the last two demands with the EU budget and international politics, including the promotion of decent labor standards worldwide. Demands 4–10 are grouped under three headings: Decent Work, Decent Life 4. Socialists and Democrats call for ambitious proposals to make this more social Europe a reality, including a Directive to guarantee basic labour rights for all workers, a Directive on Social Services to ensure high quality care; and revision of the notorious Posting of Workers Directive to protect employment rights and working conditions.



The Supranational Structures╇ | 247

A Greener, Healthier and More Competitive Europe 5. Comprehensive proposals to achieve a decisive shift towards a low carbon and resource efficient economy. 6. A new, tough biodiversity strategy to protect natural habitats and ecosystems. 7. Ambitious reforms to put sustainability and fairness at the heart of the Common Agricultural Policy and Common Fisheries Policy. 8. Comprehensive action for rapid progress on a world-beating digital agenda. 9. Action to prepare for future health pandemics—based on the precautionary principle, good science and cost-effectiveness. A Citizens’ Europe 10. Socialists and Democrats have set out a radical alternative legislative agenda on gender equality, civil liberties, lifelong learning, sport, cultural diversity, data protection, the fight against cross-border crime and measures to strengthen EU democracy. (www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu) The liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe has a “Strategic Programme 2009–2014” that contains five main priorities, of which the first two deal with economic policies and the EU budget. The other three priorities are as follows: Taking climate change seriously with an environmentally integrated society: The environment and climate change are obviously defining challenges. Both must be central to all policies.... Furthermore, a consideration must be given to the question of carbon tax, whether at a world or Union level, whilst replacing an equal national tax.... Fighting for freedom and Fundamental Rights: Clearly fundamental rights are nonnegotiable and cannot in any event be circumscribed. When limitations are introduced in the name of so-called security, the terrorists achieve their objectives. It is imperative that we find solutions to the real threats posed by terrorism without compromising the very essence of our societies built on fundamental rights and freedoms.... Promoting a coherent European strategy in the World: The development of coherent European foreign policy is essential if the Union is to play a role in the world. The Union must focus on its traditional strengths and put a very strong and special emphasis on human rights and democracy promotion. Foreign policy must always promote and defend European values and in a way that reflects the uniqueness of the European Union.... (www.alde.eu/uploads/media/programme.pdf.)

248 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

The Greens state the following “Environmental Responsibility” in their “Charter of the European Greens,” adopted in October 2006: Taking responsibility for our biosphere is a central tenet of Green values. Society depends on the ecological resources and the health and resilience of the planet, and we bear an over-riding obligation to future generations to protect this inheritance. We advocate strongly the need to live within our ecological means. We must maintain biological diversity and combat global warming through sustainable use of renewable resources and the careful husbandry of non-renewable resources. The responsible use of bio-diversity is of critical importance for meeting the food, health and other needs of the growing world population. But beyond any notion of utility, Greens believe that each of the diverse species of life on our planet has an intrinsic value and beauty and therefore deserves to be protected. (www.europeangreens.eu) The European Conservatives and Reformists are clearly more conservative than the liberals in their underlining of low taxes and family values. Their main priorities, listed in the “Prague Declaration” of March 2009, include minimal regulation, lower taxation, and small government; the importance of the family as the bedrock of society; the sovereign integrity of the nation state; and the overriding value of the transatlantic security relationship. (www.ecrgroup.eu/policy-prague.asp) Table 13.6 shows the party representation per country after the 2009 elections that in many countries were more of a vote against the national government in power, or in some cases, such as Italy, a vote for the national government, than an election for an EU-level legislature. This attitude affected the Social Democrats in particular. The competencies of the European Parliament are mainly confined to the traditional policy fields of the EU, the former first pillar. In a range of policy areas decision making is by means of co-decision, under which proposals (always prepared and elaborated by the European Commission) must pass both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. If the Council of Ministers and the Â�European Parliament do not reach agreement on the text as amended by the Â�European Â�Parliament (and the European Council), a joint committee of the council and the parliament is established to reconcile the two versions. The resulting compromise text must pass both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament to be adopted. The co-decision procedure applies to subjects that are not covered by EU treaties, such as structural funds, education and training, public health, the environment, and a few other fields, altogether counting for just over half of the EU budget. In subjects that are covered by EU treaties, like agriculture, the European Council and the Council of Ministers have the final say. The budget as



The Supranational Structures╇ | 249

Table 13.6╇ Party Representation per Member State since 2009* Country EPP S&D ALDE Greens/ ECR EUL/ EFD ╇EFA ╇NGL

NA Total

Germany 42 23 12 14 – 8 – – 99 France 28 14 6 14 – 5 1 3 71 Great Britain – 13 11 5 25 1 12 5 72 Italy 35 21 7 – – – 9 – 72 Spain 23 21 2 2 – 1 – 1 50 Poland 27 7 – – 15 – – – 49 Romania 14 11 5 – – – – 3 33 Netherlands 5 3 6 3 1 2 1 4 25 Belgium 5 5 5 4 1 – – 2 22 Czechia 2 7 – – 9 4 – – 22 Greece 8 8 – 1 – 3 2 – 22 Hungary 14 4 – – 1 – – 3 22 Portugal 10 7 – – – 5 – – 22 Sweden 5 5 4 3 – 1 – – 18 Bulgaria 6 4 5 – – – – 2 17 Austria 6 4 – 2 – – – 5 17 Denmark 1 4 3 2 – 1 2 – 13 Slovakia 6 5 1 – – – 1 – 13 Finland 4 2 4 2 – – 1 – 13 Ireland 4 3 4 – – 1 – – 12 Lithuania 4 3 2 – 1 – 2 – 12 Latvia 3 1 1 1 1 1 – – 8 Slovenia 3 2 2 – – – – – 7 Estonia 1 1 3 1 – – – – 6 Cyprus 2 2 – – – 2 – – 6 Luxembourg 3 1 1 1 – – – – 6 Malta 2 3 – – – – – – 5 Total 263 184 84 55 54 35 31 28 734 *EPP indicates European People’s Party; S&D, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats; ALDE, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe; Greens/EFA, European Free Alliance; ECR, European Conservatives and Reformists; EUL/NGL, European United Left/Nordic Green Left; EFD, Europe of Freedom and Democracy; NA, nonattached members.

a whole is also subject to co-decision, and the parliament can reject it with a twothirds majority, but that has not happened yet. In foreign affairs and security and in justice (the former second and third pillars) the competencies of the European Parliament are very limited, as are those of the European Commission; the Council of Ministers takes the initiative and decides, and unanimity is still required. The European Parliament has also some power toward the European �Commission. Starting in 2010, there has been a monthly question hour, like

250 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

that in national parliaments, in which the European Parliament can invite any commissioner to debate and answer questions. With a two-thirds majority, the European Parliament can even force the commission as a whole to quit, but not individual members (who are nominated by their own nation), yet it has never used this right. Nevertheless, the Santer Commission resigned under pressure from the parliament, and in 2010 two candidate commissioners withdrew after have been questioned by the European Parliament. A striking confrontation between the European Parliament and the European Commission, typical of the interplay of supranationalism and intergovernmentalism, took place in January 1999, when two European Commission members, one from Spain and one from France (a former French prime minister), were accused of nepotism in allocating funds to private contractors. Instead of promising an investigation, the commission rebuked the charges and defended its collective responsibility for EU policies, which prompted European Parliament members, who would rather have seen the two European Commission members resign, to announce a motion asking for a vote of no confidence against the commission as a whole. The following days were filled with lobbying by national governments, who did not want a crisis in EU decision making, and by France most of all, in defense of its commission member. Social Democrats and Christian Democrats were particularly involved, because the two members under attack were Social Democrats, and the commission president, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, Jacques Santer, was a Christian Democrat. During the final debate, the leader of the Christian Democrats (a former Belgian prime minister) was most active in bringing his party into agreement against the motion. As an outcome of all this lobbying the motion of no confidence was rejected with 293 against 232 votes, with the large factions being divided; most Germans voted in favor, and most French and other Latin European parliament members were against. Despite this result, the commission’s position vis-à-vis the European Parliament was weakened, and it had to accept an independent investigation of the allegations of corruption. When that report was published a few months later, the full European Commission resigned anyway, and former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi was appointed the new European Commission president. The European Parliament is hampered by the fact that sessions of European Parliament committees take place in Brussels, yet plenary sessions are held in Strasbourg, a French provincial town on the French-German border, some 450 kilometers away (and the European Parliament administration and secretariat are seated in Luxembourg, between Brussels and Strasbourg). The dual seat forces the members to continuously travel between Brussels and Strasbourg. The French government has never been willing to give up the clumsy role of Strasbourg in European politics, but European Parliament committee meetings, all of them convening in Brussels, and far more powerful than the plenary sessions, have made the Strasbourg plenary sessions into a rather marginal ritual, taking a couple of days per month.



The Supranational Structures╇ | 251

Germans like to compare the relationship between the major European decisionmaking bodies to their own federal institutions. The European Commission is then compared with the German government, the European Parliament with the Bundestag, and the intergovernmental European Council with the Bundesrat, the German upper Chamber, in which the governments of the federal states are represented. Although the structure looks a bit similar, the division of power is totally different, because the German government is a real government, whereas the European Commission is not. In particular, the French and British have always looked with suspicion upon any extension of the commission’s power as a form of creeping German-style federalism. Although the EU’s judiciary branch, the European Court of Justice, with 27 judges, one from each member state, has a limited role, it has been active in interpreting EU legislation and in bringing the member states in line after a common decision. The European Commission or any citizen may bring a noncompliant government before the court in order to have European rules applied, a new citizen’s right that has introduced creeping judicial review in countries where it did not exist earlier. In other words, the European Court of Justice may declare national laws unbinding, because they violate citizens’ rights laid down in EU agreements, which now constitute a kind of EU constitution, without that name. The European Court of Justice is sometimes accused of lust for power, and sometimes member states have consented in drafting new legislative proposals rather than having the European Court rule in still more cases. All supranational EU structures are still male-dominated. Among the 27 European Commission members appointed in 2009, 10 are women, and 7 of the 27 judges of the European Court of Justice are women. Of the 785 European Parliament members one third are women. The development of the EU has given rise to a great deal of networking and lobbying between EU agencies, national governments, national pressure groups, and newly created European-level pressure groups. The EU has even introduced a kind of tripartism in the form of contacts between the European Committee and an advisory council composed of business and labor representatives, called Ecosoc, a body that bears some similarity to business/trade union councils in some of the member states. However, the contacts at the European level stop short of real tripartism because of the European Commission’s lack of real governing power. In other policy fields, there is a great deal of networking around the European Commission. Even the member states engage in EU-wide networking, mobilizing their national citizens in high EU posts to defend their interests. Great Britain, which lacks such a tradition of networking at home, is the worst off, but it is gradually learning how to imitate the Latin nations (the strongest networkers) in that respect. In spite of these hectic activities, pressure-group activities in Brussels are more characterized by lobbying than by networking. National interest associations

252 |╇ Supranational Politics: The European Union

have established European-level coordinating bodies to represent their interests in the EU, and large companies and even regional governments have set up their own lobbying offices in Brussels. A typical problem that plagues efforts of international integration in Europe is the diversity of languages. English, French, and, under heavy German pressure, German have been accepted as the three working languages, in which all working documents are translated and most debate in committees is done. Yet, at decisive meetings the representatives speak their own language. The 23 national languages of the 27 member states are official EU languages and documents have to be translated into these languages (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, and Luxembourg do without a national language of their own, and Irish is treated as an official language). One third of the EU bureaucracy is devoted to the job of translating and interpreting. During such sessions, translation from one minor language into another is often indirect: first the spoken language is translated into English, French, and German and then from one of these languages into the other minor language—which takes a while, of course. Even the use of English, French, and German as working languages poses problems for professional interpreters who must deal with colloquialisms of the different languages.

Eurosclerosis? The abortive efforts to introduce a full-fledged EU constitution in 2004–2005 resulted in general disappointment and a feeling of eurosclerosis, a lack of initiative and inactivism, due to opposition from one or more member states. This kind of disappointment already existed in the 1960s, when France refused to admit Great Britain; in the 1980s, when Great Britain blocked any extension of EU legislation; and in the 1990s, when members were divided about extension of EU powers versus expansion with new members. Each time, the EU survived the periods of crisis and soon made great progress, such as the introduction of the euro and the admission of a number of Central European countries. Moreover, the recent referendums on the EU constitution were mainly plebiscites for or against the governments in power. The spread of the referendum by itself is a major EU accomplishment, because in a number of countries referendums on EU matters, including first of all those on the question of whether to join, were the first national referendum ever and, as such, introduced a form of direct democracy in those nations. Except for Norway, which twice rejected membership, the referendums on joining the EU enjoyed large majorities in favor; the smallest majorities were those in Sweden (1994; 52.8 percent) and Malta (2003; 53.6 percent), all referendums in Central Europe on joining the EU passed with more than 65 percent, and Slovakia reached the highest score (2003; 92.5 percent). Such majorities are



Comparison with the United States╇ | 253

now out of reach, and the near future will probably be one of eurozone expansion rather than the introduction of an EU constitution, but Great Britain has shown that democracy can survive for ages without a formal constitution.

Comparison with the United States Some of the prominent differences between the political structures of the EU and the United States, discussed in this chapter, are listed in Table 13.7. Table 13.7╇ Comparison of the Political Structures of the EU and the United States Subject Population

EU

United States

500 million 305 million, in an area more â•…than twice the size of the EU territory Degree of federalism Combination of Federalism â•… or confederalism â•… intergovernmentalism and â•…supranationalism Foundation of the The member nations rather than The people and the 50 states â•… political structure â•… the people of Europe Structure of decision Parliamentarism in supranational Presidentialism â•…making â•…decision making Separation of powers Within limits posed by the EU’s Separation of powers â•…intergovernmentalism Allocation of votes Proportionality Majority rule â•… and seats Regional assistance Interregional solidarity: No such assistance â•… Assistance to weaker regions

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CHAPTER 14

International Politics

S

t. Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, St. Petersburg—The former Russian Â�capital has changed names several times in the 20th Ccntury. Its original Â�German name (St. Petersburg) was Russified in 1917 (Petrograd), and after the Â�revolution its name was changed in honor of the communist leader Lenin Â�(Leningrad). After the collapse of communism its original name (St. Petersburg) was readopted. Renaming cities, towns, streets, and squares for communist leaders and successes was a common phenomenon in Central and Eastern Europe. By now, however, the Lenin boulevards and Revolution Squares have often gotten back their original names. The rise of new nations as a result of the world wars and the end of Soviet power has required still more adaptation in naming, because of the use of new national languages. The Ukrainian city of Lviv probably holds the record for number of names; in the 20th century its name has shifted from Lvov to Lwow, Lemberg, Lvov, and Lviv, depending on its rulers: Russia, Poland, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine. The reshuffling of borders and the emergence of new nations have been constant elements in European international politics. During the 19th century, five Great Powers (Great Britain, France, and the German, Austrian, and Russian empires) decided Europe’s fate. After World War II the Cold War between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, dominated international politics in Europe. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, international politics is dominated by a single center of power, by one “pole”: the United States. In this unipolar international system even the larger European nations occupy second or third positions, unable to wage a major conflict without US consent—a striking contrast to the 19th century’s multipolar Europe and the bipolar world during the Cold War.

255

256 |╇International Politics

Marking Territories in Multipolar Europe Great ideas and ideals, like religion and revolution, have been invoked to justify international peace treaties and international warfare. Often, the ideals merely hid (ethnic) power politics, which aimed at expanding national power, or at least at maintaining a fragile power balance between the major powers, which for that reason combined in shifting coalitions. Although it seems long ago, traditional European power politics have had a large impact on Europe as it looks today. In Europe, a few regions have suffered more than once as battlefields between the Great Powers: Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine in Western Europe and Poland and the Balkan Peninsula in Central Europe. Belgium formed a buffer zone between Great Britain, France, and Germany, and its neutrality was guaranteed by Great Britain, unless Germany proved too strong and the country became a battlefield, as happened during both world wars. AlsaceLorraine, the border region between France and Germany, shifted hands several times in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, which was one of the French motives for having the central Alsacian city, Strasbourg, play a role in EU politics. With Brussels and Strasbourg as the European Parliament locations, the two traditionally (but no longer) contested regions are now well represented in the European Union. The disputed territories in Central Europe have been worse off. Poland, situated between Germany and Russia, has suffered from occupation by both neighbors. This country suffered more than any other European nation from World War II, and most of the Holocaust victims were Polish Jews. After the war, Poland was moved westward under Russian pressure, and almost all Germans were expatriated. The new Polish nation became part of communist Russia’s safety zone against any new German threat; national revolts were prevented or halted by the threat of an armed Russian invasion in 1956, in 1968, and in 1981, after the rise of Solidarnošcˇ as the first independent political movement in a communist-dominated country. The Balkan Peninsula has also been a region of divergent interests. During the 19th century, it was key to the Russian objective to gain access to the Mediterranean, which would permit it to play a greater role in European politics and allow sea transport during the winter, when the ports in northern Russia are hardly accessible. The shipping route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean passed through two sea straits, both of them Turkish territory, but the Turkish Empire would have made an easy prey. The Russian interest was met with a reaction from the Austrian Empire, which had a number of (especially Slavonic) minorities within its borders; from Great Britain, which saw the routes to the British Indies threatened; and from France, which was determined to face down any threat to its position as the major Mediterranean power. At the end of the 19th century, a new contestant showed up: Germany. The expansion of German influence implied conflict with Russia, and



The Bipolar World during the Cold War╇ | 257

it eventually also posed a danger to British and French colonial interests, which culminated in World War I. Map 3.2 shows Europe as it looked in 1900. At the postwar peace treaties, US president Woodrow Wilson introduced the idea of national self-determination for the Central European peoples, which occasioned the rise of a number of new nations, while several Slavonic-speaking groups were united in the fragile kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II, the Balkan Peninsula was invaded and occupied by Germany, and except for Greece, it was liberated by domestic communists (Yugoslavia and Albania) or by the Russians, and it would remain under communist rule for 40 years.

The Bipolar World during the Cold War During the Cold War, the Iron Curtain split Europe, as well as Germany, into two parts (see Map 3.3). Crossing the region from the communist east to the free west was forbidden and almost impossible, except for high-ranking officials. The Iron Curtain consisted of one or more rows of barbed-wire fences, a minefield, and watchtowers with armed soldiers. In East Germany, barbed wire, minefields, and watchtowers were not enough. Automatic rifle installations were added to kill any person moving along the border. The pretext for this show of terror was to keep out “capitalist agents” from the West, but the actual purpose was to deter (and kill) those who tried to escape to the free world. Traveling from West Germany to East Germany was possible, but very cumbersome, and easterners had to report to the police all their contacts with westerners; the same applied to the other communist countries. The Cold War between the Free World and the Soviet Union began when, after World War II, Stalin claimed a Soviet sphere of influence, ostensibly to prevent another surprise attack by Germany, and soon imposed total control over Central Europe in order to implement its totalitarian communist order in the Soviet Bloc. Only two communist countries were able to claim national autonomy, Yugoslavia and Albania, because they had not been liberated by the Russian army. At the time of the communist takeover in Central Europe, the Western Allies (United States, Great Britain, and France) in Germany merged their occupational zones and initiated the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany); in response, the Russian zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), as part of the Communist Bloc. This completed the division of Europe. Berlin, located within East Germany, was also split. East Berlin became the capital of East Germany, and although West Berlin formally remained under allied control, in practice it was governed as just another West German federal state. At first, the guiding Western principle in the East–West conflict was the containment of communism, in particular by the most powerful Western nation,

258 |╇International Politics

the United States. After the beginning of the Cold War, both the Free World and the Communist Bloc established the principle of mutual military aid to the partners in case of an attack by the other side. In 1949, the United States, Canada, and a number of free Western European nations set up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) under American leadership; they were joined by West Germany in 1955. The Russians then integrated the Soviet Bloc in the Warsaw Pact. Whereas during the Cold War NATO never took recourse to military action, the Warsaw Pact provided the Russians with the instrument to crush the 1956 Hungarian revolt, to crush the 1968 Prague Spring, and to threaten Poland with military intervention more than once, blaming the West for these anticommunist and national movements. The 1956 Hungarian revolt marked the beginning of a period in which the Cold War temperature rose a bit; to the great disappointment of the Hungarians, the Western world did not interfere, which amounted to a de facto recognition of Russian control over Central Europe. Peaceful coexistence became the new paradigm of East–West relations, in which capitalism and communism would show their accomplishments and their advantages before the eyes of the increasing number of independent nations outside Europe. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 closed the last hole in the Iron Curtain, a first explicit recognition by the communists of their failure in the peaceful competition with the West. During the Cold War, international politics were simple. The total division of Europe and the arms race of intercontinental missiles and nuclear weapons between the United States and the Soviet Union left hardly any room for autonomous international action by other states within Europe. Former Great Powers like Great Britain, West Germany, and France were dependent on US military force to defend their country against any Soviet attack, despite regular French claims of autonomy in that respect, based on the small arsenal of nuclear weapons (force de frappe) France accumulated in the 1960s. An advantage of this bipolar world was that it prevented regional conflict within each bloc (and even more, escalation into a major war). In the Soviet Bloc all major decisions were made in Moscow, and Yugoslavia was held together by President Josip Tito, who used the Â�country’s international position between the two blocs as a motive to impose a highly authoritarian communist dictatorship, yet independent from Moscow. The integration of Greece and Turkey into NATO prevented armed conflicts between these two sworn enemies. The outcome was 40 years of peace, albeit a heavily armed peace and not the kind of peace most of Central Europe had hoped for. The Cold War dominated the functioning of the United Nations, which was established in 1945, a new opportunity of international conflict resolution after the abortive interwar League of Nations. All European countries became members, except for both parts of Germany, which were refused membership, and Switzerland, which feared international obligations that might affect its neutrality in international political affairs. Within a few years, the start of the Cold War split



The Bipolar World during the Cold War╇ | 259

the United Nations into a Western Bloc, led by the United States; the Soviet Bloc, ruled by Moscow; and a number of neutral countries. The latter increasingly came to operate as a bloc by themselves, as neutral and nonaligned nations. Most of the members of this group were Third World countries, but a few European nations were active in this group, communist Yugoslavia most of all, and Yugoslav president Tito became one of its leaders. A few Western European countries, Finland and Austria, were obliged to be neutral as a result of postwar treaties, and Ireland and Sweden voluntarily opted for such a course, Sweden partly in order not to isolate Finland, but none of these four countries became active in the groups of nonaligned nations. The tragic split of Europe ended in the late 1980s when the Soviet Union collapsed. Spontaneous revolts terminated the communist regimes in Central Europe, and the Berlin Wall was broken to pieces, which proved to be the start of a fast movement toward German reunification. The Warsaw Pact was never heard of again, but NATO has survived. The end of Soviet domination has allowed for the emergence of nationalist disputes on the Balkan Peninsula; the region has lost its strategic importance, however, and the larger European nations, the former Great Powers, have nothing to defend there, except the protection of minorities, as was the case in Kosovo. Since the end of the Cold War the larger countries have reduced the size of their defense budget; the largest defense budget, as a percentage of gross domestic �product (GDP), is now to be found in Southeastern and Eastern Europe; see Table 14.1. Most Western European countries have a defense budget of two percent of GDP or less (it is 4.3 percent in the United States). Table 14.1╇ Biggest Defense Spenders as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product Country 1

Georgia

2

Azerbaijan

3

Greece

4

Russia

5

Armenia

Percent

Comments

8.5 Armed invasion of separatist regions in 2008; â•… armed conflict with Russia 3.8 Armed conflict with Armenia concerning â•…Nagorno-Karabakh 3.6 High expenditure to catch up with Turkish â•… defense budget 3.5 High expenditure to catch up with the United â•…States 3.3 Armed conflict with Azerbaijan concerning â•… Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh

Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: SIPRI Yearbook 2010, http://milexdat.sipri.org/resut.php4 (Expenditure: 2009; GDP: 2008)

260 |╇International Politics

Europe in the New Unipolar World Europe maintains very intensive relations with the United States, as a junior partner in almost all fields except old culture. In defense Europe is still dependent on the United States for protection, although it is no longer clear against whom. In foreign affairs the European Union is far from united and has hardly any answer to crises in Eastern Europe, such as the 1992–1995 Bosnian war. It was the United States, not the EU that brought the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians to the bargaining table, where they concluded the Dayton agreement. It was also American diplomacy, followed by NATO intervention under US leadership, that tried to stop Serbian military action in Kosovo. Although Western European investments in the United States are catching up, Europe is also a junior partner in economic power, as it is in technology and science. Once in a while, economic relations between the EU and the United States are strained by the EU’s high external tariffs for agricultural products, which affect US exports. Incidentally, a tariff war between the EU and the United States has to be prevented or solved. In popular culture, Europe is no match for the United States, which still dominates European television broadcasting. Europe has no answer to American movies, soaps, talks shows, and Mickey Mouse. At times France has called for protection of European culture against the US imports, but has been unsuccessful. The most popular French comics heroes are Asterix and Obelix, who in first-century France are fighting for independence from the Roman Empire, but the recreation center near Paris inspired by their adventures is no match for Eurodisney. Europe’s relations with the rest of the world to some extent continue to be influenced by former colonial ties. Table 14.2 lists the colonial empires, in order of the size of their colonial empires in 1945; as the table shows, decolonization involved warfare against national liberation armies (called terrorists by that time), and not all the former colonial powers maintain intense relations with their former colonies. Some of the remaining overseas territories are now considered to be integral parts of the European nations concerned. The British Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of Nations, which comprises former British colonies, is by far the largest postcolonial international community. Except for the United States, most of the larger Englishspeaking countries, including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, are members; the main bonds that keep them together are cricket and an attachment to royalty; the British queen is still the formal head of state of some independent commonwealth members. France has set up a similar network of French-speaking countries; most of its members are small states in north and west Africa. With less pomp and pretensions than Great Britain and France, Spain still acts as the cultural center of the Hispanic world, which includes some 20 Latin American



Europe in the New Unipolar World╇ | 261

Table 14.2╇ Colonies and Overseas Territories Colonial Power*

Continent

Colonies†

Great Britain

Africa Sudan 1956, Nigeria 1960, most of East Africa 1960s Americas Jamaica 1962, Guyana 1966, Caribbean Islands â•…1960s, Falkland Islands Asia India 1947, Pakistan 1947, Burma 1948, Malaysia â•… 1957, Hong Kong (to China 1997), Cyprus 1960W Europe Malta 1964, Gibraltar Oceania Many Pacific Islands 1970s, a number of other â•… Pacific Islands France Africa Morocco 1956, Tunisia 1956, most of West Africa â•… 1960, Madagascar 1960, Algeria 1962W, Réunion Americas French Guyana, French Antilles Asia Cambodia 1953, Vietnam 1954W, Laos 1954 Oceania A number of Pacific Islands Netherlands Americas Surinam 1975, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba Asia Indonesia 1949W Portugal Africa Guinea-Bissau 1973W, Angola 1974W, Mozambique â•… 1975, Cape Verde 1975, Madeira, Azores Asia Goa (to India 1961), East Timor (to Indonesia 1976), â•… Macao (to China 1999) Belgium Africa Congo 1960 Italy Africa Libya 1951 Spain Africa Spanish Sahara (occupied by Morocco 1976), Ceuta, â•… Melilla, Canary Islands Denmark Europe Faroe Islands Americas Greenland *European countries are listed in rank order of the size of their colonial empires in 1945. †Date indicates year of independence, and a “W” indicates that independence was gained during a liberation war. Remaining colonies and overseas territories are indicated by italics.

countries. Although these language-based international communities mainly focus on common culture, the French pursue more active goals in their relations with the former French colonies. A number of Caribbean and Pacific islands have been integrated into the French nation, and at times France remains involved in its former territories in Africa, most of them small states. Occasionally France has sent troops to protect or evacuate French citizens during a popular revolt or to interfere directly in national politics. The smaller Western European nations maintain more distant relations with their former colonies. The most obvious exception is �Denmark, which still rules over Greenland. Central and Eastern Europe did not have any colonies. The Soviet Union maintained intense �contacts with many Third World countries, but these relations have been affected by the

262 |╇International Politics

demise of Soviet power. Russia has attempted to keep the former Soviet republics together in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but it no longer serves any purpose in Europe. The Baltic nations politely thanked Russia for the honor but declined, so the only European members outside Russia are Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, and two of the three Caucasian nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan (Georgia withdrew in 2009). The cultural and political bonds between European nations and non-European countries are only the more visible expression of a more general Third World dependence upon the Western European (and North American) economies for their exports and for mounting import credits. In particular, the African economy is based on exports of unprocessed foodstuffs, whose import quantities and prices are to a large extent determined by the importing countries and whose trade is handled by American or European multinational companies. Only the (predominantly Arab) oil-producing nations in North Africa and the Middle East have been able to set their own export prices and gain economic independence. European relations with this part of the world are rather uneasy. Because the European economy is partly dependent on the undisturbed flow of oil from the Middle East, mostly in the form of crude oil processed in Europe, the Old World is trying to regain some of the cash flow to the Arab countries by attracting orders for infrastructural works, construction, and industry in the Â�Middle East. The economic relations between Western Europe and the Middle East have intensified mutual contacts but have not contributed to mutual understanding. Most Arab countries were British or French colonies until the 1950s, but they have loosened their relations with Europe and turned to their common Arab and Islamic culture. Within Europe, the religious and other customs of Â�Muslim immigrant workers, especially relating to the rights of women, are a source of friction with the native Europeans, who have just become used to Â�gender equality. The recent spread of Muslim fundamentalism in North Africa and the Middle East has increased the tension. Europe is more cautious in its response to this Muslim fundamentalism than the United States, because it does not want to endanger its oil imports and its agricultural and industrial exports. For that reason, most European nations are reluctant to interfere directly in Middle East affairs. European support of the American war efforts during the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq was an exceptional expression of European unity in safeguarding its own interests rather than leaving this uneasy job to the United States, and except for Great Britain, most participants in the Iraq War did not send troops until after long internal debate. With the exception of the French role in Africa, the same reluctance applies to military interference in Afghanistan and the rest of the Third World. As this short survey shows, Europe’s role in world politics is limited. At times Russia attempts to regain some of its lost power in international relations, but it



Europe in the New Unipolar World╇ | 263

is in a weak position because it can no longer count on the support of Central Europe. Moreover, it is hardly capable of offering substantial financial support to Third World countries when it has been forced to ask for US and Western Â�European financial help itself. Two other former European powers, Germany and Great Â�Britain, no longer aspire to have an independent position in world politics. Germany is conscious of its role in both world wars and its Holocaust past and is sensitive to any suggestion that it would like to become a major power again. Even its participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions has been a source of debate in the German parliament. Despite its reluctance to become active again in international politics, it is now seeking a permanent seat in the United Nations’ Security Council. Great Britain has remained a minor nuclear power, but it gave up its position as an international power in the late 1950s under pressure of decolonization and the Cold War. With France it intervened in Egypt in 1956 when that country nationalized the Suez Canal, but that failed attempt (the Suez Crisis) was its last international adventure. In 1982 it fought a short war with Argentina concerning the Falkland Islands off the Argentine Coast; however, that action was not regarded as an effort to resume its Great Power status but as an exceptional (and successful) attempt to prevent a foreign invasion of territories inhabited by Britons who claimed state protection. The high cost of the armaments race during the Cold War was another motive to leave all international initiatives to the United States and not expand its nuclear arms force. Almost without exception Great Britain supports the international initiatives of the United States. France is the second Western European country to have its own nuclear force. It keeps more distance from US actions and has boasted proudly of its status as a modest international power. For that reason it is not very interested in common EU initiatives in international politics. The differences in interests between the three former Western European powers are reinforced by variations in focus: Great Britain is interested in its Commonwealth, France in northern Africa, and Germany in Central and Eastern Europe, just as in the old days of European power-balance politics, though it is less harmful this time. The smaller European nations, including all of Central Europe, do not pursue an active international policy at all, apart from foreign policy in dealing with their neighbors. In Central Europe that policy is often based on the existence of language minorities in the neighboring countries, and in some nations it is also based on the search for security against Russia. Some of the smaller countries spend a relatively large amount on foreign aid; Table 14.3 lists the countries that spend more than half a percent of their GDP on official development assistance. As the table shows, Scandinavia and the Low Countries top the list.

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Table 14.3╇ Official Development Assistance (ODA): Leading Donor Countries

Country

1 Sweden 2 Norway 3 Luxembourg 4 Denmark 5 Netherlands 6 Belgium 7 Finland, Ireland

ODA as Percent of GDP 1.12 1.06 1.01 0.88 0.82 0.55 0.54

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; preliminary list 2009.

A Divided Continent in Search of Unity Europe has two regional forms of cooperation that only cover a few countries, Benelux and the Nordic Council. Benelux is a form of cooperation between the three Low Countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It was created in 1944, at the time most of Holland was still occupied, and went into force in 1948, first as a customs union. In 1960 it was extended to Benelux Economic Union as a single market, and later other fields were added to its range of activities. Â�Benelux has not prevented disputes between the Netherlands and Belgium, however, in particular regarding transport facilities, and there is competition between the two major seaports of Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. All southbound transport from Holland has to pass through Belgium, and the shortest railway track from Antwerp to Germany runs through Dutch territory. The Nordic Council is a form of cooperation between the Scandinavian countries and Iceland; it is not a real single market but offers personal border crossings without any checks. It was set up in 1953, and Finland joined in 1956. More than is the case with Benelux, the activities of the Nordic Council have been affected by the fact that Denmark, Finland, and Sweden have joined the EU, while Iceland and Norway have not. Europe also has a number of more encompassing organizations, one of which mainly serves international security: NATO. NATO includes most Western European nations, Turkey, the United States, and Canada. The European countries that were formally neutral during the Cold War, and for that reason did not join (Austria, Finland, Ireland, and Sweden) NATO, now participate in some of its activities. All other EU members, except for Cyprus and Malta, are now also NATO members; the Central European EU member states were admitted in 2004. Russian opposition to NATO’s expansion in Central Europe, which now mainly focuses on Ukraine’s possible admission, points to the country’s isolation if most European



A Divided Continent in Search of Unity╇ | 265

nations join a military alliance that can only be aimed at keeping Â�Russia in check. The organization emphasizes its nature as a device for multipurpose cooperation, instead of merely a military alliance, and its role in peace keeping. Its latest military operation in Europe was the action against Serbia in 1999; since 2003 it has coordinated warfare against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Most EU member states and Turkey were also members (or associate members or associate partner members or observers) of the Western European Union (WEU), the second organization that was devoted to international security. The WEU, seated in Brussels, was established in 1954 to make German rearmament acceptable to France and to serve as a kind of European inner circle within NATO, but it was never very active. France developed its own nuclear weapons, Germany was reluctant to display initiative in matters of international security, and the smaller nations preferred a close relationship with the United States. Increasingly, the WEU tried to become the EU’s military arm and act as crisis manager in Europe, but a small and local police force in Bosnia was the main result until the organization was dissolved in 2009. In addition to these organizations of collective security, a number of other international organizations exist in Europe. Arguably the most important is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), established with the goal of promoting cooperation in economic policies. A precursor of the OECD started under US pressure at the time of the Marshall Plan. The organization has possessed its current name since 1961 and has extended its membership from Western Europe to include the United States, Japan, and other industrialized countries outside Europe. One of its most influential activities is the publication of annual reports on the economies of the member states. Although the national governments are involved in preparing the reports, these publications serve as authoritative references in defending or opposing the national governments’ economic policies. Recently, a number of Central European countries have joined. Only two international organizations have a Europe-wide membership. During the Cold War the first one, the Council of Europe, was dominated by Free West Europe. Most Central and Eastern European countries that joined were admitted in the 1990s. Human rights are the main concern of the Council of Europe, which is seated in Strasbourg (a very international town!). It was established in 1949 as a Western organization to look after human rights and cultural exchange, and it has drafted more than a hundred conventions in these fields. One of the latest topics has been abolishing the death penalty, which has now been achieved in all of Europe, with the exception of Belarus. The Russian application to the council led to a discussion about the value of an international organization for human rights that includes Russia. The country was admitted under the condition that it ratify a number of the council’s conventions. Serbian and Croatian membership was also an issue, because of atrocities committed during the Bosnian war. By 2010, Belarus

266 |╇International Politics

was the only European country that had not been admitted to the organization (apart from the Vatican State). The international organization that has encompassed all of Europe from the very outset is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has its seat in Prague. It started in 1975 as a device to promote mutual contacts Table 14.4╇ International Organizations with Predominantly European Members (except EU and Commonwealth of Independent States) International Year, Members Organization Seat

Aims

Benelux 1948 Low Countries Customs union, â•… Brussels â•…other fields of cooperation Nordic Council 1953 Scandinavia, Iceland Free movement of â•… Copenhagen â•…people, other fields of cooperation North Atlantic 1949 Brussels British Isles: Great Britain Security, protection â•… Treaty Organization Germanic Europe: â•… against Russia â•…(NATO) â•…Denmark, Norway, â•… â•… Germany, Low Countries â•… Latin Europe: All Central Europe: all EU â•… members plus Albania â•… and Croatia Other: Iceland, Turkey Non-European: United â•… States, Canada Organization for 1961 Paris British Isles, Germanic Economic â•…Economic â•…Europe â•…cooperation â•… Cooperation and Latin Europe: All â•… Development Central Europe: â•…(OECD) â•…Czechia, Hungary, â•…Poland Non-European: United â•… States, Canada, Australia, â•…Japan Council of Europe 1949 All European nations Cultural exchange, â•…Strasbourg â•…except Belarus â•…human rights Organization for 1975 Prague All European nations Dialogue on â•… Security and Non-European: United â•… international â•…Cooperation â•…States, Canada; â•…security â•… (OSCE) Central Asian Republics



Even Good Neighbors Have Their Quarrels╇ | 267

between the two blocs in Europe during the Cold War. The OSCE has survived the end of the Cold War and is active in the field of human rights and economic east– west cooperation in Europe. It has even become the leading international agency in Bosnia, where it monitors elections and arms control measures. Most European governments are convinced of the advantage of joining these European organizations, and the EU most of all, as a means of preventing international isolation. There is only one European country to which the rule that absence in international organizations implies a marginal position does not apply: Â�Switzerland, which is now a non-EU island within EU territory. Switzerland is very reluctant to join anything that would affect its sovereignty and has consistently refused to accept international obligations, yet in various areas it has adapted its legislation to EU standards. Table 14.4 lists the international organizations with predominantly European members.

Even Good Neighbors Have Their Quarrels A few miles off the coast of Turkey there is an island that belongs to Greece. Between the coast and the island are two rocks, inhabited only by a few goats. In 1995, a Turkish boat got into trouble near the rocks and asked its own port for help, rather than the authorities of the Greek island, which resulted in the exchange of angry diplomatic notes between the two nations about the sovereignty over the rocks and the extent of both countries’ territorial waters. One month later a Turkish journalist raised his national standard on the rocks, which was taken down the next day by Greek citizens. New angry notes followed, and battleships from both sides were sent in; it was only after US mediation that the ships were withdrawn again. Relations between Greece and Turkey are like that. Apart from nations that have problems with their neighbors over the treatment of national minorities, Greece has the worst relations with its neighbors. Its relations with Turkey have seriously affected the relationship between the EU and Turkey, which is already strained by EU criticism of the lack of rights for the Kurdish minority. Because the EU supports the Greek position, the United States occasionally steps in to mediate. Sometimes it looks as if Greece and Turkey, both NATO partners, are on the brink of war, but the Greek armed forces are no match for the Turkish army, and violence remains verbal. The longlasting conflict intensified in 1974, when the Turkish army occupied the part of Cyprus that is inhabited by Turks, in order to prevent the island from joining Greece. That action has resulted in the division of the island between the Greek majority, which claims to be the one and only Republic of Cyprus, and the Turkish part, with United Nations peacekeeping forces in between. Greece has also kept another neighbor, Macedonia, from using its name, because this could imply a claim to Greece’s Â�northern regions, which are also named Macedonia. The EU and the United Nations now officially refer to the new country as the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.”

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Two more armed conflicts between European nations, both of them in southeastern Europe and still unresolved, are the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the one between Georgia and Russia. In 1988, Nagorno-Karabakh, a part of Azerbaijan that is mainly inhabited by Armenians (but not adjacent to Armenia), voted to join Armenia. Armenia came to the support of the revolt, and in 1992, open warfare broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in which Armenia soon got the upper hand. Mediation by the OSCE failed until 1994 when Russia came in to negotiate a cease-fire agreement. Since that time the Nagorno-Karabakh region is under control of Armenian troops and so is a corridor that leads from Armenia to the region. Azerbaijan has threatened several times to reconquer the region by force. Turkey has closed its border with Armenia since the conflict. The second armed hostilities took place between Russia and Georgia in 2008, when Georgia deployed troops in two rebellious and factually autonomous regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both of which are inhabited by ethnic minorities. Russia responded with a massive military invasion in the two regions to protect their autonomy, and since that time they have been under Russian control. Although disputes about the treatment of national minorities in neighboring countries are now mainly a problem in Central Europe and are increasingly, but not always, solved by means of bilateral agreements, there are a few other sources of international tension in Europe, even among EU members, but they have not involved any overt hostilities other than exchanging angry diplomatic notes. Minor issues between European nations often concern the exact frontier line, overland routes, fishing in another nation’s territorial waters, and the location of polluting industries close to the border, as national borders are a favorite site for nuclear plants. Within the EU, Spain and Great Britain have a dispute over Gibraltar, which has become highly autonomous under British supervision. Spain does not Â�recognize British control over the rock and opposes the trend toward even greater autonomy. In Central Europe, Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence. In Southeastern Europe, Armenia and Turkey have a dispute over the 1918 Armenian Â� Genocide, when Turkey (at that time the Turkish Ottoman Empire) forced a mass migration movement of Armenians, which killed one third of the Armenian population. Armenia seeks international recognition of the killing as genocide; Turkey claims that there were fewer victims and rejects that term. In most of Europe, relations between neighbors are also affected by a sibling rivalry. European nations are hardly interested in smaller neighbors but invariably nurture some resentment against bigger ones, if only because of wars that were fought centuries ago. Feelings are often not very strong, and they consist of resentment rather than hostility, sometimes even mixed with secret admiration for the big neighbor’s achievements, roughly similar to the attitude of Canadians toward the United States. This kind of feeling explains why there are so few coalitions in



The EU’s Foreign Policy╇ | 269

the EU between neighboring countries and why nations that are easily grouped together do not maintain close contacts. To mention a few examples, to the Portuguese, Spain is the big brother and is not to be trusted since it conquered Portugal in 1580. For Spain, France serves as a model in many respects, but it is also a despised big brother since the Â�conquests of Napoleon two centuries ago. For the French, Germany is the big brother; since World War II, the French have actively pursued French grandeur by means of Â�European unity, which includes Germany (“If we can’t beat them, let them join us”). The Germans lack such a complex, they are big brother to all of Western Europe and most of Central Europe. Russia is Central Europe’s other big brother, the more so since it has found a new source of power: oil and gas supplies to all the rest of Europe. Big brothers need not always be large countries, however, as is shown by Sweden, which occupies such a position for the Danes and Norwegians; Czechia for the Slovaks, and Serbia for some Balkan nations. The big brother complex is a fine topic to start a conversation in Europe; just ask anyone what he or she thinks of the nearest bigger country. Remember, however, that not all European peoples suffer from a sibling rivalry. Austrians have hardly any hard feelings about the Germans, and despite its size, Italy does not serve as a big brother at all. All its neighbors look to the north (to Germany) instead of to the south.

The EU’s Foreign Policy The 1991 Maastricht Treaty laid down some principles of common foreign and security policy, which resulted in humanitarian aid to wartime Bosnia and in common positions toward a number of countries, including Russia. The EU failed, however, to arrive at a common response to the 1991–1995 Yugoslav War and to the 1998 Kosovo crisis; military intervention in Kosovo was a NATO responsibility under US leadership. In the Amsterdam Treaty the EU introduced the new post of high representative on EU’s common foreign and security policy, a kind of state secretary but with very limited powers. The first to occupy the post was Javier Solana, a former Spanish minister of Foreign Affairs and secretary-general of NATO who combined the post with that of secretary-general of the WEU. The Lisbon Treaty reinforced the position, changed its name a bit, and combined the post with the vice presidency of the European Commission. So at last, Europe has an answer to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s rhetorical question in the 1970s: “Whom do I call if I want to call Europe?” Yet, the answer applies to a part of Europe only, and it would probably still be more effective for a US secretary of state to phone the British prime minister and the French president. Increasingly, however, the EU has also come to play a role in coordinating the members’ Â�military peace missions, for instance in Afghanistan and Lebanon.

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The EU remains divided between two camps, however, in its internationalÂ� policies: the New Europe, consisting of most Central European members, is Atlanticist and favors strong US involvement in European security, because Â� the United States is the only one that is able to stand up to Russia, their former Â�suppressor (and the United States has 40 years of experience in doing so). In the Old Europe, Great Britain and Holland are the most fervent Atlanticists; other Â�Germanic and Latin nations are more eager to maintain good relations with Â�Russia and to downplay human rights in their relations with that country to prevent any new international conflict. They promote an independent European course in Â�European international affairs, which mainly consist of the relationship between Western Europe and Russia—probably the most pressing international issue in Europe in the near future, a fine and explosive combination of human rights, oil, and gas.

CHAPTER 15

European Nations by Region

C

hapter 4 listed the developments most European countries have in common, starting with the Greek heritage. Even if countries have turned their back on any of these traditions, for instance Catholicism or liberalism, they have still been influenced by them. The big four Western European nations—Great Â�Britain, France, Germany, and Italy—have made the greatest contribution to shaping Â�European Â�politics, but the smaller countries have also had their own share in shaping European society, and most of them have been open to influence of the four larger nations, whether voluntarily or not. This chapter offers a brief discussion of all nations by groups, focusing especially on sources of internal division, the Â�process of nation building, and some basic features of the political system.

The British Isles In Great Britain and Ireland almost everything is different from the European continent. Great Britain preceded the continent in a great number of political developments. It reached political unity before most continental countries and put an end to royal aspirations of absolutism in the 1688 Glorious Revolution, more than one century before the 1789 French Revolution, and almost without any bloodshed. The Industrial Revolution also began in Great Britain. Nation building, democratization, and the Industrial Revolution succeeded each other with decades or even centuries in between, which allowed the British to address these problems one by one, and facilitated finding solutions in a reformist way. In the 19th century Great Britain became Europe’s most powerful nation, and it remained a great power until the end of World War II. Since the 1950s, Great Britain has abandoned any pretensions of being a great power, and because of its atypical (two-party) system of parliamentary rule, relatively limited social Â�policies, and slackening economy for much of the postwar period, it has also lost its position as a model for Europe. In spite of its multinational nature, encompassing Scotland, Wales, and Â�England, Great Britain is one of Europe’s least politicized and least politically divided 271

272 |╇ European Nations by Region

societies. Language and religion have hardly been issues at all. (Northern Ireland is a case apart, and it has a special status outside Great Britain as part of the United Kingdom.) The countryside was already depopulated before industrialization; rural interests were mainly those of the aristocracy, but at an early stage aristocrats mixed with the emerging class of industrialists. Regional disparities have become more important, however, because of a growing gap between the richer south and the less prosperous traditional industrial areas in northern England and Scotland, which vote Labour and were neglected by the Conservative governments of the 1980s and early 1990s. Social class is by far the strongest political issue in Great Britain, but it is less divisive than on the continent and has not given rise to radical movements. The Labour Party has not rejected the capitalist economy, and in that sense, Great Britain has been influenced more by liberalism than by labor ideologies. More than in the continental societies, Great Britain has remained a two-class society, with distinct upper-class and working-class cultures. All classes have embraced the monarchy, however, which has reinforced its position as an exceptionally strong symbol of unity. New immigrants have mainly come from the former colonies, and they are more racially diverse than on the continent: there are large groups from the Indian subcontinent, who are often active in small family businesses, and blacks, who are more concentrated in big city boroughs. Ireland was under British rule until 1921. In the 19th century, the Irish en masse tried to evade suppression and famine by emigrating to Great Britain and the United States (the number of Irish Americans exceeds the current population of Ireland). Still, the country has adopted several political elements from Great Britain, such as the legal system and the civil service. It also shares Great Britain’s absence of political conflict. The Irish speak English, and attempts to reintroduce the original Irish language have not changed that situation. Religion is not a source of division either. Ireland is the most Catholic country in Europe, and the only Catholic nation in which the position of the Church is not a political issue. Religion pervades social life and politics, and the Catholic Church enjoys an uncontested position as a national institution because of its role in the liberation struggle against Great Britain. Even social class is not much of an issue, and Ireland does not have a big Social Democratic Party. Ireland differs from Great Britain, however, in its continental pattern of coalition governments and recent corporatist agreements. Over the past three decades, the country has evolved from one of the poorest to one of the richest European nations because of extensive EU funds, low taxation, and limited social expenditures.

The Big Three of Continental Western Europe Italy heavily influenced European culture (by way of the Roman Empire, the �Catholic Church, and the Renaissance) until the modern era, when it lost its prominent position. Until national unification in 1870, Italy was divided into a number of



The Big Three of Continental Western Europe╇ | 273

industrializing and urbanizing kingdoms in the north and a large rural kingdom in the south, separated by the Papal State in the middle of Italy. Since that time it has been united but heavily divided. The high degree of internal division in Italy has left France and Germany as the only two continental powers in Western Europe. France has been a leading nation in politics and the arts since the Middle Ages, starting with Gothic cathedrals and its culture of raffinement and élégance. During the 18th and 19th centuries, French was the international language in Europe and was spoken by all refined and elegant cosmopolitans. Since the French Â�Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, important social movements, such as the 1830 and 1848 revolutions, the 1936 strike wave, and the 1968 student revolt, broke out in Paris and spread from there to other countries. France has always claimed a leading political role in Europe, to some extent based on its primacy in culture. The country still cherishes pretensions of international power and is the only Western European country to do so. Its function as a leader of continental Europe is not confined to politics. Paris functions as the cultural capital of Latin Europe, a position without counterpart in Germanic Europe. Germany was a power during the Middle Ages, as the Holy Roman Empire, a combination of independent units, but all of them part of the German culture. German culture reached its heights in 19th-century romanticism, which expressed a strong longing for political unity and lost popular folk traditions (which heavily influenced nationalism and ethnic unity among other ethnic groups as well). In 1871, Protestant Prussia, which had already been the leading German state since the 17th century, forged unity in the German Empire, in which it became by far the leading unit. Conservative landholders dominated the empire, and liberalism remained a relatively small movement. Since that unification, Germany’s aspirations to join the ranks of Great Britain and France as a Great (colonial) Power were among the causes of the two world wars. After World War II Germany was divided until the 1989 reunification, but the larger western part, the Federal Republic of Germany, soon regained its position as Europe’s largest economy. Because of its central location in Western Europe, bordering nine Germanic, Latin, and Central European nations, Germany is destined to play a central role in European politics. Yet, it has maintained a low political profile and has no new aspirations to play a leading role in international politics. Germany has embraced the European Union as a way to prevent its economic power from posing a threat to the surrounding nations. In contrast to Great Britain, national politics in these three countries have been characterized by incidental or more frequent shocks, in the form of insurrection, revolt, or even revolution. Over the past two centuries, France has been an empire twice, a kingdom twice, and a republic five times, with great variations within each of these forms. Italy and Germany were not unified until the 1870s, changed from a kingdom or empire to a republic, passed through a fascist stage, and then became

274 |╇ European Nations by Region

more regular parliamentary republics after World War II. Fundamental changes have continued to affect these countries, however. In 1989, Germany was reunified, and around that time the traditional system of Italian politics broke down. The changes in political system are to some extent the result of internal Â�division. In France, the French Revolution was not only a contest between royalists and republicans but also between moderate and radical republicans and between Â�Catholics and anticlericals. To the latter it was the victory of the French nation, uniting all French people, over the Church. After the 1870–1871 French-German War and the breakdown of the Second Empire, the Catholic Church ordered its believers to abstain from politics in the secular Third Republic. The contrast between Paris and the rest of the country was another issue during the revolution, and has remained so since that time. The saliency of social class as a political issue in France is not only attributable to the radicalism of the (heavily divided) labor movement but also to the conservatism of the large class of entrepreneurs with small family businesses (les patrons). The class issue has to some extent incorporated the clerical–anticlerical issue. The social cleavages contributed to the instability of governments under the Fourth Republic (1944–1958), which prompted the introduction of the semi-presidential system in the Fifth Republic by wartime hero General Charles De Gaulle. The social cleavages and absence of strong organizations (except for the communist movement until the 1980s) have left ample room for frequent spontaneous protest actions (action directe) against the government of the day, yet whatever the government’s flaws, the state is accepted as the highest national authority and as a promoter and symbol of formal equality and national grandeur under the republic. More than in the rest of Western Europe, the state is involved in the economy, controlling industries of national interest, but the large public sector is now slowly being privatized. The main line of division in Germany is now the one between the western part and the former East Germany. East Germany was the most industrialized country of the communist Soviet Bloc, but its outdated industries totally broke down under the pressure of international competition. This new divide has to some extent supplanted the former dominant line between the Catholic states, like Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, in the south and the Protestant north, a division that has existed since the Reformation. Although Protestants have been secularized and vote for the Social Democratic or the small Liberal Party, Catholics vote overwhelmingly Christian Democratic. As a source of division, social class lost part of its saliency after World War II, when the Social Democrats left their Â�Marxist Â�ideology in favor of more social equality for the population at large, after it had already left its revolutionary zeal in the beginning of the century. The labor movement has always been well organized, with strong organizational discipline. Until World War II it was a model for labor in the smaller Germanic nations. The organizational strength was to some extent conditioned by the early rise of very large enterprises



The Big Three of Continental Western Europe╇ | 275

in heavy industry. (Strong support of Nazism in the middle class and among small entrepreneurs is sometimes explained by their feeling crushed between the large entrepreneurs on the one hand and the big labor movement on the other.) War mongering and active assistance to Nazism by large enterprises in heavy industry (Krupp, Thyssen) prompted a new form of labor participation in the supervisory councils (Aufsichtsrat) of large enterprises, co-determination Â�(Mitbestimmung). Although this has remained a hot political issue, it has also tended to reduce the distance between trade unions and business (the country has a very low strike rate) and, more generally, between left and right. The distance is greater than in the smaller Germanic nations with their tradition of tripartism, but smaller than in the other large nations. Italy is divided between the highly developed north (Milan, Turin), one of Europe’s richest regions, and the more rural south (Mezzogiorno). (Fascism was also a more rural affair in Italy than in Germany.) The division between Catholics and anticlericals to some extent overlaps with the class division involving (until the 1980s) a large Communist Party and trade-union movement versus big capital, epitomized by Fiat and other enterprises of the Agnelli family, and prime minister Berlusconi’s media companies. The Vatican also regularly raises its voice in Italian politics. Regional allegiances have encouraged early forms of power devolution to regions with language minorities (Aosta, Alto Adige) or that otherwise feel separate (Sicily). Political principles are surprisingly easily overcome, however, for some kind of common arrangement, even if it is mostly short-lived and soon followed by a totally different arrangement. The flexibility has contributed to the Italian reputation of being able to preach one thing and practice another, and of having low political morals. Corruption is more at home here than in France or Spain, but it is mainly confined to the south (that is, south of Emilia and Toscana), where political sins are committed by the Mafia and whitewashed by the Catholic Church. Even the Italian Communist Party, the largest of its kind outside the Soviet bloc, used to be looked upon with mistrust by the other Communist parties, because it did not meet the latter’s high international standards of dogmatism and authoritarianism. In spite of all sources of division, however, the prominent role of the family provides for a high degree of social cohesion in social life; this has positive effects, in the form of social cohesion, and negative consequences, such as nepotism. Yet, the birthrate is now among the lowest in Europe, and the nuclear family is replacing the traditional extended family headed by grandpa or grandma. The three countries have admitted different groups of immigrants over the past decades: Muslim Algerians in France; Muslim Turks and refugees from former Yugoslavia in Germany; and internal migration from south to north in Italy, which has also frequent arrivals of boat refugees who cross the Mediterranean to enter EU territory.

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The Other Germanic and Latin Nations Scandinavia Scandinavia is Europe’s closest-knit group of nations. Mutual bonds are helped by easy communication. The Scandinavians understand each other without Â�having to resort to English (the Finns speak a non-Germanic language, but many of them also speak Swedish). Mutual cooperation in the Nordic Council, which also includes Iceland, and the sense of common identity, however, do not lead to great uniformity in international conduct. Differences in that field are also attributable to variations in national history. Sweden and Denmark were European powers for centuries, whereas Norway was under Danish and Swedish rule until 1905, and Finland was part of the Russian Empire until World War I. National identity has been shaped by low population density—even flat Denmark is less densely populated than mountainous Switzerland—and by the prevalence of small towns and small-scale production, although Sweden is home to a number of multinational companies. As a relatively young nation, Norway is most nationalist in the classical sense. Sweden shares the Norwegian distance from Europe, whereas Denmark is slightly more European-minded, but all three countries have never been very enthusiastic about the EU, and the Norwegians have rejected EU membership twice. Only Finland has wholeheartedly joined the EU and introduced the euro, as an expression of its belonging to Europe, a feeling that was prompted by its problematic past. Finland was involved in a civil war at the time of World War I, and parts of Finland were annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II, which forced hundreds of thousands of people, more than 10 percent of the total Finnish population, to flee to the remaining part of Finland. During the Cold War, the country was part of Free Europe, though it was obliged to be neutral and have good relations with the Soviet Union. Finland is also the only republic in this group. The other three countries have retained their monarchy, although Sweden has gone farthest in depriving the king of all political responsibilities. Despite the existence of a Finnish minority in Sweden and a Swedish minority in Finland, concentrated on a few islands off the Finnish coast, the four countries are typical examples of language-based nations. Religion is not a source of division, because national Protestant (Lutheran) Churches enjoy a monopoly position though no political power. The urban–rural line of division gave rise to parties of independent farmers, who oppose the influence of the national capitals (the landed nobility has only played a marginal role in this part of Europe). Notwithstanding the decline of the agricultural labor force, these parties continue to attract electoral support that is based on their position between the Social Democrats on the one hand, and Conservatives and Liberals on the other. In contrast to Christian Democratic parties in other countries, the farmers’ parties do not attract many Â�working-class votes, which reinforces the position of social democracy as the



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almost exclusive working-class representative. Social Democrats have governed most of the postwar period, either by themselves or in coalition with the farmers’ parties of Social Liberals. It was also in these democracies that corporatism was initiated in the 1930s. Scandinavia stands for success. Since World War II, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have come to enjoy the status of success stories, and Finland joined them later. Political development has taken place without great political conflicts (except for the Finnish civil war), and in spite of their marginal geographical position in Europe off the main trade routes, long periods of Social Democratic participation in government have resulted in relatively egalitarian societies with extensive social policies, but without a big public sector. Scandinavia has served as a model in Â�liberal rights, social rights, and gender equality. To single out the Scandinavian welfare states, a Scandinavian Model has been identified that is characterized by active labor-market policies in Sweden and Norway and strong, egalitarian, social security rights throughout the region. In Denmark and Sweden the trade unions are actively involved in social security payments, which contributes to the high trade-union density. Denmark’s economy is the least government regulated of the Scandinavian nations. In the early 21st century, the Scandinavian countries lost part of their political and economic glamour. The influx of Muslim immigrants from the Middle East prompted the rise of new nationalist parties, as happened in the rest of Western Europe, and the region was also affected by rising unemployment.

The Low Countries The Netherlands and Belgium have a lot in common. Residents of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium, speak Dutch. The two national economies are highly trade-oriented, and the large ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp handle freight to and from Germany. In the 19th century, the two countries were colonial powers, the Netherlands especially in Indonesia, which it dominated since the 17th century; Belgium became a colonial power in the late 19th century when the Great Powers presented it with Congo in order to prevent conflict among the Great Powers. In politics, the two nations share a long tradition of Christian Democratic domination of coalition governments, with either Conservative Liberals or Social �Democrats as partners. In the Netherlands the tradition was not broken until 1994, when Social Democrats and Liberals took over for eight years in a purple coalition, a �combination of red Social Democrats and blue Conservative Liberals; Belgium has had more governments without Christian Democrats. With tiny Luxembourg, the two nations have also engaged in formal cooperation since 1944. The Benelux served as a forerunner of the European Union, on a much smaller scale. The differences between the countries are just as pronounced, however, as the common features, which has tended to reduce Benelux cooperation. The

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Netherlands became independent in 1648, after a long war of liberation with Spain. Belgium refused to join the war, and in 1648 was handed over to the Â�Austrian Empire. In 1815, Belgium was made a part of the Dutch kingdom, but in 1830 declared itself independent; Luxembourg (originally also united with the Netherlands) also became independent in the 19th century. The Netherlands is water: canals, rivers, and the sea. During the 17th century, the Dutch Republic was a leading maritime power, a center of international trade, and a haven for religious exiles. At home, the struggle against water (one quarter of the country is located below sea level and has to be protected by dikes) has fostered a spirit of compromise and an orientation toward international trade. The Netherlands is the only country in which the Protestant–Catholic divide has not been addressed by decentralization or federalism, as in Germany or Switzerland. Protestantism (Calvinism) has shaped national culture, but in the 19th century, the Catholic minority began to build up its own network of organizations, in order to achieve a greater voice in national affairs. This resulted in the pillarization of Dutch society. Because of the trade tradition and the strength of religious affiliation, class divergence has never been a contentious issue. Traditional religious tolerance in the form of pillarization reinforced the culture of compromise, which has survived the disintegration of the pillars in the 1970s. Flemish towns were already important centers of culture at the time of the Flemish Renaissance (Bruges, Antwerp), yet Belgium lacks a glorious past as a nation. Its international fame spread after the Industrial Revolution. The country was one of the first on the continent to industrialize; its heavy industry and Â�mining are concentrated in Wallonia, the French-speaking part. The language division is reflected in the contrast between the trade orientation of the Dutch-speaking Flanders and the focus on heavy industry in Wallonia; it is also reflected to some extent with a religious split. Although Flanders is still traditionally Catholic, Wallonia has been influenced by France and is dominated by anticlerical social democracy. The divergence between the two parts of Belgium explains the problematic position of the capital Brussels. It has become a French-speaking city within Flemish territory, but the social issue separates it from Wallonia, which has not yet recovered from industrial decline and since the 1960s has become the poorer part of the nation. The Walloon working class votes social democracy; the French-speaking Brussels bourgeoisie and middle class embrace conservative Â�liberalism. Coalitions are supposed to contain both Flemish and Walloon parties, but that representation of both communities makes building cabinets a very intricate process. Flemish Social Democrats may be willing to participate in Â�government but the Walloon Social Democrats may not, or the other way around. Since the 1970s, the country has embarked on a course toward federalism, with Brussels, and even more so its expanding French-speaking exurbs on Flemish soil, as a bone of contention.



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Luxembourg, the third partner in Benelux, is one of Europe’s smallest nations. Originally, it was one of the German states within the loosely structured German Empire, but during the past two centuries its history has been more linked to that of Belgium, although it was formally linked to the Netherlands. Most inhabitants are bilingual and speak French and German (or Letzeburgish, a regional variation). Luxembourg has used its position between France, Germany, and the densely populated Low Countries very well. The home of a number of commercial television stations and low-tax banking accounts, it has become the richest European nation, which more than compensates for its lack of national culture.

The Alpine Nations Austria and Switzerland are associated with mountains, alpine tourism, and Â�skiing. Both countries are situated on the old transit routes from Germanic Europe to Italy. Mutual relations are limited; the common border is very short and located in the periphery of both countries. Since the war, and until the recent rise of antiimmigration parties, both countries have experienced hardly any political conflict, and they permanently have the lowest strike rate of all European countries. Once again, however, there are at least as many differences as common features between the nations. Switzerland is situated between Germany, France, and Italy, and these three languages are also its official languages; German and French are national languages, and Italian and the fourth language, Rhaeto-Romanic, are regional languages. However, neither of the three parts of Switzerland identifies with one of the big Â�neighbors; all politics (and social life) is local, yet the country has a very international economic orientation. The Swiss nation has a century-old national identity, which is based on its smallness, the predominance of rural and small-town culture, and its longstanding neutrality toward the larger surrounding countries (formerly including the Austrian Empire), which was not even interrupted in the two world wars. Its strict and passive neutrality means it keeps far from international obligations; the country did not even join the United Nations until 2002. Yet, it has made French-speaking Geneva, its most beautifully situated town, the location of Â�international organizations like the Red Cross and other international associations and contacts. Austria is a German-speaking nation, the remnant of the multinational Â�Austrian Empire that was dissolved right after World War I, which left Vienna as the oversized capital of a nation without national identity. Integration into Germany was one of the options under discussion, but national identity has grown since World War II. The country is oriented toward Germany; in the late 19th century the Â�Austrian Empire was already a kind of junior partner of the German Empire. Since World War II, however, the country’s successful economic policies, low unemployment, and role as a formally neutral outpost of the Free World at the time of the Cold War reinforced national identity.

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Both countries are now federal nations but with a different background. Â� Switzerland is strongly federalized and has a small federal bureaucracy. The small capital Bern is only Switzerland’s fourth-largest city, and the other three are not very big either. Austria’s federalism is a more recent (postwar) innovation, and it is less encompassing, because of the dominant position of the national capital, which is 10 times the size of Bern and still proudly boasts of its imperial architecture. Large parts of Austria are far from the capital, however, and are more like Â�Switzerland, with a strong local and small-town culture. In Switzerland, all major political parties participate in the national government on a permanent basis, and the posts of prime minister and head of state rotate among them. This depoliticization of national politics is compensated to some extent by the extensive use of nationwide referendums, a modern version of the Â�traditional village meeting that was one of the earliest expressions of popular democracy. Austrian national politics has been more divisive, with overlapping sources of division: Urban social democracy in the capital and rural Christian Democrats in the rest of the country. Yet, the country has also been a prominent example of Catholic and Social Democratic grand coalitions, corporatism, and modest pillarization. In the late 1990s, the two big parties came even closer to each other because the third party changed from Conservative Liberal to one of Europe’s most successful extreme right, or racist parties.

The Iberian Peninsula Together, Spain and Portugal colonized almost all of Latin America until the 19th century. Located in the Iberian Peninsula, they have been relatively isolated from the rest of Western Europe since the breakup of Spanish imperial rule over other parts of Europe in the 17th century. In both countries, the Roman Catholic Church has been a dominant force in social life, culture, and the arts. The two countries resemble southern Italy in the powerful landed interests and the weak or late development of an urban culture. Iberian medieval architecture consists of churches and impressive castles, without the town halls and piazzas of northern Italy. Â�During the 20th century, fascist dictatorships, supported or sometimes promoted by Catholics, were in power for 40 years, until they collapsed almost simultaneously in the 1970s. Nowadays, the two countries are catching up with the rest of Western Europe. Spain and Portugal share one peninsula, but they do not really form a group. Portugal has its face toward the sea and its back toward Spain, with which it has never had very close relations. (Between 1580 and 1640 Portugal was part of Spain.) With Great Britain and Holland, Portugal has been one of Europe’s leading seafaring nations, involved in most of the early European voyages of discovery to the East. Portugal is also truly a nation-state. All citizens speak Portuguese, and all Portuguese speakers in Europe are based in Portugal, although some 200,000



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live as immigrant workers in and around Paris. During the 19th century, British Â�interests dominated the national economy (including the port wineries) and were also influential in politics. As a consequence of the international orientation, fascist rule was less harsh than in Spain. It was followed by a short-lived communistinspired revolution in 1974. Since then, the Social Democrats (calling themselves Socialists) and Conservatives (calling themselves Social Democrats) have alternated in government. Spanish politics was always more landlocked. Its early medieval history was dominated by the Reconquista of regions under Islamic control by the Catholic Kings (los Reyes Católicos). Since then it has remained a bastion of intolerant Catholicism and aggressive Catholic missionary zeal. At an earlier stage than the other colonial powers, it was interested in political control of its colonies rather than in mere trade-oriented political hegemony. At home, one of Spain’s main issues has been the status of the coastal regions, like Catalonia, Basque Country, and Asturias. Integration, at first by force, was hampered by the strong line of division between a well-organized Catholic elite movement (Opus Dei) and staunch anticlericals; between the minority-tongue regions that are richer and more internationally oriented than the political center and the agrarian interests in the south; and between an action-oriented and originally very radical anarchist labor movement, concentrated in the industrial regions, and the landed interests. Traditionally, Spanish politics has been characterized by a lack of compromise between these groups, culminating in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). In contrast, the transition toward democracy and some form of federalization was very smooth, partly because of the very moderate Social Democratic governments under Felipe Â�Gonzalez that were in power for 15 years and the actively pro-democratic stance of the king, who was even able to stop a military coup in 1982.

Central Europe The Baltic Nations The three Baltic countries Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have shared two centuries of Russian rule. They were granted independence at the end of World War I but were incorporated in the Soviet Union during World War II. Many Russians were then settled in this region as industrial workers and civil servants. Since 1991, the three countries have enjoyed independence once again. In Lithuania, the Soviet Union at first responded with small-scale military action and the threat of an economic blockade, but in 1991 it gave in and accepted Lithuanian independence. Despite this long-standing common fate, the Baltic nations are not only the least populated group of nations but also a hardly cohesive one, and mutual relations are limited. Although most Scandinavians can speak their own language at common

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meetings, the Low Countries manage with Dutch (and French), and the Alpine nations with German, the Baltic peoples do not understand each other’s language. They have to speak English or Russian in order to communicate. Estonian Â� is close to Finnish; the other two languages belong to a different group, of which they are the only two members, yet they are not mutually understandable. Moreover, all three countries have Russian-speaking minorities. Like the Low Countries and the Alpine countries, the Baltic nations do not share a common religion either. In Estonia, Lutheran Protestants traditionally formed the majority; Latvia used to be mixed Catholic/Protestant; and Lithuania Catholic, but the traditional religion of the Russian-speaking minorities in the three countries is the Orthodox Church. The three countries also had different early histories. Estonia and Latvia were for a long time under control of the German Teutonic Order, a feudal organization of Catholic missionary knights, and they were later conquered by Sweden before Russia moved in. At the end of the Middle Ages, Lithuania had a large empire that stretched over parts of Russia and Ukraine, defeated the Teutonic Order, and maintained close relations with Poland. The process of nation building that had to restart in the 1990s was facilitated in Estonia by the easy communication and close relations with Finland. It was most problematic in Latvia, which houses the largest Russian minority; even in the national capital Latvians are a minority. At first the country only naturalized people that had settled in the country before 1940 and excluded all Russian immigrants from citizenship. Russia complained, yet some Russians prefer their Russian nationality because it permits travel to Russia without an expensive visa. Since Â�Russians live scattered throughout the country, federalism would not provide a solution. There is a line of division between the dominant capitals and the other, mostly rural, regions. In fact, the population of Latvia’s capital Riga nearly equals the population in the rest of the country—the largest population share of any city in European nations.

Mid-central Europe Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary have been close to Western Europe or part of Western European culture for a long time, and all of these countries traditionally were or still are Catholic. In three of the four countries, a Slavonic language is spoken, and the Hungarian language has non-European origins. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, these four countries have more or less monopolized the Western attention because of their relatively successful economic and political transformation from a communist dictatorship and command economy toward parliamentary democracy and a market economy in Central Europe. Of all Central European nations, Poland is by far the largest, and the one with the most eventful history because of its position between Germany and Russia. In the 16th century Poland was a vast country, but in the 19th century it had disappeared



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from the map and was divided among Prussia, Austria, and Russia. It was reestablished after World War I but was partitioned once again by Germany and Russia in the beginning of World War II. Nazi Germany deliberately destroyed Warsaw and most of the country as well, though there was no strategic military benefit; furthermore, half of all Holocaust victims were Polish Jews. In 1945, Poland’s present frontiers were set hundreds of kilometers to the west from its prewar location. Large numbers of Germans in the newly acquired western part (Silesia, most of which had been a part of Prussia) had to move to Germany, which left Poland without any substantial minorities. Poland has a long history of popular revolt, which gives its political culture a Latin aspect. Communism was highly unpopular, if only because of its Russian origins. Under communism, the country feared a Soviet invasion twice, in 1956 and 1980. Communist rule remained a bit less strict than elsewhere in the Soviet Bloc, and Poland retained small independent farmers, a strong Catholic Church, and relatively independent centers of higher learning. The position of the Church was reinforced when in 1978 a Polish cardinal was elected Pope John Paul II. The country also had the first opposition movement in a communist country, the labor union Solidarnošcˇ (Solidarity), which started as a strike committee at the Gdansk shipyards under Lech Walesa. After some time it even counted some 10 million members, the second-largest union movement in Europe, behind the British Trades Union Congress. Solidarnošcˇ was outlawed in 1981 but later became the core of a conservative Catholic party. Politics since the early 1990s have not been very stable but less unstable than the number of prime ministers (almost one each year) might suggest. The main line of division is the one between mostly rural Catholics and urban anticlericals, which adds to the saliency of ethical issues, such as abortion. Czechia had a glorious past as a kingdom with Prague as a center of European culture, but later it was integrated into the Austrian Empire. After World War I, it was united with Slovakia as the independent nation of Czechoslovakia, but in 1938, the infamous Munich Agreement between Germany, Great Britain, and France forced the country to cede the Sudeten region, with its large German minority, to Germany as a last attempt to prevent war. After the war this region was returned to Czechoslovakia and many of the Sudeten Germans fled to Germany. Czechia does not have a tradition of revolt; even the 1968 Prague Spring, which ended communist rule, was initiated by communist leaders rather than by a grassroots movement. The change toward democracy was also nonviolent, dubbed the Velvet Revolution, and Vaclav Havel, a leader of the underground human rights organization Charta 77, became the new president. Since the division of Czechoslovakia in 1993 into Czechia and Slovakia, the country contains hardly any minorities and has easily regained its position as the most Westernized nation of Central Europe. In contrast to Poland, Czechia, and Hungary, which can boast of a glorious past, Slovakia does not even have a history as an independent state, and it is the only

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country in this group with a sizable minority (Hungarians). Until the formation of Czechoslovakia, Slovakia had been under Hungarian rule for centuries. As the junior partner in Czechoslovakia it had to play second fiddle, but it also received large subsidies from the central government in Prague. After the collapse of communism, the Czechs refused to meet the Slovak wish for national emancipation, and Slovakia broke away. At the time the two parts were ruled by opposing governments (rightist in Czechia, leftist in Slovakia). Between 1993 and 1998, Slovakia was governed by an authoritarian leader who limited civil rights and suppressed the Hungarian minority, but parliamentarism gradually took root. Hungary had a glorious medieval past before it was conquered by the Turks and later ceded to the Austrians. After a national revolt in 1848, the Austrians slowly recognized the position of Hungary as a junior partner, and the Austrian Empire was renamed the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The territories under Hungarian authority were populated by Croats, Romanians, Slovaks, and Ukrainians. After World War I, Hungary had to hand over more than two-thirds of its territory to these new nations. Since that time relations with neighboring countries have been affected by the treatment of the Hungarian minorities there. Hungary itself is ethnically homogenous, with the exception of a Roma minority. Roma people also live in the surrounding Balkan countries, and in most of these nations the partially nomadic Roma feel discriminated against by the indigenous people. After the 1956 anti-Soviet revolt, Hungary introduced economic reforms that made it the most consumer-oriented economy in the Soviet Bloc. Because of these initial changes, the transition toward a free-market economy and democracy was more gradual than in the rest of Central Europe.

The Balkan Peninsula The Balkan Peninsula is Europe in a nutshell. Everything that makes European politics intriguing, intricate, and, at times, tragic is found here. On a 450-mile (700-kilometer) trip (about the distance from San Francisco to Los Angeles, or Boston to Washington, DC) from the old Venetian trade center of Dubrovnik in Croatia through Kosovo to the Greek port of Thessaloniki a traveler passes through �Catholic, Serbian Orthodox, Muslim, and Greek Orthodox countries and has to read at least five languages (Croatian, Serbian, Albanian, Macedonian, and Greek) written in three different alphabets (Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek). Until the 19th century, the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula was under Turkish (Muslim) rule, and the Serbs and Greeks were the most active in organizing national revolt. Some nations, like Serbia and Bulgaria, looked at Russia for assistance. The northern part of the peninsula belonged to the Austrian Empire. Whereas the Turkish Ottoman Empire gradually retreated, the Austrian Empire



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incorporated new territories until shortly before World War I, sometimes with the official endorsement of Great Britain and France, which preferred Austrian rule to Russian expansion. New borders were drawn at the end of World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart; this was soon followed by the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. The new kingdom (later republic) of Yugoslavia combined a number of nations and ethnic groups. After World War II most Balkan countries changed into communist dictatorships, except for Greece, which became part of Western Europe. (Because of its pioneering role in European civilization, Greece was admitted to the EU in 1981.) In the 1990s, Yugoslavia disintegrated, which gave rise to a number of new nations, some of which had never been independent before. Whereas the Balkan Peninsula is Europe in a nutshell, the former Yugoslavia was the Balkans in a nutshell. Yugoslavia consisted of three parts that were highly different culturally: Slovenia and Croatia (Catholic, Latin alphabet) in the north; Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia (Orthodox, Cyrillic alphabet) in the south; and Bosnia and Kosovo (Muslim majority, Latin alphabet) between. Former Yugoslavia’s first part, Slovenia and Croatia, had belonged to the AustroHungarian Empire for centuries before becoming part of the new Yugoslav kingdom in the aftermath of World War I. Economically and culturally, Slovenia was closest to Western European standards. It was Yugoslavia’s richest region and a stronghold of liberal opposition against Serbian radical communists during the last days of communism. Serbian military intervention after Slovenia’s declaration of independence was confined to one bombing raid. Nation building in Slovenia was helped by the absence of large minorities. Its southern neighbor, Croatia, consists of a peninsula in the Dalmatian Sea (Istria); a long and narrow strip of land along the coast (Dalmatia), which was influenced by Italy as much as by Austria; and an interior part (Slavonia), which borders Hungary and was under Hungarian rule for a long time. The inland region contained Hungarian and Serbian minorities, which motivated Serbia to resist Croatian independence. After the short war, most of the Croatian Serbs fled to Serbia, which left only a small Hungarian minority. The short war with Serbia, combined with the Croatian involvement in the Bosnian civil war, reinforced authoritarian politics under its first president. The second part of former Yugoslavia consists of Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia, all of which have long been dominated by the Turks. Serbia was not only a center of anti-Turkish revolt but was also active in fighting Austro-Hungarian attempts to expand into this part of the Balkans. World War I broke out when a Serbian nationalist killed the heir to the Austrian throne, who was on official visit in Sarajevo, which is the current Bosnian capital. Russia was Serbia’s natural ally against both enemies and assisted it in its efforts to become a regional power. Serbia dominated Â�Yugoslavia between the world wars and during Josip Tito’s communist postwar rule of Â�Yugoslavia, but that country opted for an independent communist course outside

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the Soviet Bloc. Until 2006, the country still upheld the claim of being federal Yugoslavia, in combination with tiny Montenegro, but then Montenegro seceded. Serbia still houses a Hungarian minority in the north. Montenegro is inhabited by Serbs, but the only difference is that the more populous part of Montenegro is oriented toward the sea (and the West), whereas Serbia has always been a landlocked nation. The country was independent for three decades at the turn of the 20th century, between centuries of Turkish control and the merger with Serbia after World War I. Macedonia is a rather artificial political unit, which had never been independent. Until World War II, many Macedonians regarded themselves as Bulgarians, and Bulgarians thought the same way. Yet, national identity was reinforced when Macedonia became one of Yugoslavia’s constituent republics. Despite this problem of national identity, and the large Albanian minority within its borders, Macedonia had a relatively smooth record of political and economic reforms during the 1990s. Its name is disputed by Greece, however, which claims the name for its own northern region. The third part of former Yugoslavia consists of Kosovo and Bosnia, which are located between the other two parts. Serbia supported Serbian minorities in Â�Bosnia and Croatia, but it suppressed the Albanian minority in its own Kosovo region, which prompted military intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1999 and independence in 2008. Kosovo, which is inhabited by Muslim Â�Albanians and has a Serbian minority, had never been an independent unit before. In language and religion it is similar to Albania. Bosnia (Bosnia and Herzegovina) is inhabited by Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. With the Albanians, these Muslims were the only people outside present-day Turkey that adopted the Muslim faith under Turkish rule. In the late 19th century Bosnia came under Austrian control but was not incorporated in the empire until 1908, when it became part of Yugoslavia after World War I. When Yugoslavia fell apart, the three groups engaged in a civil war, in which the Serbs in particular committed ethnic cleansing. Since the 1995 Â�Dayton Agreement, which put an end to the war, Bosnia consists of a mixed Bosnian Muslim/Bosnian Croat republic and an autonomous Bosnian Serb republic. Both are artificial states; the official republic is a fragile one, with uneasy cooperation between Croats and Muslims. The part inhabited by Serbs would prefer to join neighboring Serbia. In practice the two units operate separately. The rest of the Balkan shows just as much variation as former Yugoslavia in language, religion, other sources of division, and recent developments. Albania speaks a non-Slavonic language and is an Islamic nation. Both before and under communism, it was one of Europe’s most isolated countries. Clinging to harsh Stalinist communism, it had hardly any relations with Western Europe, and soon broke off relations with neighboring Yugoslavia and with the Soviet Bloc. One communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, held the country in his iron grip for 40 years. Power shifted hands after the end of communism, yet there were no great reforms in political structure or political decision making.



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Although Romania is by far the most populous Balkan nation, its role in European history has been a modest one. It is the biggest European country without a glorious past as a regional, maritime, or colonial empire, or as a center of arts; Count Dracula was probably its most famous inhabitant. One half of Romania was long under Turkish rule, and the other half was controlled by Hungary and still contains a Hungarian minority; the two parts were united at the end of World War I. As the only Central European nation that speaks a Latin language, the country has enjoyed special interest from the French. Within the Soviet Bloc, Romania remained the most Stalinist type of dictatorship, in which the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had to be addressed officially as “Genius of the Carpathian Mountains.” He demolished part of the capital Bucharest to build a monstrous presidential palace. As a consequence, like Albania, Romania had to build up democracy and civil society from scratch after the collapse of communism, a development that is hampered by the wide gulf between the national capital, the rural countryside, and a few mining communities. Moldova is probably the most artificial new state in Central Europe. For the greater part it consists of a region (Bessarabia) that was part of the Russian Empire during the 19th century, was independent for a few days after the Russian Revolution, and then joined Romania. In World War II, the Soviet Union occupied Â�Moldova and combined it with a small stretch of land that is inhabited by Russians to make this Romanian/Russian combination one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union. Since independence in 1991, the country has not been able to develop as a real nation. In the former Romanian part there are recurrent movements to join Romania, as many people regard their Moldavian language as no more than a regional variation of Romanian. Power in the Russian-speaking part (Trans-Dniestria) is in the hands of a separatist movement, which is supported by Russia, although the region borders Ukraine, not Russia. Bulgaria, which obtained independence at the beginning of the 20th century, has maintained close contacts with Russia, based on a similar language and culture, and on Russian support against Turkish rule during the 19th century. Moreover, the country does not border Russia, which reduced the threat of Russian conquest. Because of this relationship with the Russians, the communist political system was hardly contested but was regarded as a way of modernizing the country. The communist leaders closely observed all guidelines from Moscow, and their obedience was never challenged by any popular revolt. Several minority groups, including Turks, live in Bulgaria. Their suppression has caused an emigration movement from Bulgaria to Turkey and has strained relations with that country. Although Bulgaria also regards the Macedonians as Bulgarians, it has recognized the new state of Macedonia without any reservations. Greece has been lucky compared with the other Balkan nations, even apart from being the pioneer of European civilization. First, it is homogenous in language and

288 |╇ European Nations by Region

religion, with only a very small Muslim minority living close to the Turkish land border; and it even has an alphabet of its own. Second, conflicts with other Balkan Â� nations have been limited because Greece, more than its northern neighbors, has its face toward the sea. Greece’s only remaining antagonism is toward Turkey, from which it was liberated in 1830, in a war that evoked great enthusiasm among Â�Western European romantics. Most of the Greek Islands remained Turkish until the beginning of the 20th century. Third, the spirit of Western European Enlightenment has influenced Greece’s culture more than that of the surrounding nations. Greece’s political culture resembles the Latin European one, with its state-oriented civil society, the importance of family ties in politics, and the prominence of popular leaders.

Eastern Europe Although Russia once pretended to be the true heir to the Roman and Byzantine empires (with Moscow as the Third Rome) and claimed to protect the Christians in the Turkish Empire, Russia has always been treated with disdain or has been neglected by the rest of Europe. The marginal position was due to the long domination of the country by the Mongols at the time the Renaissance was Â�spreading across Western Europe. Russia missed this reappraisal of humanitarian ideals. Later, occasional British and French support of the Russian czars was not Â�motivated by any real interest in Russia but by fear of German expansion. Russia was often not very interested in Western Europe either, as it had only Â�suffered attacks from that side. Indeed, the large Russian plains proved a fatal attraction for many a Western European ruler, who was then defeated by the Â�enormous distances, the severe Russian winter, and Russian troops. Germans, Swedes, the French under Napoleon, and the Germans once again during World War II shared this fate. The Russians themselves could continue their own expansion for more than 10,000 kilometers into barren Siberia. The efforts to gain access to the Â�Mediterranean Sea were partly motivated by the need to find easier sea routes to the ports on the Asian end of Siberia. In Europe, the Russian Empire became a power to be reckoned with during the 19th century after it had conquered Finland, the Baltic States, Poland, and Ukraine. The 1917 Russian Revolution changed Russia’s position in Europe. The Soviet Union became a central concern for the rest of Europe. It was a formidable threat to the existing order for frightened conservatives and was the land of hope and glory to communists all over the world. The communist glorification lasted even during Stalin’s reign of terror. Thousands of communists came to see the great achievements of socialism in one country and to hail Stalin as their leader, and the one and only revolutionary leader worldwide. During the 1920s and 1930s, the



Eastern Europe╇ | 289

country became the site of enormous social upheaval, with the collectivization of agriculture into collective farms, the forced industrialization under five-year plans, and mass killings of millions of supposed opponents. During World War II, Russia was devastated by the Germans. The Soviet Union then demanded Central Europe as its own buffer zone between Germany and the Russian border. After Stalin’s death in 1953, political terror became less intense, and some limited economic reforms were carried out, but the communist power monopoly was not given up and democratic rights were still absent. Mikhail Â�Gorbachev’s campaign in the late 1980s to introduce more openness (glasnost) and political reform (â•›perestroika) dealt the fatal blow to Soviet communism. The Soviet Bloc fell to pieces and so did the Soviet Union. Present-day Russia is facing huge problems of economic and political transformation. Almost all industrial equipment, except for space missiles, is outdated, and in the past the country shifted from czarist authoritarian rule to communist totalitarian rule without any tradition of liberal rights or democracy. Interestingly, the end of the Soviet Bloc favors its international economic relations, because it allows the country to sell oil and gas to the former communist countries at world market prices instead of the low communist prices the other communist countries had to pay during the period of the Soviet Bloc (which was one of the exceptional advantages of being part of that bloc). The country has also become a major gas and oil exporter to the rest of Western Europe. However, although all other new nations can focus popular attention to fostering national allegiance, Russia has to do so on the basis of an empire lost, meanwhile fighting movements for autonomy in the Caucasian mountains (Chechnya). Of today’s three Eastern European nations, Belarus had never been a state of its own. It was either under Polish or Russian rule, and it is now one of Europe’s most artificial new nations, which still lacks a national identity. In contrast to a number of new Central European nations, the delay is not because of the existence of minorities but because of the determination of the communists that have remained in power to undo the separation from Russia. Belarus has already concluded several merger agreements with Russia. However, each time the Russians were afraid of the prohibitive costs of assisting the Belarussian economy, and they disliked the Belarussian presidential power aspirations. In medieval times, Ukraine was a large empire, but since then it has been under Lithuanian, Polish, and eventually under Russian rule. The country is close to Â�Russia in culture and language, but in contrast to Belarus it has introduced many symbols of national independence and has adapted its language accordingly. Nation building in this huge country, Europe’s third largest in surface, poses many problems, especially in the form of economic and cultural differences between the western and the eastern parts of the country. The west has traditionally been subject to non-Russian influence from Poland and Hungary. The east contains the important

290 |╇ European Nations by Region

centers of heavy industry but also a Russian minority. Ukraine has a �better record in democratic politics than Russia or Belarus. It introduced a presidential system, and the change of guard in 1994 was the only democratic succession of a president in Eastern Europe during the 1990s. Yet, the new regime soon proved to be one of the most corrupt worldwide, and a new change of the guard in 2004 was only secured after a popular revolt (Orange Revolution) against election fraud.

Southeastern Europe Southeastern Europe, the combination of the Anatolian and the southern Caucasian peninsulas, is part of Europe and part of Asia. Whereas Turkey has served as a real bridge for the route from Europe to the Asian civilizations, the Caucasian nations have been more of a barrier because of the enormous Caucasian Mountains, which surpass the Alps in height and rival them in extension. Whereas Turkey had been an empire for centuries, the Caucasian nations had long been part of the surrounding empires, the Byzantine Empire, the Mongol Empire, the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Persian Empire, the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union, at the time they regained their long-lost independence when the Soviet Union broke down in the early 1990s. The Caucasian Peninsula, including the Russian northern part, is a patchwork of diversity in languages, alphabets, and religion, dwarfing the variety of Switzerland or the Balkan Peninsula in that respect. Georgia is situated on the Black Sea; it is an old Christian country that was never Islamized under the Islamic Empires and has its own language and alphabet. The main centers of the country are the coastal area and the capital Tbilisi in the eastern interior. On the border with Russia, two ethnic minority regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, had wrested almost total autonomy after the demise of the Soviet Union, and attempts to reintegrate them in the country by military force in 2008 resulted in a brief war when Russia came to the help of the regions and since that time controls them. Landlocked Armenia is the smallest of the three countries in area and population size. It is an old Christian country that has remained Christian under long-lasting Muslim subjugation; it has its own language and alphabet. During World War I the Turkish Empire deported the population from the Russian border to eastern Turkey, which resulted in the Armenian genocide of more than a million people, though that number of victims is contested by Turkey. The deportation also resulted in emigration to Western Europe, in particular to France. Armenia is more industrialized than Georgia and enjoys large investments from the Armenian Diaspora in Western Europe and the United States. The country is more ethnically homogeneous than the other two Caucasian nations, and ethnic strife is limited. Azerbaijan is the largest of the three nations, both in area and population size. Azerbaijan has an enclave between Turkey and Armenia. Within Azerbaijan



The Other Countries╇ | 291

one region, Nagorno-Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians though not on the Armenian border, split off in the 1980s. The region was supported militarily by Armenia, and since that time the region and a corridor to Armenia have been under Armenian control. Azerbaijan’s economy is partly based on the production of crude oil in the coastal region on the Caspian Sea, where the national capital Baku, the largest city in the Caucasian region, is located. Turkey has only a small territory in Europe, as Europe is traditionally defined, with Istanbul (one of the biggest European cities) serving as a bridge between Europe and Asia. For centuries, Turkey was the core of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which extended over the Balkan Peninsula, Arabia, and northern Africa, but in the 19th century gradually disintegrated under pressure of liberation movements and of the European Great Powers in their quest for colonies. World War I dealt the final blow, and in 1922, Turkey became a republic under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who is still hailed as the country’s founding father. He moved the capital from Istanbul to the more centrally located Ankara and introduced massive reforms to bring Turkey closer to Western Europe. The new republic changed from a Â�Muslim to a secular state, banned the Muslim headscarf for women in public buildings, and shifted from the Arabic to the Latin alphabet; in short, it was a total break with the Ottoman Empire. Yet, republican Turkey still totally denies the Armenian genocide committed during the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Although Turkey is a secular state, Islam has remained the religion of the overwhelming part of the population, however. Turkey has a large Kurdish minority in the east, but Kurds, who also inhabit parts of Iran, Iraq, and Syria, are regarded as mountain Turks without minority rights, a status that also applies to the smaller Armenian minority. Turkey is a member of most European organizations and aspires to EU membership, but it runs up against general opposition. The EU’s reservations are based on the country’s sheer size (it would be the second most populous EU member behind Germany), its Muslim culture, the important role of the army in national politics (officially, as the watchdog of secularization), and the treatment of the Kurds.

The Other Countries Far-off Iceland is Europe’s least populous and most remote nation. The country has long been under Danish rule. Although it did not gain full independence until 1944, it boasts the oldest parliament in the world—in existence for more than one thousand years. Iceland is a small-scale society that resembles Norway in social life and culture, yet has its own language. Iceland maintains strong relations with the Scandinavian countries but in a marginal position. Economically, it is more oriented toward North America.

292 |╇ European Nations by Region

Malta is located at the other end of Europe, but it shares with Iceland its nature as a small insular nation-state, its late independence, the appreciation of their smallsize national communities, and the consequent reluctance to join the EU (although Malta joined and Iceland did not). Malta has long been in the possession of the Catholic Order of the Knights of St. John, but until independence in 1964 it was a British colony for one and a half centuries. Both Maltese (a Semitic language) and English are official languages. Neighboring Italy has strongly influenced Maltese culture, and many people also speak Italian. The main line of division is between Maltese-speaking Labour voters in the south and English-speaking Conservatives in the other parts. Cyprus is inhabited by Greeks, who make up a large majority, and Turks. It is located close to the Turkish coast and was part of Turkey until the end of the 19th century, when it became a British colony. After the bloody struggle for independence, which was combined with a movement to join Greece, the country gained independence in 1960; this was soon followed by the stationing of a United Nations armed force to prevent ethnic hostilities. In 1974, the island was de facto divided: the Greek part moved closer to Greece, and the Turkish army occupied the northern part, mainly inhabited by Turks. Most Greeks then left that part of the island. The Greek part of Cyprus does not accept the division, which is also an EU issue related to the possible admission of Turkey to the EU. The five European ministates (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City) are part of Europe’s political folklore, remnants from medieval and feudal times. None of them is a real nation; culturally, they form part of their bigger neighboring state or states. Two of the ministates, Liechtenstein and Monaco, serve as tax havens. San Marino claims to be the oldest republic in the world, a claim that is disputed by Switzerland and Iceland. The other independent ministates have a nonelected head of state. Some have a small parliament and, in the best European tradition, coalition cabinets. With the exception of Vatican City, the foreign relations of the independent ministates are administered by a neighboring country, but they participate in some international European organizations.

CHAPTER 16

Europe and the United States: Social Class and Race— Convergence or Divergence?

T

his brief summarizing section consists of two tables: Table 16.1 comparing social class in continental European politics with race in the United States, and Table 16.2 which shows the convergence or divergence of European and American politics. Table 16.1╇ Social Class in Continental Europe versus Race in the United States Political Feature

Europe: Impact of Social Class

United States: Impact Recent Developments of Race

Ideology Early prominence of Long-standing denial Europe: Class is less â•… social class cleavage â•… of racial split â•… important US: From race to â•…ethnicity Ideology Labor-based Very conservative Both gradually waning â•… spectrum â•… ideologies to the â•… whites in the South â•… or moving to a center â•…left â•…position Electoral Proportional Racial US: Trend to reduce â•…system â•…representation in â•…gerrymandering â•…gerrymandering â•… most continental â•…countries Party system Left–right dominant Traditionally one- US: two-party system is â•… divide in multiparty â•… party system in the â•… the norm in all regions â•… system or two-party â•… South; two-party â•… and at federal level â•… (or two-bloc) system â•… system at the â•… federal level

(Continued)

293

294 |╇ Europe and the United States Political Well-organized Democrats Europe: Decline of ╅ parties ╅ parties with party ╅ traditionally split: ╅ traditional parties; rise ╅ discipline ╅ North vs. South ╅ of populist parties US: shift of the South ╅to the Republican Party; rising political clout of the South in that party Interest Less important than Some of them very Europe: Decline of ╅ groups ╅ parties or even ╅ powerful, with direct ╅ traditional parties ╅ subordinate to ╅ political appeal to ╅ offers interest groups ╅parties ╅their members ╅ opportunities of direct access to the government Social More extensive under Limited because of Europe: retrenchments; ╅ policies ╅ pressure of labor ╅ southern Democrats; ╅ stricter eligibility ╅ at first blacks were ╅ requirements ╅ excluded US: Now universal ╅coverage Civil rights Less prominent than Long-standing racial Europe: Very prominent ╅ social rights since ╅ issue ╅ in postcommunist � ╅ the labor-instigated ╅ Central Europe ╅ extension of voting US: Still race-oriented ╅ rights in the early ╅ 20th century

Table 16.2╇ Europe and the United States: Social Class and Race—Convergence or Divergence?

Europe

United States Trend: Convergence or Divergence

Base of the Ethnic base under Common values, but Some convergence â•… nation â•… pressure because â•… ethnicity on the rise â•… because of changes â•… of recent Muslim â•… because of recent â•… on both sides â•…immigration: â•…non-European â•… moving toward a â•… immigration: â•… multiethnic nation â•… Moving toward a â•… multiethnic nation Ideological Shift to the right but More conservative and Economic issue: Some â•… spectrum â•… not toward more â•… less libertarian than â•… convergence â•… authoritarianism in â•… Europe; trend to the Social issues: â•… social (ethical) â•… right and toward more â•… Divergence â•…issues â•…authoritarianism

(Continued)



Europe and the United States╇ | 295

Electoral Mostly proportional Plurality –No convergence â•…system â•…representation â•…(majoritarian) Party Multiparty systems, From two-party Divergence because â•… system â•… no trend toward â•… (North), one-party â•… of changes in US â•… two-party system â•… (South), and three- â•… politics â•…party (federal) system toward two-party system Political Strong party Loosely organized but Convergence because â•… parties â•… discipline â•… increasing party â•… of changes in US â•…discipline â•…politics Election Party oriented, party Candidate oriented, Some convergence â•… campaigns â•… financed, but â•… candidate financed â•… because of changes â•… growing role of â•… in European politics â•…prominent candidates (Americanization) Interests Pluralism and Pluralism; direct Some convergence â•… politics â•… corporatism; â•… influence of interest â•… because of the â•…corporatism in â•…associations â•…decline of â•… decline because of â•… corporatism in â•…the decentralization â•…Europe â•…of employment relations Legislative Parties still going Primacy of individual Some convergence â•… strong â•… members but â•… because of changes â•… increasing party â•… in US politics â•…discipline Executive Mostly nonelected President –No convergence â•… prime ministers Judiciary Creeping judicial Judicial review Convergence because â•… review â•… of changes in â•… European politics Federalism Increasing within Very strong Convergence because â•… nations and new â•… of changes in â•… EU supranationalism â•… European politics Local Increasingly Important Some convergence â•… politics â•… important because â•… because of changes â•… of government â•… in European politics â•… retrenchments and â•… devolution of power Social Important, but cuts in Not very extensive Some convergence â•… policies â•… spending and stricter â•… and under attack â•… because of changes â•… eligibility rules â•… in European politics (Continued)

296 |╇ Europe and the United States Civil rights Growing importance Especially race- There may be some ╅because of ╅oriented ╅convergence ╅ multiethnic base of ╅ because of changes ╅ nations, and in ╅ in European politics ╅ Central Europe

Sources Quoted in Volume 1

(for Further Reading, see at the end of Volume 2) Adema, Willem. 2006. Social Assistance Policy Development and the Provision of a Decent Level of Income in Selected OECD Countries. Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Bachrach, Peter, and Morton S. Baratz. 1962. “Decisions and Nondecisions: An Analytical Framework.” American Political Science Review 57, no. 3: 632–42. Dahl, Robert A. 1961. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Dahl, Robert A. 1991. Modern Political Analysis, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Davies, Norman. 1996. Europe, A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Easton, David. 1965. A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: Wiley. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge UK: Polity Press. The Federalist Papers. 2008. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fishkin, James S. 1995. The Voice of the People: Public Opinion & Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Gallagher, Michael, Michael Laver, and Peter Mair. 2006. Representative Government in Modern Europe. Boston MA: McGraw Hill. Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper & Row. Hallin, Daniel C., and Paolo Mancini. 2004. Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hirschman, Albert O. 1970. Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Â� Organizations and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Hunter, Floyd. 1953. Community Power Structure: A Study of Decision Makers. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Inglehart, Robert. 1977. The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Political Styles Among Western Publics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

297

298 |╇ Sources Quoted in Volume 1 Joppke, Christian. 1998. Challenge to the Nation-State: Immigration in Western Europe and the United States. New York: Oxford University Press. Katz, Richard S., and Peter Mair. 1995. “Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party.” Party Politics 1, no 1: 113–35. Kitschelt, H. 1986. “Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-nuclear Movements in Four Democracies.” British Journal of Political Science 16: 57–85. Lasswell, Harold D., and Abraham Kaplan. 1950. Power and Society: A Framework for Political Inquiry. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Lieshout, Robert. 1995. Between Anarchy and Hierarchy: A Theory of International Â�Politics and Foreign Policy. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar. Lijphart, Arend. 1992. Introduction. In Parliamentary versus Presidential Government, edited by Arend Lijphart, 1–27. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lijphart, A. 1999. Patterns of Democracy: Government Form and Performance in Thirtysix Countries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Lipset, Seymour M. 1960. Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Lukes, Steven. 1974. Power: A Radical View. London: Macmillan. Madison, James. 1961. The Federalist X. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University. McKay, David. 2005. American Politics & Society. Malden, MA: Blackwell. Putnam, Robert D. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Â�Community. New York: Simon and Schuster. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. 1972. Du contrat social, ou principes du droit politique. Paris: Bordas. Schmitter, Philippe. 1974. “Still the Century of Corporatism.” The Review of Politics 36: 85–131. Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1950. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Harper & Brothers. Slomp, Hans. 1998. Between Bargaining and Politics: An Introduction to European Labor Relations. Westport, CT: Praeger. Visser, Jelle. 2006. Union membership statistics in 24 countries. Monthly Labor Review 129: 38–49. Weber, Eugen. 1976. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France Â�1870–1914. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Weber, Max. 1994. Political Writings. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

APPENDIX A

1992 EU Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), Preamble, Titles I and II

Preamble HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF DENMARK, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, THE PRESIDENT OF THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC, HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SPAIN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE GRAND DUKE OF LUXEMBOURG, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE NETHERLANDS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC, HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, RESOLVED to mark a new stage in the process of European integration undertaken with the establishment of the European Communities,

299

300 |╇ Appendix A: 1992 EU Treaty on European Union

DRAWING INSPIRATION from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, from which have developed the universal values of the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law, RECALLING the historic importance of the ending of the division of the European continent and the need to create firm bases for the construction of the future Europe, CONFIRMING their attachment to the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the rule of law, CONFIRMING their attachment to fundamental social rights as defined in the European Social Charter signed at Turin on 18 October 1961 and in the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, DESIRING to deepen the solidarity between their peoples while respecting their history, their culture and their traditions, DESIRING to enhance further the democratic and efficient functioning of the institutions so as to enable them better to carry out, within a single institutional framework, the tasks entrusted to them, RESOLVED to achieve the strengthening and the convergence of their economies and to establish an economic and monetary union including, in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty and of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, a single and stable currency, DETERMINED to promote economic and social progress for their peoples, taking into account the principle of sustainable development and within the context of the accomplishment of the internal market and of reinforced cohesion and environmental protection, and to implement policies ensuring that advances in economic integration are accompanied by parallel progress in other fields, RESOLVED to establish a citizenship common to nationals of their countries, RESOLVED to implement a common foreign and security policy including the progressive framing of a common defence policy, which might lead to a common defence in accordance with the provisions of Article 42, thereby reinforcing the European identity and its independence in order to promote peace, security and progress in Europe and in the world, RESOLVED to facilitate the free movement of persons, while ensuring the safety and security of their peoples, by establishing an area of freedom, security and justice, in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty and of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,



Appendix A: 1992 EU Treaty on European Union╇ | 301

RESOLVED to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, IN VIEW of further steps to be taken in order to advance European integration, HAVE DECIDED to establish a European Union and to this end have designated as their Plenipotentiaries: (List of plenipotentiaries not reproduced) WHO, having exchanged their full powers, found in good and due form, have agreed as follows:

Title I: Common Provisions Article 1 By this Treaty, the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a EUROPEAN UNION, hereinafter called “the Union” on which the Member States confer competences to attain objectives they have in common. This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen. The Union shall be founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter referred to as “the Treaties”). Those two Treaties shall have the same legal value. The Union shall replace and succeed the European Community.

Article 2 The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.

Article 3 1.╇ The Union’s aim is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples. 2.╇ The Union shall offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers, in which the free movement of persons is ensured in conjunction with appropriate measures with respect to external border controls, asylum, immigration and the prevention and combating of crime.

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3.╇ The Union shall establish an internal market. It shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. It shall promote scientific and technological advance. It shall combat social exclusion and discrimination, and shall promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of the rights of the child. It shall promote economic, social and territorial cohesion, and solidarity among Member States. It shall respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and shall ensure that Europe’s cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced. 4.╇ The Union shall establish an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro. 5.╇ In its relations with the wider world, the Union shall uphold and promote its values and interests and contribute to the protection of its citizens. It shall contribute to peace, security, the sustainable development of the Earth, solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights, in particular the rights of the child, as well as to the strict observance and the development of international law, including respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter. 6.╇ The Union shall pursue its objectives by appropriate means commensurate with the competences which are conferred upon it in the Treaties.

Article 4 1.╇ In accordance with Article 5, competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States. 2.╇ The Union shall respect the equality of Member States before the Treaties as well as their national identities, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional, inclusive of regional and local self-government. It shall respect their essential State functions, including ensuring the territorial integrity of the State, maintaining law and order and safeguarding national security. In particular, national security remains the sole responsibility of each Member State. 3.╇Pursuant to the principle of sincere cooperation, the Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties. The Member States shall take any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union. The Member States shall facilitate the achievement of the Union’s tasks and refrain from any measure which could jeopardise the attainment of the Union’s objectives.



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Article 5 1.╇ The limits of Union competences are governed by the principle of conferral. The use of Union competences is governed by the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. 2.╇ Under the principle of conferral, the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein. Competences not conferred upon the Union in the Treaties remain with the Member States. 3.╇ Under the principle of subsidiarity, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Union shall act only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, either at central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level. The institutions of the Union shall apply the principle of subsidiarity as laid down in the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. National Parliaments ensure compliance with the principle of subsidiarity in accordance with the procedure set out in that Protocol. 4.╇ Under the principle of proportionality, the content and form of Union action shall not exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Treaties. The institutions of the Union shall apply the principle of proportionality as laid down in the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

Article 6 1.╇The Union recognises the rights, freedoms and principles set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union of 7 December 2000, as adapted at Strasbourg, on 12 December 2007, which shall have the same legal value as the Treaties. The provisions of the Charter shall not extend in any way the competences of the Union as defined in the Treaties. The rights, freedoms and principles in the Charter shall be interpreted in accordance with the general provisions in Title VII of the Charter governing its interpretation and application and with due regard to the explanations referred to in the Charter, that set out the sources of those provisions. 2.╇ The Union shall accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Such accession shall not affect the Union’s competences as defined in the Treaties. 3.╇ Fundamental rights, as guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and as they result from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States, shall constitute general principles of the Union’s law.

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Article 7 1.╇ On a reasoned proposal by one third of the Member States, by the European Parliament or by the European Commission, the Council, acting by a majority of four fifths of its members after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, may determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2. Before making such a determination, the Council shall hear the Member State in question and may address recommendations to it, acting in accordance with the same procedure. The Council shall regularly verify that the grounds on which such a determination was made continue to apply. 2.╇ The European Council, acting by unanimity on a proposal by one third of the Member States or by the Commission and after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, may determine the existence of a serious and persistent breach by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2, after inviting the Member State in question to submit its observations. 3.╇ Where a determination under paragraph 2 has been made, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide to suspend certain of the rights deriving from the application of the Treaties to the Member State in question, including the voting rights of the representative of the government of that Member State in the Council. In doing so, the Council shall take into account the possible consequences of such a suspension on the rights and obligations of natural and legal persons. The obligations of the Member State in question under this Treaty shall in any case continue to be binding on that State. 4.╇ The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide subsequently to vary or revoke measures taken under paragraph 3 in response to changes in the situation which led to their being imposed. 5.╇ The voting arrangements applying to the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council for the purposes of this Article are laid down in Article 354 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Article 8 1.╇ The Union shall develop a special relationship with neighbouring countries, aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness, founded on the values of the Union and characterised by close and peaceful relations based on cooperation. 2.╇ For the purposes of paragraph 1, the Union may conclude specific agreements with the countries concerned. These agreements may contain reciprocal rights and obligations as well as the possibility of undertaking activities jointly. Their implementation shall be the subject of periodic consultation.



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Title II: Provisions on Democratic Principles Article 9 In all its activities, the Union shall observe the principle of the equality of its citizens, who shall receive equal attention from its institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. Every national of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union. Citizenship of the Union shall be additional to national citizenship and shall not replace it.

Article 10 1.╇ The functioning of the Union shall be founded on representative democracy. 2.╇ Citizens are directly represented at Union level in the European Parliament. Member States are represented in the European Council by their Heads of State or Government and in the Council by their governments, themselves democratically accountable either to their national Parliaments, or to their citizens. 3.╇ Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the democratic life of the Union. Decisions shall be taken as openly and as closely as possible to the citizen. 4.╇ Political parties at European level contribute to forming European political awareness and to expressing the will of citizens of the Union.

Article 11 1.╇ The institutions shall, by appropriate means, give citizens and representative associations the opportunity to make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action. 2.╇ The institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society. 3.╇ The European Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties concerned in order to ensure that the Union’s actions are coherent and transparent. 4.╇ Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Treaties. The procedures and conditions required for such a citizens’ initiative shall be determined in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 24 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Article 12 National Parliaments contribute actively to the good functioning of the Union: (a) through being informed by the institutions of the Union and having draft legislative acts of the Union forwarded to them in accordance with the Protocol on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union;

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(b) by seeing to it that the principle of subsidiarity is respected in accordance with the procedures provided for in the Protocol on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality; (c) by taking part, within the framework of the area of freedom, security and justice, in the evaluation mechanisms for the implementation of the Union policies in that area, in accordance with Article 70 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and through being involved in the political monitoring of Europol and the evaluation of Eurojust’s activities in accordance with Articles 88 and 85 of that Treaty; (d) by taking part in the revision procedures of the Treaties, in accordance with Article 48 of this Treaty; (e) by being notified of applications for accession to the Union, in accordance with Article 49 of this Treaty; (f) by taking part in the inter-parliamentary cooperation between national Parliaments and with the European Parliament, in accordance with the Protocol on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union.

APPENDIX B

The 1999 Blair/Schröder Manifesto: Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte

Introduction Social democrats are in government in almost all the countries of the Union. Social democracy has found new acceptance—but only because, while retaining its traditional values, it has begun in a credible way to renew its ideas and modernise its programmes. It has also found new acceptance because it stands not only for social justice but also for economic dynamism and the unleashing of creativity and innovation. The trademark of this approach is the New Centre in Germany and the Third Way in the United Kingdom. Other social democrats choose other terms that suit their own national cultures. But though the language and the institutions may differ, the motivation is everywhere the same. Most people have long since abandoned the world view represented by the dogmas of left and right. Social democrats must be able to speak to those people. Fairness and social justice, liberty and equality of opportunity, solidarity and responsibility to others—these values are timeless. Social democracy will never sacrifice them. To make these values relevant to today’s world requires realistic and forward-looking policies capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century. Modernisation is about adapting to conditions that have objectively changed, and not reacting to polls. Similarly, we need to apply our politics within a new economic framework, modernised for today, where government does all it can to support enterprise but never believes it is a substitute for enterprise. The essential function of markets must be complemented and improved by political action, not hampered by it. We support a market economy, not a market society. We share a common destiny within the European Union. We face the same challenges—to promote employment and prosperity, to offer every individual the opportunity to fulfill their unique potential, to combat social exclusion and 307

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poverty, to reconcile material progress with environmental sustainability and our responsibility to future generations, to tackle common problems that threaten the cohesion of society such as crime and drugs, and to make Europe a more effective force for good in the world. We need to strengthen our policies by benchmarking our experiences in Britain and Germany, but also with like-minded counterparts in Europe and the rest of the world. We must learn from each other and measure our own performance against best practice and experience in other countries. With this appeal, we invite other European social democratic governments who share our modernising aims to join us in this enterprise.

I. Learning from experience Although both parties can be proud of our historic achievements, today we must develop realistic and feasible answers to new challenges confronting our societies and economies. This requires adherence to our values but also a willingness to change our old approaches and traditional policy instruments. In the past: • The promotion of social justice was sometimes confused with the imposition of equality of outcome. The result was a neglect of the importance of rewarding effort and responsibility, and the association of social democracy with conformity and mediocrity rather than the celebration of creativity, diversity and excellence. Work was burdened with ever higher costs. • The means of achieving social justice became identified with ever higher levels of public spending regardless of what they achieved or the impact of the taxes required to fund it on competitiveness, employment and living standards. Decent public services are a vital concern for social democrats, but social conscience cannot be measured by the level of public expenditure. The real test for society is how effectively this expenditure is used and how much it enables people to help themselves. • The belief that the state should address damaging market failures all too often led to a disproportionate expansion of the government’s reach and the bureaucracy that went with it. The balance between the individual and the collective was distorted. Values that are important to citizens, such as personal achievement and success, entrepreneurial spirit, individual responsibility and community spirit, were too often subordinated to universal social safeguards. • Too often rights were elevated above responsibilities, but the responsibility of the individual to his or her family, neighbourhood and society cannot be offloaded on to the state. lf the concept of mutual obligation is forgotten, this results in a decline in community spirit, lack of responsibility towards neighbours, rising crime and vandalism, and a legal system that cannot cope.



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• The ability of national governments to fine-tune the economy in order to secure growth and jobs has been exaggerated. The importance of individual and business enterprise to the creation of wealth has been undervalued. The weaknesses of markets have been overstated and their strengths underestimated.

II. New programmes for changed realities Ideas of what is ‘left-wing’ should never become an ideological straitjacket. The politics of the New Centre and Third Way is about addressing the concerns of people who live and cope with societies undergoing rapid change—both winners and losers. In this newly emerging world people want politicians who approach issues without ideological preconceptions and who, applying their values and principles, search for practical solutions to their problems through honest wellconstructed and pragmatic policies. Voters who in their daily lives have to display initiative and adaptability in the face of economic and social change expect the same from their governments and their politicians. • In a world of ever more rapid globalisation and scientific changes we need to create the conditions in which existing businesses can prosper and adapt, and new businesses can be set up and grow. • New technologies radically change the nature of work and internationalise the organisation of production. With one hand they de-skill and make some businesses obsolete, with another they create new business and vocational opportunities. The most important task of modernisation is to invest in human capital: to make the individual and businesses fit for the knowledge-based economy of the future. • Having the same job for life is a thing of the past. Social democrats must accommodate the growing demands for flexibility—and at the same time maintain minimum social standards, help families to cope with change and open up fresh opportunities for those who are unable to keep pace. • We face an increasing challenge in reconciling environmental responsibility towards future generations with material progress for society at large. We must marry environmental responsibility with a modern market-based approach. In environmental protection, the most modern technologies consume fewer resources, open up new markets and create new jobs. • Public expenditure as a proportion of national income has more or less reached the limits of acceptability. Constraints on ‘tax and spend’ force radical modernisation of the public sector and reform of public services to achieve better value for money. The public sector must actually serve the citizen: we do not hesitate to promote the concepts of efficiency, competition and high performance.

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• Social security systems need to adapt to changes in life expectancy, family structures and the role of women. Social democrats need to find ways of combating the ever more pressing problems of crime, social disintegration and drug abuse. We need to take the lead in shaping a society with equal rights for women and men. • Crime is a vital political issue for modern social democrats. We consider safety on the street to be a civil right. A policy to make cities worth living in fosters community spirit, creates new jobs and makes residential areas safer. • Poverty remains a central concern, especially among families with children. We need specific measures for those who are most threatened by marginalisation and social exclusion. This also requires a modern approach to government: • The state should not row, but steer: not so much control, as challenge. Solutions to problems must be joined up. • Within the public sector bureaucracy at all levels must be reduced, performance targets and objectives formulated, the quality of public services rigorously monitored, and bad performance rooted out. • Modern social democrats solve problems where they can best be solved. Some problems can now only be tackled at European level: others, such as the recent financial crises, require increased international co-operation. But, as a general principle, power should be devolved to the lowest possible level. For the new politics to succeed, it must promote a go-ahead mentality and a new entrepreneurial spirit at all levels of society. That requires: • a competent and well-trained workforce eager and ready to take on new responsibilities • a social security system that opens up new opportunities and encourages initiative, creativity and readiness to take on new challenges • a positive climate for entrepreneurial independence and initiative. Small businesses must become easier to set up and better able to survive • we want a society which celebrates successful entrepreneurs just as it does artists and footballers—and which values creativity in all spheres of life. Our countries have different traditions in dealings between state, industry, trade unions and social groups, but we share a conviction that traditional conflicts at the workplace must be overcome. This, above all, means rekindling a spirit of community and solidarity, strengthening partnership and dialogue between all groups in society and developing a new consensus for change and reform. We want all groups in society to share our joint commitment to the new directions set out in this Declaration. Immediately upon taking office, the new Social Democratic government in Germany gathered the top representatives of the political sector, the business



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community and the unions around the table to forge an Alliance for Jobs, Training and Competitiveness. • We want to see real partnership at work, with employees having the opportunity of sharing the rewards of success with employers. • We support modern trade unions protecting individuals against arbitrary behaviour, and working in co-operation with employers to manage change and create long-term prosperity. • In Europe—under the umbrella of a European employment pact—we will strive to pursue an ongoing dialogue with the social partners that supports, not hinders, necessary economic change.

III.↜A new supply-side agenda for the left The task facing Europe is to meet the challenge of the global economy while maintaining social cohesion in the face of real and perceived uncertainty. Rising employment and expanding job opportunities are the best guarantee of a cohesive society. The past two decades of neo-liberal laissez-faire are over. In its place, however, there must not be a renaissance of 1970s-style reliance on deficit spending and heavy-handed state intervention. Such an approach now points in the wrong direction. Our national economies and global economic relationships have undergone profound change. New conditions and new realities call for a re-evaluation of old ideas and the development of new concepts. In much of Europe unemployment is far too high—and a high proportion of it is structural. To address this challenge, Europe’s social democrats must together formulate and implement a new supply-side agenda for the left. Our aim is to modernise the welfare state, not dismantle it: to embark on new ways of expressing solidarity and responsibility to others without basing the motivation for economic activity on pure undiluted self-interest. The main elements of this approach are as follows:

A robust and competitive market framework Product market competition and open trade is essential to stimulate productivity and growth. For that reason a framework that allows market forces to work properly is essential to economic success and a pre-condition of a more successful employment policy. • The EU should continue to act as a resolute force for liberalisation of world trade. • The EU should build on the achievements of the single market to strengthen an economic framework conducive to productivity growth.

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A tax policy to promote sustainable growth In the past social democrats became identified with high taxes, especially on business. Modern social democrats recognise that in the right circumstances, tax reform and tax cuts can play a critical part in meeting their wider social objectives. For instance, corporate tax cuts raise profitability and strengthen the incentives to invest. Higher investment expands economic activity and increases productive potential. It helps create a virtuous circle of growth increasing the resources available for public spending on social purposes. • The taxation of companies should be simplified and corporation tax rates cut, as they have been by New Labour in the UK and are planned by the federal government in Germany. • To ensure work pays and to improve the fairness of the tax system, the tax burden borne by working families and workers should be alleviated, as begun in Germany (through the Tax Relief Act)—and the introduction of lower starting rates of income tax and the working families tax credit in Britain. • The willingness and ability of enterprises—especially small and mediumsized enterprises—to invest should be enhanced, as intended by the Social Democratic government in Germany through the reform of the taxes on businesses and as shown by New Labour’s reform of capital gains and business taxes in Britain. • Overall, the taxation of hard work and enterprise should be reduced. The burden of taxation should be rebalanced, for example towards environmental ‘bads’. Germany, the UK and other European countries governed by social democrats will lead the way in this regard. • At EU level, tax policy should support tough action to combat unfair competition and fight tax evasion. This requires enhanced co-operation, not uniformity. We will not support measures leading to a higher tax burden and jeopardising competitiveness and jobs in the EU.

Demand and supply-side policies go together—they are not alternatives In the past social democrats often gave the impression that the objectives of growth and high employment would be achieved by successful demand management alone. Modern social democrats recognise that supply side policies have a central and complementary role to play. In today’s world most policy decisions have an impact on both supply- and demand-side conditions.



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• Successful Welfare to Work programmes raise incomes for those previously out of work as well as improve the supply of labour available to employers. • Modern economic policy aims to increase the after-tax income of workers and at the same time decrease the costs of labour to the employer. The reduction of non-wage labour costs through structural reform of social security systems and a more employment friendly tax and contribution structure that looks to the future is therefore of particular importance. The aim of social democratic policy is to overcome the apparent contradiction between demand- and supply-side policies in favour of a fruitful combination of micro-economic flexibility and macro-economic stability. To achieve higher growth and more jobs in today’s world, economies must be adaptable: flexible markets are a modern social democratic aim. Macro-economic policy still has a vital purpose: to set the conditions for stable growth and avoid boom and bust. But social democrats must recognise that getting the macro-economics right is not sufficient to stimulate higher growth and more jobs. Changes in interest rates or tax policy will not lead to increased investment and employment unless the supply side of the economy is adaptable enough to respond. To make the European economy more dynamic, we also need to make it more flexible. • Companies must have room for manoeuvre to take advantage of improved economic conditions and seize new opportunities: they must not be gagged by rules and regulations. • Product, capital and labour markets must all be flexible: we must not combine rigidity in one part of the economic system with openness and dynamism in the rest.

Adaptability and flexibility are at an increasing premium in the knowledge-based service economy of the future Our economies are in transition—from industrial production to the knowledgebased service economy of the future. Social democrats must seize the opportunity of this radical economic change. It offers Europe a chance to catch up with the United States. It offers millions of our people the chance to find new jobs, learn new skills, pursue new careers, set up and expand new businesses—in summary, to realise their hopes of a better future. But social democrats have to recognise that the basic requirements for economic success have changed. Services cannot be kept in stock: customers use them as and when they are needed—at many different times of day, outside what people think of as normal working hours. The rapid advance of the information age, especially the huge potential of electronic commerce, promises to change radically the way we shop, the way we learn, the way we communicate

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and the way we relax. Rigidity and over-regulation hamper our success in the knowledge-based service economy of the future. They will hold back the potential of innovation to generate new growth and more jobs. We need to become more flexible, not less.

An active government, in a newly conceived role, has a key role to play in economic development Modern social democrats are not laissez-faire neo-liberals. Flexible markets must be combined with a newly defined role for an active state. The top priority must be investment in human and social capital. If high employment is to be achieved and sustained, employees must react to shifting demands. Our economies suffer from a considerable discrepancy between the number of job vacancies that need to be filled (for example in the field of information and communication technology) and the number of suitably qualified applicants. That means education must not be a ‘one-off’ opportunity: lifetime access to education and training and lifelong utilisation of their opportunities represent the most important security available in the modern world. Therefore, governments have a responsibility to put in place a framework that enables individuals to enhance their qualifications and to fulfil their potential. This must now be a top social democratic priority. • Standards at all levels of schooling and for all abilities of pupils must be raised. Where there are problems of literacy and numeracy these must be addressed, otherwise we condemn unskilled individuals to lives of low pay, insecurity and unemployment. • We want all young people to have the opportunity to gain entry into the world of work by means of qualified vocational training. Together with local employers, trade unions and others, we must ensure that sufficient education and training opportunities are available to meet the requirements of the local labour market. In Germany, the political sector is supporting this endeavour with an immediate action programme for jobs and training that will enable 100,000 young people to find a new job or training place or to obtain qualifications. In Britain the Welfare to Work programme has already enabled 95,000 young people to find work. • We need to reform post-school education and raise its quality, at the same time modernising education and training programmes so as to promote adaptability and employability in later life. Government has a particular role in providing incentives for individuals to save in order to meet the costs of lifelong learning—and in widening access through the promotion of distance learning.



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• We should ensure that training plays a significant role in our active labour market policies for the unemployed and workless households. A modern and efficient public infrastructure including a strong scientific base is also an essential feature of a job-generating economy. It is important to ensure that the composition of public expenditure is being directed at activities most beneficial to growth and fostering necessary structural change.

Modern social democrats should be champions of small and€medium-sized enterprise The development of prosperous small and medium-sized businesses has to be a top priority for modern social democrats. Here lies the biggest potential for new growth and jobs in the knowledge-based society of the future. People in many different walks of life are looking for the opportunity to become entrepreneurs – long-standing as well as newly self-employed people, lawyers, computer experts, medical doctors, craftsmen, business consultants, people active in culture and sport. These individuals must have scope to develop economic initiative and create new business ideas. They must be encouraged to take risks. The burdens on them must be lightened. Their markets and their ambitions must not be hindered by borders. • Europe’s capital markets should be opened up so that growing firms and entrepreneurs can have ready access to finance. We intend to work together to ensure that growing high-tech firms enjoy the same access to the capital markets as their US rivals. • We should make it easy for individuals to set up businesses and for new companies to grow by lightening administrative burdens, exempting small businesses from onerous regulations and widening access to finance. We should make it easier for small businesses in particular to take on new staff: that means lowering the burden of regulation and non-wage labour costs. • The links between business and the science base should be strengthened to ensure more entrepreneurial ‘spin-offs’ from research and the promotion of ‘clusters’ of new high-tech industries.

Sound public finance should be a badge of pride for€social€democrats In the past, social democrats have all too often been associated with the view that the best way to promote employment and growth is to increase government borrowing in order to finance higher government spending. We do not rule out government deficits—during a cyclical downturn it makes sense to let the automatic stabilisers work. And borrowing to finance higher government investment,

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in strict accordance with the Golden Rule, can play a key role in strengthening the supply side of the economy. However, deficit spending cannot be used to overcome structural weaknesses in the economy that are a barrier to faster growth and higher employment. Social democrats also must not tolerate excessive levels of public sector debt. Increased indebtedness represents an unfair burden on future generations. It could have unwelcome redistributive effects. Above all, money spent on servicing high public sector debt is not available to be spent on other priorities, including increased investment in education, training or the transport infrastructure. From the standpoint of a supply-side policy of the left, it is essential that high levels of government borrowing decrease and not increase.

IV. ↜An active labour market policy for the left The state must become an active agent for employment, not merely the passive recipient of the casualties of economic failure. People who have never had experience of work or who have been out of work for long periods lose the skills necessary to compete in the labour market. Prolonged unemployment also damages individual life chances in other ways and makes it more difficult for individuals to participate fully in society. A welfare system that puts limits on an individual’s ability to find a job must be reformed. Modern social democrats want to transform the safety net of entitlements into a springboard to personal responsibility. For our societies, the imperatives of social justice are more than the distribution of cash transfers. Our objective is the widening of equality of opportunity, regardless of race, age or disability, to fight social exclusion and ensure equality between men and women. People rightly demand high-quality public services and solidarity for all who need help—but also fairness towards those who pay for it. All social policy instruments must improve life chances, encourage self-help and promote personal responsibility. With this aim in mind, the health care system and the system for ensuring financial security in old age are being thoroughly modernised in Germany by adapting both to the changes in life expectancy and changing lifelong patterns of employment, without sacrificing the principle of solidarity. The same thinking applies to the introduction of stakeholder pensions and the reform of disability benefits in Britain. Periods of unemployment in an economy without jobs for life must become an opportunity to attain qualifications and foster personal development. Part-time



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work and low-paid work are better than no work because they ease the transition from unemployment to jobs. New policies to offer unemployed people jobs and training are a social democratic priority—but we also expect everyone to take up the opportunity offered. But providing people with the skills and abilities to enter the workforce is not enough. The tax and benefits systems need to make sure it is in people’s interests to work. A streamlined and modernised tax and benefits system is a significant component of the left’s active supply-side labour market policy. We must: • Make work pay for individuals and families. The biggest part of the income must remain in the pockets of those who worked for it. • Encourage employers to offer ‘entry’ jobs to the labour market by lowering the burden of tax and social security contributions on low-paid jobs. We must explore the scope to lower the burden of non-wage labour costs by environmental taxes. • Introduce targeted programmes for the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged groups to give them the opportunity to reintegrate into the labour market on the principle of rights and responsibilities going together. • Assess all benefit recipients, including people of working age in the receipt of disability benefits, for their potential to earn, and reform state employment services to assist those capable of work to find appropriate work. • Support enterprise and setting up one’s own business as a viable route out of unemployment. Such decisions contain considerable risks for those who dare to make such a step. We must support those people by managing these risks. The left’s supply-side agenda will hasten structural change. But it will also make that change easier to live with and manage. Adapting to change is never easy and the speed of change appears faster than ever before, not least under the impact of new technologies. Change inevitably destroys some jobs, but it creates others. However, there can be lags between job losses in one sector and the creation of new jobs elsewhere. Whatever the longer-term benefits for economies and living standards, particular industries and communities can experience the costs before the gains. Hence we must focus our efforts on easing localised problems of transition. The dislocating effects of change will be greater the longer they are resisted, but it is no good pretending that they can be wished away. Adjustment will be the easier, the more labour and product markets are working properly. Barriers to employment in relatively low productivity sectors need to be lowered if employees displaced by the productivity gains that are an inherent feature of structural change are to find jobs elsewhere. The labour market needs a low-wage sector in order to make low-skill jobs available. The tax and benefits

318 |╇ Appendix B:The 1999 Blair/Schröder Manifesto

system can replenish low incomes from employment and at the same time save on support payments for the unemployed.

V. Political benchmarking in Europe The challenge is the definition and implementation of a new social democratic politics in Europe. We do not advocate a single European model, still less the transformation of the European Union into a superstate. We are pro-Europe and pro-reform in Europe. People will support further steps towards integration where there is real value-added and they can be clearly justified—such as action to combat crime and destruction of the environment as well as the promotion of common goals in social and employment policy. But at the same time Europe urgently needs reform—more efficient and transparent institutions, reform of outdated policies and decisive action against waste and fraud. We are presenting our ideas as an outline, not a finalised programme. The politics of the New Centre and the Third Way is already a reality in many city councils, in reformed national policies, in European co-operation and in new international initiatives. To this end the German and British governments have decided to embed their existing arrangements for exchanging views on policy development in a broader approach. We propose to do this in three ways: • First, there will be a series of ministerial meetings, supported by frequent contacts among their close staff. • We will seek discussion with political leaders in other European countries who wish to take forward with us modernising ideas for social democracy in their respective national contexts. We will start on this now. • We will establish a network of experts, farsighted thinkers, political fora and discussion meetings. We will thereby deepen and continually further develop the concept of the New Centre and the Third Way. This is the priority for us. The aim of this declaration is to give impetus to modernisation. We invite all social democrats in Europe not to let this historic opportunity for renewal pass by. The diversity of our ideas is our greatest asset for the future. Our societies expect us to knit together our diverse experiences in a new coherent programme. Let us together build social democracy’s success for the new century. Let the politics of the Third Way and the Neue Mitte be Europe’s new hope.

APPENDIX C

List of European Nations and the United States

Country Inter Capital Area Area Rank Population Rank in Language(s) Religions† net (in 1,000 (in 1,000 in Area (in Population and country square square millions) Language code miles) kilometers) minorities (>5% of the population) United us Washington, 3,794.1 9,826.7 307.2 American â•… States â•…DC â•…English

P/C

Western ╅Europe British ╅ Isles 1 Ireland ie Dublin ╅ 27.1 ╅╛╛ 70.3 23 ╅4.4 32 2 Great gb London ╅ 94.1 243.6 12 61.3 ╇ 5 ╅Britain

English English

C P

Germanic â•… Europe Scandinavia 3 Denmark dk Copenhagen â•… 16.6 â•… 43.1 32 â•… 5.5 24 Danish 4 Norway no Oslo 125.0 323.8 9 â•… 4.8 27 Norwegian 5 Sweden se Stockholm 173.9 450.3 6 â•… 9.1 18 Swedish 6 Finland fi Helsinki 130.6 338.1 8 â•… 5.3 26 Finnish, â•… Swedish â•… (6 %) Low â•… Countries 7 The nl Amsterdam â•… 16.0 â•… 41.5 33 16.7 11 Dutch â•…Netherlands 8 Belgium be Brussels â•… 11.8 â•… 30.5 36 10.4 14 Dutch, â•… French â•… (40 %) 9 Luxembourg lu Luxembourg â•… 1.0 â•… 2.6 44 â•… 0.5 43 German/ â•… French

P P P P

P/C C

C

(Continued)

319

320 |╇ Appendix C: List of European Nations and the United States German- â•… speaking â•… 10-12 10 Germany de Berlin 137.8 357.0 ╇7 82.3 ╇2 German Alpine Nations 11 Switzerland ch Bern ╇15.9 ╇41.3 34 ╇7.6 21 German, â•… French (18%), â•… Italian (10%) 12 Austria at Vienna ╇32.4 ╇83.9 21 ╇8.2 20 German Latin Europe 13 France fr Paris 212.9 551.5 ╇4 62.2 ╇4 French 14 Portugal* pt Lisbon ╇35.6 ╇92.1 19 10.7 13 Portuguese 15 Spain* es Madrid 195.1 505.4 ╇ 5 45.8 8 Spanish, â•… Catalan (17%), â•… Galician (7%) 16 Italy it Rome 116.3 301.3 11 58.1 ╇ 6 Italian Central â•… Europe Baltic Nations 17 Estonia ee Tallinn ╇17.5 ╇45.2 31 ╇1.3 40 Estonian, â•… Russian (26%) 18 Latvia lv Riga ╇24.9 ╇64.6 27 ╇2.2 36 Latvian, â•… Russian (30%) 19 Lithuania lt Vilnius ╇25.2 ╇65.3 26 ╇3.6 33 Lithuanian, â•… Polish (7%), â•… Russian (6%) Mid-Central â•… Europe 20 Poland pl Warsaw 120.7 312.7 10 38.5 ╇ 9 Polish 21 Czechia cz Prague ╇30.5 ╇78.9 22 10.2 15 Czech 22 Slovakia sk Bratislava ╇18.9 ╇49.0 30 ╇5.5 25 Slovak, â•… Hungarian â•… (10%) 23 Hungary hu Budapest ╇35.9 ╇93.0 18 10.0 16 Hungarian Balkan â•… Peninsula 24 Slovenia si Ljubljana â•… 7.8 ╇20.3 40 ╇2.0 38 Slovenian 25 Croatia hr Zagreb ╇21.6 ╇56.6 28 ╇4.5 30 Croatian 26 Bosnia ba Sarajevo ╇19.8 ╇51.2 29 ╇4.6 29 Bosniak â•…(divided) â•…(48%), â•… Serb (37%), â•… Croat (14%) 27 Serbia rs Belgrade ╇25.7 ╇77.5 25 ╇7.4 22 Serb 28 Montenegro me Podgorica â•… 5.3 ╇13.8 41 ╇0.7 42 Serb 29 Kosovo ks Pristina â•… 4.2 ╇10.9 42 ╇1.8 39 Albanian, â•… Serb (7%) 30 Macedonia mk Skopje â•… 9.9 ╇25.7 39 ╇2.1 37 Macedonian, â•… Albanian (25%) 31 Albania al Tiranë ╇11.1 ╇28.7 38 ╇3.7 34 Albanian 32 Greece gr Athens ╇50.9 ╇132.0 15 10.8 12 Greek 33 Romania ro Bucharest ╇91.7 ╇238.4 13 21.5 10 Romanian, â•… Hungarian (7%) 34 Bulgaria bg Sofia ╇42.8 110.9 16 ╇7.2 23 Bulgarian, â•… Turkish (9%)

P/C C/P

C C C C

C

P/O P/O C

C C C

C

C C M/O/C

O O M O/M M O O O/M

(Continued)



Appendix C: List of European Nations and the United States╇ | 321

35 Moldova md Chis̹inău ╇13.1 ╇33.9 35 ╇4.3 31 Romanian, O â•…(divided) â•…Ukrainian (8%), â•… Russian (6%) Eastern Europe 36 Belarus by Minsk ╇80.2 207.6 14 ╇9.6 17 Belarussian, O â•… Russian (11%) 37 Ukraine ua Kiev ╇ 232.8 603.6 â•… 3 45.7 7 Ukrainian, O ╇ Russian (17%) Russia (total) ru Moscow 6,601.7 17,098.2 140.0 Russian O 38 Russia ru Moscow 1,544.4 4,030.0 â•… 1 110.0 1 Russian O â•…(European) Southeastern â•… Europe 39 Turkey tr Ankara ╇ 302.5 783.6 â•… 2 77.8 3 Turkish, â•… Kurdish (18%) 40 Georgia ge Tbilisi â•… 26.9 69.7 ╇ 24 4.6 28 Georgian â•…(divided) 41 Armenia am Yerevan â•… 11.5 29.7 ╇ 37 3.0 35 Armenian 42 Azerbaijan az Baku â•… 33.4 86.6 ╇ 20 8.3 19 â•… Azeri â•…(divided)

M O O M

Other 43 Iceland is Reykjavik â•… 39.8 103.0 ╇ 17 0.3 45 Icelandic P 44 Malta mt Valetta ╅╇ 0.1 0.3 ╇ 45 0.4 44 Maltese/ C â•… English 45 Cyprus cy Nicosia ╅╇ 3.5 9.2 ╇ 43 1.1 41 Greek, O/M â•… (divided) ╇ Turkish (18%) Ministates (in (in (in â•… square) â•… square â•…1,000s) â•… miles) â•… kilometers) Andorra ad Andorra ╇ 180.7 468 ╇ 84.5 Catalan Liechtenstein li Vaduz â•… 61.8 160 ╇ 35.0 German Monaco mc – ╅╇ 0.8 â•… 2 ╇ 30.6 French San Marino sm San Marino â•… 23.6 ╇ 61 ╇ 31.5 Italian Vatican City va – ╅╇ 0.2 0.4 ╇ 0.8 Italian Dependencies (in (in ╇ (in â•… 1,000 â•… 1,000 â•… 1,000s) â•… square â•… square â•… miles) â•… kilo â•… meters) Faeroe fo Torshavn ╇ 386.1 1,393 ╇ 49.1 Danish â•…Islands Gibraltar gi – ╅╇ 2.5 6.5 ╇ 28.9 Spanish, â•… English Jan Mayen – ╇ 145.6 377 ╇ – â•…Island Svalbard sj Longyear- 23,938.3 62,045 ╇ 2.1 Norwegian, ╇ w(Spitsbergen) â•… byen â•… Russian Source: CIA World Fact Book 2010 (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook) and Eurostat (http:epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu). * Area and population include non-European overseas territories. † Religion: Only religions of more than 20 percent of the population are listed, in order of their share of the population. C indicates Roman Catholic; M, Muslim; O, Orthodox; P, Protestant.

C C C C C

P C/P

P/O

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Europe, A Political Profile

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Europe, A Political Profile An American Companion to European Politics

VOLUME 2

Hans Slomp

Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Slomp, Hans, 1945– Europe, a political profile : an American companion to European politics / Hans Slomp.      v. cm. Volume 1 is a revised and updated version of: European politics into the twenty-first century. Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2000. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-313-39181-1 (hard back : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-313-39182-8 (ebook.) 1.  Europe—Politics and government—Encyclopedias.  I. Slomp, Hans, 1945– European politics into the twenty-first century. II. Title. JN5.S56 2011 320.94—dc23                                                           2011020122 ISBN: 978-0-313-39181-1 EISBN: 978-0-313-39182-8 15╇14╇13╇12╇11â•…â•… 1╇2╇3╇4╇5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

About the Author

Hans Slomp is an associate professor of comparative politics at the Institute for Management Research, Political Science Department, at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Holland. Dr. Slomp is the author of Between Bargaining and Politics: An Introduction to European Labor Relations.

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Contents

Introduction to Volume 2â•…â•… 323 1 British Isles: Ireland, Great Britainâ•…â•… 327 2 The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italyâ•…â•…357 3 Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finlandâ•…â•… 411 4 The Low Countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourgâ•…â•… 449 5 The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austriaâ•…â•… 481 6 Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spainâ•…â•… 501 7 The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuaniaâ•…â•… 521 8 Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungaryâ•…â•… 541 9 Balkan Peninsula: The Former Yugoslavia—Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedoniaâ•…â•… 569 10 The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greeceâ•…â•…601 11 Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraineâ•…â•… 633 12 Southeastern Europe: Turkey, Caucasian Countries (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan)â•…â•… 653

vii

viii |╇Contents 

13 The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprusâ•…â•… 675 14 The Ministates: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City Stateâ•…â•… 691 Glossaryâ•…â•…695 Sources and Further Readingâ•…â•… 819 Appendix A: List of European Nations and the United Statesâ•…â•… 829 Indexâ•…â•…833

Introduction to Volume 2

V

olume 2 consists of two large parts: a profile of politics in all European nations, grouped by region, and a glossary; at the end there is a short list of major sources and useful Web sites, including the Web sites that have been used for the country profiles, ordered by subject. The country profiles cover all European nations, including Turkey and the three Caucasian countries, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Because the book is mainly devoted to democratic politics in Europe, the British Isles, Germanic Europe, and Latin Europe get far more attention than Central Europe, where democracy could not develop until the demise of communism in the late 1980s. Eastern Europe (Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine) and the three Caucasian nations are only briefly discussed, because democratic politics is only weakly developed, if at all. As a consequence, small but well-established democracies, such as Iceland and Luxembourg, are covered more extensively than Russia, but any description of Russian politics may be outdated overnight, whereas for democracies only a new row must be added to the tables, and a new party to the discussion of major political parties. Before turning to any of the country surveys, first read the section on the relevant group of nations in volume 1, chapter 15, which provides background information on the group and the nations it contains. The groups of countries are discussed in the same order as in that chapter: from northwest to southeast, which is the best order in discussing democratic politics, and within the groups from west to east or from north to south, which is the usual order on the northern hemisphere. Maps and tables are not listed separately; for the sake of reference their labels include the country (Internet) codes. All country profiles have a similar format, with only some minor variations, except for the differences in length. Almost all information contained in the country profiles is available on Internet; mostly Wikipedia has served as the first source and the gateway to other Websites, which are listed in chapter 16; encyclopedic books that have served as sources are the Routledge Europa Regional Surveys of the World and the CQ Press Political Handbook of the World, both also listed in chapter 16. The sources are not mentioned in the text, but at the end of the book, grouped by subject. 323

324 |╇ Introduction to Volume 2

The format of the country profiles is as follows: Name of the Country and Name in the National Language The official names of the countries, such as “Republic of...,” have been omitted, Â� because they are hardly ever used. In a few cases the more popular names of countries are given, with the more formal name, for instance Holland for the Netherlands, or Bosnia for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Land and the People The Land:

Location, area, relief map, and borders.

The People:

Total numbers, ethnic division, and big cities.

The Economy: A few lines on the level of gross national product (GNP) per capita, according to the grouping in volume 1, chapter 3. Culture: A few lines on outstanding contributions to European culture or arts, and names of nationals who are famous for various reasons. History:  A timeline, usually table 1, which highlights foreign domination and developments since World War II. Political System Opening: A brief characterization of the political system and dominant political parties. Constitution: When enacted, national peculiarities and the procedure of amending it. The formal procedures of politics are not listed here, but in the following sections. Briefly stated, all European countries are fine democracies according to their constitution, so it is more relevant to discuss whether they are than to summarize the constitution. Head of State: President or monarch, election or selection, powers and prerogatives; mostly with a table of heads of state since the end of World War II or (if more recent) since independence or the (re)introduction of democracy. If the head of state has mainly ceremonial functions the few powers are not listed. Legislative Power: Size of the parliament, electoral system, and in a table the composition since the last and the next-to-last elections, and the parties’ share of votes in the last elections. Executive Power: Predominant type of government (one party or coalition), governmental powers vis-à-vis the parliament, and a table



Introduction to Volume 2╇ | 325

showing the periods of rule by different parties, coalitions, or prime ministers since the end of World War II or (if more recent) independence or the (re)introduction of democracy. Judicial Power: Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws, the court that is responsible for it, and its place in the judiciary. The presence of an ombudsman has only been mentioned in the pioneering countries. Referendums:

Important recent referendums, if any.

Civil Society: (Only for EU member nations) the position of the dominant church, trade unions, and employers’ associations and tripartism, if present. Federalism/Regions: Only for federal nations (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Switzerland) and the large nations (France, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and Turkey). Policies: A very brief indication of a few national peculiarities in social and economic policies, ethical policies, and foreign politics. The European terms are used: social issues (which in the United States refers to economic issues) and ethical issues (which in the United States refers to social issues).

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Brief discussion of the major parties, not in order of electoral success, but from left to right, to allow comparisons of the left and the right in different countries. For the three major Western European countries, Great Britain, France, and �Germany, there are also some excerpts from the party Web sites. The extensive glossary contains more than 1,000 entries and explains common and popular terms related to recent European politics as well as a number of historical terms and political science concepts. Widely used terms in other European languages than English have also been included, in particular French and German words. The glossary does not contain the names of persons. The list of sources and further reading is divided into two sections: �Internet sources and books. Volume 1 mainly relied on books (and articles in scientific journals), whereas recent information for volume 2 has mainly been provided by �Internet sources. In spite of the many objections that are often made against Wikipedia, the facts and lists it provides are mostly correct and are not available elsewhere; they have served as a first source and a gateway to other Web sites; for that reason relevant Wikipedia pages are also listed. At the end of the book Appendix A contains a list of European nations; the same list appears as Appendix C in volume 1.

British Isles

Atlantic Ocean Scotland Glasgow

Northern Ireland Belfast

Ireland

Edinburgh

United Kingdom North West

Dublin Manchester Liverpool

Cork

West Midlands Wales

Newcastle

North East

Yorkshire and The Humber

North Sea

Leeds Sheffield

East Midlands

Birmingham

East of England London

South-West South-East

Belgium France British Isles. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

1â•… British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

G

reat Britain and Ireland taken together are still called the British Isles, in spite of the fact that the larger part of Ireland has been independent for almost a Â�century. After many centuries of British domination, and because of those Â�memories, most Irish don’t like the term “British Isles.” In addition to their many rainy days, the two countries share a few common Â�elements because both countries have been relatively untouched by continental revolutions and upheaval and because of the impact of British politics on Irish politics and social life. Table BR 1 lists some of the differences with the continent.

Ireland (Éire/Ireland) The island is divided into the (Catholic) Republic of Ireland and the Protestant region of Ulster in the northeast, which has rejected any form of what they perceive Table BR 1╇ Elements of British and Irish Politics and Society Compared with the Continent Law system Common law instead of the continental tradition of codified â•… civil law Democracy High position on democracy rankings, just below Scandinavia â•… and on a par with the other Germanic nations Labor Labour Party is dominated by the fragmented trade union â•…movement Capitalism Labor accepts capitalism more easily than on the continent Welfare state Relatively low level of welfare-state provisions; limited amount â•…of labor legislation compared with continental countries that have comparable levels of national income per capita Collective bargaining Decentralized employment relations, collective bargaining â•… within the enterprise

327

328 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

as papist rule by the republic and clings to British rule. The following sections �concentrate on the republic, except for those describing the geography and the �history of the island. Major political differences with Great Britain are the unchallenged position of the Roman Catholic Church and official Catholic morality, stemming from the role of the Church in the independence struggle; the written constitution and judicial review of the constitutionality of laws; the elected head of state; the multiparty system; and the prevalence of coalition cabinets, all of which are more similar to continental Europe.

The Land and the People The Land

The island of Ireland has an oval shape, with the long arcs to the east and the west. It is located to the west of Great Britain. The whole island is a bit more than twice the size of Denmark or Holland. The longest east–west road is 185 miles (300 Â�kilometers), and the longest north–south road is 250 miles (400 kilometers). The oval is actually an oval-shaped plate; the interior consists of flat and hilly lowlands, on all sides surrounded by higher hills and mountains, up to 3,172 feet (1,041meters) near the coast. The east coast is more regularly shaped than the west coast, which has deep and rocky sea inlets. As for the climate, Ireland stands for rain. Europeans who return from holidays on the island are not asked if there were any showers, but instead how many days of rain forced them to remain inside. Because of the warm North Atlantic Drift, the climate is very mild; it hardly ever freezes, and snowfall is rare. The Republic of Ireland makes up more than four-fifths of the total surface. It has an area of 27,133 square miles (70,273 square kilometers), as large as the Low Countries combined and slightly larger than West Virginia.

The People The republic has 4.4 million inhabitants, less than Denmark or Switzerland and more or less as many as Louisiana. The largest cities are Dublin, the national �capital, on the east coast, with almost one million inhabitants and Cork on the south coast with 180,000. Almost all inhabitants of the republic (henceforth: Ireland) are native Irish; there is no language division, as all inhabitants speak English. The original Celtic language, Gaelic, enjoys official protection as the first national language (English is the second), and it has to be learned at school, but hardly any people speak it in everyday conversation, and their numbers are decreasing. The great majority is Catholic, and most of them are strict in their religious attitudes and behavior; with the Baltic nation of Lithuania, Ireland is the northernmost Catholic nation in Europe.



Ireland (Éire/Ireland)╇ | 329

The Economy Ireland is a very high-income country. Over the past quarter of a century, Ireland has attracted large foreign investments in service industries, assisted by EU funds and by low taxes or even total tax exemption for a number of years. This development has upgraded the country from one of the lower-income EU members into one of the highest income members, in spite of the lack of natural resources. The country also has a strong tradition in livestock and dairy production, which engages about half of the land’s acreage. Probably the country’s best-known trademark is Guinness stout beer, which is not only for export.

Culture Early Christian architecture and book illuminations between the seventh and ninth centuries, and 19th- and 20th-century literature have been Ireland’s prime contributions to European art. The country has been the home of a number of famous authors, starting with Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), the author of Gulliver’s Â� Â�Travels; poet William Yeats (1865–1939); and novelists and playwrights Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), James Joyce (1882–1941), and Samuel Beckett (1906–1989). Some of these authors preferred to live as voluntary exiles outside Catholic Â�Ireland, however, in London or in Paris. In addition, Irish folk music, with its ballads about mythical figures, has gained popularity all over the continent.

History Table IE 1╇ Timeline of Irish History* Fourth Ireland is invaded by Celts â•… century BC AD 432 St. Patrick begins the Christianization of the island Ninth Viking raids begin along the coasts â•…century 1170 Anglo-Normans from England conquer the island 1494 The English king Henry VII attempts to centralize power 1509 Henry VIII on the English throne, introduction of the Reformation â•… in Ireland 1601 Defeat after the Nine Years’ War against England 1609 Cromwell destroys the country and tightens up the suppression â•… of Catholics 1689 William II defeats his Catholic predecessor who fights in the name â•…of Ireland 1782 Irish Constitution lifts some of the bans on Catholicism 1798 Nationwide revolt crushed by the British 1800 Act of Union: Ireland formally part of Great Britain; Protestants â•…Â�monopolize politics 1845 Great Famine, millions die or emigrate to the United States

(Continued↜)

330 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain 1905 Foundation of independence movement Sinn Féin 1916 Easter Revolt and independence proclaimed, but crushed by the English 1921 Independence after Independence War; introduction of universal suffrage 1937 Constitution, Ireland becomes a republic; foundation of the Irish â•… Republican Army (IRA) 1940–1945 Neutrality during World War II 1956 First terrorist attacks in Ulster by the IRA 1973 Ireland admitted to the EU 1990s Ireland becomes one of the highest-income countries of Europe 1998 Good Friday Agreement with Great Britain concerning Northern Ireland 2002 Adoption of the Euro * The timeline covers the whole island.

Political System The country has a parliamentary political system, and in spite of its having more than two parties and coalition governments, politics is dominated by two Catholic parties. Since the late 1980s, however, coalition governments of one of the two Catholic parties with a smaller party as junior partner have prevailed.

Constitution The constitution dates from 1937; it replaced the 1922 constitution and established the republic and a parliamentary system of government. The constitution was adopted by referendum, and all amendments also require a majority in parliament and a referendum. The constitution still implicitly contains the claim of the republic to encompass the whole island, including Ulster, since the name of the nation is Éire (Ireland), not Republic of Ireland. The Irish Â�language is recognized as the first official language of the nation and English as the Â�second; in case of ambiguity the Irish text of official documents prevails (in practice the English text is mostly used as the basic text). Originally the Catholic Church enjoyed a privileged position as the national church, but that preference was removed in 1973. The preamble to the constitution still shows the religious base of the nation: In the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred, We, the Â�people of Éire, Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial... Since 1983, the constitution contains a ban on abortion; the amendment was introduced with general support of the big parties in order to prevent the Supreme Court from interpreting existing legislation in such a way that abortion would be legalized; the constitutional ban on divorce was abandoned in 1996.

Head of State The head of the nation is the president, elected in direct elections, in which the whole country serves as one district. The president serves for a seven-year term



Ireland (Éire/Ireland)╇ | 331

Table IE 2╇ Presidents of Ireland Since 1945

President

Party

Begin

╇ 1 ╇ 2 ╇ 3 ╇ 4 ╇ 5 ╇ 6 ╇ 7

Seán T. Kelly Éamon de Valera Erskine H. Childers Cearbhall Ó Dálagh Patrick Hillery Mary Robinson Marcy McAleese

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil Interim Fianna Fáil Labour Party Fianna Fáil

1945 1959 1973 1974 1976 1990 November 1997

No. of Years 14 14 1 2 14 7 14

that is renewable once. Under normal circumstances presidents have occupied the post for two terms, as Table IE 2 shows; exceptions were Eskine H. Childers, who died in office; Cearbhall Ó Dálagh, who succeeded him as interim president; and Mary Robinson, who resigned after one term to become the United Nations high commissioner of human rights. The president has mainly ceremonial functions. The most dominant politician of Ireland, not only since World War II but already before, was Éamon de Valera, president from 1959 to 1973. Éamon de Valera (1882–1975) was born in New York City, but as a child he was taken to Ireland. He became one of the leaders of the independence struggle and was imprisoned for a short period after the 1916 Easter Rising; he uncompromisingly led the anti-Treaty group in the Civil War. Before the Treaty talks with Great Britain he acted as Ireland’s first president, but he opposed the Treaty, resigned and later founded Fianna Fáil, still the leading political party in Ireland. In the 1930s he returned as prime minister, giving the country an international voice in the League of Nations. He was also actively involved in drafting the 1937 constitution and after the war served a number of times as prime minister, until being elected Â�president in 1959. He occupied the post until the age of 90, and died a few years after he resigned.

Legislative Power The Irish Parliament (Oireachtas/Parliament) consists of two houses: the lower house is the Dáil Éireann (which has no name in English), the upper house is the Senate of Ireland (Seanad Éireann). The 166 members of the Dáil (only 14 percent are women, one of the lowest shares in Europe) serve a five-year term and are elected by a special Irish variant Â� of proportional representation, called the Single Transferable Vote (STV), in 41 multimember constituencies, each of which has three to five seats. Under the STV system, the voters do not vote for a party list but for individual candidates on party lists. They can mark their preference, 1 for the most preferred candidate, 2 for the second most preferred candidate, and so on, irrespective of the party to which the candidates belong. The system brings in elements of nonpartisan elections American style, in which persons, not parties, matter, and it allows the voters

332 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

a greater say over the personal composition of the lower house than is the case with party lists under the typical proportional representation or under the British-style plurality system. Political parties in other countries do not like the system because it could easily undermine party cohesion. The upper house (Seanad Éireann) consists of 60 members who serve a five-year term. Of these, 43 are indirectly elected, mainly by local councilors in five vocational interest panels: administration, agriculture, culture and education, industry and commerce, and labor. Eleven members are appointed by the prime minister. Three members are elected by the graduates of the National University of Dublin and the University of Dublin. The upper house’s powers are limited to a suspensive veto, which can easily be overridden. As Table IE 3 shows, in both houses two parties dominate: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but Fianna Fáil has always been the larger of the two. Ireland does not have a left–right divide; both leading parties are to the right and both are very Catholic, so the labels of conservative for Fianna Fáil and Christian democratic for Fine Gael have only relative value; both are conservative Catholic parties. The main division between them is a traditional one that has its roots in the Civil War, which must sound familiar to American readers. The bone of contention was the 1921 treaty with Great Britain about the status of the independent nation. Fine Gael was pro-treaty and approved the status of an independent country under the Â�British crown within the

Table IE 3╇ Ireland’s Dáil and Seanad since 2002 Party Ideology

No. of No. of Percent No. of No. of Lower Lower of Votes Upper Upper House House 2007 House House Seats Seats Seats Seats 2002 2007 2002 2010

Fianna Fáil Conservative 82 78 Fine Gael Christian 31 51 â•…democratic Labour Party Social 20 20 â•…democratic Green Party Green 6 6 Sinn Féin Left nationalist 5 4 Progressive Conservative 8 2 â•…Democrats â•…liberal â•… (dissolved 2009) Socialist Party Radical socialist 1 0 Independents 13 5 Total

41.6 23.3

30 15

28 15

10.1

5

6

4.7 – 3 7.0 – 1 2.7 4 –

0.6 – – 5.2 6 7

166 166 60 60



Ireland (Éire/Ireland)╇ | 333

Commonwealth, Fianna Fáil was anti-treaty and demanded a status of independent republic outside the British Commonwealth—which was realized in 1937. In the political spectrum the position of the parties from left to right is Green Party to Sinn Féin to Labour Party to Fianna Fáil and to Fine Gael. Issues in the 2010 elections were the state of the economy, cuts in public spending in view of the credit crisis, and personal safety.

Executive Power The prime minister (Taoiseach) is the highest post of the executive power; in contrast to most other parliamentary systems, the head of state is not even formally the head of the executive branch. As Table IE 4 shows, until 1989 most cabinets were one-party governments of Fianna Fáil, interrupted by a few coalition governments in which Fine Gael was the major party. Since 1989 even Fianna Fáil has been forced to seek coalition partners, and all cabinets have been coalitions. The longest-serving prime minister was Éamon de Valera (1937–1948, 1951–1954, 1957–1959), and second was Bertie Ahern (1997–2008), both from Fianna Fáil. Table IE 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Ireland since 1945 Party or Parties Ideology Begin No. of Prime Ministers Months ╇ 1 Fianna Fáil Conservative ╇ 2 Fine Gael, Labour Party, Christian democratic, â•…others â•…social democratic ╇ 3 Fianna Fáil Conservative ╇ 4 Fine Gael, Labour Party, Christian democratic, â•…others â•…social democratic ╇ 5 Fianna Fáil Conservative

1944 1948

45 Éamon De Valera 40 John Costello

1951 1954

36 Éamon De Valera 34 John Costello

1957

194 Éamon De Valera, â•…Seán Lemass (2 cabinets), Jack Lynch 52 Liam Cosgrave

╇ 6 Fine Gael, Labour Party Christian democratic, 1973 â•… social democratic ╇ 7 Fianna Fáil Conservative 1977

49 Jack Lynch, Charles Haughey ╇ 8 Fine Gael, Labour Party Christian democratic, 1981 8 Garret â•…social democratic â•…FitzGerald ╇ 9 Fianna Fáil Conservative 1982 9 Charles Haughey 10 Fine Gael, Labour Party Christian democratic, 1982 52 Garret â•…social democratic â•…FitzGerald 11 Fianna Fáil Conservative 1987 28 Charles Haughey 12 Fianna Fáil, Progressive Conservative, 1989 42 Charles Haughey, â•… Democrats â•… conservative liberal Albert Reynolds (Continued↜)

334 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain 13 Fianna Fáil, Labour Party Conservative, social 1992 25 Albert Reynolds â•…democratic 14 Fine Gael, Labour Party, Christian democratic, 1994 30 John Bruton â•…others â•…social democratic 15 Fianna Fáil, Progressive Conservative, 1997 121 Bertie Ahern â•…Democrats â•…conservative â•…(2 cabinets) â•…liberal 16 Fianna Fáil, Green Party, Conservative, green, 2007 11 Bertie Ahern â•… Progressive Democrats â•… conservative liberal 17 Fianna Fáil, Green Party Conservative, green May Brian Cowen 2008 Total: 17 periods Total: 11 prime â•…ministers; 25 cabinets

Judicial Power Two courts have the right of judicial review upon initiative of the president or any other citizen: the High Court and the Supreme Court. The High Court serves as court for important cases, the Supreme Court mainly as the court of final appeal.

Referendums Ireland has held some 25 referendums since 1945, all of them concerning amendments to the constitution. Of these, half have been held since 1990, and those have dealt in particular with EU affairs, but there have also been five referendums regarding abortion (listed in Table IE 5) and one lifting the ban on divorce. The 1992 abortion referendums were a reaction to the pregnancy of a 14-year-old girl who had been raped and was barred from seeking an abortion in Great Britain. Attempts in 2002 to tighten up the constitutional ban on abortion failed. In 2001, the Maastricht Treaty was voted down in a referendum but was approved in a �second referendum; in 1998, the Amsterdam Treaty was approved.

Civil Society The Catholic Church is omnipresent in Ireland, but its position has been weakened because of the scandals about cruel treatment of children in Catholic Â�boarding schools and more recently a wave of complaints about sexual child abuse by Â�Catholic priests, which even prompted the pope to publicly condemn it, albeit after very long Catholic attempts to cover up such abuse. The international publicity not only aroused great indignation and shame but also revealed similar abuse on the continent. The Catholic Church, or more precisely Catholic orders, still run part of all primary and secondary schools, hospitals, and other institutions of care. The Irish trade unions are fragmented. Ireland imitated the British system of craft unions instead of sector unions, and these are coordinated by a relatively weak



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Table IE 5╇ Irish Referendums on Constitutional Amendments Regarding Abortion Year Amendment Adopted Percent Subject in Favor 1983 1992

8th 12th

Yes No

1992

13th

Yes

1992

14th

Yes

2002

25th

No

67 Constitutional ban on abortion 35 Danger of suicide is not sufficient â•… reason to permit abortion 62 Ban on abortion does not limit the â•… right to travel abroad 60 Ban on abortion does not limit the â•…right to make available information about abortion services abroad 49.6 Danger of suicide is not sufficient â•… reason to permit abortion

Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU). Because of the fragmentation and decentralization, the strike rate has mostly been higher than in Germanic Europe. The main employers’ organization is the Irish Business and Employers Â�Confederation (IBEC), which was formed in 1993 out of a merger of two such nationwide associations. Since 1973, when central level contacts became more important, the two sides are represented in the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), an important institution in Irish corporatism, which developed in spite of trade union fragmentation. Fianna Fáil was the driving force behind this corporatism, which has been extended to other organizations, such as community and voluntary associations.

Policies The Irish welfare state is one of the least developed of the established democracies; it is characterized by low benefits and the absence of a national health care system as exists in Great Britain and most of the continent. In ethical issues it is also one of the most conservative European countries, as the attitude toward divorce and abortion has shown. In spite of fast economic growth, by 2009 the country had the largest government deficit of all EU members, more than fifteen percent, even surpassing Greece, but its economy seemed trustworthy enough. As for environmental Â�policies, gas was recently discovered in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of the island, but Shell’s construction of a pipeline and a refinery has met with great opposition from environmental groups and the local population under the motto “Shell at Sea.” In international politics the country has clung to its neutrality; its overriding concern has been the relationship with Great Britain as far as it regards Northern Ireland. The relation has been a stressful one because of British allegations that Ireland supported the terrorist Irish Republican Army (IRA), which committed a number of bomb attacks in Northern Ireland and England. Because there are no

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border checks between Ireland and Northern Ireland (Ireland never recognized the border), IRA members could easily cross the border to the republic. The relation with Great Britain was improved after the 1998 Good Friday �Agreement (see Northern Ireland in the section on Great Britain).

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Sinn Féin

The name Sinn Féin means “we ourselves”; the movement was founded in 1905 to fight for independence. It immediately enjoyed wide success but later declined because of the 1926 walkout of Éamon de Valera and his foundation of Fianna Fáil. Sinn Féin boycotted parliamentary politics and developed close relations with the IRA, which committed terrorist bomb attacks in Northern Ireland in the name of Irish unity and against British rule in that part of the island. The link has been a source of dispute both within and outside the party, and a source of splits in the last decade of the 20th century, when Sinn Féin participated in the elections but never won more than three percent of the seats. As a contrast to the other Irish political parties, whose core activities are in the republic, not in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin mainly focuses on Northern Ireland. Its first and foremost priority is uniting Ireland and Northern Ireland. In social and ethical issues Sinn Féin is to the left of the big Irish parties; it stresses the priority of social equality and a high third tax rate for the rich to pay their share. In the EU the party is a member of the European United Left (EUL). Since 1983, Gerry Adams has been the leader of Sinn Féin.

Labour Party (Páirti an Lucht Oibre) The Labour Party was founded by the Irish trade unions in 1912, in imitation of the 1906 foundation of the British Labour Party by the British trade unions. The party is one of the smallest Social Democratic parties in democratic Europe. It has almost continuously been the third party in the parliament, far behind the two leading parties. It has served as a badly needed junior coalition partner for Fine Gael, but even their combined number of seats was often not enough to reach a majority; only once, in 1992–1994, did the party participate in a coalition with Fianna Fáil. The Labour Party has never produced a prime minister, but in 1990 it nominated Mary Robinson for president, just after expelling her because of her positive attitude toward cooperation with Great Britain. The party platform stresses social equality, instead of merely equality of opportunities, and less strict ethical rules. In the EU it is affiliated with the Social Democrat Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The party leader is Éamon Gilmore.

Fianna Fáil The party name means “soldiers of destiny.” It was founded in 1926 by Éamon de Valera in a split with Sinn Féin; the bone of contention was the 1921 treaty with



Ireland (Éire/Ireland)╇ | 337

Great Britain, which was strongly opposed by de Valera. Since the war Fianna Fáil has been the largest party; only in two elections did it earn below 45 percent of the seats. It has also been the leading, and sometimes the only, party in government, producing seven prime ministers, of whom Seán Lemass (1959–1966), Jack Lynch (1966–1973), Charles Haughey (1979–1982, 1987–1992), and Bertie Ahern (1997–2007) served most years. Moreover, except for Mary Robinson, since 1945 all presidents have been prominent members of Fianna Fáil. The party is proud of its dominant position in Irish politics and it claims to be second only to the Social Democrats in Sweden in its length of tenure in office. Yet, the difference between Irish Catholics and (Protestant) Social Democrats in Sweden is reflected in the series of allegations of corruption against Fianna Fáil politicians, in particular around the turn of the century. Some were jailed, and others were kept from running for reelection; Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was also involved and for that reason resigned in 2008. Interestingly, on its Web site this very Catholic and conservative party proudly boasts of its commitment “to the historic principles of European republican philosophy, namely liberty, equality and fraternity.” The party has had Â�trouble Â�joining a European party group in the EU. Between 1999 and 2009, Fianna Fáil was a member of the very conservative Union for Europe of the Nations, but in 2009 it surprisingly joined the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), in which it soon got into trouble because of its nonliberal stance regarding civil rights. Brian Cowen is the leader of Fianna Fáil.

Fine Gael The party name means “Family of the Irish.” Michael Collins, the main opponent of Éamon de Valera, supported the 1921 treaty with Great Britain and founded a protreaty party that in 1933 merged with other parties into a new party, Fine Gael. The party has always been the second party of the country, far behind Fianna Fáil, and its electoral performance has fluctuated between 20 and 40 percent of the seats, with only two exceptions: 1982, its best year, with 42 percent, and 2002, its worst year, with a mere 13 percent. The party has been able to build a few coalition cabinets with the Labour Party and smaller (and mostly short-lived) parties, needed to reach a majority. Fine Gael has produced four prime ministers, of whom Garret FitzGerald (1981–1982, 1982–1987) had the longest tenure, yet the party has been in power for only 15 years, which shows the predominance of Fianna Fáil. The party platform is conservative in social issues and ethical issues: in social issues it is to the right of Fianna Fáil, strongly advocating for large tax cuts and defending free enterprise rather than corporatist agreements; in ethical issues it is slightly less conservative, yet also rejects legalization of abortion. The party stance regarding abortion, however, has led to some internal debate within the party. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Democratic and conservative European People’s Party (EPP). The party leader is Enda Kenny.

338 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom) Great Britain consists of Scotland in the north, dominant England in the center and south, and smaller Wales in the west. Together with Northern Ireland, Great Britain constitutes the United Kingdom (UK). The country also includes a number of islands, most of them north and west of Scotland, the small Channel Islands off the French coast, and the Isle of Man between England and Ireland. The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not formally part of the United Kingdom; in practice they are highly autonomous parts of the nation. Great Britain has been relatively insulated from continental developments, in particular long-lasting absolutism, the French Revolution, centralization of state power in Napoleonic times, the 1848 revolutions, the rise of the Marxist political labor movement, and German and/or Soviet Russian occupation during and after World War II. As a consequence, it differs from the continent in many respects. The most important are listed in Table GB 1.

The Land and the People The Land

Total area of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is 94,054 square miles (243,600 square kilometers), less than half the size of France, and smaller than Michigan. It is the smallest in area and as a consequence the most densely populated of the most populous European countries. The longest north–south road distance, not counting the islands north of Scotland, is 750 miles (1,200 kilometers); the longest west–east distance is 100 miles (160 kilometers) in the center and 370 miles (600 kilometers) in the south. Great Britain has no borders except for the border of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland, but the southernmost point is close to France, and a 31-mile (50-kilometer) railway tunnel has connected Great Britain with the continent since 1994, or as the Britons would say, it has connected the continent with Great Britain. For the greater part England consists of hilly lowlands; in the north and in all of Scotland and Wales, however, mountains predominate, though they do not reach higher than 4,400 feet (1,343 meters). Table GB 1╇ Major Differences between British and Continental Politics and Society Constitution Absence of a written constitution and of judicial review of the â•… constitutionality of laws Electoral system Majority instead of proportional representation Party system Two (dominant) parties Government Mostly one-party governments Welfare state Very modest welfare state, except for the National Health â•…Service Employment relations Very decentralized; bargaining within the enterprise



Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom)╇ | 339

Northern Ireland has the shape of a circle; its area totals 5,460 square miles (14,140 square kilometers); the longest north–south and west–east road distances are 100 miles (160 kilometers). It is hilly country, and its highest peak is 2,795 feet (852 meters).

The People Great Britain and Northern Ireland have 61.3 million inhabitants, almost as many as France and as many as California and Texas combined. The largest cities are the  capital, London, which has more than 10 million inhabitants; Birmingham and the Liverpool/Manchester metropolitan area on the west coast, which have more than 3 million each; and Glasgow in Scotland and Sheffield and Leeds in mid-England, all of which have more than one million inhabitants. Edinburgh, the capital of Â�Scotland,  and Cardiff, the capital of Wales, have more than 650,000 inhabitants, and Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland has half a million residents. All inhabitants speak English, a Germanic language with a largely Latin vocabulary; only small groups in Scotland still speak Gaelic and a small number of people speak Welsh, both of them Celtic languages. Traditionally, the majority of the population is Anglican, but there also used to be a sizable Catholic minority of some 25 percent. Great Britain still has a number of overseas territories, the remnants of the largest empire ever, including possessions on all continents. The remaining territories are Gibraltar on the Spanish south coast and a number of islands in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the southern Atlantic Ocean, including the Falkland Islands off the Argentine coast.

The Economy During the 19th century, the British economy was the leading one in Europe because of its early Industrial Revolution, but in the early 20th century it was outranked by the German economy. After World War II, decline set in, and growth has lagged behind that of Germany, France, and Italy, in spite of the exploitation of oil fields in the North Sea. Agriculture is unimportant; the country relies on food imports from its colonies and dominions (former colonies). Industry has long been the major source of employment, though it has become less important. The country is Europe’s fourthlargest car manufacturer with a production of one million cars in 2009—one fifth of the German car production. Great Britain has become one of the leading service economies, however, in particular in international finance (e.g., HSBC Holdings, Barclays, Bank of Scotland) and insurance (e.g., Lloyd’s), concentrated in London’s “City.” By far the largest multinational corporations in terms of sales are the oil companies Shell (a British/Dutch company) and British Petroleum (BP).

Culture The three outstanding British contributions to European culture and art have been Shakespeare, humor, and crime stories, all of them unrivaled by any continental Â�country or even by the continent as a whole. In architecture (Gothic cathedrals, perpendicular style) and painting (William Turner [1775–1851]) Britain has had some fine artists, but its overall contribution has been modest. This is compensated for by its contribution to European literature. William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was Europe’s

340 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

most prominent playwright, and arguably Europe’s most important author since Homer. The country has also had a number of famous Â�novelists, including Charles Dickens (1812–1870) and Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), but some of the best pieces of English writing have also been contributed by Irish, Polish, and other foreign-born British citizens. The British contribution to film making has been a profound one, as exemplified by Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) and Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), both of whom spent most of their active lives in Hollywood. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones are representative of the British contribution to early rock music. The British have been great in sciences, with scientists such as Isaac Newton (1643–1727) and Charles Darwin (1809–1882), and in discoveries, with explorers such as James Cook (1728–1779). They have also made contributions to the development of liberal thought, with philosophers such as John Locke (1632–1704), David Hume (1711–1776), and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873).

History Table GB 2╇ Timeline of British History 43 BC The Roman Empire conquers England; the Celtic inhabitants flee â•… to Wales and Scotland AD 420 Invasion by Germanic tribes, who mix as Anglo-Saxons 871 King Alfred the Great defeats Danish Vikings; the whole country â•… is Christianized 1042 King Edward the Confessor definitively defeats the Danes 1066 Normans under William the Conqueror invade England and â•… defeat the Anglo-Saxons 1155 Henry II (Plantagenet dynasty) conquers western regions â•… of France 1215 King John signs the Magna Carta of civil rights, later the â•… parliament is established 1337–1453 Hundred Years’ War with France on French soil 1455–1485 War of the Roses between two royal dynasties; rise of the â•… bourgeoisie in the parliament 1534 King Henry VIII (Tudor dynasty) establishes Church of England â•… and suppresses Catholicism 1588 Queen Elizabeth I reinstates Church of England after Queen â•… Mary’s attempt to restore Catholicism; England defeats the â•… Spanish war fleet 1642–1646 Civil War between Puritan Long Parliament forces and King â•… Charles I’s forces 1679 Habeas Corpus Act, which offers protection from arbitrary arrests 1688 Glorious Revolution; William III signs Bill of Rights 1707 England and Scotland under one crown; Ireland had been â•… subjugated before

(Continued)



Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom)╇ | 341

1776 Great Britain has a large empire, but the United States becomes â•…independent 1805 Battle of Trafalgar in which the Navy under Horatio Nelson â•… defeats the French fleet 1832 First Reform Acts, which democratize politics; slavery in the â•… colonies abolished 1837 Under Queen Victoria (until 1901) the country completes â•… industrialization and becomes the world’s foremost political â•… and economic power 1906 Labour Party founded, which causes the decline of the â•… Liberal Party 1914–1918 Involvement in World War I 1917 Royal dynasty, House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, is renamed â•… Windsor dynasty 1928 Introduction of universal suffrage 1940 London bombed; Winston Churchill leads three-party war cabinet 1940–1945 Involved in World War II, devastation due to German bombers â•… and guided missiles 1947 British India gains independence 1952 Queen Elizabeth II succeeds her father George VI to the throne 1956 Suez Crisis, dismantling of the British Empire 1973 Member of the European Union 1979 Shift to the right under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher 1997 New Labour cabinet in power; death of Diana, Princess of Wales 2003 US-British invasion of Iraq 2005 Bomb attack by Muslim terrorists in the London Underground 2010 First postwar coalition government

Political System The country has a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by two political parties.

Constitution Great Britain does not have a real constitution in the sense of a single legal document that stipulates basic citizen rights and the powers of state institutions, yet it was the first country to stipulate basic human rights in official declarations, such as the 1215 Magna Carta Corpus and the 1688 Bill of Rights, long before the continent. Some basic legal provisions are laid down in statutes and court documents, in line with the British tradition of common law. Often, the expression is used that Great Britain has an “unwritten” constitution.

Head of State Great Britain is a constitutional monarchy with a hereditary king or queen as head of state. No other European country is devoted to such elaborate royal rituals and

342 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

colorful ceremonies. They serve as symbols of centuries-old traditions and the country’s will to survive, as well as fodder for everyday gossip. In colonial times, the king was also emperor of India, and all colonies together were called an empire, but Great Britain itself has never been an empire in the sense that it was ruled by an emperor; a king was good enough. Since 1952, when Queen Elizabeth II succeeded her father, King George VI, she has been the head of state, a period of almost 60 years. In spite of a long list of royal prerogatives, the head of state lost all political power in the 19th century. Since then all political matters have been left to “Her/His Majesty’s Government.” Because almost all governments are one-party governments, the head of state does not even have to appoint a formateur to form a government; the leader of the largest party is the next prime minister, and that person is invited for a cup of tea in the royal palace to get that wonderful news confirmed by the monarch.

Legislative Power Great Britain’s parliament consists of two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The two names indicate the subtle differences between the two and the fact that the House of Lords is not elected. Both houses have their seat in Westminster Palace, also called the Houses of Parliament, which features the famous Big Ben clock tower, known the world over because the sound of its bell opens BBC broadcasts. The House of Commons has 646 members who serve a term not longer than five years. Since 1948, the 646 members (22 percent of them are women) have been elected in 646 single-seat districts: 529 in England, 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales, and 18 in Northern Ireland; before that time there were still some special districts, university districts for instance. Great Britain is exceptional in Europe in that it never had anything like proportional representation; instead, it has stuck to the older system of plurality, or first-past-the-post, or winner take all. In May 2011, a referendum will be held about the electoral system. It is a traditional demand of the Liberal Democrats, who are the main losers under the plurality system, as Table GB 3 shows. From left to right the position of the national parties is Labour Party to Liberal Democrats to Conservative Party. In accordance with the two-party system, the members of the House of Â�Commons do not sit in a semicircle, as in most European parliaments, but on two sides of the speaker of the house, with a table in between, separating Her Â�Majesty’s Â�Government from Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. The prime minister faces the leader of the opposition party, and they are the main speakers at the famous “question hour,” when the prime minister answers all kinds of questions, not only from the opposition; the members of parliament address the prime minister and the house standing before their own seat. In spite of its long history and its international status, the British parliament is relatively powerless within the government because the leader of the largest party,



Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom)╇ | 343

Table GB 3 ╇ The British House of Commons since 2002 Party Ideology

No. of Percent No. of Percent No. of Percent Seats of Votes Seats of Votes Seats of Votes 2002 2002 2005 2005 2010 2010

Conservative Party Conservative 166 31.7 198 32.2 306 29.0 Labour Party Social 413 40.7 356 35.3 258 36.1 â•…democratic Liberal Democratic Social liberal 52 18.3 62 22.1 57 23.0 â•…Party Democratic Unionist Regionalist 5 0.7 9 0.9 8 0.6 â•…Party Scottish National Regionalist 5 1.8 6 1.5 6 1.7 â•…Party Other 18 6.8 15 8.0 14 9.6 Total 659 100 646 100 649 100

which until 2010 always enjoyed a majority, is also the leader of the government. Her or his position can only be threatened by a revolt within the party, as happened in 1990 to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Parliamentary committees are less important than they are in Germanic nations, where they often prepare compromises between the governing parties and offer the opposition room for making propositions. In Great Britain’s party system, which is dominated by two parties, there is less need of such compromises. The House of Lords is a relic from times past. Its composition was almost totally reformed by Prime Minister Tony Blair in the 1990s. It now consists of 733 members, of whom 26 are “Lords Spiritual,” that is, bishops of the Church of England. Except for the morning prayer led by one of them, they rarely come to the sessions. The other members are “Lords Temporal.” Before the recent reforms, hundreds of hereditary peers (members of nobility and aristocracy, such as dukes, counts, marquises, and barons) were lifetime members, but now only 92 aristocrats are; they are elected by the house or their fellow hereditary peers in the house. Most Lords Temporal are life peers, which means their title is not hereditary; they are raised to the rank, mostly of barons (lord or baroness), by the government and then have the right to a seat in the House of Lords. The governing party is free to promote persons to this rank, but they tend to allocate some peerages to members of the smaller parties. The first female life peers entered the house in 1958. The House of Lords has limited powers, in the form of a rather weak suspensive veto for most bills. In 2010, the legislature was plagued by the expenses scandal, the publication of expenses members of Parliament (MPs) had claimed as being necessary for the execution of their function, ranging from lavish London apartments for people who lived a few miles outside London; to all kinds of personnel, including gardeners;

344 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

to small items of just a few pounds, which they were allegedly unable to pay from their own pockets. Both Tories and Labour MPs were involved, including some wealthy MPs.

Executive Power The leader of the biggest party becomes prime minister and moves to No. 10 Downing Street in Westminster (Central London). Some prime ministers, in particular Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair, only infrequently summoned their cabinets for a session and preferred to govern by themselves, in the style of US presidents. A prime minister may also change the composition of his or her cabinet at will. The prime minister is responsible to the parliament and can be ousted by a censure motion, but since he or she enjoys a majority in the House of Commons, the position of the prime minister is a very strong one. In fact, prime ministers are the most powerful government leaders in democratic Europe because they do not need to bother about coalition parties, only about creeping unrest among their backbenchers (the newcomers in the parliament who sit in the back rows). In theory, parliament is the supreme power in Great Britain, in practice the government is. The executive has the right to determine the date of elections, but they must be held within a period of five years after the last general elections. Prime ministers and governments since 1945 are listed in Table GB 4. The 2010 elections brought sweeping change to the relation between the legislature and the executive function. Neither of the two big parties succeeded in winning a majority, and both then negotiated with the Liberal Democratic Party to build a coalition cabinet. The result was a coalition of the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, the first coalition since Winston Churchill’s wartime cabinet. The Â�Liberal Democrats even secured a promise to hold a referendum in 2011 about the electoral system, which might introduce a kind of second ballot or runoff system, but not the proportional representation so fervently desired by the Liberal Democrats.

Prime Ministers Clement Attlee (1883–1967) studied in Oxford, served in the first Labour cabinet under Ramsay Macdonald in the 1930s and then became party leader, opposing the 1938 Munich Agreement with Germany. During the war he was a member of Â�Winston Churchill’s War Cabinet. His cabinet founded the National Health Â�Service, still a source of national pride, and nationalized basic industries and banks. He also started the decolonization process in British India. After his 1951 election defeat he remained party leader, but then resigned after losing the 1955 elections. Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was Europe’s most prominent democratic statesman in the 20th century. He was born into an aristocratic family, in one of the country’s largest palaces, studied at a military college, was a war correspondent for some time, and in 1908 became minister in a Conservative cabinet, in which he floated Britain’s first old-age pension program. He also served as a minister



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Table GB 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Great Britain since 1945 Party Begin No. of Prime Minister Begin No. of Months Months 1 Labour 1945 76 Clement Attlee 2 Conservative 1951 156 Winston Churchill Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan Alec Douglas-Home 3 Labour 1964 68 Harold Wilson 4 Conservative 1970 44 Edward Heath 5 Labour 1974 62 Harold Wilson James Callaghan 6 Conservative 1979 216 Margaret Thatcher John Major 7 Labour 1997 156 Tony Blair Gordon Brown 8 Conservative/ 2010 David Cameron ╅ Liberal Democrat Total: 8 periods Total: 14 prime ministers

1945 1951 1955 1957 1963 1964 1970 1974 1976 1979 1990 1997 2007 2010

â•›76 â•›41 â•›21 â•›81 â•›12 â•›68 â•›44 â•›25 â•›37 139 â•›77 122 â•›34

during World War I. In the 1930s he sat in the House of Commons and warned of German rearmament (and opposed Indian independence). During World War II he was prime minister of the coalition War Cabinet and, with US president Roosevelt and Soviet leader Stalin, was one of the Allied leaders of the war efforts against Germany, in the process growing into an icon of British survival and fighting spirit. While prime minister, he, along with Roosevelt and Stalin, shaped the future map of Europe and the spheres of influence that would prevail in the postwar era. In opposition after July 1945 he fought the Attlee government’s moves toward Indian independence. On the basis of his massive history of World War II and other writings he received the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1951, Churchill returned to power, but advancing age, ill health, and the narrowness of his victory made his second premiership largely inconsequential. Anthony Eden (1897–1977) was born into a noble family and was a typical upper-class Briton who studied at Oxford. He was minister of foreign affairs (foreign secretary) in the 1930s, in Churchill’s War Cabinet, and in Churchill’s postwar cabinet, before he became prime minister in 1955. Britain’s military action in the 1956 Suez Crisis was not supported by the United States and resulted in a loss of confidence in Eden’s leadership; he resigned early in 1957. Harold Macmillan (1894–1968) was also a typical representative of the British upper class, in which he was born as the son of a leading publisher. He studied at Oxford. In the postwar Conservative cabinets under Churchill and Eden he first

346 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

served as minister of housing, and later as minister of defense, foreign affairs, and finance before he became prime minister. During his terms the British colonial empire continued to be dismantled in a peaceful way, but Macmillan stuck to the position that Britain was still a Great Power and developed a nuclear arms stock. His efforts to join the EU were barred by France. In 1963, the cabinet was plagued by the Profumo Affair, in which Defense Minister Profumo confessed to having contacts with a call girl who also had a Soviet naval official as a client. Macmillan resigned after the scandal subsided. Alec Douglas-Home (1903–1995) was born into a noble family and studied in Oxford, the last Tory prime minister who in style and manners represented the British upper class. For some time he had a seat in the House of Commons, until he became a member of the House of Lords in 1951. Under Macmillan he served as minister of commonwealth relations. As prime minister he gave up his noble titles so he would be eligible for a seat in the House of Commons (a necessary move to remain prime minister). Harold Wilson (1916–1995) was born into a middle-class family. A grant enabled him to study at Oxford, but he carefully preserved the image of humble Â� descent. Wilson served as a minister under Attlee, and in the late 1950s he became leader of the Labour Party. During his first term as prime minister he had to face the deteriorating position of British economy compared with the booming continental economies, which led to a devaluation of the pound sterling. He proved unable, however, to change British employer–employee relations, in which trade unions hampered technological change. Regarding ethical issues he passed liberalized legislation regarding divorce, abortion, and homosexuality. He changed the Labour position to one in favor of the EU, but access to the EU was still denied by France. During his second term he was far less successful and faced contentiousness within Labour’s own ranks. He retired in 1966. Edward Heath (1916–2005) was born into a middle-class family and studied at Oxford. He occupied some prominent posts in the House of Commons before becoming party leader in 1964. He lost a battle with the miners’ union, which called a large strike in wintertime, resulting in electricity shortages. He was able, however, to lead Great Britain into the EU, after French president De Gaulle’s resignation. During his term the IRA became very active and even exploded a bomb near his house in London. James Callaghan (1912–2005) was born into a middle-class family and could not afford entrance to the university. He became a trade union leader and under prime minister Wilson served as minister of the interior, foreign affairs and finance. One of the strong points of his term was the centralization of educational policy, but toward the end of his term a series of wintertime strikes broke out against efforts to impose some form of wage restraint (the “Winter of Discontent”), which forced him to call for elections.



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Margaret Thatcher (1925–) was born in a shopkeeper’s family; a grant allowed her to study at Oxford. For a long time she had a seat in the House of Commons. She became minister of education under Heath, and in 1975 leader of the Conservative Party. She was very determined to stop British economic decline and set in motion a train of change from Keynesianism to supply-side economics, privatization, and deregulation that influenced all capitalist economies in Europe. She also attempted and to some extent succeeded in breaking the power position of the trade unions in employment relations by banning traditional union practices such as the closed shop. When the 1980 oil crisis caused economic problems, her popularity was buoyed by her successful military eviction of the Argentinians when they occupied British-controlled Falkland Islands off the Argentine coast. She opposed any EU effort to extend its rules and mainly focused on getting back in subsidies what Great Britain paid in contributions. Her intransigence won her the nickname “Iron Lady.” At the end of her years in office her popularity declined, to some extent because of the poll tax, which imposed equal tax amounts independent of income, and when her leadership of the party was challenged, she resigned. John Major (1943–) was born into a family with a small family business and was the first Conservative prime minister since Churchill who did not study at Oxford. He worked in the family business, in insurance, and as a bank clerk, and at an early stage he went into politics. Under Margaret Thatcher he served for short periods as minister of foreign affairs and minister of finance. His two elections as prime minister (1992 and 1997) were exceptional: Major won a unique landslide in 1992, which resulted in only a small majority of seats, however, and in 1997 suffered a crushing defeat against Tony Blair. Major assisted the United States in the Gulf War and faced opposition within his own party against his plan to ratify the Maastricht Treaty. Britain was also forced to withdraw from the Â�European Exchange  Rate Mechanism, which ruled the currency exchange rates, after an enormous decline in the pound sterling’s exchange rate resulting from mass speculation (“Black Wednesday”). Tony Blair (1953–) was born into a middle-class family and studied in Â�Edinburgh and later at Oxford. He had been a member of the House of Commons and for some time also leader of the Labour Party, but he had never occupied a ministerial post when he was elected in 1979. Under the banner of “New Labour,” and moving from the left to the center of the political spectrum, Blair introduced a number of reforms, including a legal minimum wage (already in force in most EU member states) and other social laws; a reform of the House of Lords with fewer lifetime hereditary positions; and the devolution of power in Scotland and Wales, and even in Northern Ireland, after concluding the Good Friday Agreement with Ireland and the parties in Northern Ireland. He staunchly supported US foreign policies, including the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which became more and more controversial, however, and contributed to the

348 |╇ British Isles: Ireland, Great Britain

decline of his popularity, which had been very widespread in the early years of his premiership. He resigned midway into his unprecedented third term as a Labour prime minister, making a deal with Minister of Finance Gordon Brown (Brown would not challenge Blair’s position, and in return Blair pledged not to complete his full third term). Gordon Brown (1951–) was born into a middle-class family, the son of an Â�Anglican priest. He studied in Edinburgh, where he met Tony Blair. For more than 10  years he was minister of finance (Chancellor of the Exchequer) under Blair (living next door, at No. 11 Downing Street); in that period he enlarged the competencies of the Bank of England to set interest rates. Brown suffered from the drag on Labour’s popularity because of Blair’s declining fortunes. He was never very popular in spite of his effective leadership in the 2008–2009 banking crisis. David Cameron (1966–) was born in London into a noble family, so predictably he studied at Oxford. He became a member of the House of Commons in 2001, leader of the Tories in 2005, and prime minister in 2010, leading a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Immediately after assuming power, he imposed large packages of cuts in public spending, including a 25 percent reduction of the budget of all ministries.

Judicial Power A special committee of the House of Lords used to function as court of last resort until 2009, when a Supreme Court was established. There is no judicial review, because such a principle would be an infringement of the parliamentary power to enact laws, and it is generally accepted that that power has no limitations. The EU treaties that Great Britain has signed and the 1998 Human Rights Act have only introduced a very marginal right of judicial review.

Referendums With one exception, a 1975 nationwide referendum whether Great Britain should remain a member of the EU or not, the country has only held local and regional referendums, in particular in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland on devolution of power to these regions. In May 2011, a nationwide referendum will be held on the electoral system.

Civil Society The Anglican Church plays hardly any role in British public life; in spite of its representation in the House of Lords its influence is very limited. The Anglican Church’s relatively libertarian stance in ethical issues is comparable to that of the Lutheran Churches in Scandinavia. Civil society in Great Britain has a higher degree of voluntarism than in the continent; it is more decentralized, has no organizational discipline in interest associations, and is less government oriented. The trade unions, which are only



Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom)╇ | 349

loosely coordinated by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the employers’ Confederation of British Industry (CBI), do not bargain nationwide or even in sector or branch collective agreements; almost all collective bargaining is done rather informally within companies by employees who act as trade union shop stewards, more like the American way of collective bargaining than the continental system. Strikes are frequent, but they are almost always small-scale disputes within one firm; the only exceptions have been miners’ strikes against mine closures in the 1970s and 1980s. The unions used to have a large say in the Labour Party, but because of the strong position of the one-party government leaders, their influence on public policies was limited. Tony Blair restricted their influence even more. Partly because of the voluntarism and the fragmentation of the trade unions, Great Britain has remained more of a two-class society than continental countries; there is a distinct upper-class (and middle-class) culture focusing on respectability and a working-class culture, in which mutual respect suffices.

Devolution Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have benefited from a process of power devolution (see Table GB 5). Scotland enjoys the widest autonomy, Wales the least, but all of them are responsible for education. England has no government of its own; it is directly governed by the British government. Within England, power has not been decentralized; England consists of nine regions, but they mainly execute central governmental tasks and do not have any elected council or board. The most populous regions are the southeast (the region around London), which has more than 8 million inhabitants; London, with almost 8 million; and the northwest (in which Manchester and Liverpool are located), which has almost 7 million. Scotland has been governed most of the time by the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party. Wales has a coalition government of Labour and the Party of Wales Plaid Cymru. In Northern Ireland all parties that are represented in the Northern Irish legislature are also represented in the government. The largest are the conservative Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the radical socialist and Catholic Sinn Féin, which also participates in Irish politics. The DUP was founded and for decades led by the Reverend Ian Paisley, and the leader of Sinn Féin is Gerry Adams. Both were involved in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which was actually an agreement between Great Britain and Ireland, about a peaceful process toward a representative Northern Irish government that would gradually obtain most governmental powers from London. The DUP was the only major Northern Irish party that supported the agreement. In the 2000s, terrorism was brought to an end, and the terrorist IRA, the most radical wing of Sinn Féin, abandoned its bomb attacks and armed struggle. The DUP also

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gave up its radical stance and participated in the broad Northern Irish coalition government, and Ian Paisley served as prime minister in 2007–2008. In 2010, the Northern Irish parliament approved the last stage in the transition of power from London to Belfast, the competencies in the area of justice and police. The regional parties are also represented in the British parliament, but the Sinn Féin representatives have not taken their seats, because they refuse to take the oath on the queen.

Policies The one-party governments have developed two policy-making traditions that Â�differ from those on the continent. First, the Conservative and Labour parties often undid each other’s accomplishments, including those in economic policies, which became known as the “stop-go” cycle of public retrenchments and public investments. Second, policies are often introduced without long procedures of Â�consultation or long political debate, in a tradition of trial and error. Great Britain is the most capitalist-oriented country in Western Europe; its welfare state is less developed than in the other countries and takes a position more or less halfway between the United States and continental Europe. On ethical issues it has been more libertarian than the other large countries of Europe, following at a distance the developments in Scandinavia and the Low Countries. In international politics, it gave up its position as an international power in the late 1950s, after the disastrous Suez Crisis, and it ended its colonial era in a peaceful way, without any liberation wars. Since that time it has been a permanent jumor partner of the United States in international affairs, the most Atlanticist of all Â�European countries. It has always looked at continental Europe with distrust, both

Table GB 5╇ Regional Units of Great Britain Unit

Surface (in 1,000s of square miles)

Surface Population Capital (in 1,000s (in millions) of square kilometers)

Party in Government in 2011

England 50.3 130.4 51.2 London No separate â•…government Scotland 30.4 78.8 5.2 Edinburgh Scottish National Party Wales 8.0 20.8 3.0 Cardiff Labour/Plaid Cymru Northern Ireland 5.3 13.8 1.8 Belfast Coalition of all major â•…parties Great Britain 94.0 243.8 61.2 London Conservative/Liberal â•…Democrat



Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom)╇ | 351

of the appalling ideological diversity and the big size of the government of the EU and the continental member states.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Labour Party

The Labour Party was founded in 1906 by a number of trade unions, the Fabian society (a circle of pro-Labour intellectuals), and some other political groups. In the 1906 elections, the combination gained seats in the House of Commons and then decided to found a real party. Because all trade-union members were automatically party members, the new party could boast millions of members from the very outset. Its rise caused the decline of the Liberal Party, with which the unions had cooperated before in a Lib-Lab cooperation. In 1924, the party came to power for the first time under Prime Minister Ramsay McDonald. In the first elections after World War II, wartime leader Winston Churchill was defeated and a Labour government was formed under Clement Attlee. The Attlee government (1945–1951) brought great changes in the country, in economic and social policies and international politics. Labour lost the 1951 elections, and the party’s leaders, Hugh Gaitskell (1955–1963) and George Brown (1963), would never be prime minister. The next Labour government in 1964 was headed by Harold Wilson (1964–1970). Wilson won the 1966 elections but lost the 1970 elections; he had to wait until 1974 for a new term, which lasted until 1976, when he retired and was succeeded by James Callaghan. The 1979 elections were lost and Labour remained the opposition for 18 years. In opposition, the radical wing under party leader Michael Foot dominated, but the turn to the left caused a reaction among moderates and the right wing of the party, and in 1981 four prominent members (Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins, and David Owen) left the party to found the Social Democratic Party, one of the roots of the Liberal Democrats. As party leader, Michael Foot was succeeded by Neil Kinnock, who moved the party to a more centrist position, though without electoral success. After losing for the second time (to John Major) he was succeeded by John Smith (1992–1994), who died in 1994 and was succeeded by Tony Blair, who brought victory to Labour in 1997. Blair’s manifesto, “New Labour, New Life for Britain” became the start of the “Third Way”and of “New Labour.” He won the 1997 elections with a landslide; it was the heaviest defeat for the Conservatives since 1832. Labour also won the 2001 and 2005 elections, which allowed Blair to start his third term, unprecedented for a Labour prime minister. Yet, the active British involvement in the Iraq War cost him much of his popularity, and in 2006 he announced he would resign in 2007, to be succeeded by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (minister of finance) Gordon Brown, who later confirmed that the two men had arranged the succession long

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before in a pact of mutual support. Brown was less popular than Blair (at least Blair in his first two terms) and 2008 local elections and 2009 elections for the European parliament inflicted great losses on the Labour Party. Because of Great Britain’s majority electoral system, election outcomes can result in great disparity between the share of votes and the share of seats in the House of Commons. Labour’s best year in share of votes was 1951, with 49 percent of the votes, almost a percent more than the Conservatives, but it still lost the 1951 elections. Labour’s best year in terms of seats was Tony Blair’s landslide in 1997 when it won 64 percent of the seats, based on 43 percent of the votes. Between 1997 and 2005, Labour gained a majority of seats, based on 35 to 45 percent of the votes. The Labour Party is especially popular in the industrial cities of mid- and Â�northern England, and in Scotland. In the EU it is a prominent member of the social democrat S&D. On its Web site, the Labour Party states the following about its policies: Labour’s purpose is fairness: fair rules, fair chances and a fair say for everyone.... The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few. Those democratic values have guided us through twelve years in government: everything from the large canvas of economic stability, full employment and record investment in public services, to the fine detail of the minimum wage, free museum entry and civil partnerships. And in a 2010 election speech Gordon Brown underlined the need of government activity: Everyone knows that when the banks failed people needed government on their side.... And everyone knows when the global recession threatened our economy that the unemployed, homeowners and small businesses needed government to stand by them.... Everyone knows that the wrong cuts at the wrong time in the wrong places will risk our recovery.

Liberal Democrats In 1983, the Social Democratic Party and the old but marginal Liberal Party formed a common platform as an SDP–Liberal alliance, and in 1988 the two parties merged into Liberal Democrats. The first leader of the new party was Paddy Ashdown.



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In the 1980s and in 2005 the party gained more than 20 percent of the votes. Because of the electoral system, however, the party’s share of seats has been very modest, until 1997 never more than 5 percent, and since 1997 between 7 and 10 percent. In the political spectrum, the party’s position is between Conservative and Labour; in the type of voters it attracts it is more comparable to the Tories; and in ideology it is closer to the Labour Party. During the Blair governments it even attempted to appeal to Labour voters who were disillusioned with Blair’s centrist and Third Way course. On ethical issues, the party is more libertarian than either of the two big parties. One of the party’s priorities is a change of the electoral system to some kind of proportional representation, but there are not many supporters for such a change among the leaders of the major parties, who do not favor increased competition for power. In the EU the party is affiliated with the liberal ALDE. On economic and social priorities the party states the following on its Web site: We want to offer real help to the millions of families trying to make ends meet, so we will get wasteful government spending under control and give the economy a boost by cutting taxes for people from the bottom up. We will also crack down on big business and the super rich who exploit tax loopholes and do not pay their fair share. We will strengthen the economy by requiring the Bank of England to take house prices into account when setting interest rates and we will effectively regulate the banking system to prevent irresponsible lending and business practices.

Conservative Party The Conservative Party claims to be the oldest political party in the world, as it was already in power as the Tory Party in 1783, competing for power with the Â�Liberal (Whig) Party during the 19th century. Unlike the Liberal Party, however, the Tories survived the rise of Labour, and the two parties have dominated British politics since then. Right after the war, the conservative War Cabinet under Â�Winston Churchill lost the 1945 elections, but it won the 1951 election, and Churchill returned as prime minister. He left most of the radical Labour changes in social and economic policies intact and was succeeded by Anthony Eden (1955–1957), Harold Â�Macmillan (1957–1963), and Alec Douglas-Home (1963–64), all three of whom were heavily involved in the process of decolonization in Africa and its aftermath. After a Labour government, the Tories returned to power in 1970 with Edward Heath (1970–1974), and during his term the country was finally able to join the EU. After a new Labour government, Margaret Thatcher took over in 1979 and stayed in power until 1990, as a towering figure in European politics. In the late 1980s, opposition grew within the party against her stubbornness and unwillingness to consult her cabinet in making decisions, which resulted in overt Â�rebellion in 1990. Minister Geoffrey Howe, one of her closest supporters, resigned, and in

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the election for party leader Thatcher was not elected in the first round. She then resigned. Her successor was John Major, who tried to continue Thatcherism, but without the general appeal of his predecessor, and though he won a full term for himself in the 1992 elections, he lost the 1997 elections. As party leader he was succeeded by William Hague (1997–2001), Iain Duncan Smith ( 2001–2003), and David Cameron, who became prime minister after the 2010 elections. Until 1997, the Tories won 40 to 50 percent of the votes, except in 1974; since 1997 they have not won more than 33 percent. Yet, because of the electoral system, they occupied a majority of the seats between 1951 and 1964, between 1970 and 1974, and between 1979 and 1997. The best year in terms of votes was 1955, with 50 percent (resulting in a majority of seats); the best year in terms of seats was 1983, when it gained a majority of 61 percent. The party is especially strong in southern England, which has less of an industrial culture than northern England or Scotland. In the EU the party is by far the largest member of the small eurosceptic group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The party policy on family, published on the party Web site, shows its dedication to family values: We can’t go on ignoring the importance of strong families. They provide the stability, warmth and love we need to flourish as human beings, and the relationships they foster are the bedrock on which society is built. Labour’s complacent attitude to commitment has done untold harm, and their narrow child-centred approach ignores the importance of strengthening the relationships between all family members—children, parents, grandparents and the wider family. Good parenting makes a big difference to our future success or failure—the warmth of their parenting is as important to a child’s life chances as the wealth of their upbringing. Of course money matters, which is why a Â�Conservative government will help families with their finances. But we also need to help families with all the other pressures they face: lack of time, the impact of work, worries about schools and crime, poor housing. And if we want to give children the best chance in life—whatever background they are from—the right structures need to be in place: strong and secure families, confident and able parents, an ethic of responsibility instilled from a young age.

Regional and Other Parties Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party is the Protestant party and the largest party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 by the very uncompromising vicar Ian Paisley. The party is especially focused on Northern Irish politics and is very conservative in ethical issues; it does not cooperate with the larger Scottish or Welsh parties. The party election program, published on the party Web site, promotes



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Protestant marches, which have been a major source of disputes with the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, since they walk through Catholic urban quarters: Opposition to parades was used as a political tool and those responsible cannot now abdicate themselves. We believe the Parades Commission actually increased the problems surrounding parades rather than helping to provide a solution, and therefore we set it as a negotiating target to have the Commission abolished. We want to see a new start on parades with a new framework. Parades are a vital part of the cultural life of Northern Ireland and we believe they should be one of our greatest tourist assets. Scottish National Party (Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934 when two existing Scottish parties merged. The party’s main point is independence for Scotland; in ideology it is close to the Labour Party. Since devolution became an issue in the 1970s, the party has gained more votes, but with only a few percent of the seats. Even in the Scottish parliament it had to wait until 2007 to gain a majority of the votes and the opportunity to build a minority cabinet because Labour and the Liberal Â�Democrats refused to build a coalition with it in view of its nationalism. In the House of Commons, the party cooperates with the Welsh party Plaid Cymru. On its Web site, the party has the following statement about the position of Scotland: As an independent nation, Scotland would be similar to other sovereign nations across the world. In recent years, many countries have gained independence, recognising that it is right that sovereign nations are responsible for their own decisions, while still working in partnership with other nations. At the moment, Scotland is a nation within a larger state, unable to speak for itself on all relevant matters. Independence would give Scotland the responsibility for making decisions about its future as part of an international, Â�globalised environment, making a full contribution to the interdependent world. United Kingdom Independence Party One party that is not represented in the House of Commons, but scored well in elections for the European parliament, is the United Kingdom Independence Party. The party was founded in 1994 by London academicians; it states on the party Web site that its one and only priority is “withdrawing Britain from the European Union...it is an alien system of government that will ultimately prove to be totally unacceptable to the British people.” Its finest hour was the 2009 elections for the European parliament when it managed to get more votes than the Labour Party.

France Great Britain

Holland

Lille

B el g i u m NordPas de Calais Le Havre

Germany

HauteNormandie Picardie Luxembourg

BasseNormandie

Bretagne

Paris Ile-de-France

Lorraine

ChampagneArdenne

Pays de la Loire Nantes

Strasbourg Alsace

Centre Bourgogne Atlantic Ocean

PoitouCharentes

Switzerland Limousin

Bordeaux

Auvergne

Rhône-Alpes Italy

Aquitaine

Midi-Pyrénées Toulouse Languedoc

Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur

Roussillon

Monaco Nice

Marseille Andorra

Corsica

Spain Mediterranean

France. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.) Italy Switzerland France

Austria

Trentino Alto Adige Sudtirol

FriuliVeneziaGiulia

Milan Lombardia

Turin

Croatia

Venice

Piemonte Genoa Liguria

Slovenia

Veneto

Emilia- Romagna Bologna

Bosnia San Marino

Florence

Toscana Corsica

Marche Umbria

Italy

Rome

Adriatic Abruzzo

Vatican City

Molise Campania Naples

Puglia Basilicata

Sardinia

Calabria

Mediterranean

Palermo Sicily Catania

Africa Malta

Italy. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

2â•…The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

T

he three largest countries of continental Western Europe—Germany, France, and Italy—are completely different democracies. (for map of Germany, see p. 480) Yet in spite of their many differences, they have a few political features in common (see Table BIG 1), which set them apart from Great Britain. For the map of Germany, see the Alpine Nations.

GERMANY (Deutschland) Germany has higher scores on all democracy rankings than France and far higher scores than Italy; Germany’s scores are comparable to Great Britain’s. Of all large European countries, Germany also has by far the highest share of women in the parliament. More than Great Britain or France, it has served as a model for the parliamentary political systems that were introduced on the Iberian Peninsula in the 1970s and in Central Europe in the 1990s. It has also been the most stable of the three big Western European nations since World War II; its stability has Table BIG 1╇ What Germany, France, and Italy Have in Common History Discontinuity, with fascist regimes before or during World War II and â•… postwar democratic constitutions Dividing lines Religion, between Catholics and Protestants in Germany and between â•… clericals and anticlericals in France and Italy Form of state Republic, but with a history of monarchical rule in France until 1871, â•… Germany until 1918, and Italy until 1946 Electoral system Proportional representation for at least some time since 1945; in France â•… it has been traded for the plurality system Party system Multiparty systems that result in coalition governments, in the French â•… Fifth Republic the government is under a strong president

357

358 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

Table DE 1╇ Contributions to German Political Stability Limited polarization Politics is dominated by two large parties, which occasionally â•… have been willing to cooperate in a Grand Coalition â•…(Große Koalition) Federalism Federalism has reduced the powers of the federal government â•… and has built in veto points in policy making Government opposition Frequent negotiations are required to get the opposition â•… negotiations â•… party’s support for measures if the opposition enjoys a â•… majority in the upper house Limited social-class divide The social-class divide is mitigated by the existence of a â•… labor wing within Christian democracy Depoliticization of labor Collective bargaining takes place per sector, but not nationwide, â•… issues â•… and there is a legal ban on government intervention in â•… wage bargaining

been attributable to a number of factors, listed in Table DE 1, almost all of which contrast with British, French, and Italian politics.

The Land and the People The Land

Germany is located in the heart of Western Europe, with short coasts in the north on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Its area totals 137,847 square miles (357,022 square kilometers), slightly larger than Finland but smaller than Montana. The longest road distances are 580 miles (980 kilometers) from north to south and 325 miles (520 kilometers) from west to east. Because of its central location, the country has the largest number of neighbors of all European nations, nine in total: Denmark to the north; Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France to the west; Switzerland and Austria to the south; and Czechia (its longest border) and Poland to the east. The borders have been stable since the end of World War II, when Poland was shifted to the west and integrated parts of Germany. Germany’s northern half consists of lowlands, interrupted by hilly regions; there are more hills as one moves to the south, and the hills become higher until one reaches the northern Alps in the extreme south of the country, where the highest peak is 9,724 feet (2,964 meters). The climate varies from maritime in the northwest to continental in the southeast. Important historical regions are the Rhineland (Rheinland) and Westphalia (Westfalen) in the west, Schleswig in the north, Â�Brandenburg and Saxony (Saxen) in the east, and Bavaria (Bayern) in the south.

The People Germany has 82.3 million inhabitants, more than double the population of Poland or California. The largest concentration of people is in the Ruhr Area in northern



GERMANY (Deutschland)╇ | 359

Rhineland with a string of big cities (Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund) and a population Â� of more than 5 million. The biggest city in the nation is the capital, Berlin, in Brandenburg; there are 5 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area. Other big metropolitan areas are Hamburg in the north, the largest port, with 3 million; Munich (München) in Bavaria, Stuttgart, also in the south, and Frankfurt in the center, all of them with 2.5 million; and Cologne (Köln) in the Rhineland with 2 million. Almost all inhabitants speak German, a Germanic language, but the country contains a growing Turkish minority and minorities from the Balkans, concentrated in the big cities. Traditionally, the country was divided between Lutheran Protestants (more than 40 percent) concentrated in the north and east and Catholics (also more than 40 percent) concentrated in the south and west. The line of division between the two religions has been relatively stable since the Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Turkish immigrants are predominantly Muslims.

The Economy Germany is a very-high-income country. More than Great Britain and France it has remained a stronghold of industry, with a relatively large workforce in industrial enterprises, in particular its dominant car industry, which by far surpasses that in any of the other large countries, with up-market Mercedes Benz (now part of the German/American Daimler/Chrysler group) and BMW, middle-class Opel (part of General Motors), and the formerly working-class but now also middleclass Volkswagen. Because of the size of its market, it is the dominant economy in Europe; any decrease in its imports immediately affects the economies of the surrounding nations. Other big companies are Siemens in electronics, Deutsche Bank, and Deutsche Post.

Culture More than France and Italy, Germany has specialized in a small number of cultural traditions. The two major German pastimes, as shown by the country’s prominence, seem to be playing music and thinking. In classic arts its contribution to European art has been modest, although it can point to Romanesque architecture and a number of painters, in particular early-20th-century expressionists. The German musical tradition is rivaled only by Austria, with Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750); George Frideric Handel (1685–1759), although he worked most of his life in England; Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Johannes Brahms (1833– 1897); and Richard Wagner (1813–1883). In philosophy and sociology the country can point to leading names like Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), the most prominent philosopher of the Enlightenment; Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831); Karl Marx (1818–1883), who inspired the continental labor movement; Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900); and Max Weber (1864–1920).

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In German literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) and Â�playwright Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) stand out, as well as many poets in the period of romanticism, probably the country’s preferred style of expression. In film, the country was the leader in Europe in the early 20th century, with directors F. W. Murnau (1888–1931) and Fritz Lang (1890–1976); the tradition continued after the war with Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945–1982). The country has been very strong in technology and the sciences. Book printing was invented by Johannes Gutenberg (ca. 1398–1468); microbiology was founded by Robert Koch Â�(1843–1910), the automobile was invented by Karl Benz (1844–1929), and the simplest formula in physics (E = mc2) was determined by Albert Einstein (1879–1955), the 20th century’s most prominent scientist.

History Table DE 2╇ Timeline of German History AD 9 Roman Empire expands beyond the Rhine but is stopped in the Battle of â•… Teutoburg Forest, in which Roman legions are defeated by German tribes Fifth Germanic tribes on the move during the Barbarian invasions â•…century 496 Alemans defeated by the Franks under Clovis, who founds the Merovingian â•… Dynasty and converts to Christianity 800 Charlemagne (Carolingian Dynasty) unites large parts of Western Europe; â•… he is crowned emperor by the pope 834–855 The empire is divided; Germany and France are separated; Rhineland is â•… Germany’s heartland 962 Otto I, from the Saxon dynasty, expands Germany and is crowned emperor; â•… this marks the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire, but with highly â•… autonomous units 1075–1122 Investiture battle between the emperor and the pope, ending in the Concordat â•… of Worms 14th century Rise of the Hanseatic League of northern German ports and ports in â•… neighboring countries on the North Sea and the Baltic Sea 1517 Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther challenges the Catholic â•… Church; the spread of his Bible translation, the first masterpiece in the â•… German language, is facilitated by the invention of book printing 1555 The Augsburg Treaty proclaims that all German states are free to decide â•… their own religion 1618–1648 Thirty Years’ War between Catholic and Protestant states, with massive â•… foreign intervention; Germany is totally devastated; the war ends with the â•… Westphalia Peace Treaty 1740–1786 Frederick the Great expands the power of Prussia and reigns as an â•… enlightened despot 1795 Beginning of Napoleon’s conquest of Germany and Austria (Continued)



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1815 Prussia and Great Britain defeat France; Prussia establishes the German â•… Confederation under Prussian leadership 1834 Customs Union between the German states, excluding Austria 1848 Liberal attempts to establish a parliament end in failure 1870–1871 War with France; in Versailles, after the victory, Germany, under Chancellor â•… Otto von Bismarck, proclaims the Second German Empire 1880s Bismarck introduces social security for male manual workers to reduce the â•… appeal of the emerging labor movement; trade unions are banned 1900s Attempts at German expansionism in the Middle East 1918 Germany defeated in World War I, marking the end of the empire; there are â•… many uprisings and attempts at revolution 1919 Weimar Republic, supported mainly by liberals, Catholics, and Social â•…Democrats 1933 Hitler is named chancellor and soon after the Nazis win a plurality in â•… general elections 1938 Nazi Germany invades Austria and occupies parts of Czechoslovakia 1939 Nazi Germany and communist Soviet Union invade Poland, beginning of â•… World War II 1940–1945 Germany invades the Low Countries and France, and later the Soviet Union â•… (1941), occupies large parts of Europe, and organizes the Holocaust; â•… gradual retreat begins in 1943; unconditional surrender in May 1945 1945 The Allied Powers split Germany into four occupation zones 1949 Proclamation of the German Federal Republic (Deutsche Bundesrepublik, â•… or West Germany) and the Russian-dominated German Democratic â•… Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or East Germany) 1951 West Germany is one of the founders of the EU 1961 East Germany constructs the Berlin Wall 1960s Terrorist attacks by the Red Army Faction 1989 Reunification of West and East Germany 2002 Germany adopts the euro

Political System Germany is a federal republic with a parliamentary political system. It has a multiparty system, but the number of parties is limited and two parties dominate.

Constitution The first constitution dates from 1871, after the proclamation of the German Empire. It was followed by the 1920 constitution of the Weimar Republic, which the Nazis left unchanged. The current constitution (Grundgesetz) was proclaimed in 1948 and came into force in West Germany in 1949, after the three western Allied Powers and the Länder had approved it. An important difference with the Weimar constitution is the lack of presidential powers (which had been used to

362 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

help Hitler attain power in 1933). German Reunification in 1989 did not lead to a new constitution; the existing constitution was simply amended. There have been many other amendments, but they have mainly concerned minor points. Amending the constitution requires a shorter procedure than in most European countries; a two-thirds majority in both houses of the parliament suffices. The Länder have their own constitutions.

Head of State The president (Bundespräsident) is the head of state, serving two five-year terms at most. The president is elected by the Federal Convention (Bundesversammlung), which consists of the lower house (Bundestag) and an equal number of representatives of the Länder, elected by the legislatures of the Länder, more than 1,200 people in total. The presidents, listed in Table DE 3, have only ceremonial functions and are never involved in politics. In theory they have a suspensive veto, but it is used very infrequently and always highly informally, more as a suggestion. In 2010, President Horst Köhler resigned before his term was over, after making controversial remarks about the economic (rather than humanitarian) need of participating in United Nations (UN) Peace Missions. In spite of the lack of presidential powers, the election that followed was enlivened by the Social Democrat candidate Joachim Gauck, a Protestant preacher and former dissident under East Germany’s communist regime, who for a while became a very popular figure, though he had no chance in the election.

Legislative Power The German parliament consists of two houses, but when Germans speak about their parliament they only have in mind the popularly elected lower house Â�(Bundestag).  Its seat is in the Imperial Reichstag building. The upper house Table DE 3╇ Presidents of Germany since 1949 President Ideology Begin Theodor Heuss Heinrich Lübke Gustav Heinemann Walter Scheel Karl Carstens Richard von Weizsäcker Roman Herzog Johannes Rau Horst Köhler Christian Wulff Total: 10 presidents

Conservative liberal Christian democrat Social democrat Conservative liberal Christian democrat Christian democrat Christian democrat Social democrat Christian democrat Christian democrat

1949 1959 1969 1974 1979 1984 1994 1999 2004 2010



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(Bundesrat) is not elected but is a representation of the governments of the federal units, the Länder. The Bundestag can vote down the chancellor, but a motion of no confidence must contain the name of the new chancellor, the so-called “constructive motion of no confidence” (Konstruktives Mißtrauensvotum). The purpose of adding “constructive” is to prevent two or more opposition parties from removing the chancellor without being able to agree on a successor, which happened in the latter days of the Weimar Republic, when communists and Nazis combined to vote the chancellors out of office. The chancellor does not have the right to dissolve the Bundestag. For the election of the 598 or more members of the Bundestag the country uses the electoral system of proportional representation, complemented by a plurality system; the size of the body depends on the election results. Members of parliament are elected to a four-year term in an intricate process. All voters can cast two votes. With the first vote (Erststimme) half of the 598 members are elected in single-member constituencies, according to the plurality system such as it is used in Great Britain and the United States. The second vote (Zweitstimme) decides about the other half of the 598 members from a party list in the Land of the voter. The second vote is the more important one, because it determines the total size of the party delegates in the Bundestag, according to the rule of proportional representation. The total number of seats for each party (based on the first vote and the second vote) is in proportion to their numbers of second votes, which makes the second vote the more important one. When a party wins more districts in a Land with the first votes than the number it is entitled to on the basis of the second votes, however, it may keep the extra seats. The extra seats are called surplus mandates (Überhangmandate), and the Bundestag is enlarged with the total number of surplus mandates. The system implies that the total number of Bundestag members is not known until all votes have been counted, and it varies from one election to another. In 2009, the Bundestag counted 24 such surplus mandates, bringing the total number of members to 622 (598 + 24), one third of whom are women. See Table DE 4. In order to be represented in the Bundestag, parties must pass a threshold (Sperrklausel) of five percent of the second votes, or they must win at least three constituencies with the first votes. The political spectrum consists of the following parties, from left to right: The Left (Die Linke) to Alliance ’90/The Greens (Bündnis ’90/die Grünen) to Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands [SPD]) to the Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demokratische [CDU]) and the Christian Social Union (Christlich-Soziale Union [CSU]), which form a permanent combination, to Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei [FDP], though the FDP is actually located more or less between the CDU and the CSU.

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Table DE 4╇ German Bundestag since 2002 Party Ideology Christian Democratic Christian democrat â•…Union† Social Democratic Party Social democrat Free Democratic Party Conservative liberal The Left (2002: PDS) Radical left Alliance’90/the Greens Green Christian Social Union† Christian democrat Others

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats Votes 2002 2005 2009 2009* 190

180

194

27.3

251 222 146 23.0 47 61 93 14.6 2 54 76 11.9 55 51 68 10.7 58 46 45 6.5 – – – 6.0 603 614 622

* Percent of votes refers to the Zweitstimme or second vote. † The Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union parties always operate as one bloc.

The upper chamber (Bundesrat) is not elected. The 69 members are the prime ministers and ministers of the Länder or their substitutes. The delegations of the Länder have three to six votes, depending on the Land’s population. The term of the Bundesrat members is not fixed; it is dependent on the composition of the government in the Länder. Each Land representation is obliged to vote unanimously in the Bundesrat; if a Land is governed by a coalition that wants to bring out a divided vote, it often abstains. The Bundesrat must approve all laws in policy fields in which the Länder have competencies, in particular social and economic policies, but also education; in practice the right applies to most bills. Such bills are discussed in the Bundesrat first before they pass to the Bundestag. On all other subjects the Bundesrat has a suspensive veto. If the Bundesrat rejects legislation for which it has a veto, the two houses often form a kind of joint conference committee, which negotiates a compromise. Since 1992, chancellors have faced a hostile Bundesrat most of the time, and because elections for the Länder governments are organized on different dates, the Bundesrat can become hostile in the course of a governmental period, as it did in 2010, when the Social Democrats won the elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen. The result is a process of almost permanent and intensive bargaining, not in the way of US-style pork barrel trade-offs, but between the major national parties, which has made Germany into a negotiating democracy (Verhandlungsdemokratie), in spite of the sometimes strong rhetoric between the two leading parties.

Executive Power Almost all German governments since the war have been coalition cabinets, with the Conservative Liberal FDP serving as junior partner, most of the time with the



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Christian Democrats, but between 1969 and 1982 with the Social Democrats. Grand Coalitions of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats have been exceptional (1966–1969, 2005–2009) and have never been successful or popular. As Table DE 5 shows, the 1998 coalition introduced a new coalition party, the Greens. Governments have been very stable in Germany because of the majorities governments have enjoyed. The constructive vote of no confidence was used only once, by the FDP in 1982, to allow a shift from Social Democrats to Christian Democrats.

The German Chancellors Konrad Adenauer (1879–1967) was born in Cologne. After his studies he was involved in a Catholic political party and became mayor of Cologne in 1917. Under the Nazis he was imprisoned for some time, and his wife was tortured to death. Right after liberation he took up his post again but lost the job after disputes with the leaders of the British Occupation Zone. He then took to national politics Table DE 5╇ Governments and Chancellors of Germany since 1949 Parties in Government Begin

No. of Months

Prime Ministers*

╇ 1 Christian Democrats, Conservative 1949 49 Konrad Adenauer â•… Liberals, Radical Right† ╇ 2 Christian Democrats, Conservative 1952 22 Konrad Adenauer â•… Liberals, two Radical Right parties‡ ╇ 3 Christian Democrats, Conservative 1955 7 Konrad Adenauer â•… Liberals, Radical Right† ╇ 4 Christian Democrats, two Radical 1956 19 Konrad Adenauer â•… Right parties§ ╇ 5 Christian Democrats, Radical Right† 1957 33 Konrad Adenauer ╇ 6 Christian Democrats 1960 15 Konrad Adenauer ╇ 7 Christian Democrats, Conservative Liberals 1961 12 Konrad Adenauer ╇ 8 Christian Democrats 1962 1 Konrad Adenauer ╇ 9 Christian Democrats, Conservative Liberals 1962 46 Konrad Adenauer, â•…Ludwig â•… Erhard (2) 10 Christian Democrats 1966 1 Ludwig Erhard 11 Christian Democrats, Social Democrats 1966 34 Kurt Georg â•…Kiesinger 12 Social Democrats, Conservative Liberals 1969 154 Willy Brandt (2), â•…Helmut â•… Schmidt (3) 13 Christian Democrats, Conservative Liberals 1982 193 Helmut Kohl (6) 14 Social Democrats, Greens 1998 85 Gerhard Schröder 15 Christian Democrats, Social Democrats 2005 47 Angela Merkel (Continued)

366 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy 16 Christian Democrats, Conservative October Angela Merkel â•…Liberals â•…2009 Total 16 periods Total: Eight â•… prime ministers, â•… 27 cabinets * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that prime minister headed. † The Radical Right Party was the Deutsche Partei. ‡ The Radical Right parties were the Deutsche Partei and the All-German Bloc. § The Radical Right parties were the Deutsche Partei and the Democratic Working Group.

and was one of the founders of the CDU. As the first chancellor of the Federal Republic he strongly promoted rapprochement with the French and integration of the country in the Free West under US leadership. When de Gaulle became French president, Adenauer reinforced relations with France (both men were devout Catholics) rather than the United States, and he continues to be regarded on as one of the builders of European unity because of this French–German cooperation. Internationally, he was a very respected statesman. Domestically, he was an unchallenged leader. Adenauer resigned in 1963 at the age of 84. Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977) was physically the opposite of the slim Adenauer: a rotund symbol (never without cigar) of the welfare state he helped to create. Because of injuries he received at the front in World War I he did not have to serve in World War II. His training as an economist led to his appointment as minister of economics in postwar regional governments, and in 1949 in the federal government under Adenauer. Erhard’s liberal economic policies are credited with the enormous economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s, known as the “Economic Miracle” (Wirtschaftswunder). As chancellor he was far less successful: He alienated French president de Gaulle and the US government with unrealistic plans for European unity and German Reunification and had to leave office when the FDP withdrew its support. Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1904–1988) was a lawyer. In 1933, he joined the Nazi Party and worked for the Nazi government during the war. However, he was acquitted of complicity in criminal activities after the war. In 1958, he became CDU prime minister of Baden-Württemberg until being called in to succeed Erhard as federal chancellor of the first Grand Coalition. The coalition had some success in reducing tension with the Soviet Union and promoting economic growth, but it remained in the shadow of the Wirtschaftswunder. In addition, Kiesinger’s Nazi past became an issue again. In 1969, the Social Democrats gave up the Grand Coalition and Kiesinger was succeeded by his minister of foreign affairs, Willy Brandt. Willy Brandt (1913–1992) was born into a relatively poor family. At a young age he joined the Social Democrats and fled to Scandinavia when the Nazis came to power. He became active in local politics in postwar West Berlin, and in 1957 was elected mayor of West Berlin, a prominent position in the Cold War period.



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As a candidate for the chancellorship he lost the 1961 and 1965 elections, but then became minister of foreign affairs. In 1969, he succeeded Kiesinger as chancellor and initiated a period of great reforms in ethical issues, but most of all in Germany’s relations with the Soviet Bloc. This approach, called “Eastern Â�Politics” (Ostpolitik), earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 and included recognizing the communist German Democratic Republic; making a very sensitive visit to Poland, including the site of Auschwitz; and openly accepting responsibility for the war crimes and the Holocaust. Brandt resigned as chancellor in 1974 when one of his close assistants turned out to be an East German spy. He was succeeded by his minister of finance, Helmut Schmidt. Helmut Schmidt (1918–) was born in Hamburg; his parents were both teachers. He studied economics and political science and during the war served in the German Army. After the war he joined the SPD and was elected to the Bundestag. In 1958, he became active in local politics in Hamburg, where he earned the reputation of a being a doer (Macher) and an effective (and authoritarian) public manager, in particular at the time of a serious flood in 1962. Later he joined Willy Brandt’s cabinet, first as minister of defense, then as minister of economic affairs, and later as minister of finance. As chancellor, he reinforced relations with French president Valéry Giscard D’Estaing and with the United States (in spite of his condescending schoolmaster’s way of instructing President Carter on world politics). Faced with the 1974 oil crisis he turned away from Keynesianism, but not enough in the eyes of the FDP, which left the coalition in 1982 by means of a constructive motion of no confidence. Schmidt was one of the most intellectual chancellors and, out of power, remained an active commentator on international affairs. Helmut Kohl (1930–) was born in the Rhineland. Right after the war he became active in the CDU and studied political science. In 1959, he was elected to the parliament of Rhineland-Palatine (Rheinland-Pfalz), and in 1969 became minister president of that Land. He returned to federal politics but lost the 1976 elections, which strained relations with the Bavarian sister-party CSU, headed by the flamboyant but very conservative leader Franz Josef Strauss. Bavarian leader Strauss then became the Christian Democratic candidate for chancellor, but lost the 1980 elections. This reinforced Kohl’s position, and in 1982 he was elected chancellor. Faced with economic challenges stemming from the 1980 oil crisis, he followed a course of cuts in spending, though these cuts were far more moderate than those of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher. In the late 1980s, Kohl was on the brink of being ousted when he was saved by the fall of the Berlin Wall, which gave him the opportunity to reach great heights as an international leader and the first chancellor of a reunified Germany. He took care to seek French support for Reunification, and in order to appease French president François Mitterand, Kohl accepted the German position as largest net contributor to the EU, an equal number of seats for Germany and France in the European Parliament, and the euro. In 1998, after

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16 years in office, he was defeated by the Social Democrats. A year later he was involved in a scandal regarding illegal party funds and retreated from politics. Gerhard Schröder (1944–), whose father was killed in the war, was born in Rhineland. He worked his way up from unskilled worker and earned a university degree, joined the SPD, and became a lawyer. In 1986, he was elected in the parliament of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and, in 1990, became prime minister of that Land, leading a red–green coalition. In 1998, he won the general elections and became federal chancellor, gaining a reputation of being “one of us”—having good contacts with manual workers and the managers of big companies alike. With Great Britain’s Tony Blair, Schröder introduced “Third Way” policies, yet his economic reforms were opposed by the Christian Democrats as being not rigorous enough, the beginning of long rounds of bargaining with that party. Schröder grew increasingly critical of the Iraq war and US international policies in general (according to critics this was mainly for electoral reasons), and developed close relations with Russian president Vladimir Putin, which allowed him to become leader of a Russian–German joint venture in oil pipelines after he lost the 2005 elections. Angela Merkel (1954–) is the daughter of a Lutheran priest. She was raised in East Germany and studied physics. Right after the fall of the Berlin Wall she became politically active in Christian democracy, and from 1991 on she headed various ministries under Helmut Kohl. Her star rose because of Kohl’s loss in the 1998 elections and the financial scandal in which he and other leading CDU politicians were involved. In 2005, Merkel won the general elections with only a few seats more than incumbent Gerhard Schröder. After long talks a Grand Coalition was finally formed, which was plagued by internal disputes, but after winning the 2009 elections she was able to build a coalition with the FDP, with which she soon had to cope with the effects of the banking and credit crisis.

Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of a special Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in Karlsruhe. The judges are selected by the Bundestag by a two-thirds majority for a 12-year term; they must retire at the age of 68. The judges are divided into two senates, each consisting of eight judges, but either senate can hear any case. The required two-thirds majority means the two big parties have to negotiate on new appointments; in practice this is done in a committee. The political affiliation of all judges is public and to some extent plays a role in seeking a balance between the two leading parties. The constitutional court is separate from the ordinary courts, of which the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof), also with its seat in Karlsruhe, is the highest. The Länder have their own courts as well as their own constitutional court.



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Referendums Germany has not held any national referendums since the foundation of the Â�Federal Republic, but the Länder have organized referendums, Bavaria (Bayern) most of all. At the federal level, there is still fear that referendums can result in decisions without necessary lengthy political deliberation and public discussion.

Civil Society The separation between state and church is much stricter in the Protestant regions than in the Catholic south. The country has a church tax for religious institutions, but taxpayers can opt out. Direct church influence on political decision making is small, even in the most Catholic Länd, Bavaria. Most interest associations are well organized and count on a fair amount of membership discipline from the rank and file. Trade unions and employers’ associations have national organizations, but they only meet at the sector level for each Land or region separately. The decentralization is due to the postwar Allied ban on central organizations that would facilitate a new fascist or a communist takeover and the legal ban on government restrictions on or involvement in collective bargaining, which is considered a basic civil right. In the only general trade union confederation, the German Trade Union Confederation (Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund [DGB]), the metallurgy workers and engineers organized in IGMetall and the employees in private and public services organized in Verdi play first fiddle, because IGMetall and Verdi are by far the largest member unions of the DGB; each group makes up a third of DGB’s total membership of some 7 million. The employers have two associations, which do not compete for members as they perform different functions. The Federation of German Industries (Bundesverband der deutschen Industrie [BDI]) is a lobbying agent, and the Federation of German Employers (Bundesvereinigung der deutschen Arbeitgeberverbände [BDA]) handles contacts with the trade unions. The types of political strikes against government policies that occur in Latin Europe are  absent in Germany; strikes often concern an economic sector or branch as a whole but are typically confined to one Land or region.

Federalism Germany is a federal republic (Bundesrepublik), in which the 16 units (Länder, plural of Land) have great autonomy in areas such as education (the country does not have a ministry of education at the federal level) and a great say in federal politics (Bundespolitik) because their governments are represented in the Bundesrat. By far the largest Land is North Rhine-Westphalia (NordrheinWestfalen), which has more inhabitants than neighboring Netherlands and most European nations; see Table DE 6. All units have their own unicameral legislature, and they are governed by different types of coalitions: a Grand Coalition (CDU-SPD); a “Jamaica coalition” (so named after the colors of the Jamaican flag) between CDU (black), FDP (yellow), and the Grüne (green); rightist coalitions;

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Table DE 6╇ German Federal Units (Länderder) Land

Area in 1,000 Popula- Popu- Votes Predom- square tion lation in inant miles (1,000 (in (%) Bundes- Religion square millions rat kilometers)

Governing Parties (2010)

Baden- 13.8 (35.7) 10.7 12.9 ╇ 6 Catholic CDU/ â•… Württemberg â•… FDP Bavaria (Bayern) 27.2 (70.5) 12.5 15.6 ╇ 6 Catholic CSU/ â•… FDP Berlin* 0.3 (0.9) 3.4 4.1 ╇ 4 Protestant SPD/Die â•… Linke Brandenburg* 11.4 (29.5) 2.5 3.1 ╇ 4 Protestant SPD/Die â•… Linke Bremen 0.15 (0.4) 0.7 0.8 ╇ 3 Protestant SPD/ â•… Grüne Hamburg 0.3 (0.8) 1.8 2.1 ╇ 3 Protestant CDU/ â•… Grüne Hesse (Hessen) 2.4 (6.1) 6.1 7.4 ╇ 5 Protestant/ CDU/ â•…Catholic â•…FDP Mecklenburg- 9.0 (23.2) 1.7 2.1 ╇ 3 Protestant SPD/ â•… Vorpommern* â•… CDU Lower Saxony 18.4 (47.6) 8.0 9.7 ╇ 6 Protestant CDU/ â•…(Niedersachsen) â•…FDP North Rhine- 13.2 (34.1) 18.0 21.9 ╇ 6 Catholic/ SPD/ â•…Westphalia (Nord- â•…Protestant â•…Grüne â•…rhein-Westfalen) Rhineland-Palatinate 7.6 (19.8) 4.1 4.9 ╇ 4 Catholic/ SPD â•…(Rheinland-Pfalz) â•…Protestant Saarland 1.0 (2.6) 1.0 1.3 ╇ 3 Catholic CDU/ â•…FDP/ â•…Grüne Saxony (Sachsen)* 7.1 (18.4) 4.2 5.2 ╇ 4 Protestant CDU/SPD Saxony Anhalt 7.9 (20.4) 2.4 3.1 ╇ 4 Protestant CDU/SPD â•…(Sachsen-Anhalt)* Schleswig-Holstein 6.1 (15.8) 2.8 3.4 ╇ 4 Protestant CDU/FDP Thuringia 6.3 (16.2) 2.3 2.9 ╇ 4 Protestant CDU/SPD â•…(Thüringen)* Germany 137.8 (357.0) 82.3 100 69 Catholic/ CDU/ â•…Protestant â•…CSU/ â•…FDP * Formerly part of East Germany; before reunification, half of Berlin was part of East Germany and half was part of West Germany.



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leftist coalitions; and other combinations. None of the units now has a “traffic-light coalition” Â�(Ampelkoalition) of SPD (red), FDP (yellow), and the Grüne. Bavaria has long been governed by a one-party CSU cabinet, whereas in North RhineWestphalia the SPD has often been the largest party.

Policies No European country has such serious public debates about politics, or for that matter, about anything, as Germany. Such debates easily fill hours of television, though not on prime time, and very dense newspaper articles (the popular press has no debates at all, except on soccer results). Preventing inflation is probably Germany’s first and foremost concern in economic policies. The ruinous inflation of the early 1920s, which contributed to the rise of Nazism, was such a traumatic experience that after the war the autonomy of the national Bundesbank was reinforced to prevent the government from overspending. For that reason Germany was reluctant to give in to the French wish to introduce the euro, and it would only comply if the European Central bank were located in Frankfurt, which is also the seat of the Bundesbank. Changes in economic and social policy have been less dramatic than in the other large nations because such changes require bargaining with the opposition in the Bundesrat if the opposition has a majority, which is often the case. The German welfare state is well developed, though less so than in Scandinavia. Protestant and Catholic organizations play a prominent role in social services and health care. For the combination of market economy and welfare provisions, Germans use the term “social market economy” (soziale Marktwirtschaft). In ethical issues Germany follows Scandinavia and the Low Countries at a distance, but Germany is ahead of France and Italy. In immigration and integration policies, Germany has been the strictest of the larger Western European nations, long forbidding a double nationality and separating immigrants from natives based on the premise (which has turned out to be wrong) that the immigrants, as temporary Gastarbeiter (guest workers), will return to their country of origin. The policies are now being mitigated under the pressure of the influx of political refugees. In international relations the country has maintained a low profile since the war because of its traumatic past and the division of the country. After Reunification it has only reluctantly upgraded its low profile and only after long debate has sent troops under the UN flag to belligerent nations.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right The Left (Die Linke)

The party was founded in 2007 when two young parties merged. The first one was the Party of Democratic Socialism (Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus [PDS]),

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a weakened continuation of the Communist Party that had ruled communist East Germany for 40 years, but with a democratic program. Its appeal was confined to former East Germany, where it served as a protest party against the Wessies. The second was the recently created party Labor and Social Justice – the Electoral Alternative (Arbeit & Soziale Gerechtigkeit – die Wahlalternative), a small radical left party that made headlines in 2005 when Oskar Lafontaine, a radical leader of the Social Democratic Party, joined it. Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi, leader of the Party of Democratic Socialism, became the party leaders. The Left got nine percent of the seats in 2005 and 12 percent in 2009, more than the Greens. It continues to attract most voters in the former East Germany and in the small federal unit of Saarland, where Oskar Lafontaine was prime minister until he resigned in 2010. The party has a radical left platform, is opposed to nuclear energy, and is pro-EU. In the EU it is a member of the radical socialist European United Left (GUE/NGL). It is an activist party, regularly calling for protest actions against governmental policies, as the following call for action on its Web site shows (author translation): On Saturday April 24, 2010, there will be nationwide actions under the slogan “CHAINreACTION (KETTENreAKTION): An End to All Nuclear Power.” ... Between the nuclear power station of Krümel and Brunsbüttel, an AntiNuclear Power Chain of people has been planned. And it demands legalization of same-sex marriage: Die Linke criticizes the Life-partnership as the new norm for gay and lesbian ways of life. With such a form of legalization homosexuals still do not get the same rights as heterosexual couples. The basic discrimination continues to exist. At the same time, this distinct legal form creates a new separate position for homosexual couples in society.

Alliance ’90/The Greens (Bündnis ’90/die Grünen) As the name suggests, the party is a combination of two groups. The Greens emerged from social and environmental protest movements of the 1970s; the party was founded in 1980 and won its first national seats in the 1983 elections. Alliance ’90 was a loose combination of civil rights groups that came up in the last days of communism in East Germany. The two groups joined efforts when the Greens failed to reach the five percent threshold in 1990. At first the two big parties distrusted the new group, as they thought it might prevent the building of a majority cabinet and lead to political instability, but by 1998 the new party was cooperating with the SPD in a red–green coalition. The party’s share of seats has been stable; since 1990 it has scored between 7 and 9 percent of the seats, with an exceptional score of 11 percent in 2009. The party has tried to do without a



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party bureaucracy and a party leader, but at the time of the red-green coalition Joschka Fischer dominated the party. Fischer, who enjoyed wide popularity within and outside the party, was an intellectual who had been a 1968 activist and became minister of foreign affairs in the coalition with the SPD, which lasted until 2009. The Greens have only few voters in former East Germany, where the Die Linke is stronger. In western Â�Germany the party appeal is concentrated in big cities and university towns, and it especially attracts well-educated voters. In the EU the party is a member of the European Greens. Regarding drugs, on its Web site the party states that it stands for a wide coverage of the notion and for some form of legalization of soft drugs (author translation): Drug policies must also cover the beginning of addiction and of damage to health by means of prevention, protecting children and young people and helping the most addicted. The policy of criminalization of consumers does not lead anywhere. Deeply addicted persons need help, not prosecution. In a responsible drug policy, all legal drugs must be covered in a similar way, such as for instance alcohol and tobacco, but also illegal drugs and “immaterial drugs” such as gambling. Child and youth protection must be implemented consequently throughout social life, also in commercials.... Regarding soft drugs such as cannabis, we want to allow for a legal form of sale in authorized specialized shops, yet in conformity with the rules of youth protection.

Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands [SPD]) The SPD is the oldest Social Democratic party in Europe. It was founded in 1869 as the Social Democratic Workers’ Party (Sozialdemokratische Â�Arbeiterpartei) by August Bebel and Karl Liebknecht, two very prominent men in international Marxism. In 1875, they were joined by the workers’ movement set up by Â�Ferdinand Lasalle in 1863. In 1890, the party adopted its current name, after it had been outlawed for more than ten years as a threat to the unity of the newly created German Empire. One of the most prominent members was Eduard Bernstein, who introduced the revision of Marxism that became the foundation of revisionism and social democracy in Europe. The party supported German war efforts in World War I, partly so it would not be outlawed again. At the end of World War I a group of radicals split off, including Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who set up the Communist Party; after starting an uprising, both were killed by private army corps. The SPD participated in a few cabinets of the Weimar Republic, and its leader became president of the new republic; the prominent Social Democratic participation in government was a novelty for Europe. The party was banned under Adolf Â�Hitler

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and reestablished in 1946. Under its first postwar leader, Kurt Schumacher, the party still opposed a free-market economy, but the next party leader, Erich Â�Ollenhauer, who was opposition leader for more than 10 years, accepted the social market economy (soziale Marktwirtschaft) that was created by the Christian Democrats. In 1959, it made an even more daring step when it omitted all references to Marxism in its Godesberg Program, in which it traced social democracy back to Christianity, humanism, and classical philosophy. The 1959 Godesberg program stated the following on the basic values of socialism (author translation from the party Web site): Freedom and Justice are necessary conditions for each other, because the dignity of human beings consists of their claim to self-responsibility, as much as in the recognition of the rights of their fellow human beings to develop their personalities and to cooperate in the development of society on an equal footing. Freedom, Justice and Solidarity that result from a common sense of unity are the basic values of the socialist program. Democratic socialism, which in Europe is rooted in Christian ethics, in humanism and in classical philosophy, does not want to preach eternal truth...because of its respect for the people’s religious and ideological choices, which cannot be determined by a political party or by the state. The SPD has always been second to the combination of the two Christian Â� Democratic parties. In most elections until 2000 it received 35 to 45 percent of the seats, with a low of 32 percent in 1953 and a high in 1972, when it gained 47 percent. Yet, since 1998 the share has dropped, and the party received less than 25 percent in 2009. The party has its strongholds in Protestant northern and central Germany, and especially in the big cities and industrial areas. Its appeal is limited in Saxony (in eastern Germany) and in the Catholic south of the country, which shows the continuing effect of religion on German voting behavior. In the EU the SPD is a leading member of the Social Democrat Â�Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The party leader since 2009 is Sigmar Gabriel. The party has always had a strong focus on labor and the democratization of economic life, with worker participation in the enterprise in works councils (Betriebsrat) and through codetermination in the enterprise (Mitbestimmung), as shown by the most recent Hamburg program, adopted in 2007, which also expresses the high esteem for the constitution in Germany. The following text is from the section on Mitbestimmung and the social market economy (soziale Marktwirtschaft) in the Hamburg program, published on the party Web site (author translation): Economic democracy is indispensable as a means to bring to life the Â� obligation, contained in the Constitution: “Property creates obligations. Its use should also serve the common interest.” Mitbestimmung in enterprises



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and companies, the fight of free collective bargaining and the right to strike are basic to the soziale Marktwirtschaft. Income and property are distributed unjustly in Germany. Social democratic tax policy should limit inequality and promote equal opportunities.... We believe in a progressive income tax, which has proven its value. We demand a just taxation of large property and inheritances. Although other Social Democrats have mitigated references to the state, the party also still proudly highlights the state role in education, as the same 2007 Hamburg program shows (author translation): “Der Staat has the duty to guarantee that all have equal access to education, irrespective of birth. Everyone has the right to free education from cradle and Kindergarten to secondary education.”

Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demokratische Union [CDU]) and Its Bavarian Sister Party (Schwesterpartei) Christian Social Union (Christlich-Soziale Union [CSU]) Building on the Catholic Center Party that had been one of the pillars of the Weimar Republic, the CDU was founded in 1945 in the British Zone, this time not as a party for Catholics only but for Catholics and Protestants. The CSU was also founded in 1945, in Bavaria in the American Zone, an almost totally Catholic region. Since their beginning, the two parties have cooperated in government and in opposition. Mutual competition is absent, because the CDU has not been active in Bavaria, and the CSU does not undertake any activities in the other Länder. In combination, the parties have always had the largest representation in the parliament, with a majority of the seats in 1957 and 1961. The CDU by itself has mostly held between 35 and 40 percent of the seats, and the CSU between 7 and 10 percent. Not only did the CDU provide more prime ministers than the Social Democrats but the CDU and the CSU have governed most of the postwar years; they were only out of power between 1969 and 1982, and between 1998 and 2005. Although the CDU caters to all Christians, its appeal is confined to Catholics, and some of its issues are explicitly Catholic, such as the importance of religious symbols in public schools. The party attracts most voters in the Catholic south (except for Bavaria, which is left to the CSU) and in other Catholic regions, for instance the rural parts of Rhineland and Westphalia. In the former East Germany, the CDU is strongest in Saxony. The party is by far the largest Christian Democratic party in Europe and a leading force in formulating Christian Democratic values and priorities; in the EU it is a prominent member of the Christian Democratic and conservative European People’s Party (EPP). The following passage from the party Web site shows the importance the party places on the cross in public schools and its opposition to the official recognition of same-sex relationships as marriage, with a reference to the constitution (author translation):

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Freedom of religion cannot be reduced to the obligation to give up all religious symbols. Rather, the right of religious freedom means in its positive dimension that religion can be practiced visibly. Religion does not only have Â�meaning for the individual, but also for societal cohesion. Our constitutional order, indeed, our basic rights are based on values that are essentially contained in the Christian-Jewish tradition. The Cross is not only a cultural symbol, but a symbol of Christian expression. As such it should also retain its natural place in public life.... We reject giving equal legal status and rights to “life-partnership” as to a marriage between a man and a woman. It is not in accordance with the constitution, which in Article 6 orders the privileged position of marriage between a man and a woman. The unambiguous reading of Article 6 of the constitution is also to be taken from the well-documented preferences of the Founding Fathers and Mothers, which are also the basis of its judicial interpretation. The CSU in Bavaria was founded in 1945. The party has always gained between 7 and 10 percent of the seats in the national parliament. It has never had a national prime minister, but in the Bavaria Land all postwar prime ministers have been recruited from the CSU, and until 2008, it always had a majority of seats in the regional parliament. Its most prominent leader was Franz Josef Strauss, party leader from 1961 until 1988 and minister in several federal coalitions. Because of his often hardboiled and extreme points of view he was popular in Bavaria but provoked much resistance in the rest of the nation, including among CDU voters. A later party leader was Edmund Stoiber. He was the CDU/ CSU candidate for national prime minister in 2002, but the coalition lost the elections, and at the next elections the CDU opted for Angela Merkel. Since 2008, Horst Seehofer has been leader of the party. Even stronger than the CDU, the CSU caters to Catholics and rejects a separation between state and church. In the EU it is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP. It is to the right of the CDU and explicitly and proudly presents itself as a conservative party, as shown in the passage below (author translation). The meaning of the word Heimat in the text is far beyond anything meant by Americans, the French, or other Europeans when they use the word “homeland”; it is a combination of the ideals of home, homeland, fatherland, motherland, and similar notions: The CSU is a conservative party. Its policies are based on the permanent combination of values of Western thought as well as the historical and cultural heritage of our people. Tradition and Heimat, language and culture provide a sense of security and cohesion to the community.



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Free Democratic Party (Freie Demokratische Partei [FDP]) The party was founded in 1948 by Theodor Heuss, the first president of the Federal Republic. It started as an uneasy combination of Social Liberals and Â�Conservative Liberals and has not only survived internal disputes but has also reached a very powerful position as the indispensable coalition partner of either of the two large parties—until the rise of the Greens as a potential junior coalition partner. Â�Consequently, it is the party with the most governmental experience in Germany. The party has mostly gained between 6 and 12 percent of the seats. Probably the most important year in the party’s history was 1982, when it used the constructive vote of no confidence. The main reason to do so was the dispute about the way to fight the economic crisis of the early 1980s, whether by cuts in spending or by public investments. Party leader Hans Dietrich Â�Genscher continued as minister of foreign affairs in the Kohl governments. Under its current leader, Guido Â�Westerwelle, the party has been moving to the right on social issues; on ethical issues it has always been a bit more libertarian than the Christian Democrats, but less so than the Social Democrats. The party especially appeals to highly educated and high-income people in the urban areas of Protestant western Germany. In the EU it is a member of the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). It vehemently criticized the Grand Coalition that was in power between 2005 and 2009; the following passage from the party’s Web site juxtaposes statism with the social market economy (soziale Marktwirtschaft) (author translation): Out of a wrong understanding of comprehensive state care the coalition undertakes more and more tasks, which are not hers, and is trapped in the statist concept (Etatismus) of the interventionist state. In doing so, it goes back to the concepts of Keynesian demand management, long since discredited, in spite of the fact that this has proven to be a politics of illusions. Required, then, is a different economic policy, a policy that creates more room for enterprises and allows them to occupy a leading position in the global competition of the 21st century. What we need is not less than a further development of the soziale Marktwirtschaft in the global context.... To reach that goal, a consequent change of course is required in the direction of a more free market economy and more competition in all sectors of social life.

FRANCE (France) Although British politics contrasts with continental politics in general, on the continent France has often occupied an exceptional position. It has been the birthplace of most revolutions that swept the continent, and after World

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War II it took the lead in European democratic politics and in initiating the EU; its leadership was reinforced by Charles de Gaulle’s foundation of the Fifth Republic and its semi-presidential political system. The country’s position in continental Europe is a bit comparable to that of California in the United States; on some points it leads, and on other points it is a maverick, yet its domestic and foreign policies have had a great impact on the rest of continental Europe. With its political system it has been less influential; almost all new democracies in Central Europe have followed the German example of a parliamentary system with a high electoral threshold rather than the French semi-presidential system. On rankings of democracy, France almost always scores lower than the British Isles and the Germanic countries, but higher than the other Latin European countries.

The Land and the People The Land

France is situated on Europe’s Atlantic Coast; it is Western Europe’s largest country in area: 212,935 square miles (551,500 square kilometers), more than twice the size of Great Britain and more than one and a half times the size of Â�Germany. The form of the mainland (Metropolitan France, France Â�Metropolitain) is a hexagon, in which the largest road distances are 710 miles (1140 kilometers) from north to south and 670 miles (1080 kilometers) from west to east. France has not only a very long coast on the Atlantic Ocean but also on the Â�Mediterranean, the famous Côte d’Azur, and the island of Corsica (Corse) in the Â�Mediterranean. The country borders Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany, Â�Switzerland, Italy, and Monaco to the east; and Spain and Andorra to the south. In addition to these direct neighbors, Great Britain is only a short distance off the northwest coast, and a 31-mile (50-kilometer) railway tunnel has connected the two countries since 1994. The borders have been stable since the end of World War I, when France regained Alsace-Lorraine in the northeast from Germany. Other important historic regions are Normandy and Brittany (Bretagne) to the west, both of which partly consist of peninsulas in the Atlantic Ocean, and Provence, which is close to the Â�Mediterranean. The western half of the country consists of hilly lowlands; the eastern half of mountains, from north to south the Vosges, the Jura, and the Alps, whose highest summit, Mont Blanc, is on the Â�French-Italian border (15,781 feet [4,810 meters]). The border with Spain also consists of mountains, the Pyrenees, which rise to 10,827 feet (3,300 meters). The climate varies from maritime in the west to alpine in the mountains and mediterranean in Provence and the Côte d’Azur.



FRANCE (France)╇ | 379

The People France has the lowest population density of the large European nations. The population totals 62.2 million, slightly more than Great Britain and more than California and Texas combined. By far the largest city, and dominating the country, is Paris, north of the center, which has more than 10 million inhabitants. Other big cities are Lyon in the southeast, Marseille on the Mediterranean coast, and Lille in the north, all with more than 1.5 million inhabitants; and Bordeaux, Nice, and Toulouse, all three in the south, with almost one million. The language is French, a Latin language; ethnically the great majority are French, and the traditional religion is Catholic.

The Economy France is a very-high-income country. It used to lag behind Germany and Great Britain in industrial power, but it has outrun Great Britain in gross national product (GNP) per capita in the past two decades. It has a very strong agricultural sector (wine, cheese), and now also a larger car-manufacturing sector than Great Britain (Renault, Citroën), and it is a leading tourist destination (Paris, Mediterranean Coast, mountains). Apart from the car manufacturers, until recently it did not have many multinational companies, but nowadays it has a large oil company (Total), a few privatized giant firms in utilities (GDF-Suez, Electricité de France), and large banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole).

Culture France is second only to Italy as a leading nation in European culture. In architecture, it has some remains from Roman times, Romanesque churches prevail in the south (Vézélay, Autun), there are unique Gothic cathedrals in the north (Chartres, Notre Dame in Paris, Reims), and Renaissance and Baroque palaces are dispersed along the Loire River and in many towns. All these expressions of architecture exercised great influence on the rest of Europe. The second half of the 19th century was a new golden age of French art, with sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) and the impressionists and other painters, including Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), Edgar Degas (1834–1917), Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), Claude Monet (1840–1926), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919), and Henri Matisse (1869–1954). The 19th century was also the heyday of the French novel: Stendhal (1783–1842), Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880), and Émile Zola (1840–1902). Only the contribution to music has been modest, with the exception of composers Hector Berlioz (1803– 1869), Claude Debussy (1862–1918), Maurice Ravel (1875–1937), and the French chansons. There are also French fashion and French haute cuisine. Yet the most famous of all Frenchmen is Napoleon Bonaparte, known not only for his conquests but also as the subject of love stories.

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History Table FR 1╇ Timeline of French History 51 BC Gaius Julius Caesar crushes the last resistance against his conquest of Gaul; â•… France becomes part of the Roman Empire AD 400 Beginning of the barbarian invasions; Germanic tribes invade France, and â•… the Franks become the most powerful 500 Frankish king Clovis defeats the Alemans and the Visigoths, establishes the â•… Merovingian dynasty, and converts to Christianity 800 Charlemagne (Carolingian dynasty) unites large parts of Europe; he is â•… crowned emperor by the pope 834–855 Charlemagne’s empire is divided into three parts; France and Germany are â•…separated 900 Vikings (Normans) conquer Normandy 987 Hugo Capet founds the Capetian dynasty 1226–1270 King Saint Louis, who took an active part in the Crusades; under his reign â•… the first gothic cathedrals were constructed 1309–1277 The popes live in exile in Avignon to enjoy French protection 1340–1453 Hundred Years’ War with England 1431 Jeanne d’Arc dies at the stake; France, under the Valois dynasty, drives â•… England from the continent 1572 St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre; Protestants slaughtered in Paris 1598 Edict of Nantes proclaims right of Protestants (Huguenots) to practice their â•…religion 1643–1715 Louis XIV, the Sun King, reigns as absolute monarch 1685 Edict of Nantes revoked; Huguenots are suppressed 1789 French Revolution, Declaration of Human Rights, followed by a new â•…constitution 1792–1804 First Republic, terror regime under the Jacobins 1804–1815 Napoleon proclaims the First Empire; he conquers large parts of Europe and â•… invades Russia but is finally defeated by Prussia and Great Britain 1814–1830 Restoration of absolutism, ending in brief 1830 Revolution 1848 Revolution in Paris; the last king Louis Philippe is ousted, and the Second â•… Republic is proclaimed 1852–1871 After a coup the Second Empire is proclaimed by Napoleon III, who had â•… been president of the Second Republic; the empire ends with the French â•… defeat in the 1870–1871 war with Germany 1871–1940 Third Republic 1871 Paris Commune is bloodily suppressed 1894–1906 Dreyfus Affair; Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army, â•… is falsely accused of treason by anti-Semitic leaders 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty after World War I, during which northern France saw â•… much trench warfare (Continued)



FRANCE (France)╇ | 381 1936 Popular front (front populair) movement of Social Democrats and â•… communists (which lasts until 1938) is welcomed by a large strike wave 1940 France invaded by Germany; fascist Vichy regime 1944 D-Day and liberation of France 1944 Foundation of the Fourth Republic; introduction of universal suffrage 1951 France is one of the founders of the EU 1958 Introduction of the Fifth Republic by Charles de Gaulle 1962 France’s last large colony, Algeria, becomes independent after an â•… Independence War 1968 May Revolt in Paris; enormous nationwide strike wave 1981 François Mitterand becomes the first Social Democratic president of the â•… Fifth Republic 2002 France adopts the euro; radical rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen reaches second â•… round of presidential elections, which makes the second round of the â•… presidential elections a right versus extreme right contest, instead of the â•… usual left versus right contest

Political System France’s Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential republic, which means the prime minister and the government are responsible not only to the president but also to the parliament. Until 1958, under the Fourth Republic, the country had a parliamentary system with a multiparty system and coalition governments that were often in power for a short period only. Politics is very polarized between leftist parties and the more dominant rightist parties.

Constitution The first constitution was drafted in 1789, right after the French Revoluton: the Declaration of the Rights of Men and Citizens (Declaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen). Within two years it was followed by a new constitution, which foreshadowed a succession of both royalist and republican constitutions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The last one, France’s 15th basic law since the Revolution, was Charles de Gaulle’s project; it introduced the Fifth Republic in 1958 and was adopted after a referendum. Its semi-presidential political system replaced the parliamentary system of the unstable Fourth Republic, which had been in force since liberation. The preamble refers to the 1789 Declaration. Amending the constitution requires consent of both houses of parliament, followed by a referendum or by a two-thirds majority in both houses in a joint session. The constitution has been amended a number of times, in particular to adapt it to EU developments and lately to introduce a two-term limit to the presidency, provide equal access to political mandates for men and women, and to decentralize state power; a return to proportional representation for parliamentary elections was voted down.

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Table FR 2╇ Presidents of the French Fifth Republic President

Ideology

Begin Competitor

Charles de Gaulle Gaullist 1958 In 1958, indirect elections; in â•… 1965, François Mitterand Georges Pompidou Gaullist 1969 Alain Poher Valéry Giscard d’Estaing Conservative liberal 1974 François Mitterand François Mitterand Social democrat 1981 In 1981, Valéry Giscard â•… d’Estaing; in 1988, â•… Jacques Chirac Jacques Chirac Gaullist 1995 In 1995, Lionel Jospin; in 2002, â•… Jean Marie Le Pen Nicolas Sarkozy Gaullist 2007 Ségolène Royal

Head of State Since 2000 the president (Président de la République) has a five-year term; before that time the term was seven years. The aim of the shorter term is to better synchronize parliamentary and presidential elections. The legislative elections now take place right after the presidential elections. The president is elected in popular second-ballot elections in which the whole country serves as one district. In the first round, the winner must have a majority of all votes; if there is no winner in the first round, the second round is a runoff between the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes in the first round. The presidential palace is the Elysée, which is close to the Louvre in Paris. Presidential powers are not clearly defined. They include the right to appoint the prime minister without any prior consultation and the right to dissolve the Assemblée nationale after consulting the prime minister; the right can be used to have a more sympathetic prime minister elected. Because the prime minister is not only responsible to the president but also to the Assemblée, the president must take into account the composition of the parliament and may be forced to appoint a prime minister of the opposition. Such a combination is called “cohabitation” (living together). The main presidential powers, however, are in the field of foreign policy, including EU decision making, which is the prerogative of the president, who can leave domestic unrest to his prime minister. The rights make the French presidents, listed in Table FR 2, the most powerful heads of state in democratic Europe.

The French Presidents Charles de Gaulle (1890–1969) was the son of a teacher. In 1940, he escaped to Great Britain but came back in 1944 as the leader of the French army that assisted the other Allied Forces to liberate France. Hailed as a hero, he resigned as political



FRANCE (France)╇ | 383

leader when the Fourth Republic was installed; in his eyes it would end in failure because of the lack of strong leadership. When the colonial war in Algeria also resulted in conflicts and upheaval in France, he was asked to return to politics, which he did on condition that he was endowed with more power than previous presidents. The result was the Fifth Republic, and he became its first president. He was a very authoritarian personality who was conservative in domestic affairs, but he gave France a leading role in international politics by distancing France from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), developing a nuclear weapon system (Force de frappe), denying Great Britain access to the EU, and taking a very critical attitude toward the United States. De Gaulle was surprised by the May 1968 youth revolt, which started as a student protest movement but soon extended to a large nationwide strike, and when the French people rejected his plans to amend the constitution in favor of decentralization, he resigned and died the year after. De Gaulle was arguably the most important statesman of postwar democratic Europe. In France he has become a mythical figure, praised by French people from all walks of life and all ideologies for his leadership, his success in unifying an ideologically divided nation, and his restoration of French grandeur. Georges Pompidou (1911–1974) was also the son of teachers. He did not become politically active until he met de Gaulle during the war, instead opting for a career in banking. Pompidou was active in calling de Gaulle back to politics in 1958 and, without much political experience, was appointed prime minister by de Gaulle in 1962. During the 1968 crisis, however, he broke off relations with de Gaulle. As president he had to cope with the first oil crisis but died in office soon after. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (1926–) was born in Germany to a rich French family. He was a brilliant student and politician, at first locally and later nationally, and he founded his own conservative liberal movement. In 1962, he became minister of finance (he was known for his ability to cite all data and numbers, including the commas, from memory) but resigned after a dispute with de Gaulle. In the 1974 elections he defeated Mitterand. He introduced a more congenial style of governing (as far as that is possible for a French president) and liberal reforms in the economy and ethical issues, including abortion. François Mitterand (1916–1996) was born in a small village where his father was stationmaster. His first political experience was in the 1930s in a radical rightist movement. During World War II he became a prisoner of war and later worked for the fascist Vichy government, but he also became active in the resistance movement. Later he would be called a political chameleon for these shifts. Mitterand occupied a number of political and administrative posts during the Fourth Republic, which brought him the leadership of the Socialist Party. He took part in two presidential elections before finally being elected in 1981. At first hailed as a real international leader of the left, his terms as president were marked by the farewell to Keynesian governmental spending because of the 1979–1980 oil crisis. Internationally he

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maintained strong contacts with Germany at the time of German Reunification and was active in promoting the introduction of the euro and intensifying cooperation within the EU in order to keep Germany aboard. Jacques Chirac (1932–) was born into a Parisian upper-middle-class family. He became a member of prime minister Pompidou’s staff at the time de Gaulle was still president. In the 1970s he became minister of agriculture and later of the interior. He lost the 1974 presidential elections but became prime minister, and later he combined the post of prime minister with that of mayor of Paris, a typical French accumulation of political posts (cumul de mandates). He was also prime minister under Mitterand, the first example of cohabitation of a president and a prime minister of opposing ideologies. During Chirac’s terms there were no important changes in policies, either domestically or in international politics, but under his presidency France returned as a fully cooperative member in NATO and became a more cooperative partner in the EU and in international contacts with the United States (although relations became strained again when France refused to join the United States in the Iraq war). Nicolas Sarkozy (1955–) was born in Paris; his father was a Hungarian aristocrat, and his mother was French and Jewish. He started his political career in the youth movement of the Gaullist Party and in local politics. Under president Chirac he became minister of the interior, a post he used to fight crime and rioting by Muslim immigrants in Parisian suburbs. For some time he also was minister of finance. His presidency has been marked by his far more open and direct style of governing (more of a US style) than his predecessors adopted and his efforts to involve political opponents in his programs.

Legislative Power The 577 members of the lower house (Assemblée nationale), only 19 percent of whom are women, have a five-year term. Of these, 555 members are elected in Metropolitan France in 555 single-member constituencies using the secondballot system, or majority-plurality system. It consists of two rounds, in which candidates who win a 50 percent majority (absolute majority) in the first round are elected; in districts where no candidate has won a majority in the first round the candidates earning more than 12.5 percent of the district electorate (not just the votes) in the first round compete in the second ballot, in which a relative majority (plurality) decides. If only one candidate gains 12.5 percent in the first round, the two candidates with the highest scores compete in the second round. The other 22 members are elected by the 17 overseas départements and five overseas territories (see Table FR 3). Major issues in the 2007 elections were unemployment and illegal immigration. Currently, the political spectrum contains the following major parties from left to right, though French parties tend to come and go, so the situation is very changeable:



FRANCE (France)╇ | 385

Table FR 3╇ French Assemblée Nationale since 2002 Party Ideology No. of Percent Percent of No. of Seats of Votes Votes Seats 2002 First Second 2007 Round round Union for a Popular Gaullist â•…Movement Socialist Party Social democrat New Centre Conservative liberal French Communist Party Communist Union for French Conservative liberal â•…Democracy Others Total

357

39.5

46.4

313

140 – 21 29

24.7 2.4 4.3 –

42.3 2.1 2.3 –

186 22 15 –

30 29.1 6.9 41 577 100 100 577

French Communist Party to the Greens to Socialist Party to New Centre to Union for French Democracy to Union for a Popular Movement to National Front. The 346 members of the upper house (Sénat) have a six-year term. They are elected indirectly, mainly by more than 150,000 elected local councillors (and a far smaller number of regional councillors and members of the Assemblée). The 108 départements function as districts. Départements with one to three senators use the same two-ballot system as for the Assemblée; départements with four seats or more use proportional representation. Twelve seats are reserved for the French overseas. In the Sénat rural regions are overrepresented, and their representation was even strengthened in the 2003 reforms, which increased the numbers of members from 321 to 346; as a consequence the Sénat is a more conservative institution than the Assemblée (see Table FR 4).

Table FR 4╇ French Sénat since 2004 Party Ideology

No. of No. of Seats Seats 2004 2008

Union for a Popular Movement Gaullist 159 151 Socialist Party Social democrat 97 116 Centrist Union Social liberal 30 29 Communist Communist 23 23 European Democratic Social Rally Social liberal 17 17 Others 8 7 Total 331 343

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The Assemblée is more powerful than the Sénat, because it can vote down a government. If there is a deadlock between the two houses, a kind of conference committee is formed (Commission mixte paritaire) that will prepare a compromise, but the government may also risk asking for a final vote in the Assemblée on the version that the Assemblée had passed before, thereby reducing the powers of the Sénat to a suspensive veto. The French parliament, and French politics in general, is highly polarized between left and right. From left to right the political spectrum as it is represented in the Assemblée consists of the Communist Party to the Socialist Party to Union for French Democracy to New Centre to Union for a Popular Movement.

Executive Power Under the Fourth Republic all governments were short-lived coalition governments of at least three parties; the great majority consisted of four or more parties. The prime ministers, listed in Table FR 5 (without the other coalition parties), were the Table FR 5╇ Prime Ministers of the French Fourth Republic Prime Minister Ideology Begin 1 Paul Ramadier* Social democrat January 1947 2 Robert Schuman Christian democrat November 1947 3 André Marie Social liberal July 1948 4 Henry Queuille Social liberal September 1948 5 Georges Bidault Christian democrat November 1949 Henry Queuille Social liberal July 1950 6 René Pleven Resistance July 1950 Henri Queuille Social liberal March 1951 René Pleven Resistance August 1951 7 Edgar Faure Social liberal January 1952 8 Antoine Pinay Independent March 1952 9 René Mayer Social liberal January 1953 10 Joseph Laniel* Independent June 1953 11 Pierre Mendès-France* Social liberal June 1954 Edgar Faure Social liberal February 1955 12 Guy Mollet Social democrat February 1956 13 Maurice Bourgès-Manoury Social liberal June 1957 14 Felix Gaillard Social liberal November 1957 15 Pierre Pflimlin Christian democrat May 1958 16 Charles de Gaulle Gaullist June 1958 to â•… January 1959 ╅╇ Total: 16 prime ministers

No. of Months 10 8 1 13.5 8 0.3 8 5 5 1.5 10 6 12 8 11 16.5 5 6 0.5 7

* The prime minister’s tenure spanned two governments, one under the social liberals and one under the radicals.



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political leaders of the country; the president had mainly ceremonial functions in the Fourth Republic. In the Fifth Republic the executive power is in the hands of the president and the prime minister, who holds office in the Rue Matignon, at quite a distance from the presidential Elysée palace. The prime minister is appointed by the president, who need only take into account the strength of the parties in the Assemblée, as the Assemblée can vote down the government. The prime minister presides over the Council of Ministers and nominates, though in practice this means appoints, the other ministers. The term cabinet is not used in France for the Council of Ministers; instead, the word gouvernement is used. (The cabinet is a minister’s small personal staff, consisting of political appointees.) The prime minister is responsible for all domestic issues, although the president is often also involved in such issues. The Table FR 6╇ Prime Ministers of the French Fifth Republic President Prime Ideology Begin No. of Minister Months Charles de Gaulle 1 Michel Debré Gaullist 2 Georges Pompidou Gaullist 3 Maurice Couve de Gaullist â•… Murville Georges Pompidou 4 Jacques Chaban- Gaullist â•…Delmas 5 Pierre Messmer Gaullist Valéry Giscard d’Estaing 6 Jacques Chirac Gaullist 7 Raymond Barre Gaullist François Mitterand 8 Pierre Mauroy Social democrat 9 Laurent Fabius Social democrat 10 Jacques Chirac* Gaullist 11 Michel Rocard Social democrat 12 Édith Cresson Social democrat 13 Pierre Bérégovoy Social democrat 14 Édouard Balladur* Gaullist Jacques Chirac 15 Alain Juppé Gaullist 16 Lionel Jospin* Social democrat 17 Jean-Pierre Gaullist â•… Raffarin 18 Dominique de Gaullist â•… Villepin Nicolas Sarkozy 19 François Fillon Gaullist Total: 19 prime â•… ministers * Cohabitation arrangement.

1959 1962 1968

39 69 11.5

1969

36.5

1972 1974 1976 1981 1984 1986 1988 1991 1992 1993 1995 1997 2002

23 27 57 38 20 26 36 10.5 12 26 24.5 59 37

2005

23.5

May 2007

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president handles international and EU affairs. Table FR 6 shows the prime ministers and the periods of cohabitation between a leftist president and a rightist prime minister, or the other way around. President Sarkozy took pains to make the government under his presidency less partisan by also recruiting Social Democratic ministers.

Judicial Power The top institution is the Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation) in Paris. The lower courts are divided into civil courts and criminal courts. The Constitutional Council (Conseil constitutional) functions separately from the court pyramid functions; it has a limited right of judicial review, as it may only review bills that have passed the parliament but have not yet been enacted. The Constitutional Council is a very partisan council; it has nine members, who have a nine-year term and may only serve one term. It mainly consists of judges and former politicians of the party or parties in power; former presidents are always a member of the council.

Referendums Since the defeat of President de Gaulle’s 1968 proposal to decentralize political power, only five nationwide referendums have been held, of which three were concerned with EU affairs. The other two were on self-determination of New Caledonia, a group of islands off the Australian east coast in 1988, and on the reduction of the presidential term from seven to five years in 2000. Both were accepted.

Civil Society Since the French Revolution France has stuck to a very strict separation between state and church (any church), even stricter than in the United States, where each school day opens with the Pledge of Allegiance, which contains a reference to God; legislative sessions in the US Congress are opened with prayer, and the dollar says “In God we trust.” The French term for the strict separation is laicisme. Like the ban on regional languages and dialects it is based on the principle of equality under the republic with no special privileges for any ethnic or religious group. The principle has made it easy to ban Muslim headscarves (hijabs), as expressions of religious beliefs, in public schools and other public institutions. A debate on displaying crucifixes in public schools, as happens in Italy and southern Germany, would be unthinkable in France. For the greater part, civil society in France does not consist of well-organized associations but of relatively loose movements, which people join and leave again after some time. The associations at times mobilize people, preferably for political protest on a local, regional, or nationwide scale, which gives the participants the idea they are joining a kind of coordinated individual protest action (action directe), to which the French are very devoted. After a period of such activities and the recruitment of new members, membership of the associations tends to decline again. Even



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communist organizations have found it difficult to impose strict member discipline during and in between protest actions. The phenomenon is expressed in the absence of words like “organization”; the French prefer terms like Mouvement, Rassemblement, or Front. The trade unions are an example of the preference for mobilization over organizations. The three leading unions taken together have fewer members than the Swedish or Belgian trade unions; the unionization rate is the lowest of Europe and stands at five or six percent; most of the members work in the public sector and in a few large manufacturing firms. By far the largest trade union, with more than 800,000 members, is the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (Confédération française démocratique du travail [FFDT]); but for most of the 20th century the communist-oriented General Confederation of Labor (Confédération générale du travail [CGT]) was the larger and more dominant one because of its greater strike propensity. The three major trade union confederations have always competed for members, and they have even called for strikes or sabotaged each other’s strikes in order to hurt each other. The employers’ association Movement of the French Enterprises (Mouvement des Entreprises de France [MEF]) has also been a relatively loose confederation, which is also attributable to France’s economic structure with its many family firms under the strict authority of the male patron. Although French mass media enjoys freedom, France has had government surveillance, and sometimes even outright censorship, of radio and TV programs and newspapers even longer than the Germanic nations have done so. Examples of such state involvement tend to make headlines in the more critical press or are disclosed in foreign mass media before they come into the open in France.

Regions France is divided into 22 regions (and four overseas regions), all of which are subdivided into départements, which have limited autonomy. Their main tasks are secondary education, infrastructure, and regional transport. They have their own tax revenues and are governed by a council that is elected directly in two-ballot elections. Since the 2010 regional elections, the great majority of regions have a Social Democrat government, but those elections were more a sign of opposition to the Gaullist president Sarkozy. The most populous regions are Île-de-France (capital: Paris) with almost 12 million inhabitants; Rhône-Alpes (capital: Lyon), with more than 6 million, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (capital: Marseille), with almost 5 million. The least populous départements, with fewer than half a million inhabitants, are three of the overseas regions and Corsica.

Policies Right after World War II France nationalized a number of large firms, including car maker Renault, because the owners had collaborated with the Germans or for strategic reasons. As a result, France had a large public sector of public utilities, railways, banks, automobile works, airlines, and energy. Even conservative

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presidents used the large state sector to steer the private sector along Keynesian lines, but in the early 1980s France became one of the last countries to give up Â�Keynesianism. In the 1990s a large part of the public sector was privatized, which allowed some public utilities to become large multinational firms, with the assistance of the French state, which kept the internal market relatively closed in defiance of EU rules. The French welfare state is on a par with the non-Scandinavian Germanic nations, and it is far more extensive than in the other Latin nations. It is based on group rights, but those are legally extended to most of the population. In ethical issues the country has been more authoritarian than the Germanic nations and Great Britain; abortion was legalized relatively late, and with respect to gay rights France even lags behind Spain and Portugal. In immigration and integration policies, France does not make any distinction as to immigrants’ country of origin. Once they have arrived and have acquired legal status, they count as French, and official documents do not register their origin. In 2010, President Sarkozy started a nationwide public debate on the French identity, in which the basic question was: What does it mean to you to be French? (Pour vous qu’est-ce qu’être Français?). A major topic in the debate has been the issue of Muslim culture, and in particular its more visible expression in female wear. Some time after the debate had been opened, France was the first European country, except for Turkey, on the way to ban the wearing of Muslim veils (niqab and burqa) in public buildings, including public transport, as signs of suppression of women (headscarfs are already banned in public schools). In international politics, France has stressed its independence from the United States based on its nuclear arms potential (force de frappe). It has often been very critical of US interventions abroad, but France has intervened on several occasions in its former African colonies.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

French Communist Party (Parti communiste français [PCF]) The party was founded in 1920, as a split off from the Social Democratic French Section of the Workers’ International, and adopted the current name in 1922. It participated in the 1936–1938 Front populair, and in World War II it was very active in the underground resistance movement. Under Maurice Thorez, party leader from 1936 until 1964, the party remained the most Stalinist of all the big communist parties outside the Soviet Bloc, far more than the Italian party, and even heartily welcomed the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian revolt by Soviet troops. The French Communist Party participated in two governments right after the war, but at the beginning of the Cold War it was forced to leave the government, never to return to power during the French Fourth Republic. Yet, its share of votes during the Fourth Republic remained relatively stable, some 25 percent.



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The electoral system of the Fifth Republic was fatal for the French Communist Party’s representation in the parliament. With a stable 20 percent of the votes it only got two percent of the seats in 1958, and although its share of votes remained unchanged, its share of seats fluctuated between 7 and 18 percent in the 1970s. Under Georges Marchais, the party cooperated with the Socialist Party during Mitterand’s presidency, and it was even represented again in the national government, but its share of votes declined to under 10 percent. In the 1990s, under Robert Hue, it gave up Leninist ideas, but the change did not save the party; its share of seats has almost permanently remained below six percent, and in presidential elections its share of votes declined to a mere two percent in 2007. Traditionally the party has been very strong in old industrial centers in the north, both in Lille and in Lorraine; around Lyon; and in working-class suburbs around Paris, yet it has lost much of its following in these regions to the Socialist Party and the Front National. In spite of its low national score, the party holds a relatively large number of regional and local government posts. In the EU the party is a member of the radical leftist European United Left, but it is anti-EU. Â�Marie-George Buffet has been the party leader since 2001. One of the party’s key focuses is the demand for a new type of corporate tax, which it describes on its Web site as “a new levy of contributions on the basis of revenues of enterprises and financial institutions at the same rate as that of employee contributions. This would produce 12 billion for the financing of social security” (author translation).

Socialist Party (Parti socialiste [PS]) In 1899, the participation of Social Democrat Alexandre Millerand in a bourgeois government split the existing Social Democratic groups, but by 1905 the two main groups had already merged into the French Section of the Workers’ International (Section française de l’Internationale ouvrière), with reformist Jean Jaurès as one of the most prominent leaders. The party remained relatively small and did not participate in national governments until it became the major party in the Front populair government in 1936–1938 under its leader Léon Blum. After liberation the party participated in a few governments of the Fourth Republic and had two prime ministers: Paul Ramadier (1947) and Guy Mollet (1956–1957; Mollet was party leader from 1946 until 1969). In the 1960s, the party faced hard times and never got more than 20 percent of the seats because of the success of the Gaullist Fifth Republic. In 1969, after the turmoil of the 1968 youth revolt in Paris, the French Section of the Workers’ International was renamed Socialist Party (Parti socialiste), and at that time François Mitterand joined and soon dominated the party. Mitterand became the party’s only president in 1981; in that year the party won a 54-seat majority in the Assemblée, based on 38 percent of the votes. Mitterand’s successor as party leader, Lionel Jospin, twice lost the elections; the second time, against Jacques Chirac, he did

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not even reach the second ballot, which was the worst result in any presidential election since 1958. (The best score was Mitterand’s bid for a second term when he won 54 percent.) Like the Gaullist Party, the Social Democratic party has always been divided into factions focused on prominent leaders; examples have been the factions of Laurent Fabius, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, Jack Lang, Michel Rocard, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, François Hollande, and others, some of whom became prime minister. Jacques Delors, the former president of the European Commission, was also a prominent member of the party, but he kept out of faction building. Since Lionel Jospin stepped down after his very disappointing results, the party has been divided between followers of Martine Aubry and Ségolène Royal, who was defeated by Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential elections. The party is strong in industrial regions, both in the north (Lille) and around Lyon and in large towns and cities in general, except for wealthy suburbs; it has also had a traditional appeal in the rural south, which has always been anticlerical. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D. Martine Aubry has been the party leader since 2008. The following passage from the party Web site shows how the party rejects the social cuts of the current Gaullist government (author translation): The double statements by the government and the president only serve to mask a policy of unjust austerity measures (rigueur) that will mainly affect the middle classes and result in loss of employment and a reduction of purchasing power. Ultimately, the decrease of social benefits will have the effect of impoverishment of all localities and regions, since the government does not compensate them for the additional expenses needed to fulfill their tasks.

Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate [MoDem]) and New Centre (Nouveau Centre) The parties were founded in 2007 as successors to the Union for French Democracy (Union pour la Démocratie française [UDF]), which was founded in 1978 by French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing to support him in his bid for a second term. The party failed in that aim, and Giscard lost the 1981 elections. The UDF was a combination of various Social Liberals, combined with smaller groups of Christian Democrats and Conservative Liberals; the ideology was conservative liberal, less conservative and more liberal than the Gaullist Party, with which it often cooperated in governmental coalitions under presidents Mitterand and Chirac. In parliamentary elections the party was more successful; in 1978, for example, it gained 23 percent of the seats. In the early 1990s, the party formed an electoral coalition with the Gaullists against Mitterand, and UDF politicians served in government under President



FRANCE (France)╇ | 393

Chirac, yet the party faced a number of splits. Party leader François Bayrou dissolved the UDF and founded the Democratic Movement, which is more to the left than the UDF, and a group of dissenters created New Centre, which is closer to the Gaullist Party. In the 2007 legislative elections New Centre won 22 seats and the Democratic Movement only three. In the EU the Democratic Movement is a member of the liberal ALDE, and New Centre has joined the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP. François Bayrou is still the leader of the Democratic Movement; the leader of New Centre is Hervé Morin.

Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un mouvement populaire [UMP]) The party was founded in 1958 by President de Gaulle under the name Union for the New Republic, but underwent a series of name changes: to Union for the Defence of the Republic in 1968, Union of Democrats for the Republic in 1971, Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République) in 1976, and Union for the Presidential Majority (Union pour la Majorité présidentielle) in 2002; in the same year the current name was adopted. The succession of names might suggest that the party is certainly not royalist, but the term “republican” in France often means conservative or conservative liberal; mostly the term Gaullist Party is used, after its founder. The change of names often took place after new groups joined the party, including Social Liberals and a few Christian Democrats. The party has been very successful in French parliamentary and presidential elections. During most of the Fifth Republic it has been the biggest party, except in the 1980s and in 1997. Between 1958 and 1968, the UMP increased its share of votes in parliamentary elections from 32 percent to 45 percent and increased its share of seats from 48 percent to 74 percent. In the following years it decreased to less than 30 percent, and in some elections even less than 20 percent of the votes and the seats, because of the rise of the other rightist party, the UDF, and leftist electoral victories. Since the 2002 elections, the party has earned more than one third of all votes and a clear majority of all seats in the parliament. In presidential elections the party has even fared better, with four of the six presidents of the Fifth Republic. The party especially appeals to small-town and rural voters and clerical Â�Catholics, except in the rural south of France, which has a strong anticlerical tradition. It also attracts the large class of small businesses, the high-income suburbs of Paris, and other high-income regions like the tourist resorts on the Mediterranean coast. Like the Social Democratic Party, the Gaullist Party is united only just before the elections; between the elections the parties consist of factions, grouped around prominent leaders. Under President Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique de Villepin disputed the role of dauphin (successor to the throne), and Villepin has remained active in fighting Sarkozy. Before that time factions were led by former prime ministers Edouard Balladur, Alain Juppé, and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and by former ministers Philippe Séguin and Charles Pasqua, among others. The party is a

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mixture of conservatism and conservative liberalism. Under Chirac it moved more into the liberal direction, privatizing a number of enterprises that were part of the large public sector. Under Sarkozy it has moved a bit into the direction of social liberalism. In the EU it is a member of the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP. The current party leader is Xavier Bertrand. The party’s mission is stated as follows on its Web site (author translation): Politics needs a new élan. The creation of our Union is of great political importance. Our family—Gaullist, Christian democratic, liberal, radical, social and independent—is for the first time together in one large movement, which shall lift the old mutual barriers. Thanks to our differences, we can build strength and create a new policy, open to French citizens. Most urgent is stabilizing our pension system, which means that we must guarantee its funding. This implies defending our social model. If we do not reform our pension system, the deficit will become larger each year until the system collapses.

National Front (Front national [FN]) The National Front was founded in 1972 by the populist Jean-Marie Le Pen, who still leads the party and was a presidential candidate in five elections. In 1988 and 1995 he won 15 percent of the votes, and in 2002 he won 17 percent, a greater share that that of the Social Democratic candidate Lionel Jospin; however, in the second round Le Pen only earned 18 percent of the votes because many leftist voters grudgingly voted for Chirac to keep Le Pen out of the Élysée. In the 2007 presidential elections Le Pen scored ten percent. In parliamentary elections the party’s typical score of 10 percent or more of the votes dropped to 4 percent in 2007, and it no longer has any seats. The National Front is a radical rightist party. It appeals to working-class suburbs around Paris but also to towns in the southeast as a protest vote against Parisian centralism. The party is especially opposed to immigration and integration of Muslim immigrants; le Pen would prefer to send them back to their countries of origin or assimilate them. The party has suffered from a series of local and regional scandals, including a mayor who tried to impose censorship by banning leftist publications from the local public library, a mayor who promised all mothers of newly born French (not foreign) babies a cheque of 500 euros (a form of special treatment, which the constitution forbids), and Le Pen’s statement that the Â�Holocaust was just a mere footnote in world history. The party’s goal is stated as follows on the party Web site (author translation): Implement a policy of assimilation and integration of immigration policy in a comprehensive framework. One does not assimilate in a country that has forgotten its principles, values and pride. The presidential politics of a truly



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 395

national republic must be comprehensive: Stimulation of family values, rebuilding a truly national education, the reestablishment of a voluntary six-months military service, respect for work, morality, and the importance of French history will lead to real assimilation, with the rights and duties it implies.

Defunct Parties As stated earlier, French political parties tend to come and go. Following are some of the parties that are currently inactive, but that can always change. Radical Party (Parti radical) The party was founded in 1901 as a social liberal and anticlerical party, close to social democracy. It was one of the leading parties in the interwar period, though a bit less so under the postwar Fourth Republic. By that time the party was divided between supporters of Pierre Mendès France, to the left and fiercely anticolonialist, and the more conservative Edgar Faure. In the 1950s, the party scored between 10 and 16 percent of the seats. It participated in a large number of governments of the Fourth Republic and had seven Radical prime ministers. Under the Fifth Republic the party for some time supported the Social Democrats, but in 1972 it split and most of the pro–Social Democratic Party leaders left the party. It then joined Giscard d’Estaing’s UDF and later the Gaullist Party. For the time being it continues as an autonomous element in the Gaullist UMP. Popular Republican Movement (Mouvement républicain populaire [MRP]) This was France’s Christian Democratic Party, founded in 1944 by Georges Bidault, after Catholics had long kept aloof under the Third Republic, which they regarded as a threat to church interests. Under the Fourth Republic the party first sided with Social Democrats and communists, but soon moved to the right. The MRP scored more than one quarter of the seats in the late 1940s, but it then declined to between 10 and 15 percent of the seats in the 1950s. The party was a staunch defender of colonialism but also of European cooperation; among its early leaders was Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the EU. The party participated in most of the governments under the Fourth Republic and had three MRP prime ministers. The party opposed de Gaulle’s presidentialism and was dissolved in 1967.

ITALY (Italia) Italian politics is a colorful, at times surprising, more often irritating, but always fascinating combination of formal adherence to strict religious norms and informal lack of norms, organizational fragmentation and factionalism, populism, pursuit of personal gain, scandals, and in spite of all these characteristics, survival, all of this

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almost the exclusive domain of Italian males—the country has one of the lowest scores on gender equality in Europe. Italy is almost as populous as France and Great Britain, but it is hardly taken seriously in the rest of Western Europe, either because its leaders are too weak and can be removed in an instant or are, arguably, too strong to suit democratic norms, at least in the eyes of the countries to the north. In addition, Italy scores lowest of all Germanic and Latin European countries on international rankings of democracy; it is the only country in these groups that has already been surpassed by some of the new Central European democracies.

The Land and the People The Land

For the greater part Italy consists of the Apennine Peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea, which has the form of a boot. The country contains two larger islands, Sicily and Sardinia, and a few smaller ones. The total area amounts to 116,348 square miles (301,340 square kilometers), slightly smaller than Poland or the British Isles combined, and slightly larger than Arizona. The longest road distances are 850 miles (1,360 kilometers) from north to south and in the northern part 400 miles (640 kilometers) from west to east. The country’s land borders are situated in the north, where it borders France, Switzerland (the longest border), Austria, and Slovenia. The borders with France and Switzerland have been stable since the post-Napoleonic peace treaties; the border with Austria since the end of World War I, when Italy acquired South Tyrol; and the border with Â�Slovenia since the end of World War II, though it was not finally settled until 1975 between Italy and the former Yugoslavia. Within its borders, Italy houses two independent ministates: San Marino in the mountainous central part and Vatican State in Rome. Italy has two large massifs. In the north are the Alps, which rise to a height of 15,781 feet (4,810 meters) at Mont Blanc, Western Europe’s highest peak, and form a formidable barrier with the neighboring countries. South of the Alps is the densely populated Po Valley, and to the south of the Po Valley are the Apennine Mountains, the spine of the Apennine Peninsula and a barrier between the west coast and the east coast, which rise to 9,554 feet (2,912 meters) south of Rome. Italy’s climate is alpine in the north and Mediterranean in the peninsula and on the islands.

The People Italy has 58.1 million inhabitants, slightly less than Great Britain and France or California and New York combined. The country is ethnically homogeneous; almost all inhabitants are Italians and speak Italian, a Latin language, but there are wide cultural variations between northern and southern Italy. There



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are two small and regionally concentrated ethnic minorities: French speakers in the northwestern Aosta Valley and German speakers in the northern region Alto Adige. The national capital, Rome, in the center of the peninsula has 3.5 �million inhabitants. Other big cities are Milan in the north, with 4 million; Naples in the southern peninsula, with 3.6 million; Turin in the north, with 1.6 million; �Palermo on Sicily, with one million; and Florence in the northern peninsula with 0.8 million.

The Economy Italy is a high-income nation, but its GNP per capita is lower than in Germany or France. Economically, the nation has always been divided between the very prosperous industrialized north and the less prosperous and more agriculturebased southern half (Mezzogiorno), which also includes the islands. The �country is a major agricultural exporter (fruits, wine) and a major industrial exporter �(automobiles), and the north houses a leading service sector. Among the largest companies are ENI (a partly privatized oil and gas company), a number of banks, Telecom Italia, and Fiat, which not only produces automobiles but is also a conglomerate of companies in northern Italy, which to some extent has long �dominated northern Italian industrial activity.

Culture For most of Western Europe’s history Italy has been its leading cultural center. It influenced the rest of Western Europe during the Roman Empire, the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque era, and even into the 20th century. Naming all important and famous artists would take pages, so only a few highlights are listed here. Etruscan art was succeeded by Roman art, which was strongly influenced by Greek culture (Forum Romanum, temples, statues). In the Middle Ages, Byzantine art (Ravenna, Venice), Romanesque art (Pisa), and Gothic art (Giotto, ca. 1266–1337) were followed by the Renaissance art, with the geniuses Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Michelangelo (1475–1564), architect Andrea Â�Palladio (1508–1580), and painters Raphael (1483–1520) and Titian (ca 1490–1576). It was succeeded by baroque architecture (churches) and painting (Caravaggio, 1573–1610). In Venice, all of these art forms combined to make it Europe’s most beautiful city. Italian literature opened with masterpieces: Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) with the Divine Comedy, and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). In music, Italy is the country of opera, with Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868), Giuseppe Verdi (1813– 1901), and Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924). In the 20th century it has been one of the leading countries in film, with neorealism, Michelangelo Antonioni (1912– 2007), and Federico Fellini (1920–1993), as well as in design, cuisine, and fashion (Pucci, Versace).

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History Table IT 1╇ Timeline of Italian History 753 BC Foundation of Rome; Etruscans dominate the mid-peninsula 509 BC Roman Republic conquers the northern half of the peninsula; ╅ proclamation of civil rights Fourth century BC Romans conquer the southern peninsula after war with the ╅�Etruscans, Greeks, and Carthaginians First century BC Rome conquers Greece and Spain; Julius Caesar conquers Gallia 27 BC Roman Empire begins after the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC AD 68 Emperor Nero burns down Rome; beginning of persecution ╅ of Christians Second century Enormous expansion of the Roman Empire 313 Edict of Milan establishes freedom of religion Fourth century Roman Empire splits; Rome is capital of western part 455 Rome destroyed by Vandals after the barbarian invasions 476 End of the Western Roman Empire Sixth century Italy invaded by Byzantine Empire under the Longobards ╅(Lombards) 755 Franks assist the pope against the Longobards; northern Italy falls ╅ under Frankish rule 962 Northern Italy becomes part of the Holy Roman Empire 11th century Normans conquer Sicily and southern Italy 12th century Heyday of papal power after the investiture struggle; Papal State ╅ is founded 1282 Sicilian revolt against the French rulers of southern Italy; Sicily is ╅ under Spanish rule 1305 Pope is imprisoned by French troops; beginning of papal exile in ╅Avignon 14th century Beginning of the golden age of autonomous northern Italian cities ╅ and towns 1442 King of Aragon creates Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in southern ╅Italy 15th century Renaissance in northern Italian cities and in Rome 16th century Spanish Habsburgs, who rule over southern Italy, occupy part ╅ of northern Italy 17th century Austrian Habsburgs reduce the autonomy of northern Italian cities ╅ and towns 1796 Napoleon occupies the country and crowns himself king of Italy 1815 Autonomy for northern Italy but under Austrian rule; Austria also ╅ conquers the south 1831 Beginning of Risorgimento but revolts suppressed by Austria 1848 Leading role of Piedmont in independence movement 1860 Freedom fighter Garibaldi defeats the Kingdom of the Two ╅ Sicilies in the south

(Continued)



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 399 1870 Garibaldi conquers Rome; Italian unity 1915 Italy participates in World War I and gains Alto Adige and Istria â•… after the war 1922 Mussolini installs fascist dictatorship 1929 Lateran Treaty confirms the independence of the Vatican State and â•… the recognition of the Italian state by the pope 1940 Fascist Italy enters World War II in cooperation with Nazi â•… Germany (who, with Japan, form the Axis Powers) 1943 Allied landings in southern Italy; the country is gradually liberated 1946 Monarchy is abolished by a referendum; beginning of long period â•… of Christian Democratic domination 1951 Italy is one of the founders of the EU 1969 Large nationwide strike wave follows the wave of strikes â•… in France 1978 Christian Democratic politician Aldo Moro is kidnapped and â•… killed by leftist terrorists 1983 Bettino Craxi is the first Social Democratic prime minister 1994 Dissolution of the Christian Democratic Party and the Socialist â•… Party because of corruption 2001 Silvio Berlusconi’s second government becomes the first â•… government to serve for four years 2002 Italy adopts the euro

Political System Italy is a parliamentarian republic with a multiparty system. Since the beginning of the 21st century it has been evolving, however, from a multiparty system to a system that is dominated by competition between two party coalitions. The fragile rightist coalition is kept together by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, while the leftist coalition lacks a strong leader and is a very fragile complex of leftist parties.

Constitution After the period of constitutional monarchy and fascism, Italy passed a new constitution in 1947, which installed the republic. To some extent the constitution was patterned after the 1848 liberal constitution of Piedmont. The 1947 constitution was a compromise between Catholic family values and communist social rights; it declared the Catholic faith as the national religion. The constitution has been amended more than 10 times; most amendments brought minor changes, but there has also been some devolution of power to the regions. Amendments require two successive debates in both houses, and the second time an absolute majority is required in both houses. A referendum is not required if both houses accept the amendments in a second reading with a two-thirds majority. The republican form of government is excluded as a subject of amendment, barring a return to monarchy.

400 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

Table IT 2╇ Presidents of Italy since 1946 President Ideology Begin Enrico de Nicola Luigi Einaudi Giovanni Gronchi Antonio Segni Giuseppe Saragat Giovanni Leone Alessandro Pertini Francesco Cossiga Oscar Luigi Scalfaro Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Giorgio Napolitano

Conservative liberal Conservative liberal Christian democrat Christian democrat Social democrat Christian democrat Social democrat Christian democrat Christian democrat Independent Social democrat

1946 1948 1955 1962 1964 1971 1978 1985 1992 1999 2006

Head of State The president (Presidente della Repubblica) is the head of state. The �presidential term is seven years and is not renewable. The presidents, listed in Table IT 2, are elected by a joint session of both houses of parliament, complemented by three representatives from each region (one from the small Aosta region). In the first three ballots a two-thirds majority is required; in later rounds a majority is enough. Presidential functions are mainly ceremonial, but because of the instability of �Italian governments until the beginning of the 21st century, the presidents have had some latitude for influencing coalition talks. In 1964, President Segni, at the age of 73, retired after two years for health reasons.

Legislative Power The Italian parliament (Parlamento italiano) consists of two houses: the chamber of deputies (Camera dei Deputati) is the lower house, the senate (Senato) is the upper house. The 630 members of the Camera, of whom 21 percent are women, have a five-year term. Twelve seats are reserved for Italians abroad, the other 618 Â�members are elected in 26 multilevel constituencies, organized by region. The regions in which the country is divided all have one or two voting districts, except Â�Lombardy, which has three. For the election of the Camera the country has changed its Â�electoral laws a couple of times in the past 20 years. Until 1993, Â�proportional representation was applied without any additional rules or elements from other systems. Between 1993 and 2005 a combination of plurality and proportional representation Â� was in force, patterned to some extent after the British system. The idea was that the plurality system would bring more government stability to Italy, but it did not. Under this system 75 percent of the seats were allocated to single-member districts (plurality system) and 25 percent to multimember districts (proportional representation). The 2005



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 401

Table IT 3╇ Italian Camera dei Deputati since 2001 Party or Coalition Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats of Votes 2001 2006 2008 2008

Berlusconi coalition Conservative 368 281 344 46.8 2008: People of Freedom Conservative 137 276 37.4 2006: Forza Italia Lega Nord Conservative 26 60 8.3 â•… regionalist Opposition Leftist 247 348 246 37.5 2008: Democratic Party Leftist 220 217 33.2 2006: l’Ulivo Other 15 1 40 15.7 Total 630 630 630 100

reforms were a partial return to proportional representation and yet another effort to combine proportional representation with a reduction of the number of small parties and an increase in government stability (in particular by means of the extra seats for a winning coalition). Under the 2005 rules parties are able to build coalitions, which are officially recognized in electoral legislation and are subject to other rules than single parties, in particular rules on thresholds: 2 percent for parties in a coalition, 4 percent for single parties, and 10 percent for coalitions; if the coalition does not reach that figure, the 4 percent threshold for the individual parties applies. An extra rule favors large parties or coalitions. If they win a plurality of the vote nationwide, but fewer than 340 seats, they get additional seats to reach that number, and by doing so also attain an absolute majority. The political spectrum is very fluid; it now consists of a leftist coalition and a rightist coalition, but within the coalitions parties come and go. As the party composition of the Camera in Table IT 3 shows, the major party for the left is the Democratic Party, headed by Walter Veltroni. The major party of the right is Â�Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom. The conservative regionalist party Â�Northern League is Berlusconi’s major coalition partner. The 2008 elections were more of a popularity contest between Berlusconi and Veltroni than a left–right competition, as both party leaders stressed the combination of tax cuts and higher spending without increasing the deficit, an approach that is possible only in Italy. The Senato has 315 elected members, who serve a five-year term. The same Â�system of proportional representation as for the Camera is used, but this time stressing the regional level. The thresholds are three percent of the regional votes for a party in a coalition and eight percent of the regional vote for a single party outside a coalition. In addition to the 315 elected members, former presidents and

402 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

Table IT 4╇ Italian Senato since 2001 Coalition Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats of Votes 2001 2006 2008 2008

Berlusconi Coalition Conservative 176 156 174 46.9 2008: People of Freedom Conservative 78 146 38.0 2006: Forza Italia 2001: House of Freedom Lega Nord Conservative 13 26 7.9 â•… regionalist Opposition Coalition Leftist 128 158 134 37.8 2008: Democratic Party Leftist 119 33.1 2001 and 2006: l’Ulivo Other 11 1 7 15.3 Total 315 315 315 100

former prime ministers are ex-officio lifetime members of the Senato; Table IT 4 presents its composition. The extra rule for large parties applies to the regional level only and secures any party or coalition that wins a plurality in a region 55 percent of the regional seats in the Senato. Until the 2005 reforms, the electoral rules for the Senato used to be more or less in line with those for the Camera. The two houses have equal powers; both can initiate debate on laws and can amend and reject laws. Laws have to pass both houses, a form of perfect bicameralism, in contrast to the weaker position of the senate in most European countries. The second house that discusses a bill starts the debate with the version that has been approved in the other house; if the second house amends the bill, the amended bill returns to the first house. Joint sessions are rare; they only have to be summoned to elect the president.

Executive Power The prime minister is officially called president of the Council of Ministers Â�(Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri); the prime minister’s seat is the Palazzo Chigi at the Piazza Colonna. Until the end of the 20th century, prime ministers had a relatively weak position, as they lacked the formal right to dismiss ministers and were dependent upon their coalition partners for major decisions—and Â�coalition partners have never refrained from quarreling in Italy. The brief Prodi government in 2006 showed that the prime minister’s position is still relatively weak, but Â�Berlusconi has increased the prime minister’s real power, and his position is comparable to, and probably stronger than, that of other European prime ministers, except for the British prime minister; as in Britain, the government does not have the right



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 403

Table IT 5╇ Italian Governments and Prime Ministers since 1946 Prime Minister’s Party Begin No. of Prime Ministers* Months Christian Democrat 1946 420 Alcide De Gasperi (7), Giuseppe Pella, â•… (in one-party governments â•… Amintore Fanfani, Mario Scelba, â•… or coalition governments) â•… Antonio Segni, Adone Zoli, Amintore â•… Fanfani, Antonio Segni, Fernando â•… Tambroni, Amintore Fanfani (2), â•… Giovanni Leone, Aldo Moro (3), â•… Giovanni Leone, Mariano Rumor (3), â•… Emilio Colombo, Giulio Andreotti (2), â•… Mariano Rumor (2), Aldo Moro (2), â•… Giulio Andreotti (3), Frencesco â•… Cossiga (2), Arnaldo Forlani Republican Party 1981 17 Giovanni Spadolini (2) â•… (social liberal) Christian Democrat 1982 8 Amintore Fanfani Italian Socialist Party 1983 44 Bettino Craxi (2) Christian Democrat 1987 62 Amintore Fanfani, Giovanni Goria, â•… Ciriaco De Mita, Giulio Andreotti (2) Italian Socialist Party 1992 10 Giuliano Amato Independent 1993 12 Carlo Ciampi Forza Italia (conservative) 1994 8 Silvio Berlusconi Independent 1995 16 Lemberto Dini Olive Tree (social democrat) 1996 29 Romano Prodi Democrats of the Left 1999 14 Massimo D’Alema (2) Olive Tree (social democrat) 2000 14 Giuliano Amato Forza Italia (conservative) 2001 58 Silvio Berlusconi (2) Olive Tree (social democrat) 2006 24 Romano Prodi People of Freedom (conserv.) May Silvio Berlusconi â•…2008 Total: 60 governments, 23 prime â•…ministers * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

to dissolve the parliament. Table IT 5 shows the sequence of Italian governments since 1946, differentiated on the basis of the prime minister’s party affiliation.

Two Italian Prime Ministers Probably the most typical and prominent representative of Christian Democratic rule in Italy, including its quest for survival, corruption, and links with the Mafia was Giulio Andreotti (1919–2009). Born in Rome, he was a devout Catholic who attended Mass every day, and as a law student became involved in Christian

404 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

Â� Democratic politics. He was a member of parliament from 1945 until 2004, and was prime minister seven times, including one period of just 8 days and another of 10 days. In between he headed various ministries, including the ministry of foreign affairs five times and the ministry of defense eight times. Whenever a compromise had to be reached, Andreotti was there to formulate it. During most of his political life there were frequent accusations of intimate links with organized crime, in particular the Sicilian Mafia, and other forms of corruption. After the fall of his last cabinet in 1992 he was formally charged and at first found guilty but later acquitted. Silvio Berlusconi (1936–) broke the tradition of short-lived Italian cabinets and has left a profound mark on Italian politics since his second cabinet in 2001. Born in Milan into a middle-class family, Berlusconi entered business with a construction firm after completing his studies, and later set up local televisions stations that circumvented the monopoly of national public stations and gained Â�popularity by providing American entertainment. In 1975 he bundled all of his companies, more than 150 in total, into the holding company Fininvest, which now also includes national television stations. In 1994, at the time social democracy and Christian democracy were plagued by corruption scandals and had disappeared from the political scene, Berlusconi set up the party Go Italy (Forza Italia, which is the yell of Italian supporters at soccer games). His first cabinet in 1994 was shortlived because of trade-union opposition against his old-age pension reforms, and because Lega Nord withdrew its support. During the 2001 election campaign he distributed more than 10 million copies of his biography, which people could read while they watched one of his television stations. His second cabinet was the first Italian postwar government that lasted for a full governmental period, a great accomplishment. Berlusconi has been accused of serving his own companies and of corruption by promoting legislation that changed the rules for the media and provided for his immunity during his term of office. He has been the subject of sex scandals, but all of this has only added to his popularity in Italy.

Judicial Power Judicial review is done by the Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale), which is separate from the other courts. It has 15 members, who serve a 12-year term and are not eligible to serve again. All members must be judges with a long experience in the court system; five are selected by the president, five by the parliament (with a three-fifths majority), and five by the other courts. Recently, following �various �corruption and other cases against prime minister Berlusconi, laws have been enacted that make it almost impossible to impeach politicians or to force them to appear in court.

Referendums The constitution provides for referendums, but apart from the 1946 referendum on the monarchy, which preceded the constitution, the first referendum was not



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 405

held until 1974. This was because of the lack of legal rules before that time. There are two types of referendum: constitutional referendums and legislative referendums. Constitutional referendums are required for a change of the constitution; the first one was in 2001 on extending the right to vote to Italians living abroad. A constitutional amendment to curtail the powers of the president and extend those of the prime minister, proposed by the Berlusconi government, was rejected by �referendum. Legislative referendums are organized to reject parts of bills; such referendums require 500,000 signatures and a turnout of 50 percent. Since 1974 quite a number of referendums have been organized on state structures, the electoral system, nuclear power, and ethical issues such as divorce and abortion. In 2009, three referendums concerning the electoral system failed because of low turnout.

Civil Society A typical feature of Italian politics is the difference between civil society in the north, which has a multitude of associations and organizations, and the south, where civil society is very limited, most organizations are linked to the Catholic Church, and organized crime has regionally great influence, in particular in Sicily, Naples, and Calabria. The Catholic Church regularly speaks out on all types of political issues, not only ethical ones but also on devolution and health care. The Church also attempts to influence the outcome of government decisions and referendums. There is a church tax in Italy, but religions other than Catholicism can also benefit from it, and people can opt out. There are three trade union confederations: Italian General Confederation of Labor (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro [CGIL]), the largest (5.5 million members) and most militant, which used to have strong links with the Â�Communist Party; the Confederation of Trade Unions in Italy (Confederazione Italiana Â�Sindacati Lavoratori [CISL]), which was close to the Socialist Party, with 4.5 million; and the Italian Workers Union (Unione Italiana del Lavoro [UIL]), which used to be close to Christian democracy, with 2 million. Retired workers make up as much as half of their total membership. At times the unions have tried to undermine each other’s activities, but over the last decades they have cooperated in collective bargaining and in bargaining with the government and political strikes against government policies. Their actions against Berlusconi’s pension plans were one of the reasons his first government fell in 1995. The major employers’ association is Confindustria. Italy scores badly in rankings of the freedom of the mass media because of Â�Berlusconi’s domination of the commercial media. As prime minister Berlusconi also controls the public television stations.

Devolution Italy is divided into 20 regions. All have an elected council and an elected �president (in two regions the president is elected by the regional council). Five of the regions, listed in Table IT 6, enjoy special status as autonomous regions

406 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

Table IT 6╇ Autonomous Regions of Italy Region Capital Population Comment (in millions) Sicily

Palermo

Sardinia

Cagliari

Friuli–Venezia Giulia

Trieste

Trentino–Alto Adige

Trento

Aosta

Aosta

5.0 The largest island; it has a special â•…culture 1.7 The second-largest island; it has â•… special culture 1.2 Has small minorities of Friulian and â•… Slovenian speakers; the city of â•… Venice is not located in this region 1.0 Minority of German speakers in â•… Alto Adige 0.1 Majority of French speakers

and have �extensive, though different, rights. The main tasks of the remaining 15 regions are �infrastructure, economic and environmental policies, health care, police, some cultural �functions, and tourism. The most populous of the regular regions are �Lombardia (capital: Milan), with more than 9 million inhabitants, and �Campania �(capital: Naples) and Lazio (capital: Rome), both of which have more than 5 �million inhabitants.

Policies The Italian welfare state is less developed than in the other very-high-income nations of Western Europe and is strongly family-based. Economic policies were often focused on the large sector of nationalized industries, but most of them have been privatized, including for the greater part, ENI, a gas and oil company. In ethical issues the country has been conservative, influenced by the Catholic Church, whose leaders often speak out on Italian political issues. Italy has not given up the fight to retain the crucifix in public schools as part of its national culture for that reason; it has appealed to a ruling by the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg (which is not the same as the European Court of Justice). In international politics, the country has always been relatively Atlanticist, but it has maintained a low profile, if only because of the frequent changes of political leaders.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Democratic Party (Partito Democratico [PD])

The party was founded in 2007 out of a merger of two major leftist parties, Â�Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra) and Democracy Is Freedom – the Daisy (Democrazia è Liberta – la Margherita). In the 2008 national election it received just over one-third of the seats, second to Berlusconi’s People of



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 407

Â� dom. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D. Pier FreeÂ� Luigi Bersani has been the party leader since 2007. Of the two constituent parties, Democrats of the Left was the successor of the defunct Communist Party; it was founded in 2000 and attracted a number of other leftist parties and groups. Its most prominent leader was former communist leader Massimo d’Alema, Â� who was prime Â�minister in 1998–2000. In the 2006 elections the party was part of the leftist Olive Tree (l’Ulivo) combination under Romano Prodi, and it participated in the Prodi coalition. The other constituent party, Democracy Is Freedom – the Daisy was founded in 2002 as a combination of several leftist and Christian Democratic parties and groups. Its ideology was progressive Christian democratic. In national elections it secured some 10 percent of the seats. Its most prominent leader was Francesco Rutelli, mayor of Rome.

People of Freedom (Popolo della Libertà [PdL]) The party was created in 2007 by Berlusconi and formally founded in 2009, out of a merger of his previous party Go Italy and National Alliance (Alleanza Â�Nazionale), as well as a large number of smaller rightist parties. The party is more or less a loose combination of Berlusconi followers. It has a conservative ideology but seeks to attract a wide spectrum of voters, combining all kinds of clerical and anticlerical factions. In the 2008 national elections it was very successful, winning almost 45 percent of the seats, most of them from mid-Italy and southern Italy, though, because of Lega Nord’s strong position in the north, since 2008 it has been in government under Berlusconi, who is also the party leader, in a coalition with Lega Nord and the Movement for Autonomies. In the EU it is a member of the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP. Berlusconi’s former party, Go Italy, was founded in 1994; though it was intended to unite conservatives, Conservative Liberals, Christian Democrats, and Social Democrats, it especially attracted many people who had formerly voted the defunct Christian Democratic Party. The party was represented in the national government for half a year in 1994 and in the 2001–2006 under Â�Berlusconi. The second Â�constituent party in the new combination, National Alliance, was founded in 1995 by Gianfranco Fini, as the successor of the Italian Social Movement – National Right (Movimento Sociale Italiano – Destra Â�Nazionale). The party was to the right of Go Italy, a conservative party that also wanted to appeal to conservative Christian Democrats. One of its proposals was a restrictive Â�immigration policy. Berlusconi is supported by the Italian Social Movement – National Right, a Â�neo-fascist party created after the war by supporters of fascist dictator Benito Â�Mussolini. This party wanted to reinforce the position of the Catholic Church into an official national church and favored a kind of state-promoted business– labor corporatism. The party never participated in a national government, scoring between 10 and 17 percent in national elections; its stronghold is in Rome.

408 |╇The Big Three of Continental Western Europe: Germany, France, Italy

Northern League for the Independence of Padania (Lega Nord per l’Independenzia della Padania [LN]) The party, mostly called Lega Nord, was created in 1991 by Umberto Bossi, out of a merger of a number of regional northern Italian parties. It is a Â�Conservative Â�Liberal Party, whose main focus is more fiscal autonomy for northern Italy Â�(Padania); at times it even advocated independence for northern Italy, but that demand has been watered down. It also favors stricter immigration rules and at times has been called an extreme right party. The party has won between 4 and 10 percent of the seats since the 1994 elections; its strongholds are Milan and Venice. It has participated in the Berlusconi governments as a junior partner to the parties created by Berlusconi.

Defunct Parties Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista Italiano [PCI]) The party was founded in 1921 as a split off from the Socialist Party. It adopted its name in 1943, when Italy was liberated. A prominent early leader was Antonio Gramsci, who died in jail under fascism. Until the 1990s the party was the largest Communist Party in Free West Europe and the leading leftist party in Italy, but it was always second behind the Christian Democrats. It consistently secured some 30 percent of the seats in the parliament. Right after the war the party, under leadership of Palmiro Togliatti, participated in the first four national governments, together with the Christian Democrats, but in 1947 it was left out of a new Â�government under US pressure and since then it was never allowed to join any coalition again. The party continued to follow the official communist course, set out in Moscow but in a less rigid way than the French Communist Party. In 1969, Enrico Berlinguer challenged the official view of the armed invasion of Â�Czechoslovakia in 1968, and the party shifted to a more moderate and democratic course of less undemocratic eurocommunism. The party undertook various attempts to bridge the gap with socialists and Christian Democrats, but alleged Soviet support of the leftist terrorist group of Red Brigades prevented cooperation. While still being supported financially by the Soviet Union, the party broke with that country after the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. In the early 1990s the party collapsed; its members sought refuge in a number of small leftist parties. Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano [PSI]) The party was founded in 1892, but it was soon divided between Social Â�Democrats, Communists (who split off in 1921), and a group led by Benito Mussolini, who was expelled from the party during World War I, because he was in favor of Â�participating in the war. Under fascism the party was outlawed but started again after World War II. Between 1948 and the early 1990s the party’s popularity was relatively stable, securing between 9 and 15 percent of the seats in parliament. The



ITALY (Italia)╇ | 409

party participated in the first postwar governments, together with the Christian Democrats and the Communist Party, which was always at least twice as large as the Socialist Party. Between 1947 and 1963, the Italian Socialist Party was out of government. From then on it joined coalitions now and then under the Christian Democrats. In 1976, Bettino Craxi became party leader and changed the party into a catchall party, but keeping the communist hammer and sickle symbol until 1985. In 1979, Craxi threatened to not participate in a coalition unless he became prime minister (the first socialist Italian prime minister), and the Christian Democrats accepted this. In 1992, Giuliano Amato became the party’s second prime minister. Yet by this time not only Craxi but also the party’s whole top echelon was heavily involved in corruption scandals and Craxi fled to Tunisia. The party dissolved in 1994, the same year as the Christian Democratic Party. Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana [DC]) The party was the biggest Italian party between the end of World War II and the early 1990s, when it collapsed under long-standing accusations of corruption and intimate links with the Mafia. Its precursor had been founded in 1919 but was banned under the fascist regime, and the new party was set up in 1943. In the 1948 elections the party won a majority of seats in the parliament; it never repeated that accomplishment. Until the 1980s, the party almost permanently secured more than 40 percent of the seats; in that decade it gained between 30 and 40 percent, ending with one-third of the seats in its last elections in 1992. Between the end of the war and 1994, the party was always the largest party in government; it was the semipermanent party of government for almost 50 years. The party’s ideology was centrist and often adapted to reinforce the party’s position in the center of Italian politics. Important party leaders were Alcide de Gasperi, who headed eight Â�successive Â�governments between 1945 and 1953; Amintore Fanfani, who headed four Â�governments in the 1950s and early 1960s and two others in the 1980s; Aldo Moro, who headed five governments in the 1960s and 1970s; Mariano Rumor, five times prime minister in the late 1960s and 1970s; and, arguably the most Â�prominent of them all, Giulio Andreotti, who headed seven governments in the 1970s and then again between 1989 and 1992. Most of the governments were coalitions, but there were also one-party governments, often informally supported by nonparticipating parties. In the early 1990s the party did not survive the wave of accusations of links with the Mafia and corrupt practices. It was dissolved in 1994, in the same year as the Socialist Party was dissolved.

Scandinavia and Baltic States

Russia Atlantic Ocean

Sweden

Finland

Norway

Tampere

Bergen

Åland Oslo

Helsinki St. Petersburg

Stockholm

Tallinn

Estonia Göteborg

Riga Latvia

Denmark

North Sea

Århus

Copenhagen

Baltic Sea

Lithuania

Russia Germany

Poland

Vilnius

Belarus

Scandinavia and Baltic States. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

3â•… S candinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

W

ith Finland an exception, the other Scandinavian countries share a number of political features, listed in Table SCAN 1. Finland does share some characteristics with the other Scandinavian countries, and these are listed in Table SCAN 2. Table SCAN 1╇ Common Features of Politics in Scandinavian Countries, Excluding Finland Dividing lines No traditional religious or ethnic dividing lines Social democracy Until recently, social democracy was, or still is, the dominant â•…political force; the party and the trade unions form the “social democratic complex” Cabinets Many governments have been minority cabinets

Table SCAN 2╇ Common Features of Politics in Scandinavian Countries, Including Finland Democracy Highest positions worldwide in rankings of democracy* Political conflict Low level of political conflict Parliament High level of interest-association involvement in parliamentary ╅committees Gender equality Generally regarded as world leaders in gender equality and high ╅ female participation in the labor market Welfare state Highest levels worldwide of welfare state provisions Ethical issues High level (not the highest) of libertarianism in ethical issues ╅ (except drinking) Ombudsman Early introduction of the ombudsman to handle citizen complaints ╅ against the government or public agencies Radical right Recently, radical rightist movements have emerged focusing on ╅immigration * For such rankings see www.democracyranking.org/en/ranking.htm; www.worldaudit.org/democracy.htm; http:// graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Democracy_Index_2010_web.pdf;

411

412 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

DENMARK (Danmark) In everyday speech, the position of Denmark in Scandinavia resembles that of Rhode Island in New England; it is never the first country that comes to mind when Scandinavia, or New England, is mentioned. Its fate is partly because of its small size compared with the other Scandinavian countries but also because of its location outside the Scandinavian Peninsula and closer to the rest of Europe. Yet, Denmark is one of the oldest kingdoms of Europe. For more than 1,000 years it has never been ruled by a foreign power (with the exception of the German occupation during World War II). Denmark differs from the rest of Scandinavia in the dominant position of the national capital, Copenhagen, and in its recent shift to very strict �immigration policies. In 2005, the country made international headlines when a Danish � � newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb on his head, which aroused a storm of protests in Islamic countries, including calls for boycotts of Danish products.

The Land and the People The Land Denmark is situated in northern Europe, at the latitude of the Alaska panhandle south of Juneau. With 16,639 square miles (43,094 square kilometers), slightly larger than Holland or Switzerland and half the size of Maine, it is by far the smallest of the Scandinavian countries. The country consists of a peninsula, Jutland, which is about 300 miles (500 kilometers) from north to south, and a number of islands to its east. Jutland is mainly hilly (the highest point is 558 feet (170 meters); the rest of the country is more or less flat. The climate is maritime. To the north lies Norway and to the east Sweden, with which Copenhagen is connected by a combined bridge and tunnel that opened in 2000. The only land border is the short border in Jutland with Germany. It was long disputed until it was settled on the basis of a plebiscite in 1920. Denmark has some overseas territories, the remnants of a larger empire. �Denmark once held a few Caribbean Islands, which were sold to the United States in 1917, and Iceland, which became independent in 1944. Since then only the Faroe Islands to the northwest of Scotland and Greenland remain as overseas territories, but both enjoy a very high degree of autonomy.

The People With 5.5 million inhabitants (slightly less than Maryland or Wisconsin), Denmark is more populous than Norway and Finland, both of which are more than seven times as large, yet its population density is still low; it has fewer inhabitants than mountainous Switzerland. One quarter of the total population lives in Copenhagen,



DENMARK (Danmark)╇ | 413

Scandinavia’s biggest metropolis (1.4 million); the towns that are next in size are much smaller; the biggest is Århus (population 278,000). There are no traditional ethnic or religious dividing lines; almost all inhabitants are Danes, who speak Danish, a North-Germanic language, and traditionally they are members of the national Lutheran Church.

The Economy Denmark is a very-high-income nation. It has always been strong in cattle breeding and fishing and is a leading exporter of dairy- and cattle-related products, including all the bacon the Britons need for their breakfast. Industry mainly consists of small-scale companies. Lego is probably is its best-known trademark, but other important companies include Carlsberg, the beer manufacturer, and, since the emergence of container transport, Maersk, the world’s largest shipping firm, whose main investor financed the Copenhagen opera house. Recently, the country has become the world leader in wind energy technology.

Culture Denmark has been outstanding in architecture and industrial design. Its Golden Age was the Renaissance in the 16th and 17th centuries, when a number of royal palaces and urban public buildings were erected. The country’s most famous son is Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), whose fairy tales have earned world fame, including such marvelous pieces as “The Little Mermaid,” “The Ugly Â�Duckling,” and “The Little Match Girl.” A philosopher of international fame is Søren Â�Kierkegaard (1813–1855), one of the precursors of existentialism.

History Table DK 1╇ Timeline of Danish History Eighth century Danes expel Angles and Saxons 10th century Danish Vikings raid Europe’s coasts; Denmark becomes a â•… Christianized kingdom 1379 Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under one (Danish) crown in the â•… Kalmar Union 1521 Sweden gains independence after a series of revolts 1536 Reformation; Lutheranism becomes the national religion 1588–1648 Popular king Christian IV; Denmark’s Golden Age 1661 Beginning of absolutism under King Frederick III 18th century Serfdom abolished; emancipation of peasants 1814 Norway is lost to Sweden 1849 Defeated by Prussia (again in 1864); constitution 1914–1918 Neutrality in World War I; universal suffrage in 1915 1940 Invasion by Nazi Germany 1945 Liberated

(Continued)

414 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland 1947 First Social Democratic government; King Frederick IX succeeds â•… Christian X 1949 Cofounder of NATO 1953 Introduction of unicameral parliament; the upper chamber is â•…abolished 1972 Queen Margrethe II succeeds Frederick IX 1973 Emergence of new parties including a populist anti-tax party; â•… Denmark joins the EU 1992–1993 Referendum rejects Maastricht Treaty; second referendum â•… approves it 2000 Referendum rejects the introduction of the euro 2001 Social Democrats no longer biggest party 2005 Cartoon affair concerning a cartoon depicting Muhammad in the â•…newspaper Jyllands-Posten 2009 Referendum decides that the first-born in the royal family may â•… inherit the throne, independent of sex

Political System Denmark has a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by the Social Democrats on the one hand, supported by Social Liberals and the Radical Left, and Conservatives and Conservative Liberals on the other.

Constitution The Danish constitution (Grundlov) dates from 1849, when the absolute monarch was replaced by a constitutional monarchy. The constitution was amended in 1915 to extend voting rights to women. Denmark was one of the first countries to do so. Changes to the constitution have to be approved by two parliaments in succession and by referendum.

Head of State Denmark is a constitutional monarchy with a hereditary monarch. The functions of the hereditary head of state are almost exclusively ceremonial. The appointment of the formateur of a new cabinet leaves hardly any latitude for royal decision making because the leader of the biggest party is almost always able to form a cabinet. The current monarch is Queen Margrethe II, who was born in 1940 and ascended to the throne in 1972. By that time daughters could inherit the throne (since the 1953 change in the constitution) but sons took precedence over older daughters; this remnant of the Salic law of succession was abolished in 2009. Heads of state before Queen Margrethe were her grandfather, King Christian X (r. 1912–1947), and her father, King Frederick IX (r. 1947–1972). The head of state must be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.



DENMARK (Danmark)╇ | 415

Legislative Power Denmark has a parliamentary political system. The parliament, Folketing, has been unicameral since the upper house (Landsting) was abolished in 1953. The Â�Folketing has 179 members, 38 percent of whom are women. A term lasts four years. The electoral system is a two-tier system of proportional representation with districtwide and nationwide allocation of seats, comparable to the system in other Scandinavian countries. Of the 179 members, 135 are elected in 10 multimember constituencies; the counties serve as such. Seats are allocated on the basis of a counting system in which the total vote of a party in a district is divided by odd numbers: by one for the first seat, by three for the second seat, by five for the third seat, and so on. Forty seats, the leveling or compensatory seats, should redress any imbalance due to the district-based allocation of the 135 seats. The leveling seats are allocated on the basis of a party’s Â�nationwide votes minus the number it has already gained from the 135 constituency seats, but there is a two percent threshold. The other four seats are reserved for Greenland and the Faroe Islands, two seats each. See Table DK 2 for the recent Â�breakdown of seats by party. Major issues in the 2007 election campaigns were the integration of Muslim immigrants and some of the welfare-state provisions, such as the subvention of parental leave, care for the elderly, and the waiting lists in health care. Table DK 2╇ Danish Folketing since 2005 Party Ideology No. of No. of No. of Total Percent Seats District National No. of of Votes 2005 Seats Seats Seats 2007 2007 2007 2007 ╇ 1 Liberal Party Conservative 52 40 6 46 26.3 â•…of Denmark â•…liberal ╇ 2 Social Democratic Social 47 41 4 45 25.5 â•…Party â•…democrat ╇ 3 Danish People’s Rightist 24 20 5 25 13.9 â•…Party ╇ 4 Socialist People’s Radical 11 19 4 23 13.0 â•…Party â•…socialist ╇5 Conservative Conservative 18 11 7 18 10.4 â•… People’s Party ╇ 6 Radical Left Social liberal 17 3 6 9 5.1 ╇ 7 Liberal Alliance Liberal 6 0 5 5 2.8 ╇ 8 Unity List – Red Green – 1 3 4 2.2 â•… Green Alliance ╇ 9 Faroe Islands – 2 – – 2 – 10 Greenland – 2 – – 2 – Total no. of seats 179 135 40 179

416 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

In the political spectrum the positions from left to right are Socialist People’s Party to Unity List–Red Green Alliance to Social Democratic Party to Radical Left to Conservative People’s Party to Liberal Alliance to Liberal Party of Denmark to Danish People’s Party.

Executive Power The prime minister (Statsminister) is the leader of the executive power. Â�Denmark is the European leader in minority cabinets. The majority of all postwar Â� Â�governments could only count on the support of one or more parties that Â�occupied a minority of the parliamentary seats, but stability was secured by Â�seeking Â�support of sympathetic Â� parties outside the government. A number of cabinets were Â�one-party governments, especially the Social Democratic Â�governments, but coalitions have been more common in Denmark than in Norway and Â�Sweden. Cabinets do not need a formal vote of confidence upon assuming office. Formal Â� votes of no confidence are rare; in 1947, Knud Kristensen faced such a vote when he proposed to reintegrate the German part of Slesvig into Denmark. Only five cabinets lasted shorter than one year. The longest-serving prime minister was the conservative Poul Schlüter, who headed five cabinets between 1982 and 1993. As Table DK 3 shows, there have been three prime ministers named Â�Rasmussen in recent years, and they are not related: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Social Â�Democrat,  prime minister Â� 1993–2001; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Â�Conservative Liberal, prime minister 2001–2009; and Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Conservative Liberal, prime minister since 2009.

Judicial Power The top court is the Supreme Court (Høyesteret). The 16 judges are appointed by the government with parliamentary approval. Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws as such does not exist in Denmark, but in practice judges can review laws in specific cases and can review if laws are in accordance with the European treaties the country has signed. Table DK 3╇ Denmark’s Governments and Prime Ministers since 1945 Party or Parties* Begin

No. of Prime Ministers† Months

1 2

24 Knud Kristensen 35 Hans Hedtoft â•… (2 cabinets) 35 Erik Eriksen (2)

Conservative Liberals Social Democrats

1945 1947

3 Conservative Liberals/ â•…Conservatives 4 Social Democrats

1950 1953

44 Hans Hedtoft, Hans â•… Christian Hansen (Continued)



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5 Social Democrats/Social 1957 38 Hans Christian â•…Liberals/Conservatives â•…Hansen, Viggo â•…Kampmann 6 Social Democrats/Social Liberals 1960 47 Viggo Kampmann, â•… Jens Otto Krag 7 Social Democrats 1964 40 Jens Otto Krag (2) 8 Social Liberals/Conservatives/ 1968 44 Hilmar Baunsgaard â•… Conservative Liberals 9 Social Democrats 1971 26 Jens Otto Krag, Anker â•…Jørgensen 10 Conservative Liberals 1973 13 Poul Hartling 11 Social Democrats 1975 44 Anker Jørgensen (2) 12 Social Democrats/Conservative 1978 14 Anker Jørgensen â•…Liberals 13 Social Democrats 1979 34 Anker Jørgensen (2) 14 Conservatives/Conservative 1982 69 Poul Schlüter (3) â•… Liberals/Moderate Conservatives/ â•… Christian Democrats 15 Conservatives/Conservative 1988 31 Poul Schlüter â•… Liberals/Social Liberals 16 Conservatives/Conservative 1990 25 Poul Schlüter â•…Liberals 17 Social Democrats/Social 1993 20 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen â•… Liberals/Moderate Conservatives/ â•… Christian Democrats 18 Social Democrats/Social Liberals/ 1994 28 Poul Nyrup â•… Moderate Conservatives â•… Rasmussen (2) 19 Social Democrats/Social Liberals 1996 60 Poul Nyrup â•… Rasmussen (2) 20 Conservative Liberals (supported 2001 Anders Fogh â•… by the Radical Right) â•… Rasmussen (3), Lars â•… Løkke Rasmussen Total : 20 periods Total: 13 prime â•… ministers, 35 cabinets * Conservative refers to the Conservative People’s Party (1957–1960) and the small Justice Party (1960–1990); Conservative Liberal refers to the Liberal Party of Denmark; Moderate Conservative refers to the Centre Â�Democrats (1973–2001); and Social Liberal refers to the Radical Left. † The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

Referendums Since 1953 referendums have been part of Denmark’s political life. All bills that delegate national powers to international organizations like the EU are subject to approval by referendum; the outcomes of referendums are binding on condition that turnout is at least 30 percent of all eligible voters.

418 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

Civil Society Although most Danes hardly ever go to church, the great majority make Â�voluntary contributions to the national Lutheran Church. The Church performs administrative duties, such as registering births, deaths, and marriages; the bishops are appointed by the government; and the head of state must be a member of the Lutheran Church. Yet the Church is not active in political lobbying or building public opinion. Denmark has a high trade-union density, almost 70 percent. The largest Danish Â� trade union confederation (Landsorganisationen [LO]) has more than one million Â� Â�members and has strong links with the Social Democratic Party. It coordinates collective bargaining, which takes place at the sectoral and enterprise level; Â� negotiates agreements with the national Danish Employers’ Confederation; Â� and is involved in Danish corporatism. Landsorganisationen is flanked by two smaller trade union confederations. By 1899, Denmark already had its first central Â�business–labor agreement. One of the reasons for the high trade-union density is the trade unions’ involvement in the payment of unemployment benefits.

Public Policies The country’s welfare state ranks only slightly behind Sweden’s, and it is based on a slightly less egalitarian culture. In ethical issues, the country is very libertarian. Abortion has been legal since 1973. In 1989, the country was the first to recognize same-sex relations, although the legal status of same-sex marriage is still under discussion, whereas it has already been legalized in Norway and Sweden. In response to the success of the extreme rightist parties, and because of the People’s Party’s support of rightist governments since 2001, immigration Â�policies have been tightened up, and the country now has very strict rules for Â�admitting political refugees and other immigrants, which is at variance with the other Â�Scandinavian countries. The appreciation of liberal rights is shown by the fact that during the 2005 cartoon affair the prime minister refused to receive ambassadors from Â�Muslim countries who wanted to express their countries’ protests against the cartoon, justifying his refusal by stating that Denmark has a free press and that the Danish government does not interfere with the press. In defense politics the country has refused to station nuclear weapons on its Â�territory or even allow them to enter its ports.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti)

The party was founded in 1959, as a split-off from the Communist Party, which had been founded in 1919. The reason for the foundation of the Socialist Â�People’s Party was disagreement over the attitude toward the Soviet Union. The new party was far more critical of the Soviet Union than the communists, and right from its start the new party has been democratic, anticommunist, and in favor of EU



DENMARK (Danmark)╇ | 419

membership. Its goal is to create an alternative to neoliberalism and a world Â�dominated by Â�capitalism. In the 1980s the party won more than 10 percent of the seats, in the 1990s and early 2000s it won between 5 and 10 percent, and then it made a strong comeback in 2007 with 13 percent. In the EU the party is affiliated with the European Greens. The party leader is Villy Søvndal.

Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokraterne) The party was founded in 1878, after abortive earlier attempts that resulted in imprisonment of the party leaders. Within five years the Social Democrats had won their first seat, and by 1913 they had become the biggest party and would remain so for almost a century. In 1924, Thorvald Stauning was the first Social Democratic prime minister. The party has governed for most of the postwar period, often as the only governmental party but sometimes in coalitions. The party had its best times in the 1950s and early 1960s, when it occupied more than 40 percent of the seats in parliament. In the first decade of the 21st century its share has declined to 25 to 30 percent, In 2001 it ceased to be the biggest party and has been unable to regain that position, though the party now occupies a quarter of all seats. Long-serving prime ministers were Jens Otto Krag (1962–1968 and 1971–1972), who had been minister of foreign affairs before he became prime minister, but then resigned and left politics in 1972 because of the strong opposition against EU membership; Anker Henrik Jørgensen (1972–1973 and 1975–1981), who had also been minister of foreign affairs; and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (1993–2001), who had headed the parliamentary party caucus in the parliament before becoming prime minister; he now leads the Social Democratic Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament. The party leader is Helle Thorning-Schmidt. On its Web site the party states as its chief aims equality of opportunities in the European sense, in which it “is inextricably tied to employment for everybody and equal access to whatever benefits might be brought forth by the society.”

Radical Left (Det Radikale Venstre) The party was founded in 1905 when the leftist faction split off from Venstre, and since that time it has been a centrist and Social Liberal Party rather than a Radical Leftist Party. Its first prime minister was Carl Theodor Zahle, who introduced universal suffrage. In the postwar period the party has only occasionally received more than 10 percent of the seats. In the 1950s and 1960s it first participated in coalitions with the Social Democrats, but then it shifted to coalitions with the right under the party’s only post–World War II prime minister, Hilmar Baunsgaard. In 1982 the party once again supported a rightist coalition, in the years 1993–2001 there was a coalition with the Social Democrats, and since 2001 there has been a coalition of the right again, which shows the Radical Left’s position in the center of the political spectrum. However, in the years 2007–2009 a number of parliamentarians left

420 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

the party to establish the Liberal Alliance, because they regarded the Radical Left’s party line as being too close to the Social Democrats’ party line. In the EU the party is affiliated with the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The party leader is Margrethe Vestager.

Conservative People’s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti) The party was founded in 1915. In the 1950s and 1960s the party occupied between 15 and 20 percent of the seats, but in 1973 it dropped to fewer than 10 percent, mainly because of the rise of new political parties and movements. Party leader Erik Ninn-Hansen then resigned and was succeeded by Poul Â�Schlütter. In the 1980s the party recovered and Schlütter became the party’s first Â�minister president between 1982 and 1993, an unprecedented long breach in the Social Democratic hegemony. During this period, Schlütter headed various coalitions, always in combination with the Conservative Liberal Party Â�Venstre, and sometimes also with other parties of the right. Since the late 1990s the party has no longer been able to retain its position as the third party. In the best of conservative traditions, on its Web site the party claims to do without an Â�ideology: “Conservatism does not put ideology before man and does not force a certain ideal upon the people.” In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Â�Democratic and conservative European People’s Party (EPP). The party leader is Lene Espersen.

Liberal Party of Denmark (Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti) Venstre means “left,” but “left” in the 19th century meaning of the word, that is, liberal as opposed to conservative. Venstre is a Conservative Liberal Party, and in social issues it is even to the right of the Conservative People’s Party. Its main priority is a free-market economy and free competition without Â�government Â�interference. It was founded in 1870 and was the first well-organized Â�political party in Denmark. In the 1950s and 1960s it was almost permanently the Â�country’s second party, behind the Social Democrats, a position that it lost to the Conservative Party during the 1970s and 1980s, but since 2001 it has recovered and become the nation’s largest party. Taken together, Venstre and the Social Democrats have almost permanently enjoyed a majority in the parliament, but the two have never combined forces in a coalition, except for one year in the 1970s. The party has had three prime ministers: Knud Kristensen (1945–1947), Anders Fogh Rasmussen (2001–2009), and Lars Løkke Rasmussen (since 2009). Anders Fogh Rasmussen had been minister of finance under conservative Prime Minister Poul Schlütter in the years 1987–1992; in 2009 he was appointed secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Lars Løkke Rasmussen was minster of the interior and health and later of finance before he took the post of prime minister in 2009. In the EU the party is a member of the liberal ALDE. The party leader is Lars Løkke Rasmussen.



NORWAY (Norge)╇ | 421

Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti) This party is a 1995 split from the Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet), founded because of disputes with that party’s founder Mogens Glistrup. It is a very conservative, radical rightist party, euroskeptic, and is in favor of a strict immigration policy. Since 2001 it has been the third largest party, occupying between 10 and 15 percent of the seats, and supporting the governments since that year; it benefitted from the 2005 cartoon affair. The party is a member of the euroskeptic and rightist group Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD). Since 2001, Pia Kjærsgaard has been the party leader. The Progress Party (Fremskridtspartiet), also known as the Anti-Tax Party, was founded in 1972 by Mogens Glistrup, a millionaire who claimed to pay no tax at all and wanted all other Danes to reach the same state of bliss. Glistrup was a member of parliament from 1973 until 1990, a tenure interrupted by the four years (1983–1987) he spent in jail for tax fraud. In 1991 he was expelled from the party; he died in 2008. The party’s finest hour was right after its foundation in the 1973 elections, when it won 15 percent of the seats and became the second largest party, but in the 1980s and 1990s its share rapidly declined, and in the latest elections it failed to win seats in the parliament.

NORWAY (Norge) For many centuries Norway was ruled by other Scandinavian countries, first by Denmark and later by Sweden. Norway is probably the archetypical Scandinavian � country in size, landscape, and emptiness. In political culture it is somewhere between the very egalitarian culture of Sweden and the more continental culture of Denmark. Except for its stubborn decision to remain outside the EU, Norwegian �politics hardly ever reach the front pages of the international press or international �television news; the country is almost permanently in the shadow of neighboring Sweden. A minor exception is its continued involvement in commercial whaling in spite of international pressure to stop the activity. This has been a dominant theme in recent political debates, yet it is still less contentious than the issue of joining or not joining the EU.

The Land and the People The Land Norway is the northernmost European country, at the same latitude as the main body of Alaska. Looking like an enormous downward looking snake, the country stretches over 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from just north of Denmark to far beyond the Arctic Circle. The longest east–west distance is 250 miles

422 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

(400 kilometers) in the south, but for the greater part it is no more than 60 miles (100 kilometers). Before the west coast lie hundreds of islands, and far to the north is the archipelago of Spitsbergen (Svalbard). The area totals 125,021square miles (323,802 square kilometers) without Svalbard and 148,976 square miles (385,847 square kilometers) when Svalbard is included. With Svalbard Norway is larger than Germany and slightly larger than Montana; without Svalbard it is smaller than Germany or Finland. The greater part of the country, including the islands, is a chain of mountains in which the highest peak is 8,100 feet (2,469 meters); to the east (toward Sweden) the mountains gradually slope down, and to the west they end abruptly in the North Sea or in deep sea inlets, the world famous fjords, which make this Europe’s most beautiful country. The climate is not as harsh as one would expect at this latitude because of the warm North Atlantic Drift. Norway shares a long border of 1,000 meters (1,600 kilometers) with Sweden; in combination the two countries form the Scandinavian Peninsula. In the far North there is also a border with Finland and a short one with Russia. The borders have been undisputed for ages, but Norway did not reach full independence until 1905.

The People As a consequence of the northern location and steep mountains, Norway is one of Europe’s least densely populated nations. The total population is 4.8 million, the lowest figure in Scandinavia and slightly less than Colorado. Population density is 32 people per square mile (14 per square kilometers); the more to the north the fewer inhabitants (and the more mosquitoes), as is the case with neighboring Â�Sweden and Finland. All big cities are located in the southern third of the country. The capital, Oslo, on the south coast, has half a million inhabitants, and the second-largest city is Bergen, on the west coast, with 220,000. There are hardly any ethnic or religious lines of division. All Norwegians speak Norwegian, a North-Germanic language, and traditionally the great majority are members of the national Lutheran Church. Following independence in 1905, there was a movement in literary circles to replace the heavily Danish-influenced language by the original Norwegian tongue. It met with little success, however, and the renewed Old Norwegian is only spoken in the rural southwest; the Danishinfluenced language, called “book-language,” is spoken by the overwhelming majority of the population, but both languages enjoy official recognition. In the far North lives an ethnic group of some 30,000 Sami, formerly called Lapps, whose language is related to non-Germanic Finnish. Sami also live in northern Sweden and Finland; most are nomads who hold large herds of reindeers.

The Economy Norway is the second-highest-income European nation behind Luxembourg, based on the large gas and oil fields in the North Sea and the use of hydroelectric power for generating electricity. The country is Europe’s second (behind Russia) exporter



NORWAY (Norge)╇ | 423

of oil and natural gas. It has also remained strong in traditional fields of �activity, like international maritime transportation and shipbuilding, fishing, and paper mills.

Culture Norway’s prime contribution to European art has been in literature. First of all there is the old Nordic mythology, comparable to the ancient Greek mythology but more in an oral tradition, with stories about humanlike gods residing in Valhalla, after whom Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are named. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the country’s literature reached new heights, with playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) and novelist Knut Hamsun (1859–1952). In architecture, the main monuments, structures only found in Norway, are medieval wooden churches (stavkirker), some of which have elaborate towers. All of them have been reconstructed several times, of course. Other famous Norwegians are painter Edvard Munch (1863–1944), composer Edvard Grieg (1843–1907), and explorer Roald Amundsen (1872–1928), the first man to reach the South Pole in December 1911.

History Table NO 1╇ Timeline of Norwegian History 10th century Norwegian Vikings raid Europe’s west coasts; the country â•… becomes a unified kingdom 1016 Norway is Christianized under King Saint Olaf 1397 Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are united under the Danish â•… crown (Kalmar Union) 1536 Reformation; shift to Lutheranism under Danish rule 1588–1648 Popular Danish King Christian IV 1814 Norway no longer under Denmark but autonomous under Swedish â•… rule; first constitution 1869 Annual sessions of the parliament begin 1880s Enormous emigration wave to the United States 1905 Independence from Sweden; Danish prince crowned as King â•… Haakon VII 1913 Universal suffrage 1914–1918 Neutrality during World War I 1920 Spitsbergen (Svalbard) integrated into the nation 1940 Invasion by Nazi Germany 1945 Liberation; cofounder of the United Nations; Trygve Lie is the â•… first secretary general 1949 Cofounder of NATO 1957 King Haakon VII is succeeded by Olaf V 1960s Oil and gas fields discovered in the North Sea 1961 Social Democrats lose their majority in the parliament 1963 Application for EU membership suspended because Great Britain â•… is refused

(Continued)

424 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland 1972 First referendum on joining the EU is rejected 1991 King Olaf V succeeded by Harald V 1994 Second referendum on joining the EU is rejected 2009 Unicameralism in parliament

Political System Norway has a parliamentary political system. Prominent lines of division have been social class and the urban (Oslo)–rural divide; they have given rise to Social Democratic and rural-based parties. Postwar politics has mainly consisted of the opposition between the more urban Social Democrats on the one hand, supported by Social Liberals and the Radical Left, and more rural Conservatives and Conservative Liberals on the other.

Constitution The country claims to have the oldest European constitution that is still in force (and the second in the world behind the United States). It was signed in 1814, when the country became independent from Denmark but was still under Swedish rule. The constitution has been amended several times. In 1851 the ban on the Jesuit Order and the ban on Jewish people living in Norway were lifted; in 1905 the country became independent; and in 1913 universal suffrage was established, Norway being one of the first countries to do so. In 1956 the Evangelical Lutheran Church lost its privileged position but remained the national church, and in 1990 the rules of succession to the throne were changed to put female candidates on an equal footing with males. The latest change was in 2007, when the custom of forming a kind of upper chamber from members of the lower chamber was abolished and the parliamentary system became a real unicameral one.

Head of State Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a hereditary king. At the time of independence the Norwegians spoke out in favor of a monarchy via a referendum, and the second son of the Danish king was elected king in popular elections. Since independence there have been three kings: Haakon VII (r. 1905–1957), Olaf V (r. 1957–1991), and Harald V (since 1991). The high numbers behind their names show the claim to continue the rule by previous kings in the (independent) medieval kingdom. An old royal privilege is the kings’ suspensive veto of bills, which can be overruled by two separate sessions of the parliaments; yet the kings have never used the privilege since World War II.

Legislative Power Until 2009 the Norwegian parliament (Storting) was unicameral in name but in practice functioned as a two-chamber legislature. One quarter of the lower house (Odelsting) was elected by the members of the Storting to form a kind of upper



NORWAY (Norge)╇ | 425

Table NO 2╇ The Norwegian Storting since 2005

Party Ideology

No. of No. of Percent of Seats Seats Votes 2009 2005 2009

1 Norwegian Labour Party Social democratic 2 Progress Party Rightist 3 Conservative Party Conservative 4 Socialist Left Party Radical socialist 5 Centre Party Moderate conservative 6 Christian Democratic Party Christian democratic 7 Liberal Party Social liberal Total

61 64 38 41 23 30 15 11 11 11 11 10 10 2 169 169

35.4 22.9 17.2 6.2 6.2 5.5 3.9

house (Lagting), which also had some judicial functions. Since the constitutional abolition of the system, which took effect in 2009, the parliament is unicameral. See Table NO 2 for its composition. For the election of the 169 members of the Storting, Norway, like the other �Scandinavian countries, applies a two-tier system of proportional representation with districtwide and nationwide allocation of seats. The 169 members, 40 percent of whom are women, are elected for a period of four years. Of the 169 seats, 150 are elected in the 19 counties, which serve as multimember constituencies. The number of seats per constituency is based on population and area size. The other 19 seats are compensatory or leveling seats based on the votes nationwide and are intended to redress any imbalance due to the district-based allocation of the 150 seats. The compensatory seats are allocated by counting the number of seats a party would win on the basis of its vote nationwide minus the number it has already gained of the 135 constituency seats, but there is a threshold of four percent nationwide. An interesting issue in the 2009 elections was the number of wolves in the country, leading to the dilemma of whether to protect the sheep (by shooting the wolves) or protect the wolves. In the political spectrum the party positions from left to right are Socialist Left Party to Norwegian Labour Party to Liberal Party to Christian Democratic Party to Centre Party to Conservative Party to Progress Party.

Executive Power As is the case in Sweden, many governments have been one-party minority governments, and almost all of these were Social Democratic cabinets, which have governed the country during most of the postwar years; they are listed in Table NO  3. Since 1997, minority cabinets have become less popular, however. The cabinet does not have the right to dissolve the parliament for snap elections. In spite of the prevalence of minority cabinets for most of the postwar period, only five cabinets lasted less than one year. The longest-serving prime minister was the

426 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

Social Democratic Einar Gerhardsen, who headed six cabinets after 1945 and was in power for more than 15 years. The prime minister since 2005 is Social Â�Democrat Jens Stoltenberg, leading his second cabinet. According to the constitution, a majority of the cabinet must be members of the national Lutheran Church, but this has never been checked since World War II. Table NO 3╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Norway since 1945 Party or Parties* Begin Number of Prime Ministers† Months ╇ 1

Social Democrats

1945

201 Einar Gerhardsen (5), â•… Oscar Torp (2) ╇ 2 Conservatives/Conservative Liberals/ 1963 1 John Lyng â•… Social Liberals/Christian Democrats ╇ 3 Social Democrats 1963 25 Einar Gerhardsen ╇ 4 Conservative Liberals/Conservatives/ 1965 65 Per Borten (2) â•… Social Liberals/Christian Democrats ╇ 5 Social Democrats 1971 19 Trygve Bratteli ╇ 6 Christian Democrats/Conservative 1972 12 Lars Korvald â•… Liberals/Social Liberals ╇ 7 Social Democrats 1973 96 Trygve Bratelli, Odvar â•… Nordli (2), Gro â•… Harlem Brundtland ╇ 8 Conservatives 1981 20 Kåre Willoch ╇ 9 Conservatives/Christian Democrats/ 1983 35 Kåre Willoch (2) â•… Conservative Liberals 10 Social Democrats 1986 41 Gro Harlem â•…Brundtland 11 Conservatives/Christian Democrats/ 1989 12 Jan Syse â•… Conservative Liberals 12 Social Democrats 1990 83 Gro Harlem â•… Brundtland (2), â•… Thorbjørn Jagland 13 Christian Democrats/Conservative 1997 29 Kjell Magne â•…Liberals/Social Liberals â•…Bondevik 14 Social Democrats 2000 20 Jens Stoltenberg 15 Christian Democrats/Conservatives/ 2001 49 Kjell Magne â•… Conservative Liberals Bondevik 16 Social Democrats October Jens Stoltenberg (2) 2005 â•… Total: 16 periods Total: 13 prime â•… ministers; 29 cabinets * Christian Democrat refers to the Christian People’s Party, Conservative Liberal refers to the Centre Party, Â�Conservative refers to the Conservative Party, and Social Democrats refers to the Norwegian Labour Party. † The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.



NORWAY (Norge)╇ | 427

Judicial Power The top judicial authority is the Supreme Court (Høyesterett); its 19 judges are appointed by the government with parliamentary approval. Formally, there is no judicial review in Norway, but this is a matter of dispute nowadays. Norway was later than Sweden or Denmark in appointing ombudsmen to handle citizen complaints, but it was the first to introduce an ombudsman for children in 1981.

Referendums Referendums have been part of Norway’s political stock since independence. Important referendums were those in 1905 on independence and on the election of Prince Charles of Denmark as the first king (he renamed himself Haakon), those on prohibition in 1919 and 1926, and those on joining the EU in 1972 and 1994.

Civil Society The Lutheran Church occupies a special position in Norwegian society, closely linked to the state; its bishops are formally appointed by the government, which also administers its funding by means of a kind of church tax for the members. Its privileged position and the advantages of a separation of state and church are now topics of debate. The influence of the Church in politics is very limited, however; it has a low profile in ethical issues, and church attendance is very low. The labor-market parties (trade unions and employers’ associations) are dominant interest associations. The Norwegian trade union confederation Â� Â�(Landsorganisasjonen i Norge [LO]) has 21 national unions as member organizations and some 850,000 members. There are also two smaller trade union confederations. The main employers’ association is the Confederation of Norwegian Â�Enterprise (Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon) formed in 1989 out of a merger of three organizations. Together they are engaged in tripartite contacts with the government.

Policies Norway was one of the first countries to apply legal sanctions in case of �discrimination against homosexuals, and same-sex marriage was legalized in 2009, a short while before it was legalized in Sweden. The Lutheran Church follows with due distance; there are female bishops, but homosexuals are not yet eligible as Lutheran priests. In foreign policy, Norway was cautious in its contacts with the Soviet Union during the Cold War because of the border with Russia in the far north. For that reason the country has explicitly rejected the deployment or stationing of foreign troops on its soil, and it has banned nuclear arms from its territory. For many years Norway has topped the list of foreign aid to developing nations as a percentage of gross national product.

428 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Norwegian Labour Party (Det Norske Arbeidersparti) The Social Democratic Party was founded in 1887 and became the major party in government in 1935. The postwar period (1945–1965) was its Golden Era, when it established the Norwegian welfare state, similar to the developments in the other Scandinavian countries. Until 1961, the Social Democrats enjoyed an absolute majority in parliament, and even since that time it has remained the largest party, winning more than or close to 40 percent of the seats, with only one low year in 2001 (27 percent). The party has dominated Norwegian government, interrupted by a few brief periods of rightist governments in the late 1960s, the mid-1980s, and around the turn of the century. Since 2005 the Social Democrats have been in power again, for the first time in a coalition with other leftist parties. Major events in the history of the party were an internal dispute over nuclear weapons in the late 1950s, which resulted in a ban on such weapons on Norwegian soil, and EU membership. The party favored, and still favors, joining the EU but lost the first referendum in 1972 and then also lost one-fifth of its parliamentary seats in the 1973 elections. The party has provided most Norwegian prime ministers. Among them were Einar Henry Gerhardsen, mayor of Oslo, who was prime minister of seven Â�cabinets during the period of postwar reconstruction between 1945 and 1951 and later between 1955 and 1965, and the first female prime minister, Gro Harlem Brundtland, a physician, who led four cabinets in 1981–1996, all of them with a large number of female ministers. Later she was active in international and United Nations (UN) organizations. There is also Jens Stoltenberg, the current prime minister, who has been leading a leftist coalition since 2005 and is party leader. On its Web site the party proudly boasts of its long terms in government and the Â�Norwegian accomplishments: “A society with a relatively small gap between rich and poor, a comprehensive welfare system and low unemployment compared to most other countries.”

Conservative Party (Høyre) The Høyre Party was founded in 1884 and participated in a number of prewar cabinets. While opposing strong state intervention in the economy, the party was instrumental in introducing a national pension system in 1923, and it has to some extent supported the Norwegian welfare state as it was erected by the Social Â�Democrats. In ethical issues the party shows the typical moderate pro-abortion stance of Scandinavian and other Germanic conservatives, opting for the woman’s right to choose. Since 1945 the party has mostly earned between 15 and 20 Â�percent of the seats, with a peak of more than 30 percent in the first half of the 1980s. The party participated in a rightist coalition under its own leader, Prime Minister Per Borten, in 1965–1971. In the 1980s the party at first governed by itself, and then in coalitions with the other rightist parties, all of them led by Prime Minister



SWEDEN (Sverige)╇ | 429

Kåre Willoch, who had been a member of parliament for 32 years and as prime Â�minister actively privatized part of the public sector and stimulated the free market. In 1989–1990, the same coalition was led by Jan Peder Syse, but it broke apart over the issue of EU membership. From 2001 until 2005 the party participated in a rightist coalition under the Christian Democrat Kjell Magne Bondevik. The party leader since 2004 is Erna Solberg.

Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) The party was founded in 1973 by Anders Lange under his own name as an antitax party, after the example of Mogens Glistrup’s antitax party in Denmark. After Lange’s death in 1977 the name was changed to the Progress Party. Its initial success was very modest, with only a few percent of the seats, but in 1989 the party made stricter immigration rules part of its platform and since that time it has increased to almost one quarter of the seats in 2009, with one low year in 1993 because of internal disputes. Such disputes have regularly caused the exodus or expulsion of small groups of party members. Yet in spite of the fluctuations, the party has overtaken the Conservative Party, which in all respects is less conservative than the Progress Party. According to its Web site, the Progress Party’s principles combine a freemarket economy, free competition, and the “lowest possible levels of taxation” with strict immigration policies. The party has never participated in a government. The party leader is Siv Jensen.

SWEDEN (Sverige) To many Americans Sweden stands for Scandinavia, just as Massachusetts stands for New England. Yet, although both states are self-declared regional leaders, �Sweden is slightly less dominant in Scandinavia than Massachusetts is in New England. The country is the largest in area and the most populous, but its surface and its population are less than twice those of Norway or Finland. Denmark had already been an independent kingdom for centuries at the time Sweden became independent (from Denmark), but in the following centuries �Sweden developed into a major European power, which it would remain for three centuries, until the Napoleonic Wars. In many trends and public policies Sweden has been more outspoken than the other Scandinavian countries. Social Democrats have dominated Scandinavian politics, but in Sweden most of all, the welfare state has been more extensive and admission and integration policies more tolerant than in the other nations. Royal power was not just limited by constitution but was completely abolished. Recent issues have been the privatization of the large public sector, the very open admission policies for immigrants, and the extensive government activities to promote immigrant integration in Swedish society.

430 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

The Land and the People The Land

Sweden, situated at the same latitude as Alaska, is the largest of the Â�Scandinavian countries. At 173,860 square miles (450,295 sq kilometers) it is larger than Germany Â� and the Low Countries combined and somewhat larger than California. The territory of Sweden is a rectangular landmass, in which the longest distance from north to south is more than 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers), and the longest width from east to west is 200–250 miles (300–400 kilometers). It is located to the east of Norway, with which it forms the Scandinavian Peninsula and with which it shares a 1,000-mile Â� (1,600-kilometer) border; the only other land border is with Finland in the extreme north. The southernmost point is close to Denmark; the narrow waterway between the two countries was bridged in 2000. Most of the land consists of pine woods, with a large number of lakes, and a few islands off the east coast, in the Gulf of Bothnia, which separates Sweden from Finland. The mountains that form the border with Norway and reach 7,162 feet (2,183 meters) in Sweden gradually slope down to the east coast. The country has a cold continental climate that is not tempered by the North Atlantic Drift. The Gulf of Bothnia is covered with ice for several months a year. The border with Norway has been stable and undisputed, though Sweden has had a dispute with Finland concerning the small archipelago of Åland, midway between Sweden and Finland in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, whose population speaks Swedish. Sweden claimed the islands when Finland became independent, but in 1921 the League of Nations resolved the question in favor of Finland.

The People The total population of Sweden is 9.1 million, slightly more than North Â�Carolina, which makes it the most populous Scandinavian country, although it is a small country by European standards. Almost all Swedes live in the southern third of the nation, and that is where the big cities are also located: the national capital Stockholm, with 800,000 inhabitants, on the east coast, and Göteborg Â�(population 500,000) and Malmö (population 300,000) on the southwest coast. There are no traditional ethnic or religious divides in Sweden; the whole population is Â�Swedish and speaks Swedish, a North-Germanic language. The only exception is a Â�couple of thousands of Sami nomads, formerly called Lapps, in the far North (and in northern Norway and Finland). Traditionally, the Swedes are members of the Lutheran Church.

The Economy Sweden is a very-high-income country. It has a sizable industry, including electronic devices (Ericsson), paper mills and wooden furniture (Ikea), hydroelectric power plants, automobile works (Saab, Volvo), and a steel industry, based on iron ore deposits in the north, part of which is exported through the Norwegian port of Narvik because of the Gulf of Bothnia’s long freezing period.



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Culture Sweden has been strong in modern architecture and industrial design, but most of all in literature and film making. Famous authors are August Strindberg Â�(1849–1912), who wrote psychological dramas; Selma Lagerlöf (1858–1940), who created the young traveler Nils Holgerson; novelist Pär Lagerkvist (1891–1974), whose most famous novel was about Barabbas; and Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002), the creator of Pippi Longstocking. The most outstanding film director is Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007), creator of a series of psychological drama films. Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), who established the system of botanical and zoological taxonomy, and industrialist Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), who initiated the Nobel Prizes, were Swedish.

History Table SE 1╇ Timeline of Swedish History First century Germanic tribe of the Swedes dominates other tribes 10th century Swedish Vikings raid Eastern Europe 11th century Swedes are Christianized 1379 Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are united under the Danish crown â•… (Kalmar Union) 1435 Parliament is installed; in this century Finland comes under â•… Swedish rule 1523 Independence under King Gustav Vasa; shift to Lutheranism 17th century Sweden becomes the dominant European power in northern Europe 1700 King Karl XII conquers parts of Russia, but is defeated after â•… a few years 18th century Royal absolutism 1814 Sweden loses Finland but gets Norway by way of compensation 1865 Parliament becomes an elected institution 1914–1918 Neutrality during World War I; 1917 constitutional monarchy 1920 First Social Democratic cabinet; beginning of long-term Social â•… Democratic rule 1940–1945 Neutrality during World War II 1945 Neutrality continues 1950 King Gustav Adolf V is succeeded by Gustav Adolf VI 1955 Switch from left-hand to right-hand traffic after referendum 1973 King Gustav Adolf VI is succeeded by Carl Gustav XVI 1975 King is stripped of all political functions 1976 Unicameral parliament; upper chamber is abolished 1986 Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated 1995 Sweden joins the EU after a referendum 1998 Lowest Social Democratic election outcome in 60 years 2003 Referendum rejects joining the eurozone

432 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

Political System Sweden has a parliamentary political system. Politics has been dominated by the Social Democrats, often governing in one-party cabinets, and by Conservatives and Conservative Liberals.

Constitution The first constitution was enacted in 1810. It was followed by the Freedom of the Press Act of 1949, the Instrument of Government Act of 1974, and a new �Fundamental Law on the Freedom of Expression in 1991. Together these four acts form the constitution, but the parliamentary system of government is regulated in the 1974 Instrument of Government Act.

Head of State Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, and it is the only European monarchy in which the king has lost all political functions and competencies. These were abolished two years after the current incumbent, Carl Gustaf XVI, assumed the throne in 1973. Before him, Gustav Adolf V was king from 1907 to 1950 and Gustav Adolf VI from 1950 to 1973. In 1980 Sweden was the first monarchy to abandon the Salic law of succession and establish gender equality in succession to the throne.

Legislative Power Since the abolition of the upper house or first chamber (Första Kammaren) in 1976, Sweden has had a unicameral parliament (Riksdag). It has 349 members, who serve a four-year term; 46 percent are women, the highest share of all democracies. Like the other Scandinavian countries, Sweden applies a two-tier electoral Â�system of proportional representation. Of the 349 members, 310 are elected in 29 multi-seat districts; the number of seats per district ranges from 2 to 36, depending on population size. The other 39 seats are allocated to the parties to increase the overall and nationwide proportionality of the system. In allocating these leveling or compensatory seats, the whole country serves as one constituency. There is a threshold of 4 percent nationwide or 12 percent of the votes in a constituency. Table SE 2 shows the composition of the Riksdag. In the 2006 elections, a major issue was unemployment. According to official data employment was under five percent, but in reality it was much higher according to the Social Democrats in opposition. From left to right the positions in the political spectrum are Left Party to Green Party to Social Democratic Party to Centre Party to Christian Democrats to Liberal People’s Party to Moderate Party. In 2003 the rightist parties, sometimes called the “Bourgeois Bloc,” formed an Alliance for Sweden that combines four parties: the big Moderate Party and three smaller parties—the Centre Party, the Liberals, and the Christian Democrats. The Alliance for Sweden served as an example for the Left Alliance that was created



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Table SE 2╇ The Swedish Riksdag since 2002 Party Ideology No. of No. of No. of Total No. Percent Seats District National of Seats of Votes 2002 Seats Seats 2006 2006 2006 2006 ╇ 1 Swedish Social Social democrat 144 129 1 â•…Democratic â•…Party ╇ 2 Moderate Party Conservative 55 93 4 ╇ 3 Centre Party Social liberal 22 27 2 ╇ 4 Liberal People’s Conservative 48 22 6 â•…Party â•…liberal ╇5 Christian Christian 33 17 7 â•…Democrats â•…democrat ╇ 6 Left Party Radical socialist 30 13 9 ╇ 7 Green Party Green 17 9 10 Total 349 310 39

130

35.0

97 29 28

26.2 7.9 7.5

24

6.6

22 19 349

5.9 5.2

in 2008. In 2006 the Alliance for Sweden won the elections and since that time Sweden has been governed by the parties of the Alliance for Sweden. In 2008, the Social Democratic Party followed the example by entering into a Left Alliance with the small Left Party and the Greens.

Executive Power Most Swedish cabinets have been Social Democratic one-party cabinets (see Table SE 3). Only for a brief period (1951–1957) did the Social Democrats tolerate Â� a coalition partner. By way of contrast, all non–Social Democratic governments have been coalitions. Although a number of governments, and since the early 1980s even most governments, have been minority cabinets, only five cabinets lasted less than one year. The longest-serving prime minister was the Social Democrat Tage Erlander, who headed 10 cabinets between 1946 and 1969. Prime ministers Tage Erlander and Olof Palme were towering figures in Â�European social democracy. Tage Frithiof Erlander (1901–1985) was the son of a schoolteacher, studied political science in Lund, and was elected member of parliament in 1933. In 1938 he became member of the government as under-minster for Social Affairs and in 1944 minister of Education. After the unexpected death of Prime Minister Per Hansson Â� he became the country’s prime minister and kept the post until 1969, becoming Europe’s longest serving democratic prime minister. Under his leadership the Â�Swedish Â�welfare state was built, which served as the Swedish Model for other European nations.

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Table SE 3╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Sweden since 1945 Party or Parties Begin ╇ 1

Social Democrats

1945

╇ 2 ╇ 3

Social Democrats/Social Liberals 1951 Social Democrats 1957

╇ 4 Social Liberals/Conservative ╅Liberals/Conservatives ╇ 5 Conservative Liberals ╇ 6 Social Liberals/Conservative ╅Liberals/Conservatives ╇ 7 Conservative Liberals ╇ 8 Social Democrats

1976

╇ 9 Conservatives/Social Liberals/ ╅ Christian Democrats/ ╅ Conservative Liberals 10 Social Democrats

1991

1978 1979 1981 1982

No. of Prime Ministers* Months 74 Per Albin Hansson; â•… Tage Erlander (2) 73 Tage Erlander (3) 227 Tage Erlander (5), â•… Olof Palme (3) 24 Thorbjörn Fäldin 11 19

Ola Ullsten Thorbjörn Fäldin

16 Thorbjörn Fäldin 107 Olof Palme (2), â•… Ingvar Carlsson (2) 36 Carl Bildt

1994

144 Ingvar Carlsson, â•… Göran Persson (3) Oct 1994 Fredrik Reinfeldt

11 Conservatives/Social Liberals/ â•… Conservative Liberals/ â•… Christian Democrats Total: 11 periods Total: 9 prime ministers, â•… 28 cabinets *The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

Olof Palme (1927–1986) was born into a rich family, studied law in Â�Stockholm, and in 1953 became the personal secretary of Tage Erlander. In 1958 he was elected to the parliament, and starting in 1953, he occupied a number of cabinet posts, until he succeeded Erlander in 1969. As prime minister he strongly opposed the Vietnam War, which made him an icon of war protests. When he was killed in the streets of Stockholm in 1986, it sparked worldwide reactions. His assassination has never been solved.

Judicial Power The Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen) consists of 16 judges who are appointed by the government with parliamentary approval. Judicial review as such does not exist in Sweden, but a Law Council, consisting of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, sometimes gives advice on the constitutionality of bills.



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In 1810, the country introduced the office of ombudsman to handle complaints by citizens regarding their treatment by government agencies or the public sector. Today Sweden has five such ombudsmen addressing the areas of equal �opportunities, children, persons with disabilities, discrimination on grounds of sexual �orientation, and ethnic discrimination.

Referendums Since the beginning of parliamentary democracy Sweden has organized six referendums: in 1922 on prohibition; in 1955 to change from left-hand to right-hand traffic; in 1957 regarding the old-age pension system; in 1980 regarding reliance on nuclear weapons; in 1994 about joining the EU, with only 52 percent in favor; and in 2003 about joining the eurozone—which was rejected.

Civil Society In 2000 the link between state and (Lutheran) church was cut. Swedish trade unions are the strongest in Europe, partly because of trade union involvement in the payment of unemployment and other social security benefits. The largest trade union confederation is the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen i Sverige [LO]), which is closely linked to the Social Democratic Party. The largest employers’ confederation is Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv), founded in 2001 out of a merger of the two existing employers’assocations. The two organizations negotiated a number of nationwide agreements, but in the 1980s central-level contacts were broken off by the employers, who wanted to decentralize bargaining to the enterprise level. Sweden is the strongest example of the social democratic complex, the combination of the Social Democratic Party and the trade unions as well as a variety of organizations linked to them.

Policies The Swedish welfare state was developed in the 1950s and 1960s and was widely imitated but nowhere rivaled. Yet since the mid-1990s, the center–right coalitions have imposed very large cuts in government spending. In other fields, the country has also had a stronger egalitarian focus than the rest of Scandinavia, for instance in extensive employee rights of participation in enterprise decision Â�making, in extensive pension funds run by the trade unions and funded by high enterprise taxes, and in trade union policies of implementing high wage increases to remove Â�low-productivity firms from the market and stimulate technological innovation. In education, the country has comprehensive schools for secondary education, attended by all children in the age group. In ethical issues, the country has been in line with the other Scandinavian countries. Abortion was legalized for limited cases (e.g., danger to the woman’s health or rape) in 1938 and extended right after World War II and in the 1960s. Same-sex

436 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

marriages were officially recognized in 2009. Along with The Â�Netherlands, Â�Sweden is known for its very tolerant admission and integration rules for immigrants, in particular Muslim immigrants, who with public support have set up their own Â�networks of organizations for all kinds of social services. However, tolerance has also stimulated a debate about whether the policies have created islands of immigrant culture and hampered the integration of immigrant groups in Swedish society. In international politics, Sweden has never played a prominent role in the group of neutral countries, but Swedish Dag Hammerskjöld was UN secretarygeneral from 1953 until he died in a plane crash in 1961. The country has always Â�maintained a delicate relationship with Russia, combined with high defense expenditure. Â�Sweden did not protest when Russian submarines, both during and after the Cold War, entered Swedish territorial waters and polluted its coastal waters.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Swedish Social Democratic Workers’ Party (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Arbetarepartiet [SAP]) Founded in 1889, the party entered into a coalition with the liberals in 1917, and by 1932 it was the dominant Swedish political party, almost permanently represented in coalition governments until the end of the war—a unique feature in Europe. Its continuing strength is yet another unique point, even by Scandinavian standards; in only two elections did the party receive less than 40 percent of the seats (1998 and 2006), and without interruption it has remained by far the largest party in the Swedish parliament. The great majority of postwar cabinets were one-party SAP governments, which means Sweden has been governed by minority cabinets for most of the time. The number of cabinets is not small, but they have been led by only a few prime ministers, in particular Tage Erlander and Olof Palme. Since 2006, SAP has been out of power, which is quite a change for most Swedes. On its Web site the party gives as reasons for its long-lasting success the importance of civil society and the history of Swedish labor as a popular movement, Â�encompassing temperance lodges, youth organizations, and cooperative shops. Such organizations are not only important to mobilize people for the social democratic cause, but also serve democracy: “By working in popular movements people get used to taking responsibility for their own society and learn how a democratic organization should function.” SAP’s only period of disaster, apart from Palme’s death, was at the turn of the century. The 1998 elections resulted in an unprecedented low for the party (38 percent of the seats). Then in 2003, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh was assassinated, and a few days later the population voted against the introduction of the euro, in spite of the government’s campaign to say yes. In addition, during the whole period the party was forced to implement severe cuts in public spending, which affected the extent and the reputation of the Swedish welfare state.



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The party leader is Mona Sahlin. In the EU the party is a prominent member of the Social Democrat S&D.

Centre Party (Centerpartiet) The Centre Party was founded in 1910 as a farmers’ party with a goal of defending rural interests against industry and national government. In 1957, the party shifted to its current name to show that it no longer defended rural interests only. The party is now a social liberal party, and on its Web site it expresses a “strong confidence in human will and the ability to take responsibility and be a participant in society.” The number of party seats has fluctuated; in the 1950s and 1960s it received between 10 and 20 percent of the seats, in the 1970s more than 20 percent, and since the early 1990s less than 10 percent of the seats. The increase in the 1970s was partly because of the party’s relatively green platform, under the name of Green Wave (Groan vegan), in which it favored new forms of energy. The Â�party’s platform is in the center of the political spectrum regarding social issues and Â�ethical issues, a bit to the left of the Liberal and the Conservative parties. The party leader in the 1970s, Thorbjörn Fälldin, a farmer, was prime minister between 1976 and 1978, until he resigned because of a dispute with the coalition partners over nuclear energy; he resumed office in 1979 but resigned again in 1982 over taxation issues. The current party leader is Maud Olofsson. In the EU the party is affiliated with the liberal ALDE.

Christian Democratic Party (Kristdemokraterna) The foundation of the party in 1964, after the examples of Denmark and Â�Norway, was a reaction to the abolition of religious courses in public schools. At first it was named Christian Democratic Unity (Kristen Democratisk Samling), and it was not until 1996 that the current name was adopted. Originally the party also had some interest in ecological issues, but since the rise of the Greens it has focused on care, education, and family values, asserting that “A family that functions well creates confident children and confident adults.” The party has participated in national elections since 1991 and gained between 5 and 10 percent of the seats, with the exception of 1998 when its score was 12 percent. It is the smallest of the four rightist parties that cooperate in the Alliance for Sweden. The party leader is Göran Hägglund. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Democratic and Â�conservative EPP.

Liberal People’s Party (Folkpartiet Liberalerna) The party began as a liberal association founded in 1867, and then became a party in 1899. After World War I the party lost many votes to the Social Democrats. In 1922, the party split over prohibition, but in 1934 the two parts merged again and adopted the current name. The party has been in steady decline from its high of a quarter of the seats in the early 1950s to less than 10 percent since 1991,

438 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

with 2002 as an exception, when it received 14 percent of the seats. In 1978–1979 the party formed a minority cabinet after the fall of the first postwar government without Social Democrats under Thorbjörn Fäldin, the leader of the Centre Party, but the cabinet broke down within a year, and a new coalition under the same prime Â�minister took office. The Liberal People’s Party does not oppose the social democratic welfare state to the extent that the Moderate Party does, but with the Â�Moderates they favor privatizing parts of the public programs. The party summarizes in a nutshell the core of liberalism as “to eliminate barriers and to create Â� opportunities—not dictating how we ought to live our lives.” Since the 1990s it has advocated a stricter immigration policy. The party leader is Jan Björklund. In the EU the party is a member of the liberal ALDE.

Moderate Party (Moderaterna) Although the party’s name dates from 1969, precursors of the current party were founded at the end of the 19th century as conservative groups, which came together in two parties that formed an alliance in 1904 and finally merged into one party in 1935. Between 1938 and 1969 its name was the National Â�Organization of the Right (Högerns Riksorganisation). Between the wars, the party was the main opponent of the Social Democrats, a position it lost to the Liberal Party after the war but regained in the late 1970s. It has Â�gradually grown from 10 percent of the seats in 1948 to more than 20 percent since 1979, with only one drop to 16 percent in 2002. Since the late 1970s it has also been Sweden’s second-largest party behind the Social Democrats. The Â�party’s Â�platform is conservative, combining a free-market economy with Â�family Â�values; it demands privatization of public-sector Â�enterprises and agencies, such as child care, and less taxes. On its Web site it underlines the importance of work and employment: “It must pay to work; companies must have the courage to employ; and businesses must want to start, stay and grow in Â�Sweden.” The party is in favor of joining the eurozone. The conservative Moderate Party has participated in all rightist coalitions, but because of the strong position of the Social Democrats it has only been able to provide two prime ministers: Carl Bildt in the early 1990s and John Fredrik Â�Reinfeldt, the current party leader since 2006. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP.

FINLAND (Suomi/Finland) Finland has long been an outsider within Scandinavia, and often the term Â�“Scandinavia” is confined to the other three countries. The country differs in a number of respects from the rest of Scandinavia. It has a non-Germanic Â�population, it has a minority of



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Swedish speakers, and its recent history has been far more turbulent than the rest of the region. In 1917, its independence from Russia was followed by a brief civil war, the beginning of a strong presidential role in politics, a strong �Communist Party, and the forced acceptance of some Soviet influence in domestic affairs. Yet during the postwar period it has come closer to the rest of Scandinavia, shifted to a parliamentary political system, developed an extensive welfare state, and espoused libertarian policies, all of which is reflected in its high positions in �international �rankings of civil and social rights along with the rest of Scandinavia. In 1906, still under Russian rule, Finland preceded the rest of Europe in extending voting rights to women and granting women the right to stand as candidates for political office. Of the Scandinavian countries, it has been the strongest in favor of EU membership and the only to introduce the euro.

The Land and the People The Land

Like Sweden, Finland is a rectangular landmass but less regularly shaped; it is at the same latitude as the main body of Alaska. The total area is 130,558 square miles (338,145 square kilometers), smaller than Germany and larger than New Mexico. The longest distance from north to south is 800 miles (1,300 kilometers), and the longest distance from west to east is 150 miles (250 kilometers) in the northern half and 300 miles (500 kilometers) in the southern half. The greatest part of the country is hilly or relatively flat, covered with woods, and interrupted by thousands of lakes; only in the north are there a few mountains; the highest elevation is 4,357 feet (1,328 miles). The country has a cold continental climate, comparable to that of Sweden. In the south and southwest the country is surrounded by water, which is Â�frozen for several months a year. In the northwest it borders Sweden and in the north borders Â� the narrow stretch of Norwegian land that separates Finland from the Arctic Sea. By far the longest border is with Russia to the east. The borders with Norway and Sweden have been stable for centuries, except for the small Åland Islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, midway between Sweden and Finland. The Islands’ population speaks Swedish, and Sweden claimed the area, but in 1921 the League of Nations ruled in favor of Finland. The border with Russia has been less stable; in particular, the southern part of that border was not fixed until the end of World War II. After the 1941 German invasion of Russia, Finland attempted in vain to take back Karelia, which had been occupied by Russia. In the war settlement it lost both Karelia and the Arctic port of Petsamo, now known by its Russian name, Pechenga.

The People The country has 5.3 million inhabitants, more than Norway and slightly more than Minnesota. Population density is comparable to that in Norway and Sweden. The great majority of Finns live in the southern quarter of the country, in which the big

440 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

cities are also concentrated, including the national capital, Helsinki (population 580,000), and nearby Espoo (population 242,000) on the south coast; Tampere (population 210,000), in the interior, is the biggest Scandinavian city that is not located on the coast. The great majority of the population speaks Finnish, which does not belong to any of the three major European language groups but forms a group with Â�Hungarian and Estonian. Apart from the small groups of Sami, formerly called Lapps, in the far north and the Swedish-speaking Åland Islands, seven percent of the Â�Finnish population on the west coast speaks Swedish; Swedish enjoys recognition as a national language. Almost all Finns are traditionally members of the national Lutheran Church. A minority that has been fully integrated into Finnish society are the Finns who are descended from the 500,000 exiles that fled Karelia, when that region was ceded to Soviet Russia at the end of World War II.

The Economy Finland is a very-high-income country. Its timber has created a large pulp and paper industry, based on the wide use of hydroelectric power. Until the demise of the Soviet Union, Finland enjoyed a large export market in the Soviet Union, which hampered technological innovation. Since the early 1990s, Finland has become a service-oriented economy, on a par with the other Scandinavian countries. One of its well-known trade marks is Nokia.

Culture Finland has been prominent in modern architecture and design, with architects like Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950), his son Eero Saarinen (1910–1961), and Alvar Aalto (1898–1976). Another famous Finn is composer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). Finland’s national epic, “Kalevala,” was composed out of old folk tales in the early 19th century.

History Table FI 1╇ Timeline of Finnish History 11th century Finns enter the country 12th century Finland invaded by the Swedes and Christianized 1523 Reformation and switch to Lutheranism introduced by the Swedes 1556 Finland becomes a duchy, and later a grand duchy, in the Swedish ╅kingdom 18th century Swedish-Russian wars; Finland is occupied by Russia; Karelia ceded ╅ to Russia 1809 Sweden loses Finland to Russia; Karelia becomes Finnish again 1812 Helsinki becomes the new capital instead of Turku 1863 Swedish and Finnish are recognized as national languages 1890s Russification; Finnish autonomy is restricted 1905 Russian autonomy is restored after a general strike (Continued)



FINLAND (Suomi/Finland)╇ | 441



1906 Finland is the first country to introduce universal suffrage 1917 Independence is declared; in the civil war the White anticommunists â•… defeat the communist Reds 1921 Finland becomes a republic 1939–1940 Winter War with the Soviet Union; Finland must cede Karelia 1941–1944 Continuation War to get the lost territories back; Finland is defeated â•… by the Soviet Union 1944 Forced neutrality 1948 Forced Friendship-Pact with Russia; communists expelled from the â•…government 1955 Soviet Union leaves the last naval base; Finland admitted to the UN 1990 Recession after the rapid decline of exports to Russia 1994 Shift to direct popular presidential elections 1995 Finland joins the EU after a referendum; Finland is the only Â�Scandinavian â•… country to adopt the euro; Greens participate in government

Political System Finland has a parliamentary political system, but until 2000 the president had more powers than the heads of state in the other Scandinavian and Germanic nations. �Politics has been less dominated by Social Democrats than in the other Scandinavian nations, and also less stable; most cabinets have been relatively short-lived coalitions of a number of parties.

Constitution The constitution was enacted in 1919 at the end of the Civil War. In 1922 it was complemented by an Act on Ministerial Responsibility and in 1928 by the �Parliament Act. The laws functioned until the mid-1990s, when civil rights were redefined and the powers of the president were reduced. In 2000 a new constitution came into force, which combined all basic rules and basic rights in one document and strengthened the role of parliament, in line with most other EU member states.

Head of State Until 1994, presidential elections were indirect, with an American-style electoral college. Since 1994, the president is elected in popular two-ballot elections, for a six-year term, which is renewable once. Table FI 2 lists the postwar presidents; the most prominent was Urho Kekkonen (1956–1982). Urho Kekkonen (1900–1986) dominated national politics from the early 1950s until the early 1980s. Born in 1900 into a farmers’ family, he fought in the Civil War on the White side and later was active in nationalist organizations. In 1933 he joined the Centre Party (then still called the Agrarian League) and headed various ministries before the Continuation War. He participated in a group that sought an early peace settlement with the Soviet Union, and after the war he became speaker

442 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

Table FI 2╇ Presidents of Finland since 1946 First Elected

President

Ideology

1946 1956 1982 1994 2000

Juho Kusti Paasikivi Urho Kekkonen Mauno Koivisto Martti Ahtisaari Tarja Halonen

Conservative Conservative liberal Social democrat Social democrat Social democrat

of the parliament. After losing the presidential elections in 1950 he became prime minister and headed five cabinets until he was elected president in 1956. Kekkonen was very concerned about maintaining good relations with the Soviet Union. He enjoyed wide powers, in particular in foreign relations, but also in domestic politics, comparable to what is typical of a semi-presidential system. For instance, as president he had the right to dismiss the cabinet and organize snap elections. After his resignation the presidential powers were reduced, and the new constitution reduced them even further. Until the new 2000 constitution the president played a central role in the formation of cabinets but now the parties negotiate among themselves, as befits a regular parliamentary political system. Yet the decline of presidential powers is not complete; major remaining presidential prerogatives are a say in foreign policy (except for EU affairs) and the right to appoint senior civil servants, even without government support, which still makes the Finnish presidents slightly more powerful heads of state than the Danish and Norwegian kings—not to mention the powerless Swedish king.

Legislative Power Like the other Scandinavian countries, Finland has a unicameral parliament (Eduskunta – Riksdag). Finland’s unicameralism preceded that in the other countries, since it dates back to independence in 1917—and even earlier under Russian rule. Unlike the other Scandinavian countries, Finland uses a one-tier system of proportional representation, not a two-tier one, which means there is no effort to compensate for inequalities that arise out of the division of the country in districts. There is no threshold, because a threshold would probably reduce the chances of representation for the Swedish-speaking minority. The 200 members of the Â�one-chamber parliament, 40 percent of whom are women, have a four-year term. Of the 200 members, 199 are elected in 14 multimember provincial districts that have 7 to 32 seats, depending on population size. The Åland Islands have one seat. Table FI 3 shows the composition of the parliament since the 2003 elections. In the 2007 elections a leading issue was the high tax level, in particular the valueadded tax rate.



FINLAND (Suomi/Finland)╇ | 443

Table FI 3╇ The Finnish Eduskunta since 2003 Party Ideology ╇ 1 Centre Party Conservative liberal ╇ 2 National Coalition Party Conservative ╇ 3 Social Democratic Party Social democratic ╇ 4 Left Alliance Radical socialist ╇ 5 Green League Green ╇ 6 Christian Democrats Christian democratic ╇ 7 Swedish People’s Party Regionalist ╇ 8 True Finns Rightist ╇9 Åland Total

No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats of Votes 2003 2007 2007 55 40 53 19 14 7 8 3 1 200

51 23.1 50 22.3 45 21.4 17 8.8 15 8.5 7 4.9 9 4.5 5 4.1 1 200

The position of the political parties from left to right in the political spectrum is Left Alliance to Green League to Social Democratic Party to Centre Party to Christian Democrats to Swedish People’s Party to National Coalition Party to True Finns.

Executive Power The parties in parliament negotiate who will be the formateur of a new cabinet. Because the parliament is more fragmented than in the other Scandinavian parties, and the Social Democratic Party is smaller, Finland has only had a few one-party cabinets. The majority of cabinets have been coalitions of three or more parties, and a number of them have included parties from the left and the right. The country has had almost twice as many prime ministers and cabinets as the other Scandinavian countries. Government turnover has been high; only 19 Â�cabinets, a minority, have lasted longer than one year. Under the former Â�semi-presidential system this was no problem, because the president guaranteed stability and Â�continuity. After the decline of presidential powers, cabinets have to some extent taken over the stabilizing role; since 1995 the country has only had three prime ministers, who headed five cabinets. The longest-serving prime minister was the Social Democrat Kalevi Sorsa, who was in power for almost 10 years in 1972–1975, in 1977–1979, and again in 1982–1987. Table FI 4 shows the composition and high turnover of Finnish cabinets. For the sake of Â�simplicity the many cabinets have been divided into four categories: Social Democratic one-party cabinets, cabinets under a Social Democratic prime minister, cabinets with Social Democratic participation, and cabinets without Social Democrats. An Â�additional category is formed by the nonpartisan cabinets.

444 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

Table FI 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Finland since 1945

With or Without Begin Social Democrat

╇ 1

With Social Democrats

No. of Months

Prime Minister*

1945

39 Juho Kusti Paasikivi, â•… Mauno Pekkala ╇ 2 Social Democrats 1948 20 Karl-August Fagerholm ╇ 3 Without Social Democrats 1950 11 Urho Kekkonen ╇ 4 With Social Democrats 1951 31 Urho Kekkonen (2) ╇ 5 Without Social Democrats 1953 4 Urho Kekkonen ╇ 6 Nonpartisan 1953 7 Sakari Tuomioja ╇ 7 With Social Democrats 1954 26 Ralf Törngren, â•… Urho Kekkonen ╇ 8 Social Democrats with others 1956 14 Karl-August Fagerholm ╇ 9 Without Social Democrats 1957 30 Jussi Sukselainen (3) 10 Nonpartisan 1957 11 Rainer Von Fieandt, â•… Reino Kuuskoski 11 Social Democrats and others 1957 6 Karl-August Fagerholm 12 Without Social Democrats 1959 59 Jussi Sukselainen, Martti â•… Miettunen, Ahti Karjalainen 13 Nonpartisan 1963 9 Reino Ragnar Lehto 14 Without Social Democrats 1964 20 Johannes Virolainen 15 Social Democrats and others 1966 48 Rafael Paasio, Mauno â•…Koivisto 16 Nonpartisan 1970 3 Teuvo Aura 17 With Social Democrats 1970 15 Ahti Karjalainen 18 Nonpartisan 1971 5 Teuvo Aura 19 Social Democrats 1972 8 Rafael Paasio 20 Social Democrats and others 1972 33 Kalevi Sorsa 21 Nonpartisan 1975 6 Keijo Liinamaa 22 With Social Democrats 1975 10 Martti Miettunen 23 Without Social Democrats 1976 8 Martti Miettunen 24 Social Democrats and others 1977 120 Kalevi Sorsa (3), Mauno â•…Koivisto 25 With Social Democrats 1987 47 Harri Holkeri (2) 26 Without Social Democrats 1991 47 Esko Aho (2) 27 Social Democrats and others 1995 96 Paavo Lipponen (2) 28 With Social Democrats 2003 48 Anneli Jäätteenmäki, â•… Matti Vanhanen 29 Without Social Democrats April Matti Vanhanen, Mari 2007 â•…Kiviniemi Total: 29 periods Total: 24 prime ministers; â•… 45 cabinets * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.



FINLAND (Suomi/Finland)╇ | 445

Judicial Power There is no judicial review. The Supreme Court (Korkein oikeus, Högsta Â�domstolen) consists of 18 judges who are appointed by the government. Finland imitated the Swedish ombudsman innovation and introduced the parliamentary ombudsman in 1919. This was later followed by other ombudsmen.

Referendums The country has had only two referendums, one about amending the constitution in 1987 and the other about joining the EU in 1994, with 57 percent in favor.

Civil Society Not only the Lutheran Church but also the very small Orthodox Church have a modest role in national rituals and ceremonies. Almost 80 percent of all Finns claimed to be members of the Lutheran Church in 2009, a far higher membership rate than that in the other Scandinavian countries. Since 2003, however, the Â�Finnish state no longer supports the Lutheran Church. Collective bargaining between the trade unions and employers was for a long period centralized at the national level, but although it has now been decentralized, there is still some degree of corporatism. The largest trade union confederation is the Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions (Suomen Ammattiliittojen Â�Keskusjärjestö [SAK]). The employers do not have one main organization but have been divided into two confederations, one for industrial employers and one for service-sector employers.

Policies Finland developed its welfare state later than the other Scandinavian �countries did, but its system is now comparable to the Danish or Norwegian system. �Regarding education, the country has a system of comprehensive schools, similar to the Swedish system. As for ethical issues, abortion was legalized in 1970. Same-sex relationships are legally recognized, but same-sex marriage is still a controversial political issue; the left is in favor and the right is opposed. In international �politics, international organizations, and the group of neutral countries during the Cold War, Finland has always maintained a very low profile.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Social Democratic Party of Finland (Suomen Sosiaalidemokraattinen Puolue/Finlands Socialdemokratiska Parti) The Social Democratic Party was founded in 1899 and got its present name in 1906; it participated in the first elections ever under universal suffrage in 1906, and in 1916 was able to secure a majority of seats, though those were lost in the next year. The party participated in the Civil War after the Russian Revolution, but the Reds lost and many party leaders were imprisoned or killed. The party was

446 |╇ Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland

excluded from government until 1937 (with a brief exception in 1926). During World War II it participated in coalition cabinets, and that line was continued after the war. The Social Democratic Party has been a very stable party in terms of share of parliamentary seats, mostly occupying between 20 and 30 percent of the seats. The share reveals that the party is smaller than its Scandinavian counterparts, mainly because of the larger share of communist voters in Finland and at times (the 1960s, the 1990s, since 2007) it was not the largest party. The party has had five prime ministers since 1955; only two periods were one-party cabinets (1948–1950 and 1972). One of the major issues in party debates was the attitude toward the Soviet Union. In the early 1960s the party became disillusioned with the continuation of dictatorial rule in the Soviet Union and criticized the country, which resulted in Russian pressure on Finland to keep the party out of government. The new party leader, Rafael Paasio, improved the relations, and in 1966 Paasio could become prime minister again. In the same period the party gradually shifted its position toward the center of the political spectrum. In the EU the party is a member of the Social Democrat S&D.

Centre Party of Finland (Keskustapuolue/Centerpartiet) The Centre Party of Finland was originally a farmers’ party, just as in the other Scandinavian countries; it was founded in 1906, when two agrarian movements merged. It was not a farmer, however, but a journalist and writer who founded it, Santeri Alkio, since hailed as the ideological father of the party. The current name dates from 1965. The party has especially catered to the inhabitants of the north and east, outside the cities, with a more or less conservative liberal agenda, less conservative than that of the Coalition Party. EU membership was hotly contested; it was not very popular in the northern and eastern parts of the country, and only under strong pressure of the party leader did the party vote in favor of joining the EU. The party share of seats has almost been as stable as that of the Social Â�Democrats, always between 18 and 28 percent of the seats; since 2003 the party has been the country’s largest. The party has participated in almost all coalitions, which reveals its central position between the Social Democrats and the Coalition Party, a position that is proudly emphasized by the party. Urho Kekkonen was the most prominent leader of the party. In the EU the party is a member of the liberal ALDE. The party leader is Matti Taneli Vanhanen.

National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus/Nationella Samlingspartiet) The party dates back to 1918, just after the end of World War I and Finnish �independence, and it was originally not only a conservative but even a royalist party. Its share of seats has fluctuated a bit more than that of the other big parties in Finland, between less than 15 percent in the 1950s and 25 percent or more in 1987



FINLAND (Suomi/Finland)╇ | 447

and 2007. The most prominent party leader was Juho Kusi Paasikivi, who became the first postwar president of the country and stayed in office until 1956, after having served as minister president for short periods in the interwar and wartime period. The party was more or less excluded from government participation under communist Russian pressure until 1987, because it never spoke out in favor of the close cooperation with the Soviet Union. Since the breakdown of the Soviet Union the party has participated in five of seven coalition governments. The party principles are defined very generally, combining values with freedom; in both respects the party has gradually moved to the center of the political spectrum, with a less conservative platform than before. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP. The party leader is Jyrki Tapani Katainen.

Low Countries

North Sea

Amsterdam Holland The Hague Rotterdam Germany Antwerp Flanders Belgium Brussels Wallonia

Luxembourg France

Luxembourg

Low Countries. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

4â•…The Low Countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

T

he Low Countries—the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg—share a number of political features. These are listed in Table LOW 1.

The NETHERLANDS (Nederland), also known as€HOLLAND (Holland) More formally, the country is known as the Netherlands; Holland is only the �dominant western part in which the major cities are located, but the whole country is commonly named Holland. To make it more complicated, the inhabitants are called Dutch (related to the German word for German: Deutsch). Table LOW 1╇ Common Political Features of the Low Countries Dominant party Christian Democrats, due to their central position in the political ╅spectrum Type of governments Almost without exception all governments have been coalitions Type of coalition Most coalitions have been either center-right (Christian Democrats ╅ and Conservative Liberals) or center-left (Christian Democrats ╅ and Social Democrats) Cabinet formation A very cumbersome process in Holland and Belgium, which may ╅ take several months Pillarization Holland and Belgium were once prominent examples of pillarization, ╅ which is the segmentation of social and political life among ╅ Catholics and Social Democrats; in Holland it also applies to ╅ the Protestants Democracy The three countries share high positions in democracy rankings Libertarianism The three countries have been leaders in libertarianism since the ╅1970s

449

450 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

The Netherlands is Europe’s only Calvinist nation. Until the 1960s it used to be a very strict Protestant-dominated country, almost amounting to a small Bible Belt of its own, albeit with a large Catholic minority. The youth revolt of the 1960s and 1970s undermined authority in the Catholic pillar (segment), which then crumbled, followed by the Protestant pillar. Since that time the country has shifted to the libertarian side of the spectrum and is now probably Europe’s most libertarian nation, a change from Midwest to Bay Area values within one generation. The Netherlands’ main differences with Belgium are the existence of a Protestant pillar besides the Catholic one, the greater degree of formality in politics (under influence of Protestantism), and the greater stress on preventing conflicts. Since the turn of the century the country’s relatively peaceful political tradition of conflict prevention has been interrupted by two political assassinations, the first since 1672; they were related to the issue of Muslim immigrants.

The Land and the People The Land

The Netherlands is situated in the northeast corner of Europe’s mainland. Its total area is 16,040 square miles (41,543 square kilometers), more or less similar to Denmark or Switzerland, and as large as Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. The longest road distance is 225 miles (360 kilometers) from north to south and 100 miles (160 kilometers) from west to east. To the north and the west is the North Sea, to the east Germany (its longest border), and to the south Belgium; not counting a few corrections on the German border after World War II, the borders have more or less been stable since the Netherlands split off from Belgium in 1830. The whole country consists of flat lowlands, with one exceptional hill of 1,063 feet (324 meters); most of the western part, including all big cities, is even situated below sea level, in the delta land of the Rhine River and other rivers, called the “polders,” which are protected from the sea and the rivers by sand dunes and manmade levees (dikes) and have to be drained by extensive water infrastructure works, which have replaced the traditional windmills. The climate is maritime.

The People The Netherlands has 16.7 million inhabitants; it has the second-highest population density of all European countries, behind Malta. Almost all inhabitants are Dutch and speak Dutch, a Germanic language that is close to German. The population used to be divided by religion, with 60 percent Calvinist Protestants and 40 percent Catholics, whose major concentration was in the south. The biggest cities are the national capital Amsterdam (1.3 million inhabitants); Rotterdam (also 1.3 million), which is one of the largest ports in the world; The Hague (one million), which is the seat of the government, but not the capital; and centrally located Utrecht (650,000). The position of The Hague as the seat of government is due to the fact



The NETHERLANDS (Nederland), also known as€HOLLAND (Holland)╇ | 451

that after reaching independence in the late 16th century the representatives of the provinces that formed the new state were afraid that the capital, Amsterdam, would have too dominant a position if the government had its seat there too, so they opted for the much smaller Hague, which did not even have town rights.

The Economy The Netherlands is a very-high-income country. Even more than Belgium, it is a trade-oriented economy, with Europe’s largest port, Rotterdam, devoted to international shipping and trucking. In spite of its small size, the country is one of the world’s leading agricultural exporters. Dairy products and agricultural products, including the famous tulips and other flowers, make up a sizable portion of national exports. In industry, the country has a few multinational companies, including two Anglo-Dutch firms, oil giant Shell and food- and detergent-producing Unilever, as well as the electronics firm Philips, chemical producer AKZO, and ING Bank. The country is also a major exporter of natural gas from sources in the northern region and from the North Sea.

Culture The Netherlands contributed to architecture in the 16th century (Dutch Â�Renaissance) and the early 20th century (Amsterdam School of Architecture), but its prime contribution to European art has been in painting, in particular in the 16th century, with Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450–1516), and in the Golden Age of Dutch art during the 17th century, with Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675), Frans Hals (ca. 1581–1666), and many other masters who depicted intimate family scenes, domestic life, and landscapes with more clouds than scenery. In contrast to Belgian art this was not so much painting for the nobility or the Catholic Church but bourgeois art on smaller canvases for wealthy merchants of the Republic. Later painters were Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) and Piet Â�Mondrian (1872–1944). Other outstanding Dutchmen are humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (ca. 1466–1536), international law innovator Hugo Grotius (1583–1645), and Jewish philosopher Baruch de Spinoza (1632–1677). Yet, even more famous is the Jewish girl Anne Frank (1929–1945) because of her wartime diary, which she wrote in her hiding place in Amsterdam before she was betrayed and then died in a Nazi concentration camp.

History Table NL 1╇ Timeline of Dutch History 51 BC First century BC AD 69 734

Region south of the Rhine conquered by Caesar Country populated by Germanic Batavians who accept Roman rule Germanic revolt under Claudius Civilis crushed by Roman armies Frisians defeated by the Franks, who now rule the whole country (Continued)

452 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

843 At the division of Charlemagne’s empire the country is allocated â•… to the western kingdom 925 The country becomes part of the German Holy Roman Empire 10th century The western county, Holland, becomes dominant 1382 Under Burgundian rule because of aristocratic intermarriage 1494 Under the Spanish Habsburgs 16th century Reformation spreads, in particular Calvinism 1568 Beginning of Eighty Years’ War of Independence against Spain 1581 Proclamation of independence 1618 Beginning of power struggle between the princes of Orange and â•… the province of Holland 1648 Westphalia Peace Treaty recognizes Dutch independence 17th century The “Republic” is an international power, and Amsterdam is the â•… leading international port; the Golden Age of Dutch art 1672 Holland invaded by France, and war with Great Britain, one of â•… four such wars at sea 1794 Under French rule 1815 Proclamation of kingdom, united with Belgium under the Dutch â•… crown until 1830 1848 Constitution introduces constitutional monarchy 1914–1918 Neutrality during World War I 1919 Universal voting rights 1940 Rotterdam bombed; country occupied by Nazi Germany until 1945 1944 Hunger winter because Germans prevented the distribution of â•… food supplies 1948 Juliana succeeds her mother, Wilhelmina, to the throne 1949 Holland’s largest colony, Indonesia, becomes independent 1951 One of the founders of the EU 1970s Decline of pillarization between Protestants, Catholics, and Social â•…Democrats 1980 Beatrix succeeds her mother, Juliana, as queen 1994 Christian Democrats out of power for eight years 2002 Radical right politician Pim Fortuyn assassinated by a Green terrorist; â•… adoption of the euro 2004 Dutch film director Theo van Gogh assassinated by Muslim terrorist

Political System The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary p� olitical system. Politics is dominated by three parties: Christian Democrats, Social �Democrats, and Conservative Liberals. It was the country of pillarization between Protestants and Catholics, and later also Social Democrats, as a means to prevent conflict between the two major Christian religions, which were only to some extent regionally



Political System╇ | 453

concentrated. Pillarization disappeared in the 1970s. Compared with Belgium, Dutch politics have been more formal, a bit more akin to Scandinavia, and influenced by strict Protestant morals.

Constitution The constitution of 1815, right after the post-Napoleonic peace treaties, installed a kingdom, with the princes of Orange as kings and queens. It was overhauled in 1848, when under pressure of the revolutions in France and Germany the country became a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary political system, and this version now counts as the real original constitution. Major amendments were the introduction of general male suffrage in 1917 and universal suffrage in 1919. The constitution was rewritten in plain language in 1983, but with only a few changes, including the addition of social rights. Amending the constitution requires a majority in the two houses and then a two thirds majority in the two houses after elections.

Head of State The head of state is the king or queen from the originally German dynasty of Orange (Oranje-Nassau). The monarch mainly has ceremonial powers; the main political role is appointing a formateur to form a coalition government or an informateur to investigate the feasible options of a coalition. The parties in the parliament advise the monarch on this point; the monarch is free to appoint any person but must take into account the formateur’s chances in forming a cabinet. Originally, princesses could ascend to the throne only if male successors were absent, but since 1985 only precedence of birth counts. The current queen since 1980 is Beatrix; her predecessors were Juliana (1948–1980) and Wilhelmina (1890–1948). All three queens were married to German princes.

Legislative Power The parliament (Staten-Generaal) consists of two houses: the lower house, called Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer), and the upper house, called First Chamber (Eerste Kamer, popularly also called the Senaat). The 150 members (41 percent are women) of the Tweede Kamer, the more powerful house, are elected in popular elections every four years. The country uses the most pure form of proportional representation, in which the whole country counts as one voting district. Since the early 20th century, Christian Democrats have dominated the parliament; at first they were divided between Protestants and Catholics, but since 1980 they make up one Christian Democratic Party. Table NL 2 shows the composition of the parliament since 2003. Major issues in the 2010 elections were the distribution of the tax burden, a partial abolition of mortgage deductibility, and stricter immigration policies.

454 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

Table NL 2╇ The Netherlands’ Tweede Kamer since 2003 Party Ideology 1 People’s Party for Conservative liberal â•… Freedom and â•…Democracy 2 Labour Party Social democratic 3 Party for Freedom Radical right 4 Christian Democratic Christian democratic â•…Appeal 5 Socialist Party Radical socialist 6 Democrats 66 Social liberal 7 Green Left Green 8 Christian Union Leftist Protestant Other Total

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats of Votes 2003 2006 2010 2010 28

22

31

20.5

42 – 44

33 9 41

30 24 21

19.6 15.5 13.6

9 25 6 3 8 7 3 6 10 4 150 150

15 9.8 10 7.0 10 6.7 5 3.2 4 4.1 150 100

The position of the parties in the political spectrum from left to right is Socialist Party to Green Left to Labour Party to Christian Union to Democrats 66 to Christian Â�Democratic Appeal to People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy to Party for Freedom. The 75 members of the First Chamber, whose composition is shown in Table NL 3, are elected by the members of the 12 provincial councils after the elections for the provincial councils, which also take place every four years, though not simultaneously with the general elections. They are not supposed to defend provincial interests; their way of election is merely a tradition that goes back to the pre-Napoleonic Republic of the United Provinces. Table NL 3╇ Netherlands’ Eerste Kamer since 2003 Party Ideology 1 Christian Democratic Appeal Christian democratic 2 Labour Party Social democrat 3 People’s Party for Freedom Conservative liberal â•… and Democracy 4 Socialist Party Radical socialist 6 Green Left Green 5 Democrats 66 Social liberal 7 Other Total

Seats Seats 2003 2007 23 19 15

21 14 14

4 5 3 6 75

12 4 2 8 75



Political System╇ | 455

The First Chamber is mainly a meeting place of elderly statespeople and �members of the elite; it does not have the right of initiative (which is rarely used by the Second Chamber either) or to make amendments to bills; it must vote the whole bill as it passes the Second Chamber. In practice, the First Chamber has found informal ways to press ministers to adapt bills.

The Executive Power All regular Dutch cabinets, listed in Table NL 4, have been coalition cabinets supported by a majority in the Second Chamber, and with only a few exceptions the Christian Democrats have been the leading coalition partner. They have been able to decide with whom to govern, sometimes with the Social Democrats, at other times with the Conservative Liberals. Christian Democrats were only out of power in two “purple” coalitions of “red” Social Democrats, “blue” Conservative Liberals, and a smaller party of Social Liberals in the period 1994–2002. Coalition formation has been a protracted process, and the outcome is a long and detailed list of subjects on which the coalition partners have reached agreement. In 11 cases coalition building took longer than two months; in 1973 it took five months and in 1977 seven months, the all-time European record for coalition building (until it was broken by Belgium in January 2011). One might say that of all Europeans the Dutch do most often without a government, but the country does not seem to suffer from it. Most cabinets do not fall because of a (rare) censure motion but because of internal disputes between the coalition partners. The prime minister has a relatively modest role in the cabinet; all changes within the government need to be discussed with the coalition partners. During the period of pillarization the role of the prime minister was even more modest, because the party leaders stayed out of the cabinet and dominated national politics, including the fate of the cabinets. Since the 1970s, however, the party leaders of the coalition partners occupy posts in the cabinet. Table NL 4 shows the frequent change of coalition partners by the Christian Democrats. Table NL 4╇ The Netherlands’ Governments and Prime Ministers since 1945* Coalition Parties Begin No. of Months

Prime Ministers‡

1 Social Democrats/Christian Democrats* 1945 11 Willem â•…Schermerhorn/ â•… Willem Drees 2 Catholic Christian Democrats/Social 1946 25 Louis Beel â•…Democrats (Continued)

456 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg 3 Social Democrats/Christian 1948 46 Willem Drees (2) â•… Democrats‡/Conservative Liberals 4 Social Democrats/Christian Democrats§ 1952 72 Willem Drees (2) 5 Christian Democrats§ 1958 3 Louis Beel (caretaker) 6 Christian Democrats§/Conservative 1959 71 Jan De Quay, Victor â•…Liberals â•…Marijnen 7 Christian Democrats*/Social Democrats 1965 18 Jo Cals 8 Christian Democrats* 1966 2 Jelle Zijlstra (caretaker) 9 Christian Democrats§/Conservative 1967 49 Piet De Jong â•…Liberals 10 Christian Democrats§/Conservative 1971 12 Barend Biesheuvel â•…Liberals/Others 11 Christian Democrats§/Conservative 1972 4 Barend Biesheuvel â•…Liberals â•…(caretaker) 12 Social Democrats/Christian Democrats*/ 1973 47 Joop Den Uyl â•… Christian Left/Social Liberals 13 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1977 42 Dries van Agt 14 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats/ 1981 8 Dries van Agt â•… Social Liberals 15 Christian Democrats/Social Liberals 1982 3 Dries van Agt (caretaker) 16 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1982 82 Ruud Lubbers (2) 17 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats 1989 55 Ruud Lubbers 18 Social Democrats/Conservative Liberals/ 1994 90 Wim Kok (2) â•… Social Liberals 19 Christian Democrats/Conservative 2002 3 Jan Peter Balkenende â•… Liberals/Radical Right 20 Christian Democrats/Conservative 2003 38 Jan Peter Balkenende â•… Liberals/Social Liberals 21 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 2006 5 Jan Peter Balkenende â•… (caretaker) 22 Christian Democrats/Social 2007 36 Jan Peter Balkenende â•… Democrats/Christian Left 23 Conservative Liberals/Christian September Mark Rutte â•… Democrats (supported by Radical Right) 2010 Total: 23 periods Total: 15 prime â•… ministers, 28 cabinets † Christian Democrats have been united in one party, Christian Democratic Appeal, since 1977. Before that time there were three Christian Democratic parties. * Only two of the three Christian Democratic parties: the Catholic People’s Party and the (Protestant) Â�Anti-Revolutionary Party. ‡ Only two of the three Christian Democratic parties: the Catholic People’s Party and the (Protestant) Christian Historical Union. § All three Christian Democratic parties, that is, the Catholic People’s Party, the (Protestant) Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the (Protestant) Christian Historical Union. ‡ The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.



Political System╇ | 457

Judicial Review The highest court is the High Court (Hoge Raad). Its 41 judges, divided over four chambers, are appointed by the government, which requires parliamentary approval. There is no judicial review of the constitutionality of laws.

Referendums The country has had only one national referendum. It took place in 2005 concerning the EU Lisbon Treaty, which was rejected. Almost all political parties, except for the Social Liberals, have opposed the introduction of corrective or initiating referendums as too populist.

Civil Society Under pillarization the Protestant and Catholic churches played a dominant role in social and cultural life, preventing contacts between their own believers and members of other Christian churches and with Social Democrats. It is still reflected in the large share of publicly funded private schools, formerly mostly Catholic or Protestant, now often interconfessional. In politics, however, pillarization has almost disappeared. The few remaining churchgoing Catholics tend to be very critical of official Vatican policies. Holland has had strong corporatist relations between trade unions, employers’ Â� associations, and the national government. The government has a great deal of say in wage bargaining, and social partners have a great deal of say in the social and economic aspects of government, for instance by their role in the joint Social and Economic Council (Sociaal-Economische Raad [SER]). The role of the social Â�partners has declined since the 1980s, however, because of Â�mounting Â�government deficits and growing disagreement between business and labor. The largest trade union confederation is FNV (the full name is no longer used), which has 1.4 million members in 19 sector unions; it is flanked by a smaller Â�Christian trade union. The largest employers’ association is the Confederation of Dutch Enterprises, which was formed in 1997 after a merger of the Dutch Christian Employers’ Â�Confederation; the combination is known under the acronym VNONCW (before that time the Catholic and the Protestant employers’ associations had merged into the NCW). For its high degree of corporatism and low strike rate (on a par with Â�Germany, but higher than that of Austria and Switzerland) the term “Polder Model” has been coined.

Policies Until recent retrenchments, the Dutch welfare state was almost on a par with the Scandinavian ones—less focused on retraining the unemployed for new jobs and more on high unemployment benefits. In ethical issues the country completely abandoned its traditional Protestant (Calvinist) morals and authoritarianism in the 1970s, at the time of de-pillarization, and now enjoys the reputation of being the

458 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

most libertarian European country. It was the first to legalize euthanasia in 2000 and same-sex marriage in 2001; it also legalized prostitution in 2000 as a means to better control trafficking in women, but the success of this policy is being disputed. All of these measures were taken by the purple coalition of Social Democrats, Conservative Liberals, and Social Liberals, when the Christian Democrats were out of power. In international politics the country has always been Atlanticist, preferring close European relations with the United States. Because of its tradition of international law (dating to Hugo Grotius), a number of international courts have their seats in The Hague.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid [PvdA])

The party was the successor of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party, founded in 1894. In 1946, the old party was dissolved and became the core of the new party; it was no longer a party for workers only, but for labor generally. Until the 1970s, the party was always second to the Catholic People’s Party, and later to the Catholic and Protestant Christian Democratic Party. In 1998, however, it became the largest party, with 30 percent of the seats; in 2010 it was second behind the Conservative Liberals. The PvdA has taken part in a number of coalitions with the dominant Christian Democrats, but since 1946 it has provided only two prime ministers who headed such coalitions: Willem Drees and Joop Den Uyl. Over the years, Drees’s reputation has grown as the father of the postwar welfare state. The party’s third prime minister, Wim Kok, headed the only Social Democrat–Liberal purple coalition between 1994 and 2002. The Labour Party’s platform has been moderate since World War II, with a brief interlude of more radical ventures during the 1970s; it is not only more libertarian than the Christian Democrat Party but also the Conservative Liberals, and it has been the driving force behind the country’s ultra-libertarian position in ethical issues. The party leader is Job Cohen. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen Democratisch Appèl [CDA]) The party was created when a Catholic party and two Protestant parties merged in 1976. All three had roots before World War II, but the Catholic People’s Party (Katholieke Volkspartij [KVP]) was larger than the other two, the strict Calvinist Anti-Revolutionary Party (Anti-Revolutionarier Partij [ARP]) and the more liberal Protestant Christian Historical Union (Christelijk Historische Unie), combined. In the early 1970s the KVP declined from one third of the seats to a mere 18 percent, and the two Protestant parties had also declined, to less than 15 percent. The common electoral loss motivated them to strengthen their cooperation (in most coalitions they had more or less combined forces) and merge. The Â�Christian Â�Democrats were in power, or at least formed the largest coalition in cabinets,



Political System╇ | 459

for almost the whole postwar era, except for the 1994–2002 period of the Â�purple Â�coalition, when they were out of power. The Catholics have had most prime ministers: Louis Beel, Jan de Quay, Victor Marijnen, Jo Cals, and Piet de Jong; the Â�Protestants only had Jelle Zijlstra and Barend Biesheuvel, both from the ARP. Since the foundation of the CDA, Catholics have continued to dominate, producing two prime ministers: Dries van Agt and Ruud Lubbers. Yet the last CDA prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, was a strict Calvinist. The party is probably the most libertarian of all Christian Democratic parties in Europe; it has not attempted to undo the trend toward libertarianism in ethical issues over the last decades. In social issues it has always occupied the middle ground between social democracy and conservative liberalism, though since the 1980s it has leaned more to the liberal side. The party leadership has been vacant since the disastrous 2010 elections. In the EU the party is a a member of the Christian Democrat and conservative European People’s Party (EPP).

People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en€Democratie [VVD]) The party was founded in 1948 as a combination of various liberal groups. Its electoral record has been more volatile than that of the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats, Until the early 1970s it never earned more than 13 percent of the seats, but then it grew in popularity and reached 24 percent in 1982. After a dip in 1994, with 15 percent, it increased to 25 percent in 1998, followed by a new low in the 2000s, and a surprise in 2010, when it became the largest party, with 20 percent of the seats. The VVD participated in a number of coalitions with the Christian Democrats, and in the purple coalition of 1994–2002 with the Social Democrats. It has not provided any prime ministers until now; its most prominent and very popular leader was Hans Wiegel, who was mainly active in the 1970s and 1980s. The party has been to the right side of the Christian Democrats, defending free enterprise, but without any effort to dismantle the Dutch welfare state. It has been slightly less libertarian than the Social Democrat Party. The party leader is Marc Rutte, who won the 2010 elections. In the EU the party is affiliated with the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid [PVV]) The PVV was founded in 2005 by Geert Wilders, who had left the conservative liberal VVD. Its platform is totally focused on the Muslim threat to Dutch society; the party has proposed a tax on headscarfs and even a ban on the Koran. It made rapid progress in share of seats. Although the party is mostly labeled extreme right, its policy stance on social issues, such as old-age pensions and welfare, is to the left of the conservative liberal VVD. Because of its nature as an extreme-rightist party, however, it is placed at the rightist end of the left-right continuum.

460 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

Restrictive immigration laws (but not any measures against headscarfs) had been the focus before of the List Pim Fortuyn (LPF), a party that continued the campaign of Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated in 2002 because of his antiimmigration attitude; the LPF even participated in the government, but it soon fell apart, causing the fall of the first Balkenende cabinet, and then it disappeared altogether.

BELGIUM (België/la Belgique) Belgium has the largest language minority of any European country, the French speakers, who make up 35 percent of the population. Until the 1960s, the French speakers used to dominate social and political life, in that decade the last remnants of discrimination against the Flemish (Dutch) were lifted, and Dutch-speaking Flanders became the richer region in the country because of Antwerp’s rise as an international port. Since that time the Flemish have demanded a federal structure, which was introduced beginning in the 1970s, but some of its elements are still a bone of contention, in particular the rights of French speakers in the Flemish territory just outside the capital Brussels. In addition to language, religion Â�(Catholic clericals versus anticlericals), center–periphery (the changing terms of trade between Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia), and social class have played a role in Belgian politics; in that sense Belgium is Europe in miniature. Politics in Catholic Belgium is less formal and procedure-oriented; it is more a matter of informal arrangements than in Protestant-dominated Holland.

The Land and the People The Land

Belgium is located in northwest Europe. Its area is 11,787 square miles (30,528 square kilometers); it is three quarters of the size of neighboring Netherlands and smaller than Maryland. The country’s shape is more or less oval. The longest road distance is 160 miles (250 kilometers) from west to east and 150 miles (240 kilometers) from north to south. Belgium has a relatively short coastline on the North Sea to the west; to the north is the Netherlands, to the east Germany and Luxembourg, and to the south France, its longest border. Great Britain is only a few miles from the Belgian coast, which means the country is very centrally and strategically located between the former Western European Great Powers: Â�Germany, Great Britain, and France. The borders have been stable since the end of World War I, when Belgium annexed a small German territory in the east. Belgium consists of flat lowlands in the west and north (Flanders) and in the center and hills and low mountains in the east and southeast (Wallonia). The highest peak is 2,277 feet (694 meters). The climate is maritime.



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The People The population totals 10.4 million, more than Sweden but less than Portugal and slightly less than Minnesota and Wisconsin combined. The biggest city is the centrally located national capital Brussels (Brussel/Bruxelles, 1.8 million inhabitants) and the second is Antwerp (Antwerpen, in Flanders, 1.2 million), one of Europe’s largest ports. Other large cities are Liège (in Wallonia, 750,000) in the east and Ghent (Gent, in Flanders, 650,000) in the west. Like Switzerland, the country is a borderland between Germanic and Latin Europe; the population is ethnically divided between Germanics and Latins. The population is 60 percent Flemish speaking (Flemish is the same as Dutch), mostly in the north and west; 35 percent are French-speaking inhabitants of Brussels and Wallonia, and one percent speaks German, in the Â�territory that was annexed after World War I. Smaller minorities make up the rest. Almost all Belgians are traditionally Catholic. Both Flemish (Dutch) and French are official languages, and the German language is an official language in the German-speaking part of the country. Only the national capital, Brussels, is officially bilingual, but in practice the great majority of Brussels residents speak French.

The Economy Until the 1960s the Belgian economy was dominated by the coal mines and heavy industry in Wallonia, which had made Belgium the first industrializing country on the European continent. In the 1960s the industrial core shifted to the Antwerp port and the chemical industries that settled there. Since then, Dutch-speaking Flanders has taken over as the leading region, based on international trade through Antwerp, Europe’s second-largest port behind Rotterdam. Brussels has become an important center of international offices, including the headquarters of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and it has also been the location of large banks, including the formerly leading Société Générale, which was one of the largest Belgian companies and important in financing its industrial development; recently, the company passed into French hands.

Culture Belgium was strong in late Gothic architecture (Bruges, the town hall of Â�Brussels), and Brussels was one of the capitals of Art Nouveau architecture. Yet, the country’s main contribution to European art has been in Flemish painting, with Â�Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck (1395–1441) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525–1569), 17th century painters Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), who painted Europe’s most baroque and more than life-size nudes to please Catholic aristocrats and clergy alike, and Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), and 20th-century painters James Ensor (1860–1949) and René Magritte (1898–1967). The most famous Belgian, however, is Tintin, the leading character in Europe’s best-known comic strips (although almost unknown in the United States), written by Georges Rémy (1907–1983) under the pseudonym Hergé.

462 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

History Table BE 1╇ Timeline of Belgian History 51 BC Belgium conquered by Caesar AD 69 Germanic revolt by Claudius Civilis crushed by the Romans Fourth century The Franks dominate the region 843 Belgium divided into two kingdoms, the western part (Flanders) under â•… France and the central part (Brabant) under Germany; later an â•… autonomous bishopric is established in the eastern part 1302 The Flemish defeat a French army 1382 Flanders and Brabant under Burgundian rule because of aristocratic â•…intermarriage 1494 Flanders and Brabant under the Spanish Habsburgs 1568 Independence struggle against Spain 1579 League of Arras formed by cities that give up the revolt 1585 Dutch close access to the Antwerp port through Dutch territory 1667 France under Louis XIV invades Belgium 1713 Belgium under Austrian rule 1789 Revolt against the anti-Catholic policies of the Austrians 1795 Belgium annexed by revolutionary France 1815 Part of Dutch kingdom 1830 Independence and constitutional monarchy; first continental country to industrialize 1831 Constitutional monarchy 1898 Belgium no longer a French-speaking country; it becomes bilingual 1914–1918 Occupation by Germany; part of the front line in World War I runs â•… through southwest Belgium 1930 First Dutch-speaking university, in Ghent 1932 Division into four language regions 1940–1944 German occupation 1948 Universal voting rights 1950–1951 Royal question concerning Leopold III; his son Baudouin (Boudewijn) â•… succeeds him; Belgium cofounders of the EU 1960 Belgian Congo gains independence 1970 Economic decline in Wallonia, and Flanders becomes the richer region; â•… beginning of federalization 1977 Egmont Pact regarding federalization between the parties in government 1980s Various steps taken in the process of federalization, resulting in a federal â•…state 1993 Albert II succeeds his childless brother Baudouin to the throne 2000s Cabinet formation under great pressure of the issue of the expanding â•… French-speaking exurbs of Brussels on Flemish territory 2002 Adoption of the euro



BELGIUM (België/la Belgique)╇ | 463

Political System Since independence Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy with a �parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and Conservative Liberals; the all-overriding issue is the federalization of the nation. The country has been federalized since the 1970s, but some language-related issues still divide the country and regularly lead to cabinet crises. Until the 1980s, Flemish-speaking and French-speaking parties operated in close cooperation, but since that time they have been totally separate entities. A total split of the country is prevented by the location of Brussels, a French-speaking city located in Dutch-speaking Flanders.

Constitution Right after becoming independent in 1830, the new country got a constitution that contained a bill of rights and introduced the constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary political system, one of the first in Europe. It also stipulated that the country was a unitary state, but that aspect has been changed since the 1970s, when a process toward federalization was set in motion. This has resulted in a truly federal nation as laid down in the 1993 version of the constitution. Until the late 1960s, only the French text of the constitution had legal value, which shows the longstanding discrimination against Flemish. Important previous amendments concerned the extension of voting rights. In 1893, the country introduced general male suffrage, but in combination with plural votes, in the form of three votes at most for wealthy and well-educated citizens. In 1919, the system changed to general and equal male voting rights. Belgium was one of the last European countries to extend voting rights to women, in 1948. Constitutional amendments require approval by both houses, and by two successive houses, with elections in between. The second time, the amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both houses.

Head of State The hereditary monarch is head of state. Belgium was one of the last countries to change or mitigate traditional Salic law on succession; since 1991 only precedence of birth determines the right to the throne. The role of the monarch is mainly ceremonial; political powers are absent, apart from designating an informateur, who investigates the options open for a new coalition cabinet, and a formateur, who will attempt to build such a cabinet after the elections, but the monarch is more or less bound to follow the advice of the lower house. King Albert II has been the monarch since 1993; his predecessors were his childless elder brother Baudouin (Boudewijn; 1951–1993) and their father Leopold III (1934–1951). The 1951 succession was due to the royal question about Leopold’s wartime behavior. He had surrendered to the German army

464 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

in 1940 without government consent, had arranged a meeting with Hitler in 1940, and had remarried after his first wife died, but without asking approval for the remarriage (and after only seven months of marriage a full-term child had been born to the couple). After the war the king, who had been captured by the Germans, was kept out of the country by the government until 1950, when a referendum was held about his return. A majority was in favor, but in red �Wallonia a majority opposed his return, and when Leopold returned strikes broke out in that part of the country, which grew into popular revolt. The king then abdicated in favor of his son.

Legislative Power The federal parliament consists of two houses, the House of Representatives (Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers/Chambre des Répresentants) and the Â�Senate (Senaat/Sénat). The 150 members of the house (39 percent of whom are women) have a four-year term. They are elected in popular elections by means of Â�proportional representation, for which the country is divided into 20 multimember Â�districts. Voting is compulsory in Belgium, but it is not enforced; turnout is still higher than in most other countries, however. The 71 members of the Senate also have a four-year mandate. The Senate consists of three groups, which are elected by three different methods. Forty members are elected in direct elections (Flemish region, 25; French-speaking region, 15); 21 senators are elected indirectly to represent the language communities (Flemish Community Â�Council, 10; French Community Council, 10; German Community Council, 1); and 10 senators are co-opted—six by all Flemish senators and four by all French-speaking senators. The children of the royal family who are older than 18 years are senators by right. There are now three such senators-by-right, but they never attend the sessions. The two houses are unequal in powers. Important laws like the budget do not need Senate consent. Table BE 2 shows the composition of the Kamer/Chambre, and the fast rise of the New Flemish Alliance in 2010, the first time one of the three traditionally leading political parties did not win the elections; the Senate is mainly divided between the language groups. Controversial issues during the 2010 election campaigns were the large money transfers from Flanders to Wallonia and the quality of the federal administration, and even more of the Walloon administration, compared with the allegedly higher level of the Flemish administration. A very divisive issue was the constituency Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde (see the Federalism section). From left to right the position of the major parties in the spectrum is Radical Socialists to Greens to Social Democrats to Christian Democrats to Conservative Liberals to New Flemish Alliance to Flemish Interest.

Executive Power Except for a few months of one-party government in 1958, Belgian governments have always been coalitions (see Table BE 3). The Christian Democrats have been



BELGIUM (België/la Belgique)╇ | 465

Table BE 2╇ Belgium’s Kamer/Chambre since 2003 Party Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats Votes 2003 2007* 2010 2010

1 New Flemish Alliance Flemish conservative 1 5 27 17.4 2 Socialist Party Francophone social 25 20 26 13.7 â•…democrat 3 Christian Democratic Flemish Christian 21 25 17 10.9 â•…and Flemish â•…democratic 4 Reformist Movement Francophone 24 23 18 9.3 â•… conservative liberal 5 Different Socialist Party Flemish social democrat 23 14 13 9.2 6 Open Flemish Liberals Flemish conservative 25 18 13 8.6 â•…and Democrats â•…liberal 7 Flemish Interest† Flemish radical right 18 17 12 7.8 8 Humanist Democratic Francophone Christian 8 10 9 5.5 â•…Centre â•…democrat 9 Ecolo Francophone Green 4 8 8 4.8 10 Green! † Flemish Green 0 4 5 4.4 Other 1 6 2 8.4 Total 150 150 150 100 * In 2007 the Christian Democratic and Flemish Party and New Flemish Alliance Party participated as a Â�combination, winning 30 seats. † In 2003, Flemish Interest was named Flemish Bloc and Green! was renamed Agalev.

the leading party in government most of the time, interrupted by only short periods Â� of absence: 1945–1947, 1954–1958, and 1999–2007. The Christian Democrats have changed their coalition partners regularly, however, shifting from Social Democrats to Conservative Liberals and vice versa. Coalition building has been a difficult process and has sometimes lasted for months; the national record was the 2007–2008 formation period, which lasted more than half a year (second only to the 1977–1978 Dutch period of cabinet formation). In that formation, the king played a more active role than usual by inviting a number of elderly statesmen for consultation in the royal palace. After a few months, when there was still no cabinet, he repeated the process and asked some of the political leaders to work out a plan for further federalization of the country. Until 2007, the three major party groups, Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and Conservative Liberals were represented in cabinets by both their Flemish and their Francophone party branches (which were actually closely linked autonomous parties), which was called “symmetrical cabinet composition”; the participation of regionalist parties, either from Flanders or from the French-speaking part of the

466 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

country, did not affect the basic symmetry. Yet in the 1970s, coalition formation became even more contentious than before, when the three leading parties totally split up into two separate parties each, because coalition formation required the involvement of more parties in the negotiations. Symmetry was given up in 2007, when the Francophone Social Democrats joined the Christian Democrats, but their Flemish counterparts did not. Until the Tindemans coalitions of the 1970s, the leaders of the party often remained outside the cabinet and influenced the cabinet from the Lower Â�Chamber benches, but since then the party-steering practices of the cabinets have been reduced, just as in Holland, and now it is mostly the ministers, in particular the prime ministers, who dominate their parties. Cabinets are hardly ever voted out of office; almost without exception they fall because of internal disputes between the coalition partners. Table BE 3╇ Belgium’s Governments and Prime Ministers since 1945 Coalition Parties Begin

No. of Prime Ministers* Months

1 Social Democrats/Conservative 1946 11 Achille Van Acker, â•…Liberals/Communists â•…Camille Huysmans 2 Social Democrats/Christian Democrats 1947 28 Paul-Henri Spaak (2) 3 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1949 7 Gaston Eykens 4 Christian Democrats 1950 46 Jean Duvieusart, â•… Joseph Pholien, â•… Jean Van Houtte 5 Social Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1954 50 Achille Van Acker 6 Christian Democrats 1958 4 Gaston Eyskens 7 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1958 29 Gaston Eyskens 8 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats 1961 57 Théo Lefèvre, â•… Pierre Harmel 9 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1966 23 Paul Van den â•…Boeynants 10 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats 1968 52 Gaston Eyskens (2) 11 Social Democrats/Christian Democrats/ 1973 12 Edmond Leburton â•… Conservative Liberals 12 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1974 2 Leo Tindemans 13 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals/ 1974 33 Leo Tindemans â•… Walloon Regionalists 14 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1977 1 Leo Tindemans 15 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats/ 1977 18 Leo Tindemans, â•… Flemish and Francophone Brussels â•… Paul Vanden â•…Regionalists â•…Boeynants (Continued)



BELGIUM (België/la Belgique)╇ | 467

16 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats/ 1979 10 Wilfried Martens â•… Francophone Brussels Regionalists 17 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats 1980 3 Wilfried Martens 18 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats/ 1980 5 Wilfried Martens â•… Conservative Liberals 19 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats 1980 11 Wilfried Martens, â•… Mark Eyskens 20 Christian Democrats/Conservative Liberals 1981 72 Wilfried Martens â•… (3) (including â•… one caretaker) 21 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats/ 1988 41 Wilfried Martens â•… Flemish Regionalists 22 Christian Democrats/Social Democrats 1991 90 Wilfried Martens, â•…Jean-Luc â•… Dehaene (2) 23 Conservative Liberals/Social Democrats/ 1999 48 Guy Verhofstadt â•…Greens 24 Conservative Liberals/Social Democrats 2003 54 Guy Verhofstadt 25 Conservative Liberals/Christian Democrats/ 2007 3 Guy Verhofstadt â•… Francophone Social Democrats â•… (caretaker) 26 Christian Democrats/Conservative December Yves Letterme, â•… Liberals/Francophone Social Democrats 2008 â•… Herman Van â•… Rompuy, Yves â•… Letterme (2) â•… (including one â•…caretaker), Total: 26 periods Total: 20 prime â•… ministers; 40 â•…cabinets * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

Judicial Power Judicial review did not exist in Belgium until 1983, when the Court of Arbitration was founded. In 2007 it was renamed the Constitutional Court (Grondwettelijk Hof/Cour constitutionelle). The court consists of 12 judges, 6 Dutch-speaking and 6 French-speaking, appointed by the government with parliamentary approval. It now has the explicit competency of judicial review, though limited to the sections of the constitution on civil rights and the federal structure.

Referendums Referendums are only allowed at the provincial and local level, not at the national or community levels. The only nationwide referendum ever held was the referendum on the royal question in 1950 (see the Head of State section).

468 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

Civil Society In theory, church and state are separate in Belgium, but practice is different. Most pupils in secondary education attend Catholic schools, and there are six Catholic universities. Moreover, the state pays part of the salaries of religious leaders. This applies especially to Flanders, where the Catholic Church is still influential, and less to the Francophone regions, where non-Catholic and even anticlerical organizations dominate civil society. Belgian civil society used to be characterized by pillarization, a division of society into a Catholic pillar and a Social Democratic pillar, both with extensive networks of organizations. The Catholic pillar dominated Flanders, the Social Democratic one Wallonia. The split was one of the reasons for the late federalization of the country: The Catholics did not want to leave education in Wallonia to the reds (i.e. the Social Democrats), and the Social Democrats feared papal domination in Flemish education. Pillarization has decreased, but not to the same extent as in Holland. The Belgian trade unions enjoy a high unionization rate of more than 50 percent, due in part to the union involvement in paying social security benefits. By way of exception, the Catholic Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (Algemene Christelijke Vakcentrale [ACV]/Confédération des Syndicats Chrétiens [CSC]) is larger than the Social Democratic one; it has more than 1.7 million members, whereas the Social Democratic General Belgian Trade Union Confederation (Algemeen Belgisch Vakverbond [ABVV]/Fédération Générale du Travail de Â� Â�Belgique – [FGTB]) has more than one million. The main employers’ organization is Confederation of Belgian Enterprises (Verbond van Belgische Â�Ondernemingen [VBO]/Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique [FEB]). Corporatism is well Â�developed, but fluctuates over time; there are frequent contacts between the social partners at the national level. The strike rate is high for a Germanic country, but it is much higher in the Francophone part than in Flanders.

Federalism Belgium has a more intricate federal structure than the other federal nations in Europe. This is mainly because of the position of Brussels and the presence of a small German-speaking minority in the eastern region of the French-speaking part. The country has three regions and three communities (see Table BE 4): • The three regions are Brussels (bilingual), Flanders (Dutch-speaking), and Wallonia (French-speaking): the three regions are mainly concerned with economic and spatial policies (e.g., employment, infrastructure, zoning, agriculture, and foreign trade). • The three communities are Flemish (Vlaamse Gemeenschap), French (Communauté française), and German-speaking (Deutschsprachiche Â� Gemeinschaft): The Flemish community comprises the Flemish region and the Dutch speakers in Brussels; the French community includes the French speakers in Brussels and Wallonia, except for the small German-speaking



BELGIUM (België/la Belgique)╇ | 469

Table BE 4╇ Regions and Communities of Belgium Region

Region Population

Community

Flanders (Dutch-speaking) 6.1 million (58%) Flemish Wallonia (French-speaking) 3.4 million (32%) French and German-speaking â•… (0.1 million) Brussels (bilingual) 1.0 million (10%) Divided between Flemish â•… and French communities

community in the east of Wallonia. The communities mainly serve policy areas, such as culture, education, health care, and public services. The intricate division is mainly aimed at preventing a division into only three units, which would always lead to at least one jealous partner, as in all triangular relationships, and at serving the special position of Brussels. Main issues are the large social security transfer payments from Flanders, which is the richer and more dynamic part of the country, with a younger population, to Â�Wallonia, which has a graying population and higher unemployment. For that reason, Wallonia now clings to a strong central state, but Flanders, long oppressed by the French speakers, favors more federalization, in particular of social security, and even independence. A special issue is the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde constituency (BHV) in Flanders, which has special facilities for French speakers (for instance the right to vote for French-speaking candidates in Brussels). The situation is a thorn in the side of the Flemish, and has also been declared unconstitutional, but a solution has not yet been found. The whole issue of federalization, which has been going on for four decades in various stages, is called state reform (staatshervorming/reforme de l’état).

Policies Belgium has a well-developed welfare state, similar to the Dutch one and only slightly less developed than the Scandinavian welfare states. Because of the large state bureaucracy, with its many government tiers, the country has a high national debt of more than 80 percent of gross national product (GNP), but it was allowed to join the European Monetary Union (which requires national debt to be lower than 60 percent of GNP) as it intended to reduce its debt, but those efforts, if any, have failed so far. In ethical issues, the country is libertarian; it legalized abortion at an early stage and, right after Holland, it was the second country to legalize euthanasia in 2002 and also the second to recognize same-sex marriage in 2003; both measures were taken by cabinets of Conservative Liberals and Social Democrats without Christian Democrats. In international politics, the country has always had a low profile. It has often mediated between Germanic and Latin countries and between Atlanticist and Europeanist countries, however.

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Major Political Parties from Left to Right Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste [PS])

The party is the French-speaking part of the former Belgian Socialist Party, which split up in 1978. The party is Social Democratic, yet it has been close to the French tradition of activist socialism, has been strongly linked to the Social Democratic trade union movement, and has a traditional rather than a Third-Way ideology. It has scored rather stably in national elections, between 13 and 20 percent of the seats. Between 1978 and 1995 it was the country’s second-largest party behind the Flemish Christian Democrats (just as the united Socialist Party was before the split), but then it was surpassed by the Conservative Liberals, only to return as the second-largest party in 2010. The party used to be and to some extent still is very dominant in Wallonia, both at the local and regional levels, and in the 1980s it increasingly adopted the regional cause, in particular Walloon interests. Since 1988 it has constantly participated in national governments, first under Christian Democrats (1988–1999), then under the Conservative Liberals (1999–2008), and again under Christian Democrats (2008–2010). In 2007–2010, for the first time, it was a member of the governing coalition without its Flemish counterpart. The first party leader was André Cools, who had also headed the united party for a long time; he was assassinated in 1981, a crime that has never been solved. He was succeeded by university professor Guy Spitaels, who gave up his position in the national Â�government to become prime minister of Wallonia. The party leader since 1999 is Elio Di Rupo. In the EU the Socialist Party is a member of the Social Democrat S&D Party.

Different Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij Anders [SP.A]) The party is the Flemish part of the former Belgian Socialist Party, which was divided in 1978. The word “Anders” (Different) was added in 2001. More than its Walloon counterpart it is a Germanic-style Social Democratic Party. The party is smaller than its Walloon sister party; it mostly wins between 10 and 15 percent of the national seats, and in contrast to the Walloon party, it does not play a preponderant role in its region because of the predominance of the Christian Democrats and recently the Conservative Liberals in Flanders. Yet, some of its leaders have played a prominent role in Belgian politics, notably Karel van Miert, who headed the party between 1978 and 1989, and Louis Tobback, who was party leader from 1994 to 1998. The party participated in national coalitions in 1979–1981 and 1988–2007, first under Christian Democrats, later under Conservative Liberals. Party leader is Caroline Gennez. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D.

Christian Democratic and Flemish (Christendemocratisch en Vlaams [CD&V]) The party, originally known as the Christian People’s Party (Christelijke Â�Volkspartij [CVP]) was the Flemish part of the Christian Democratic Party when it was divided



BELGIUM (België/la Belgique)╇ | 471

in 1968. It adopted its current name, Christian Democratic and Flemish Party, in 2001 to show its nature as a party for Flanders. Until 2010, the party continued the strong position of its predecessors within a dense network of Catholic Flemish (and formerly national) organizations ranging from the Catholic trade union movement, the largest in the country, to associations of small enterprises. It used to be the country’s largest political party, with more than one fifth of all seats in the national parliament, but in the 1990s it gradually declined to under 15 percent; so in 2007 it formed a (short-lived) alliance with the small conservative New Flemish Â�Alliance. The party was in power from its very beginning until 1999, and once again in 2008–2010. Prominent prime ministers were Gaston Eyskens (1968–1973); Leo Tindemans (1974–1978); Wilfried Martens, with eight cabinets between 1979 and 1992; and Jean-Luc Dehaene (1992–1999). Herman Van Rompuy was premier for a while before being appointed president of the European Council. The current party leader is Marianne Thyssen. The party is affiliated with the Christian Â�Democrat and conservative EPP.

Humanist Democratic Center (Centre démocrate humaniste [CdH]) The Humanist Democratic Center Party was the French-speaking part of the Â�Christian Democratic Party when it was divided in 1968; it was founded in 1972 as the Christian Social Party (Parti Social-Chrétien [PSC]); the current name was adopted before the 2003 elections. The PSC used to be more conservative than its Flemish counterpart Christian People’s Party, and much smaller; it was a narrower people’s party, and in Wallonia it was always far behind the Socialist Party. With the new name in 2003 it also shifted course to the left, however, and it is now slightly to the left of the CD&V. In the 1970s the party still scored just over 10 percent of the seats, but since 1981 its share has decreased to some 5 to 7 percent; the new course in 2002 did not bring success. The Humanist Democratic Center has participated in all cabinets that were and are led by their Flemish counterparts, as a privileged junior sister, and it had one minister president, Paul Vanden Boeynants (1978–1979). The current party leader, and one of the initiators of the 2003 change, is Joëlle Milquet. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP.

Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vlaamse Liberalen en€Democraten [Open VLD]) The party was founded in 1971, when the national Conservative Liberal Party was divided into a Flemish and a Walloon part (and a special liberal party for bilingual Brussels). Its name was Party for Freedom and Progress (Partij voor Vrijheid en vooruitgang [PVP]). In 1992 the name Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten [VLD]) was adopted under its leader Guy Verhofstadt, who was the party’s only prime minister in three consecutive coalitions (1999– 2008). From 1971 until 2003 the party steadily increased its share of seats to

472 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

17  percent, but it has declined since then. Apart from the three cabinets under Guy Verhofdstadt, the party participated in a number of cabinets under Christian Democratic prime ministers. Originally the party was a conservative party in favor of centralization of power, which reduced its popularity in Flanders, but under Verhofstadt the party became a bit less conservative, although certainly not social liberal, and it has stressed its Flemish roots, yet without lasting success. The party leader is Alexander De Croo. In the EU the party is a member of the liberal ALDE.

Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur [MR]) The party is the French-speaking Conservative Liberal Party; it was founded in 1971 as Parti Réformateur Libéral (PRL; although the name was not adopted until 1979), when the Conservative Liberal Party was divided into a Flemish- and a French-speaking part. In 2002, the party merged with the French-speaking liberal party of the bilingual capital Brussels and a few other small parties and since that time the new name has been used. Since the merger the party has earned some 10 to 15 percent of the seats in national elections; it has participated in all cabinets in which its Flemish counterpart was one of the participant parties. The party leader is Didier Reynders. In the EU the party is a member of the liberal ALDE.

New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie [N-VA]) The party was founded in 2001 as a moderate regionalist party, and already in 2010 it was able to change the political landscape by a landslide in Flanders, which made it the largest party in the country. In contrast to most regionalist parties N-VA is a pro-European party, and it is not radical rightist but conservative. It demands a gradual transformation of Belgium into a strongly federalized nation, ultimately to result in Flemish independence. The party leader is Bart De Wever. In the EU the party is affiliated with the European Free Alliance, a group of maverick parties that combines forces with the Greens.

Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang [VB]) This is a radical rightist party, founded in 1978 under the name Flemish Bloc (Vlaams Blok) to press for Flemish independence and very strict immigration policies and integration policies for immigrants; some of its leaders have at times made racist and anti-Semitic statements. The first party leader was Karel Dillen, who resigned in 1996, but by that time Filip Dewinter had already become the party strong man. In 2004 a court ruled that the Flemish Bloc violated Belgian laws on racism and outlawed the party, but its successor, the Flemish Interest, was immediately founded. In the 1980s the party did not have much success, but in 1991 it secured more than 5 percent of the seats, and since 1999 it has gained more than 10 percent. It is particularly strong in and around Antwerp, Belgium’s main seaport. The other parties have maintained a cordon sanitaire against the party,



BELGIUM (België/la Belgique)╇ | 473

which means no other party has ever entered into a coalition with the Flemish Bloc or Flemish Interest on any level of government. There is not a Walloon counterpart of Flemish Interest, partly because Wallonia has been used to immigration since industrialization and because Wallonia receives large funds from the central government, which are actually supplied by Flanders, and it would be worse off without the transfers.

Defunct national parties Belgian Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste Belge [PS] / Belgische Socialistische Parti [SP]) The unified Social Democratic Party was founded right after the war as successor to a prewar Belgian Workers’ Party, which had been founded in 1885 and was a leading Social Democratic Party at that time. The party was divided in 1978. Its rise began after World War I, when Belgium experienced a large strike wave during the postwar turmoil. Prominent leaders, also active in the international labor movement before World War II, were Emile Vandervelde; Hendrik de Man, who introduced the idea of a planned economy during the 1930s crisis; and Camille Huysmans. Right after its start the party was dominated by Chiel Van Acker, prime minister in 1945–1946 and 1954–1958 and initiator of postwar corporatism, and Paul-Henri Spaak, prime minister in 1946–1948, who was actively involved in the founding of the EU and NATO. The party was always the second biggest in parliament behind the Christian Democrats; it got between 30 and 40 percent of the seats, which declined to 28 percent in 1968. The Walloon wing of the party was always stronger than the Flemish one because of the concentration of mining and heavy industry in Wallonia. Christian Democrats The united Christian Democratic Party was founded in 1945 under the name Christelijke Volkspartij [CVP]–Parti Social Chrétien [PSC]); it was the Â�successor to  the prewar Catholic party—but because there are hardly any Protestants in Â�Belgium the new party actually remained a Catholic party. One of the major issues in which the party was involved was the struggle about the funding of Â�predominantly Â�Catholic private schools. Right from its start the party was the biggest in Belgium, obtaining more than 45 percent of the seats until 1965, and even a majority in 1950; yet already at the end of the 1950s decline set in, and in 1968, the last elections in which the united party competed, its share of seats had dropped to one third. The party was a dominant and stabilizing force in Belgian politics; it participated in the national government between 1947 and its division in 1968, except for the years 1954–1958. Since 1949 all prime ministers of the coalitions in which it participated were Christian Democrats—a domination that continued after the division of the party. The most prominent leader before the 1968 split was Gaston Eyskens, from Flanders, who headed six cabinets between 1949 and 1973.

474 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

Conservative Liberals In 1848, the Liberal Party (Liberale Partij–Parti Libéral) was founded, one of the first political parties in Europe. One of its most prominent leaders was Walthère Frère-Orban; after World War I the party declined because of the rise of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats. The share of seats after World War II Â� fluctuated between 14 and 8 percent. In 1961, the party was changed by Omer Vanoudenhove into the Party for Freedom and Progress (Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang [PVV]–Parti de la Liberté et du Progrès [PLP]). The aim was to break the strong hold of the Christian Democrats on Catholics by removing the most anticlerical statements from the platform and by shifting a bit to the center. The result was two electoral victories, in 1965 and 1968, when the party for the first time secured more than 20 percent of the seats, although it remained third behind the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats. In 1971 the party was divided. It never had a prime minister after World War II, although it participated in a number of cabinets.

LUXEMBOURG (Lëtzebuerg/Luxembourg) Luxembourg hardly ever makes headlines in Europe. In relative silence it has become by far the richest European country, housing international and EU offices and banks, which employ large numbers of highly educated temporary immigrants.

The Land and the People The Land

Luxembourg is a very small landlocked country between Belgium, Germany, and France. With an area of 998 square miles (2,586 square kilometers), two thirds of the size of Rhode Island, it is the second smallest European nation, just before Malta. The country has more or less the shape of a cone; the western border with Belgium and the eastern border with Germany are equally long, and the southern French border is much shorter. The borders have been stable since the Â�post-Napoleonic peace treaties. The longest road distances are 50 miles (95 kilometers) from north to south and 35 miles (65 kilometers) from west to east. Most of the country is hilly, and the highest peak is 1,837 feet (560 meters).

The People Luxembourg has 492,000 inhabitants, fewer than Wyoming; in Europe only Malta and Iceland have fewer inhabitants. Most inhabitants speak German and French; a regional version of German, Letzeburgish, is the common language in �everyday conversation, but French is regarded as the national language. The c� ountry has a high number of immigrants, almost all of them from other �European Union �countries, in particular manual workers from Portugal, and high-paid office workers from

LUXEMBOURG (Lëtzebuerg/Luxembourg)╇| 475

the neighboring countries. Traditionally, Catholicism has been the predominant religion. The national capital Luxembourg is the only city; it has almost 100,000 inhabitants.

The Economy Luxembourg is by far Europe’s richest country. Its wealth is not from the steel industry in the southern part but is from the many offices of international firms, including banks, that are headquartered in Luxembourg because of the banking secrecy laws; many commercial broadcasting stations are also located there to evade the national broadcasting rules in the surrounding countries. In spite of its wealth, the country has long been able to retain a position as a net receiver of EU funds.

Culture Luxembourg has followed trends in Western European culture and arts, without making any important national contributions to international folklore or art, but the Luxembourgers are not burdened by this absence.

History Table LU 1╇ Timeline of Luxembourg’s History 51 BC Inhabited by Celtic tribe, under Roman rule after conquest by Caesar AD Fifth Germanic tribe of the Franks becomes dominant â•…century 843 Part of the Central Kingdom at the division of Charlemagne’s empire 963 Foundation of the County of Luxembourg 1308 Luxembourg dynasty also emperors of Holy Roman Empire 1430s Sigismund of Luxembourg is German emperor and king of Bohemia, â•… Hungary, and Croatia 1443 Conquest by the Burgundians 1477 Under Habsburg family, later the Spanish branch of that family 1688 French conquest 1701 France has to cede Luxembourg to the Austrian Habsburgs, who also rule â•…Belgium 1795 Annexed by France after the French Revolution 1815 Promoted to Grand Duchy as a German state; protected by Prussia, but â•… under Dutch crown 1867 Great Powers recognize its independence and neutrality 1890 No longer under the Dutch crown, independent Grand Duchy 1914– Occupied by Germany during World War I â•…1918 1919 Universal suffrage 1940– Occupied by Nazi Germany and integrated into Germany until â•… 1944 â•… liberation in 1944

(Continued)

476 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

1951 1952 1964 1973 2000 2003

One of the founders of the EU Seat of European Coal and Steel Community Grand Duke Jean van Nassau succeeds Grand Duchess Charlotte Seat of the European Court of Justice Grand Duke Henri succeeds Grand Duke Jean Adoption of the euro

Political System Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary political system. Even more than in Holland and Belgium, politics is dominated by Christian democrats.

Constitution The Luxembourg constitution dates from 1841, but it was thoroughly amended in 1868. It has been frequently amended since then, sometimes with detailed regulations. A 1948 amendment put an end to the country’s neutrality, so it could be one of the founders of NATO. The constitution ordains that priests are paid out of the public budget.

Head of State The grand duke of Luxembourg of the originally German Nassau dynasty is the hereditary head of state, and Luxembourg is the only grand duchy still in existence (under Russian rule Finland was also a grand duchy until 1917). Since 2000, the current incumbent is Henri; his predecessor was his father Jean, who succeeded his mother Charlotte in 1964. Charlotte had come to the throne in 1919. The functions of the head of state are mainly ceremonial, as shown by a recent incident. In 2008, Henri declared that he would not sign a law legalizing euthanasia. (Holland and Belgium had already legalized it.) Prime minister Juncker then declared that he would propose a new amendment to the constitution that the grand duke’s signature would no longer be needed for laws. Although the constitution has not yet been adapted, Henri will probably not refuse his signature again.

Legislative Power Luxembourg has a one-chamber parliament (Châmber vun Députéirten, Chambre des Députés), elected by means of proportional representation (see Table LU 2). The 60 members of the one-chamber parliament (48 men, 12 women) have a fiveyear term, and they are elected in four multimember districts, with 23 seats for the south, 21 seats for the center, 9 for the north, and 7 for the east. From left to right the political spectrum consists of Radical Left to Green to Christian Democrats to Social Democrats to Conservative Liberals to the Radical Right.

LUXEMBOURG (Lëtzebuerg/Luxembourg)╇| 477

Table LU 2╇ Luxembourg’s Châmber since 2003 Party Ideology

No. of Seats 2003

No. of Seats 2009

Percent of Votes 2009

1 Christian Social People’s Party Christian democratic 24 26 38.0 2 Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Social democratic 14 13 21.6 â•…Party 3 Democratic Party Conservative liberal 10 9 15.0 4 The Greens Green 7 7 11.7 5 Alternative Democratic Reform Radical right 5 4 8.1 â•…Party 6 The Left Radical left 0 1 3.3 7 Other 2.3 Total 60 60 100

Executive Power All Luxembourg cabinets have been coalitions, and with only one exception (1974–1979), the Christian Democrats have been the leading coalition party. As Table LU 3 shows, there have only been seven prime ministers since World War II, which shows the great stability of national politics and the regular shift from Table LU 3╇ Luxembourg’s Governments and Prime Ministers since 1945 Parties Begin

No. of Prime Ministers* Months

1 Christian Democrats/Social 1945 16 Pierre Dupong â•…Democrats/Conservative â•…Liberals/Communists 2 Christian Democrats/ 1947 50 Pierre Dupong (2) â•… Conservative Liberals 3 Christian Democrats/ 1951 90 Pierre Dupong, Joseph â•… Social Democrats â•… Bech (2), Pierre Frieden 4 Christian Democrats/ 1959 64 Pierre Werner â•… Conservative Liberals 5 Christian Democrats/ 1964 52 Pierre Werner â•… Social Democrats 6 Christian Democrats/ 1969 65 Pierre Werner â•… Conservative Liberals 7 Conservative Liberals/ 1974 61 Gaston Thorn â•… Social Democrats (Continued)

478 |╇The Low Countries:The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg 8 Christian Democrats/ 1979 60 Pierre Werner ╅ Conservative Liberals 9 Christian Democrats/ 1984 180 Jacques Santer (3), ╅ Social Democrats Jean-Claude Juncker 10 Christian Democrats/ 1999 60 Jean-Claude Juncker ╅ Conservative Liberals 11 Christian Democrats/ July 2004 Jean-Claude Juncker ╅ Social Democrats Total: 11 periods Total: 8 prime ╅ ministers, 18 ╅cabinets * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

Social Democrats to Conservative Liberals and vice versa as coalition partners of the Christian Democrats, a rotation of partner almost every five years.

Judicial Power The highest court is the Constitutional Court (Cour constitutionelle), which has the right of judicial review of the constitutionality of laws. It has nine members, appointed by the government after nomination by the judiciary itself. The highest regular court is the Cour supérieure de justice.

Referendums The only postwar referendum was held in 2005 on the concept of the EU constitution. A majority was in favor.

Civil Society Civil society bears more similarities to the Flemish than to the Walloon situation in Belgium. Luxembourg has a predominantly Catholic population, yet there is no clerical/anticlerical strife and labor–business contacts are relatively smooth.

Policies In spite of the very dominant position of the Christian Democrats, the country has followed the lead of Holland and Belgium in ethical issues, and legalized same-sex marriage in 2010.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Arbechterspartei [LSAP]) The party dates from 1902 and has had this name since 1946. It has always been second to the Christian Democrats, and most of the time it has participated in a Christian Democrat/Social Democrat coalition. From 1948 until 1990, the party always won at least a quarter of all seats and since 1991 between 20 and

LUXEMBOURG (Lëtzebuerg/Luxembourg)╇| 479

25 percent. In the 1970s, the party adopted a more radical platform, which resulted in an Â�abortive split off, but after disappointing election results in 1979, the party’s worst year since 1945, the party moved back to a more moderate course. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democratic S&D Party. The party leader is Jean Asselborn.

Christian Social People’s Party (Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei [CSV]) The precursor of the party was founded as Party of the Right (Rietspartei), as a protector of the Catholic Church against state interference. After 1944, the party widened its appeal and a year later adopted its current name. Although it is still a predominantly Catholic party, relations with the Catholic Church have become less close. The party has been a dominant force in Luxembourg politics since 1945; until 1959 it won more than 40 percent of the seats, in 1954 it won 50 percent, in 1960–2004 it won 30 to 40 percent, and in the 2009 elections it won more than 40 percent of the seats. One of the party’s most prominent leaders was Jacques Santer, who was the minister of labor and finance until 1984, prime minister until 1995, and then was appointed president of the European Commission. The current prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, was also minister of labor and finance until he took the premiership in 1995. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democratic Party EPP. The party leader is Michel Wolter.

Democratic Party (Demokratesch Partei [DP]) Founded in 1954, this has been a Conservative Liberal Party, always third in size behind the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats, except for 1979 and 1999 when it surpassed the Social Democrats. Its share of the seats has varied between 11 and 25 percent. In 1974–1979, its leader, Gaston Thorn, headed a coalition with the Social Democrats, the only government without Christian Democrats. It introduced changes in a more libertarian direction on issues such as divorce rules and abortion. In the EU the party is a member of the liberal ALDE. The party leader is Claude Meisch.

Germany and the Alpine Nations Denmark

North Sea

Baltic Sea

SchleswigHolstein

Bremen

Holland

Hamburg

MecklenburgVorpommern

Niedersachsen

Amsterdam The Hague

Berlin NordrheinWestfalen Ruhr Area Cologne

Belgium L u x.

Pfalz Saarland

France

SachsenAnhalt

Germany Hessen

Thüringen

Poland

Brandenburg

Sachsen

Prague

Frankfurt

Czechia

Bayern BadenWürttemberg Munich

Bern Liechtenstein

Swit zerland

Tirol

Vienna Oberösterreich Niederösterreich

Austria

Salzburg

Steiermark

Kärnten

Italy

Slovenia

Hungary

Germany and the Alpine Nations. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

5â•…The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

T

he Alpine Nations, Switzerland and Austria, have a number of political features in common. These are listed in Table ALP 1.

SWITZERLAND (die Schweiz/Suisse) To the Swiss, as to the rest of the world, Switzerland is a landlocked island. It looks like an island on a map of the EU territory, almost at the heart of the EU but still an outsider, as if Colorado were an independent country instead of a US state. Switzerland is an island of federalism in a continent that has been dominated by centralized nations, if only for warfare. It did not begin as a kingdom in which one feudal ruler gradually monopolized power over the other feudal fiefs but as a

Table ALP 1╇ What the Alpine Nations Have in Common in Politics Political spectrum Dominated by Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and a ╅ mostly smaller Conservative Liberal Party, similar to the ╅ political spectrum in the Low Countries Coalitions Political disputes are prevented by means of grand coalitions or a ╅ governmental cartel of the biggest parties Recent radicalism In each country one party has recently changed to a radical course, ╅ resulting in growing success in the polls: the Conservative Party ╅ in Switzerland and the Conservative Liberal Party in Austria Ethical issues They take a less libertarian stance on ethical issues than the other ╅ Germanic nations Strikes They have the lowest strike rate in Europe; strikes are not counted ╅ in days but in minutes International politics Both countries have maintained a low profile in international ╅ politics for most of the postwar period

481

482 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

defense league of three small Alpine valleys under an early kind of popular rule that gradually extended to the surrounding area. It is not a confederation, however, as the license plate CH (Confederatio Helvetica) suggests. The country serves as a kind of worldwide Fort Knox, hoarding the gold of the rich and superrich in its bank safes. The economic function has been served by an almost total depoliticization of national politics by means of a government cartel consisting of the larger parties and by international political isolation, Switzerland did not join any international organization that could challenge in any way its sovereignty and it did not apply for United Nations (UN) membership until 2002.

The Land and the People The Land

Switzerland is a landlocked country centrally situated in Western Europe between Germany, France, and Italy. Its size is 15,937 square miles (41,277 square kilometers), roughly the same as Denmark or Holland and roughly the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined. The longest west–east road distance is some 300 miles (470 kilometers), the longest north to south distance 170 miles (265 kilometers). Its neighbors are Germany to the north; France to the west; Austria and Liechtenstein to the east; and Italy, with which it has the longest border, to the south. The borders have been stable since the post-Napoleonic peace treaties. Switzerland stands for mountains; whenever Europeans think of mountains, Switzerland is what comes to their minds. Indeed, the Alps make up the southern two thirds of the country, with peaks of 15,203 feet (4,634 meters; Monte Rosa) and 14,690 feet (4,478 meters; Matterhorn), both on the border with Italy. The second mountain chain, the Jura, makes up a small part along the French border in the west, with a highest elevation of 5,509 feet (1,679 meters); the Midlands in between consist of a hilly plateau. There are a number of lakes, but the largest are on the borders, and Switzerland has to share them with its neighbors. The climate varies from mild continental in the north to alpine in the Alps, and it is much warmer on the southern flanks of the Alps close to Italy.

The People Population density is higher than one might expect in such a mountainous country; Switzerland has more inhabitants, 7. 6 million, than Denmark, which is hilly and flat, and almost the same number as Virginia. By far the biggest city is Zürich, with almost a million inhabitants, followed by Basel with more than half a million. The capital, Bern, and Geneva have fewer than 200,000 inhabitants. The population is highly divided, both ethnically and religiously. More than 70 percent of the total population speaks Schwyzerdütch, a regional variant of German (not to be confused with the Dutch language spoken in the Netherlands); 21 percent, in the west, speak French; five percent, in the southeast, speak Italian; and less than one percent, in the



SWITZERLAND (die Schweiz/Suisse)╇ | 483

villages of the east, speak another Latin Language, Rhaeto-Romanic, or Romansh. All four languages enjoy the status of officially recognized regional languages, though Â�German and French serve as national languages. The religious division is between, on the one hand, Lutheran Protestants in the German-speaking regions and Calvinism in the French-speaking and, on the other hand, Catholics in both regions and the rest of the nation. The religious division cuts through the ethnic division; most German speakers are Protestant and concentrated in the big cities, but there are also Catholic German speakers, and the same applies to the French-speaking population.

The Economy Industry is dispersed over the country in many small and medium-sized enterprises. The country is prominent in industries like pharmaceuticals (Hoffman La Roche); food processing (Nestlé), with chocolate as a national specialty; clocks and watches; and machine building. The fame of the nation is based on two other sectors, however: banking and tourism. The prominent role in banking is because of the secrecy (bank information is guarded like a national treasure) and stability of Swiss banks. International jet-setters from Europe and Arab countries combine the two activities, banking and tourism, on their journeys to Zurich or Geneva, which is probably the European city with most banks and jewelry stores per capita. Bank secrecy is under international attack, however, and the country has already given information to the tax authorities of a few countries.

Culture Local democracy and federalism are not the only contributions Switzerland has made to European culture; it has also contributed the noble arts of finance and yodeling (the cuckoo clock is a German invention). Two names in 20th-century art are architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965) and sculptor Alberto Giacometti (1901– 1966). In philosophy the country can point to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), who influenced the French Revolution. The national hero is mythical William Tell, who lived in the 14th century and withstood the Austrians. The whole world knows about his apple-shooting incident. Yet another famous son is Henri Dunant (1828–1910), who founded the Red Cross in 1864.

History

Political System Switzerland is a federal country with a parliamentary political system in which not only the post of president but also that of prime minister does not carry much weight. Politics is dominated by a cartel of the largest parties.

Constitution The first constitution of Switzerland as a federal nation was enacted in 1848, following the brief Civil War between the Protestant north and the Catholic south.

484 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

Table CH 1╇ Timeline of Swiss History 15 BC Romans invade the country and subjugate the Celtic Helvetians Fifth century The Alemanni and Burgundians, Germanic tribes, settle in the country; â•… the Burgundians are Romanized and both are gradually Christianized 843 The country is split up under Charlemagne’s successors; the west comes â•… under the Burgundians and central Switzerland is under Germany 11th century Switzerland becomes a part of the Holy Roman Empire 1291 The first three cantons, Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwald, conclude a pact of â•… mutual assistance, marking the beginning of the Swiss federal nation 14th century Regular battles between the Swiss valleys and the Habsburg dynasty; â•… several regions and towns join the three original cantons 1531 After the Reformation Protestants are defeated by Catholics, but each â•… canton gets the right to determine its own religion 1536 John Calvin changes Geneva into a very strict theocracy 1648 In the Westphalia Peace Treaty Switzerland is recognized as an â•… independent country 1798 Napoleon invades the country, but after five years the confederacy is restored 1815 At the Vienna Congress the great powers promise the country eternal â•…neutrality 1847–1848 Civil war between liberal Protestant cantons and the Catholic rural southern â•… cantons; the south is defeated and a new federal constitution is adopted 1874 New constitution definitively establishes a federal system of the 26 cantons 1914–1918 Neutrality during World War I 1939–1945 Neutrality during World War II 1971 Universal suffrage at the federal level; the last European country to do so 1990 The federal government requires the last canton to introduce universal â•…suffrage 2002 Switzerland joins the United Nations (UN) after a positive referendum â•…outcome 2007 End of the magic formula of the four leading parties constituting the â•…government

It was influenced by American federalism and the French Revolution. In 1874 a new version was adopted, which definitively established the federal system. It also contained the right of referendum at the federal level, and in 1891 the right of initiative for new amendments by groups of citizens was introduced. A third constitution was enacted in 1999, which reformulated and extended the civil rights. All amendments of the constitution require national and cantonal referendums.

Head of State Switzerland does not have a real head of state. The seven-member executive power, the Federal Council (Bundesrat/Conseil fédéral), acts as a collective head of state,



SWITZERLAND (die Schweiz/Suisse)╇ | 485

and each year it elects one of its members to perform the head of state’s ceremonial functions, without any special powers.

Legislative Power Switzerland has a bicameral legislature, the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung/Assemblée fédérale), with equal rights for both houses, more or less Â�patterned after the US Congress. The National Council has 200 members and the Council of States has 46 members. In both houses members are elected for a Â�four-year term. The 200 members of the National Council (Nationalrat/Conseil national), 29 Â�percent of whom are women, are elected by means of proportional representation. Table CH 2 shows its composition. The cantons serve as constituencies and have a number of seats in proportion to population size; the number ranges from 1 seat for each of the six least populous cantons to 34 for the Zürich canton. The 2007 elections only had a 49 percent turnout, which is very low by Germanic European standards. The positions of the parties in the political spectrum from left to right are Green Party to Social Democratic Party to Christian Democratic People’s Party to Green Liberal Party to Free Democratic Party – The Liberals to the Swiss People’s Party. ·â†œæ¸€å±® The popularly elected Council of States (Ständerat/Conseil des E tats) serves as the watchdog of cantonal interests in federal government. For council elections the cantons also serve as voting districts; 20 cantons have two representatives and the six smaller cantons have one councillor each. Table CH 3 shows the composition since 2003. Parliamentary committees can also include members from outside the parliament, for instance the trade unions or employers’ associations. Both houses have the Table CH 2╇ The Swiss Nationalrat/Conseil National since 2003 Party Ideology 1 Swiss People’s Party Radical right 2 Social Democratic Party Social democratic 3 Free Democratic Party – the Conservative liberal â•…Liberals 4 Christian Democratic Christian democratic â•… People’s Party 5 Green Party Green Other Total

No. No. Percent of of of Seats Seats votes 2003 2007 2007 55 52 40*

62 43 35

28.9 19.5 17.7

28

31

14.5

13 12 200

20 9.6 9 4.5 200 100

* In 2003 the Free Democratic Party earned 36 seats and the Liberal Party of Switzerland earned 4 seats separately.

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· Table CH 3╇ The Swiss Ständerat/Conseil des Etats since 2003 Party Ideology 1 Christian Democratic People’s Party Christian democratic 2 Free Democratic Party – the Liberals Conservative liberal 3 Social Democratic Party Social democratic 4 Swiss People’s Party Radical right 5 Other Total

No. of Seats 2003

No. of Seats 2007

15 14 9 8 – 46

15 12 9 7 3 46

same powers. In case debate in the two chambers results in different versions of a bill, either of the two houses can try to find a compromise, or a kind of US-style conference committee is set up to forge a compromise.

Executive Power From 1945 until 1953 the four leading parties were represented in the sevenmember executive power, the Federal Council (Bundesrat/Conseil federal); in 1953 the Social Democrats left the Federal Council and shifted to the opposition, but they returned in 1959. Since 1959 Switzerland has opted for a cartel democracy (Kartelldemokratie) by means of the magic formula (Zauberformel/Formule magique), in which the executive power consists of the four leading parties—two seats each for the three biggest parties and one seat for the smallest of the four parties. They are elected for a four-year period by the Federal Assembly but need not be members of the assembly. Cabinet turnover does not exist in Switzerland; not all members are elected at the same time and the cabinet cannot be removed from office by the parliament. Only individual members of the cabinet can be voted out of office. The composition of the cabinet takes into account the representation of the religious and language groups. As Table CH 4 shows, until 2003 the radical rightist Swiss People’s Party had one seat in the cabinet and the other big parties had two, but in that year the Christian Democrats had to give up one seat in favor of the Swiss People’s Party, which had become the largest party. The agreement was to some extent abandoned in 2007 when one of the two representatives of the Swiss People’s Party was elected instead of the party leader Christoph Blocher, and the second party representative left the party voluntarily. Both of them joined a new party, the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland, which split off from the Swiss People’s Party. The new party then occupied two seats in the executive yet had no popular support. In 2008, one of the two representatives from the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland gave up his seat, and someone from the Swiss People’s Party was elected in his



SWITZERLAND (die Schweiz/Suisse)╇ | 487

Table CH 4╇ Governments of Switzerland since 1945

No. of Representatives from Each Party*

1 3 Conservative Liberals, 2 Christian Democrats, 1 Conservative, â•… 1 Social Democrat 2 4 Conservative Liberals, 2 Christian Democrats, 1 Conservative 3 3 Conservative Liberals, 3 Christian Democrats, 1 Conservative 4 2 Conservative Liberals, 2 Social Democrats, 2 Christian Democrats, â•… 1 Conservative who later shifted to the Radical Right 5 2 Conservative Liberals, 2 Social Democrats, 2 Radical Right, â•… 1 Christian Democrat 6 2 Conservative Liberals, 2 Social Democrats, 1 Radical Right, â•… 1 Radical Right split-off, 1 Christian Democrat

Begin 1945 1953 1954 1959 2003 2008

* Conservative Liberal refers to the Free Democratic Party; Christian Democrat refers to the Christian Democratic People’s Party; Social Democrat refers to the Social Democratic Party; Conservative refers to the Swiss People’s Party before the 1980s; the Radical Right refers to the same party, Swiss People’s Party, after its turn to the right in the 1980s; the Radical Right split-off in 2008 refers to the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland.

place. The seat for the Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland broke the magic formula, although the Swiss People’s Party, given its size, probably would have broken it anyway.

Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws does not exist in Switzerland; bills can only be invalidated by a referendum. The people’s will is the supreme power of the nation. All cantons have their own courts.

Referendums Switzerland is the most referendum-loving country in Europe; referendums are a nationwide continuation of the traditional village meetings that decided local politics in earlier times. Referendums can be used to veto a new act that has passed the parliament or to initiate new legislation. For a number of federal bills, including amendments to the constitution, referendums are compulsory. At the federal level, to force a referendum on a federal act that has passed the parliament, citizens need 50,000 signatures. For a referendum to initiate a new bill, 100,000 signatures are needed. One of the latest referendums, in 2010, banned the construction of new Muslim minarets in addition to the four existing ones. This measure was opposed by the cabinet but supported by rightist and leftist groups and the women’s movement. Other referendums in 2008 and 2009 (probably to the astonishment of many Â�conservative Americans) accepted a tax increase to pay for an extension of the disability insurance, introduced biometric passports, lifted the statute of limitations for crimes involving child pornography, and allowed freedom of movement for workers from the two new EU members, Bulgaria and Romania.

488 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

Among the proposals that were rejected were the legalization of personal consumption of soft drugs (e.g., marijuana), similar to the approach in the Netherlands Â� and Belgium; a flexible pension age (allowing for early retirement); a greater role for insurance companies in health care; a ban on fighter-jet flights over tourist areas; and a proposal of the radical rightist Swiss People’s Party to leave decisions regarding naturalization of foreigners to the local level, in the Â�expectation that locals would be stricter.

Civil Society The relation between state and church varies among the cantons. Some have a strict separation, and others have a church tax from which citizens can opt out (and pay the same amount as a regular tax). Employment relations between employers and trade unions are very peaceful; as in Austria even a very small labor dispute makes great headlines in this almost strike-free country. One of the reasons sometimes cited for the low number of strikes is the low unionization rate, only 20 percent, the lowest rate of all Germanic countries; nevertheless, Austria reaches the same result, that is, a very low level of strikes, with a relatively high unionization rate. The low union density shows the low priority given to trade unionism generally, in great contrast to the Scandinavian countries, where trade unions are often the first association working people join. The largest trade union confederation is the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (Schweizerischer Gewerkschaftbund/Union syndicale suisse), and the largest employer’s confederation is the Swiss Confederation of Employers (Schweizerischer Arbeitgeberverband/Union patronale Suisse). Collective bargaining covers sectors nationwide, and in spite of their small size, trade unions—and employers—are often informally involved in corporatist decision making with the national government on social and economic policies.

Federalism The country is divided into 26 cantons, each of which has its own constitution and elected legislature. The newest canton added was Jura in 1979; previously, it was the French-speaking part of the Bern canton. The cantons have the right to levy their own tax and are responsible for almost all domestic policy fields, �including �education. By far the largest canton is Zurich, with more than one million �inhabitants; the Bern canton has almost one million. Eight cantons have fewer than 100,000 inhabitants; the smallest is Appenzell Inner Rhoden with 15,500 inhabatitants.

Policies All politics is local, a popular saying about US politics, applies to Switzerland most of all European nations. The cantons, some of them no more than a few �villages, have their own policies in almost every realm of social life, so it is hard to draw general conclusions about Swiss policies. In spite of its reputation as a stronghold of unbridled capitalism, the country has a well-developed system of social security and health care. Nuclear energy has been the



SWITZERLAND (die Schweiz/Suisse)╇ | 489

subject of a number of referendums, but all referendums to impose a ban or a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants have been voted down. Ethical issues are often decided by means of national referendums; examples are the legalization of abortion and the recognition of same-sex relations, short of same-sex marriage.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (Sozialdemokratische Partie der Schweiz [SPS]/Parti socialiste Suisse [PS]) The party was founded in 1888 by a number of labor groups, but in 1920 the communist members split off. By 1943, the Social Democrats had become the biggest party in Switzerland. Since 1947, the party has always occupied between 20 and 28 percent of the seats, and at times it has been the largest party, competing for that rank with the Conservative Liberal Party; since the 2003 elections, however, the Social Democrats have lost the leading position to the Radical Right. In the 1950s the party was in opposition, but it moderated its course and since 1959 has been in government, which was the beginning of the magic Formula. The Social Democrats focus on maintaining the “Social State” (Sozialstaat), and the party especially draws urban and Protestant voters in the German-speaking regions. More than any other Swiss party it is in favor of EU membership. The party leader is Christian Levrat.

Christian Democratic People’s Party of Switzerland (Christlich Demokratische Volkspartei [CVP]/Parti démocratique chrétien [PDC]) This predominantly Catholic party was founded in 1912, and adopted the current name in 1970. It was a very conservative party in every respect until Vatican II, when it moderated its conservatism. Until 1991 the party gained between 22 and 25 percent of the seats; since then its share has declined. The party especially focuses on the middle class and children. In its view a strong middle class is the basis of society, and middle-class families need more financial relief in taxation and contributions. The party especially attracts voters in the Catholic cantons in central Switzerland and in the Italian-speaking region, which is also predominantly Catholic. The party leader is Christophe Darbellay.

Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (Die Liberalen [FDP]/les Libéraux Radicaux [PLR]) This is the Conservative Liberal Party, founded in 1834. It was a sizable movement in the 19th century and the largest party in the first elections after World War II. In the second half of the 20th century it always secured between 21 and 26 percent of the seats, but at the beginning of the 21st century it suffered great losses. The party was initially called the Free Democratic Party (Freisinnig Demokratische Partei/Parti-Â� radical-démocratique), but in 2009 it combined with the smaller liberal party and adopted the new name. In general, the party platform supports private initiative, and

490 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

in particular, it stresses opportunities in free enterprise, the need for tax reduction, and the need to protect the Swiss system of secret bank accounts. The party favors strong bonds with the EU but not EU membership. The president of the party is Fulvio Pelli.

Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei [SVP]/Union démocratique du centre [UDC]) Originally a farmers’ party, the Swiss People’s Party was founded in 1917. In 1936 it widened its appeal and became a conservative, yet relatively centrist, party of farmers, traders, and independents. In 1971 the party merged with two smaller parties and adopted the current name. In 1981 Christoph Blocher, a populist millionaire, became the party leader and bankroller and forged a breach with the past by shifting to a radical rightist course: isolationist, anti-immigration, anti-UN, anti-EU, and very conservative in social and ethical issues. Until 1995 the party was stable with between 10 and 13 percent of the seats, but since 2003 it has been the country’s largest party with 27 to 31 Â�percent of the seats. After the 2003 elections Blocher occupied the party’s second seat in the executive power, but after the 2007 elections a more moderate member of the party was elected to the executive power instead of Blocher. The Swiss People’s Party then expelled the party local of the canton (Graubünden) that supported Â� the new member of the executive, which responded by forming a new party, the Â�Conservative Democratic Party of Switzerland (Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei Schweiz/Parti bourgeois démocratique suisse). Since these disputes, the party regards its position in the national government as one of opposition, not part of the coalition. Toni Brunner has been the party leader since 2008. In 2007 the party concluded an “Agreement with the People” that stressed three points: Opposition against joining the EU, the demand to expel criminal foreigners, and, above all, reducing taxes. The party demands that the state must act against illegal immigration and against the undermining of the country through the creeping introduction of alien (read: Islamic) law.

AUSTRIA (Österreich) The political differences between Austria and Switzerland resemble those between Finland and the other Scandinavian countries. First, Austria and Finland had a more conflict-ridden past than the other nations in their region. In Austria this consisted first of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the 1927 July revolt in Vienna, and the fascist regime in the 1930s. Second, Austria joined the Nazis before World  War  II, which was followed by a more problematic postwar position for Austria between the Free West and the Soviet Bloc but as a democratic country. Yet the end has been a happy one. Both Austria and Finland have been able to catch up with their neighbors in wealth, political stability, and level of civil and social rights.



AUSTRIA (Österreich)╇ | 491

The Land and the People The Land

Austria is a landlocked country, centrally located between northern Western Europe and Italy and the Balkans. The country’s form is a circle with a long panhandle to the west (Tirol); its area is 32,383 square miles (83, 871 square kilometers), slightly more than twice the size of neighboring Switzerland and as large as South Carolina. The longest road distances are 400 miles (675 kilometers) from west to east and 170 miles (270 kilometers) from north to south, but in the panhandle it is a mere 60 miles (100 kilometers). Austria borders Czechia and Germany to the north, which is its longest border; Slovakia and Hungary to the east; Slovenia and Italy to the south; and Switzerland (and Liechtenstein) to the west—seven neighboring nations in total. The borders have been stable since the end of World War I, when Austria was reduced by more than half. The northern and eastern parts of the circle are hilly plateaus. The rest of the circle and Tirol are covered with Alpine mountains, reaching to 12,467 feet (3,800 meters) in Tirol. The climate is alpine and continental.

The People Austria has 8.2 million inhabitants, slightly more than Switzerland and slightly less than New Jersey. The capital of Vienna (Wien), located in the extreme northeast, contains one quarter of the total population, more than two million; the second-largest city is Graz in the south (230,000 people). The great majority of the population are Austrians who speak German (there is no Austrian language), and most of them are traditionally Catholic; in both respects they resemble Bavaria, the neighboring Land of Germany. People from the former Yugoslavia, who represent various religions, constitute four percent of the population.

The Economy Austria is a very-high-income nation. Two leading industrial sectors are the chemical industry and the large steel industry, based on iron ore mining in Styria. In services, banking and insurance companies play a prominent role, but tourism is even more important, and the tourist industry caters to a greater variety of income groups than Switzerland. Vienna has become a new center of international trade, in particular between Germanic and Central Europe.

Culture Austria has played a very prominent role in two arts: sumptuous baroque architecture and music. After the victory of the Counter-Reformation and under the absolutist rule of Maria Theresa and her successor Joseph II the country was enriched with a large number of Baroque churches, monasteries, and town palaces, all of them richly decorated, which attract elderly tourists in particular. Yet even more, Austria stands for music. If any European city deserves to be called the capital of classical music, it is Vienna, flanked by minor musical centers such as Salzburg. Joseph Haydn

492 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

(1732–1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Franz Schubert (1797– 1828), Johann Strauss (1825–1899) and the Strauss family, Anton Bruckner (1824– 1896), and modernist composers such as Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and Alban Berg (1885-1935) were Austrians, while German composers such as von Gluck, Beethoven, Brahms, and Richard Strauss spent part of their life in Vienna. In addition, Vienna is a prominent example of neoclassical town planning, and it played a prominent role in Art Nouveau with its Secessionist style (Gustav Klimt 1862–1918). And for those for whom music was not enough as a means to shake off depression, Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) introduced psychoanalysis.

History Table AU 1╇ Timeline of Austrian History 15 BC Romans conquer Austria, which is inhabited by Celtic tribes 425 Huns invade the country Eighth century Charlemagne defeats the Bavarians; the Danube becomes the reinforced â•… eastern border of the empire 976 Babenberg becomes the ruling dynasty and promotes Christianity 1246 Ottokar of Bohemia becomes the new ruler when the Babenberg dynasty â•… dies out 1278 Rudolf von Habsburg defeats the Bohemians and establishes the â•… Habsburg dynasty 1438 Austria becomes the leading German state; the Habsburgs become the â•… hereditary emperors of the Holy Roman Empire 1520 Reformation; the last Hungarians are expelled 1529 First Turkish siege of Vienna 1623 Counter-Reformation succeeds; participation in the Thirty Years’ War 1683 Last Turkish siege of Vienna; the country becomes a great power 1740–1780 Empress Maria Theresa defeats Prussia and France and breaks the power â•… of the aristocracy 1805 Vienna occupied by Napoleon; Habsburgs give up the German throne 1815 Congress of Vienna; Chancellor Klemens von Metternich plays a central â•… role in restoring royal and conservative values in Europe 1848 Revolution in Vienna; Metternich resigns 1866 Austria is defeated by Prussia in a short war; Prussia becomes the â•… leading German state 1867 Hungary becomes Austria’s partner in the Austro-Hungarian Dual â•…Monarchy 1914–1918 Austria begins World War I and loses the war 1927 Street fighting between Social Democrats and Catholics in Vienna 1933 Catholic-inspired dictatorship under Engelbert Dollfuss 1938 Nazi Germany invades Austria; the population approves of the Anschluss â•…(annexation)

(Continued)



AUSTRIA (Österreich)╇ | 493 1945 Russian troops in Vienna; country divided into occupation zones 1955 The division is lifted; neutrality is proclaimed 1956 Influx of refugees from communist Hungary after the crushed Hungarian â•…Revolt 1986 Austria comes under attack because President Kurt Waldheim’s war past â•… is revealed; later there is a rise of the extreme right under Jörg Haider 1994 The Liberal Party shifts to a radical rightist course under Jörg Haider and â•… wins elections 1995 Austria is admitted to the EU 2002 Austria adopts the euro

Political System Austria has a parliamentary political system with a limited degree of federalism. Politics has been dominated by two leading parties: Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.

Constitution The constitution (Bundesverfassung) of Austria was enacted in 1920, after the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It introduced democracy, a federal political system, and an elected head of state. In 1929, it was amended to increase the powers of the elected president. In 1945, the 1920 constitution (and the 1929 amendment) were reintroduced, but the powers of the president have been eroded since then, and the country has become a regular parliamentary system. In 1955, the element of neutrality was added as a condition for the Allied Powers to leave the country. The constitution has been amended a number of times, and several important subjects, including the bill of rights, are laid down in other laws; as a result the Austrian constitution actually consists of a series of laws on different subjects. Changes to the constitution require a referendum.

Head of State The president has a six-year term, may only stay in the function for two consecutive terms, and is elected in direct elections, for which the whole country serves as one district. If no candidate receives the required 50 percent of the votes, a runoff election is held between the two leading candidates. Originally very powerful, the president has become more of a ceremonial figure. The presidents, listed in Table AU 2, sign all laws but do not have the right to withhold a signature. A controversial president was Kurt Waldheim (1986–1992), who had been UN secretary-general before running for president, but in the course of the election campaign allegations of war crimes during his World War II service in the Â�German army were published. For that reason he was not allowed to enter the United States as president of Austria. During his term he kept a very low international profile and did not run for a second term.

494 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

Table AU 2╇ Austrian Presidents since 1945 President

Party

Begin

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Social Democrat Social Democrat Social Democrat Social Democrat Nonpartisan Christian Democrat Christian Democrat Social Democrat

1945 1951 1957 1965 1974 1986 1992 2004

Karl Renner Theodor Körner Adolf Schärf Franz Jonas Rudolf Kirchschläger Kurt Waldheim Thomas Klestil Heinz Fischer

Legislative Power Austria has a two-chamber parliament (Federal Assembly, Bundesversammlung) consisting of the lower house (Nationalrat) and the upper house (Bundesrat). The 183 members of the Nationalrat (28 percent of whom are women) are elected every four years by means of the electoral system of proportional representation. The nine Länder serve as multimember constituencies, but they are further subdivided into 43 regional constituencies. The system to some extent resembles the German system; voters give a vote to a party list and can, if they wish, give a preferential vote to two candidates on the list, one on the list in the small constituency and one on the list in the Land. The votes of the small constituencies are counted first, then the Land votes, and then the votes nationwide. Candidates with at least one-sixth of all their party’s votes win a seat. The intricate system results in an outcome in which about 90 seats are allocated on the basis of the small districts, 65 on the basis of the Land districts, and about 25 on the basis of the votes nationwide. There is a threshold of four percent of all votes nationwide, or a direct mandate in one of the 43 electoral districts. Table AU 3 shows the turn to the right of the last decade. It started when Jörg Haider became leader of the conservative liberal Freedom Party of Austria in 1986 and shifted to a radical rightist course; since then all attention has been focused on his electoral success. In the latest elections main issues were immigration, inflation, and whether or not to privatize the national air carrier Austrian Airlines. From left to right the positions of the parties in the political spectrum are the Greens – The Green Alternative to Social Democratic Party of Austria to Austrian People’s Party to Alliance for the Future to Freedom Party of Austria. The 62 members of the Bundesrat are elected by the parliaments of the nine Länder, with 3 to 12 members for each of them, depending on population size. Lower Austria has 12 seats, Upper Austria and Vienna 11 each, Styria 9, and the other Länder 5 each or less. The Land representation in the Bundesrat must be roughly in proportion to the division of seats in the Land parliament. Table AU 4 shows the relatively stable composition of the Bundesrat over the past years.



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Table AU 3╇ The Austrian Nationalrat since 2002 Party Ideology

No. No. No. of of of Seats Seats Seats 2002 2006 2008

Percent of Votes 2008

1 Social Democratic Party Social democratic 69 68 57 29.3 â•… of Austria 2 Austrian People’s Party Christian democratic 79 66 51 26.0 3 Freedom Party of Austria Radical right 18 21 34 17.5 4 Alliance for the Future Radical right – 7 21 10.7 5 The Greens–The Green Green 17 21 20 10.4 â•…Alternative 6 Other – – – 6.1 Total 183 183 183 100

Table AU 4╇ The Austrian Bundesrat since 2005 Party

November May June March October 2005 2008 2008 2009 2009

Social Democratic Party of Austria 29 28 Austrian People’s Party 26 26 Freedom Party of Austria 1 2 Alliance for the Future 2 2 The Greens–The Green Alternative 4 4 Other (centrist party in Tirol) Total 62 62

28 27 26 27 2 2 2 2 3 3 1 1 62 62

24 28 4 2 3 1 62

One of the elements that reflects the weak form of federalism is the difference in initiative and powers of the two houses. The powers of the upper house (the representation of the constituent units) are more limited in Austria than in Switzerland and Germany. All bills are first discussed in the Nationalrat and only when passed there are they discussed in the Bundesrat, which has only suspensive veto powers that can be overridden by a qualified majority in the Nationalrat. Although the Austrian presidents have the formal right to dissolve the parliament, it would mean a political crisis if they used the right; in practice the parliament can only be dissolved by itself.

Executive Power Executive power rests with the elected president. Formally, the prime minister (federal chancellor or Bundeskanzler) is only responsible to the president, but in practice only to the parliament, and the prime minister is the most powerful person in the country. Austria has been governed most of the time by Grand Coalitions of the two biggest parties, the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats,

496 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

Table AU 5╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Austria since 1945

Parties

Begin Months Prime Ministers*

1 Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, 1945 31 Karl Renner, Leopold â•…Communists â•…Figl 2 Christian Democrats, Social Democrats 1949 215 Leopold Figl (2), Julius â•… Raab (3), Alfons â•… Gorbach (2), â•… Josef Klaus 3 Christian Democrats 1966 46 Josef Klaus 4 Social Democrats 1970 156 Bruno Kreisky (4) 5 Social Democrats, Conservative Liberals 1983 43 Fred Sinowatz, Franz â•…Vranitzky 6 Social Democrats, Christian Democrats 1987 156 Franz Vranitzky (4), â•… Viktor Klima 7 Christian Democrats, Conservative 2000 83 Wolfgang Schüssel (2) â•… Liberals (who had become radical right) 8 Social Democrats, Christian Democrats January Alfred Gusenbauer, â•… 2007 â•… Werner Faymann Total: 8 periods Total: 12 chancellors; â•… 27 cabinets * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

which left hardly any room for a sizable opposition or a one-party cabinet of either Social Democrats or Christian Democrats. The continuity of very large majority coalitions to some extent resembles the Swiss system of cartel democracy. As Table AU 5 shows, there have been 12 chancellors since 1945, and they have headed 27 cabinets. The longest-serving prime minister was the Social Democrat Bruno Kreisky (1970–1983), followed by his fellow Social Democrat Franz Vranitzky (1986–1997). Bruno Kreisky (1911–1990) was born into a Jewish family and at a young age joined the Social Democratic Party. After the German invasion he fled to Sweden, and after the war he worked in the Austrian embassy in Sweden until 1951. In the 1950s he was a leading member of parliament. In 1959 he became minister of foreign affairs until the one-party Christian Democratic cabinet was formed in 1956. Under his chancellorship legislation regarding ethical issues was relaxed and social legislation was expanded, but his prime role was in international politics, as a promoter of international peace, in particular peace in the Middle East, in which he took a pro-Palestine stance.

Judicial Power The Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof) has the right of judicial review. Its 13 members are appointed by the cabinet and the parliament. It stands apart



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from the regular courts, of which the Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof) is the highest.

Referendums Austrian citizens have the right to initiate legislation by a Popular Motion (Popular Will, Volksbegehren), which requires 100,000 signatures, or one-sixth of the signatures of all voters in three Länder. In contrast to Switzerland, Austria is not a country of referendums; it has had only one nationwide referendum, in 1994, to change the constitution and join the EU. The referendum got a large two-thirds majority in favor.

Civil Society Like Germany, Austria collects a tax for the Catholic Church, as part of income tax. Citizens can opt out of the tax by an official declaration that they have left the Church. In that case the tax is collected but not transferred to the Catholic Church. Leading interest associations are linked to either of the two big parties, and they are often involved in drafting new laws. The umbrella confederation of trade unions is the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund [ÖGB]), and employers are represented in the Federal Economic Chamber (Bundeswirtschaftskammer). These two, and a few minor organizations, have seats in the Paritary or Joint Committee (Paritätische Kommission), which coordinates wage bargaining and corporatist contacts with the government. Austria has often been regarded as one of the finest models of corporatism.

Federalism As is the case in Germany, Austria is divided into Länder. The nine Länder have their own elected legislature, but they have far fewer powers than their German counterparts. Their tasks are mainly confined to economic policies and infrastructure. Four of the nine Länder have more than one million inhabitants: Vienna (Wien) and Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), which surrounds Vienna and whose capital is Sankt Pölten, both have more than 1.5 million inhabitants, and Upper Austria (Oberösterreich; capital, Linz) and Styria (Steiermark; capital, Graz) each have more than one million.

Policies Austria has a well-developed welfare state, with a strong focus on the family. Unemployment benefits are relatively low, but the country has had low unemployment during most of the postwar period. The country has banned nuclear power stations since 1978. In ethical issues, the country has legalized abortion; in 2010 it also legalized same-sex relationships, though not same-sex marriage. In social and economic policies Austria often follows trends in Germany, or at least closely watches them.

498 |╇ The Alpine Nations: Switzerland, Austria

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

The Greens—the Green Alternative (Die Grünen – die Grüne Alternative) The party was founded in 1986, as a combination of a green group that had emerged in reaction to the construction of nuclear power plants and two alternative groups; its current name dates from 1993. Until 1990 the party failed to reach the four percent threshold, but in 2006 and 2008 it gained more than 10 percent of the seats. The party platform stresses green ideas but also libertarianism in ethical issues, such as same-sex marriage. The party leader is Eva Glawischnig. In the EU the party is a member of the Greens.

Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs [SPÖ]) The party was founded in 1889 under the name Social Democratic Workers’ Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs [SDAPÖ]) by Victor Adler, one of the leading figures in international social democracy. Under the fascist dictatorships of the 1930s the party was banned, but it was revived in 1945 as Socialist Party of Austria (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs [SPÖ]) and got its current name in 1991. In 1957, a few years before the German Social Democrats, the party shifted to a catchall course that was continued under its most prominent leader, Bruno Kreisky. The Social Democrats have always competed with the Christian Democrats for the majority of seats; until 1994 the party never got less than 40 percent of the seats, and in the 1970s it even enjoyed a majority of just over 50 percent. Since 1994 the party has never reached 40 percent again, mainly because of the growing force of the Liberal Party and the Greens, but it has remained the country’s largest party. Like most Social Democratic parties, the party platform stresses equality of opportunities, not in the American sense of equality of legal opportunities but as equality of starting conditions, and it explicitly stresses equality of outcome. It especially appeals to manual workers and office employees in the towns and cities, most of all in public transport and other public services, but less so to civil servants. Its stronghold is Vienna. The Social Democrats have participated in government for the whole postwar period, except for the years 1966–1970 and 2000–2007, and it has had seven prime ministers, two more than the Christian Democrats. The prime ministers are also party leader. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D.

Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei [ÖVP]) The party was founded as the Christian Social Party in 1893, right after the publication of the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum, but in 1945 it was established again under its current name. Until 1970 the party was the largest, with more than 45 percent of the seats, and in 1945 and 1966 it had a clear majority, but since that time it has mostly been second to the Social Democrats. In recent elections its share of seats has fluctuated more than that of the Social Democrats, between 43 percent (2002) and 28 percent (2008, its lowest share since 1945).



AUSTRIA (Österreich)╇ | 499

The party defends family values as the basis of a free society; a family with two parents and children is its ideal. It especially attracts rural and small-town voters, businesspeople, white-collar workers, and civil servants. From a religious standpoint it attracts Catholics in particular. The combination of rural and civil servants means the party is well represented in the national capital. Except for the period 1970–1987 the party has constantly been in government, always in coalition governments. Until 2000 the coalitions were always with the Social Democrats, between 2000 and 2007 they were with the Liberal Party, and since then with the Social Democrats again. The party has had five prime ministers. The party leader is Josef Pröll. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Democratic EPP.

Alliance for the Future (Bündnis Zukunft Östereich [BZÖ]) This party, which split off from the Liberal Party, was founded in 2004 by Jörg Haider, the leader of the Liberal Party, who died in 2008, but there are hardly any differences in ideology or priorities. The new party scored 12 percent of the seats in 2008, which means the extreme right has had a total of 30 percent of the seats since that year. It claims to be less extreme than the Freedom Party of Austria with regard to immigration policies, as it only wants to refuse admission for people who have no job or do not want to adapt. Josef Bucher is party leader.

Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Östereichs [FPÖ]) The party was founded in 1956. Its precursor was the Association of Independents (Verband der Unabhängigen), which dated from 1946. For a long period the party remained the small and unimportant third party of the country, to some extent serving as a protest party against the Social Democratic and Christian Democratic domination of national politics. It hardly ever gained more than seven percent of the seats. In 1986 the rightist populist Jörg Haider became party leader, and in a short time changed the party into an extreme right party focusing on very strict immigration laws. The new line served the party well; its share of seats increased to 22 percent in 1995, its best year ever, but in 2002 it dropped to under 10 percent, only to increase to 19 percent in 2008. The nationalist tone of the party is expressed in its vision of the country’s place in Europe: In its view the great contribution of the old Austria to the all-German and all-European history and the culture heritage that stems from it, legitimize Austria on the international stage with self-confidence and pride. Under the new nationalist course the party also changed its attitude toward the EU from pro-EU to euroskepticism. Between 1983 and 1987 the party participated in a coalition with the Social Democrats and between 2000 and 2007 with the Christian Democrats. The first result of the coalition was the loss of seats in 2002, but the coalition lingered on; in 2004 Haider left the party to found the Alliance for the Future (Bündnis Zukunft Östereich). The current party leader is Heinz-Christian Strache. The party has no international links and is not affiliated with any European group of parties.

Iberian Peninsula

Atlantic Ocean

Galicia

Asturias Cantabria Castilla y León

Porto

Navarra

La Rioja

Douro

Andorra o

r Eb

Portugal

Aragón

Madrid Madrid

Lisbon

France

Euskadi Païs Vasco

Extremadura

Cataluña Barcelona

Spain Castilla La Mancha

Valencia Valencia

Sevilla Andalucía

Balearic Islands Murcia

Malaga Gibraltar Ceuta

Mediterranian Algiers

Africa

Melilla

Iberian Peninsula. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

6â•… Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

S

ince both Portugal and Spain left fascism for democracy in the 1970s, the countries have not shared many political features. The two countries already differed in the nature of the early transition period of the mid-1970s, which included a number of military coups in Portugal and was relatively smooth in Spain, and they still differ regarding the main characteristics of democracy since that period. Table IB 1 lists these differences and a few common elements.

PORTUGAL (Portugal) From its status as a world power at the end of the Middle Ages, Portugal’s position declined until it was one of the lower-income EU members at the end of the Table IB 1╇ Iberian Politics since the 1970s Differences

Portugal Spain

Form of state Republic Monarchy Early transition period Leftist military coups Relatively smooth Political system At first semi-presidential, Parliamentary â•… later parliamentary Devolution Centralized state Introduction of federal â•…system Challenge of democracy No 1982 military coup, terrorism â•… since 1970s â•… by Basque separatists Left-right polarization Great Very great Common Elements Integration of overseas territories Azores, Madeira Canary Islands, Ceuta, â•…Melilla Two-party domination of politics Christian Democrats and Social Democrats and â•…Social Democrats â•…Conservatives

501

502 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

20th century, before the admission of the Central European nations. Unlike �Ireland and Spain, however, Portugal has not been able to close the gap with the richer European countries. In the 1970s the country also faced problems on its way toward democracy, but since the early 1980s it has become a regular democratic political system.

The Land and the People The Land Portugal is a rectangular country located in the southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Its area totals 34,349 square miles (88,964 square kilometers); but if Portugal’s two overseas territories in the Atlantic (the Azores Archipelago far off to the west and the island of Madeira off the African coast) are included the area is 35,556 square miles (92,090 square kilometers), which is less than one-fifth the area of Spain (its only neighboring country), as large as Hungary, and slightly smaller than Indiana, whose form it resembles. The longest road distances are 420 miles (680 kilometers) from north to south and 200 miles (320 kilometers) from west to east. Portugal borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the south and Spain to the east and north. The land along the coast consists of a coastal plain; the northern half of the interior is mountainous, with a highest peak of 6,530 feet (1,990 meters), and the southern half is a combination of lowlands and a hilly plateau. The climate is southern maritime, but cooler than the Mediterranean climate.

The People Portugal has 10.2 million inhabitants not counting the Atlantic islands; if they are included the population totals 10.7 million, one fourth of the Spanish population, as many as Belgium, and between Ohio and Michigan. The population is concentrated in the coastal plain. The major cities are the capital, Lisbon (Lisboa, 2.5 million people), in the southern half of the coast and Porto (Oporto, more than one million people) in the northern half. Ethnically, Portugal is one of the most homogenous countries in Europe; almost all citizens are Portuguese who speak Portuguese, a Latin language, and traditionally they are Catholic.

The Economy Portugal is a medium-low-income nation; its gross national product (GNP) per capita is lower than that of the other Latin nations and the Germanic nations. The fascist regime did not do much to spark change in the economy but opted for agricultural self-sufficiency; traditional agriculture (grain, wine, olives, cork) and fishing remained the main economic sectors. After the 1974 revolution, industries were nationalized, but it was not until the admission to the EU that economic reforms changed the economy, and industry and services became the leading sectors. A large number of Portuguese work in France.



PORTUGAL (Portugal)╇ | 503

Culture Portugal has created two national styles in architecture: the Manuelino style under King Manuel, which combined Gothic forms with ornaments from seafaring (an example is the Batalha Monastery), and the azulejos, painted ceramic tiles, mostly blue, that decorate the exterior and interior of buildings. The greatest Portuguese poet was Luis de Camões (1524–1580) who wrote the epic “The Lusiads” about the Great Discoveries. Yet today Portugal may be most known for fado, a musical style that features many songs with the theme of saudade, the melancholic and sad feelings about the lost Golden Age (and hence, also of lost love) and the longing for a new one. It was especially popularized internationally by Amália “Queen of Fado” Rodrigues (1920–1999). Other famous Portuguese include discoverers and sailors from the time of the Great Discoveries: Bartolomeu Dias (ca. 1450–1500), Vasco da Gama (ca. 1469– 1524) and Ferdinand Magellan (ca. 1480–1521).

History Table PT 1╇ Timeline of Portuguese History 218 BC Romans invade the country that is inhabited by Celts and Iberians, â•… including the Lusitanians 139 BC Lusitanian revolt under Viriathus is repressed 26 BC The whole country becomes the Roman province of Lusitania Fifth century Invasion by the Visigoths 711 Invasion by Muslims from Africa 11th century Reconquista also drives Muslims from parts of Portugal 1139 Duke of Portus Cale (Porto) first calls himself King Alfonso I of Portugal 1249 Last Muslims driven from the country; but occasional warfare with Castile â•…persists 1385 Castilians defeated by King João 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas with Spain to divide South America; Portugal gains â•…Brazil 1495–1521 King Manuel I; Great Discoveries and Golden Age; Portugal is a â•… maritime world power 1580 After failed military campaign in Morocco, Portugal is conquered by â•… Spain under Philip II 1640 Revolt leads to independence under Portugal’s last royal dynasty of â•…Bragança 1703 Treaty of Methuen makes Portugal economically dependent on Great â•…Britain 1755 Earthquake destroys Lisbon; 40,000 people killed 1807–1809 French military campaigns fail to conquer the country 1822 Brazil gains independence 1828–1834 Civil War between royalists and liberals; liberal victory (Continued)

504 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain 1908 King and crown prince are assassinated 1910 Republic is proclaimed 1914 In World War I Portugal sends troops to assist France 1926 Military coup 1933 Fascist Estado Novo under dictator António de Oliveira Salazar 1940–1945 Neutral during World War II 1949 Cofounder of NATO 1974 Carnation Revolution; failed leftist military coup; democratic political â•… system suffrage 1975 African colonies gain independence after liberation struggle 1986 Member of the EU 1988 Large fire destroys part of downtown Lisbon 2002 Portugal adopts the euro as its currency

Political System Since the 1974 Carnation Revolution that put an end to more than 40 years of fascism, Portugal has been a democratic republic, at first with a semi-presidential political system, later changed into a parliamentary system. Politics is dominated by two parties, Social Democrats (calling themselves Socialists) and Christian Democrats (calling themselves Social Democrats).

Constitution The current democratic constitution dates from 1976; initially it was strongly influenced by the Carnation Revolution and by the leftist military, which was in power very briefly during the period of transition. The constitution proclaimed the transition to socialism as the goal of the new republic, with references to the role of the military, workers’ rights, and the need to create a socialist economy. The amendments of 1982 removed the active role of the military, reduced the power of the president, and introduced the Constitutional Court for Â�judicial review of the constitutionality of laws. Since that time the country has had a Â�parliamentary system. The 1989 amendments removed the references to Â�socialism and allowed for the privatization of enterprises that had been nationalized right after the revolution.

Head of State The president is elected in two-ballot direct elections in which the whole country serves as one district. The presidential mandate lasts five years, and presidents may serve for two consecutive terms (and one additional nonconsecutive term). See Table PT 2 for a list of the presidents. Presidential powers were reduced in the 1980s, but they are still slightly greater than in most other European nations. No president has made use of the right to dissolve the parliament, however. The president has also the power of veto, but it can be overruled by the parliament.



PORTUGAL (Portugal)╇ | 505

Table PT 2╇ Presidents of Portugal since 1974 President Affiliation*

Begin

António de Spinola Francisco da Costa Gomes António Ramalho Eanes Mário Soares Jorge Sampaio Aníbal Cavaco Silva

1974 1974 1976 1986 1996 2006

Military Military 1976: Military; 1981: Nonpartisan Social democrat Social democrat Christian democrat

* Social democrat refers to the Socialist Party; Christian democrat refers to the Social Democratic Party.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament (Assembleia da Republica) has 230 members, 27 percent of whom are women, a lower percentage than in Spain but higher than in France and Italy. The members are elected to a four-year term in 22 multimember districts under the electoral system of proportional representation. See Table PT 3 for the composition of the Assembleia. From left to right the political spectrum ranges from the Democratic Unity Coalition to Left Bloc to Socialist Party to Social Democratic Party to Democratic and Social Center – People’s Party.

Executive Power After the stormy transitional period that lasted until 1976, Portugal has had relatively stable governments. Since 1976 there have been only 11 prime ministers, some of whom headed more than one government; they are listed in Table PT 4.

Table PT 3╇ The Portuguese Assembleia since 2002 Party Ideology

No. of Seats 2002

No. of Seats 2006

No. Percent of of Seats Votes 2009 2009

Socialist Party Social democrat Social Democratic Party Christian democrat/ â•…conservative Democratic and Social Conservative â•… Center – People’s Party Left Bloc Radical left Democratic Unity Coalition Communist/green Total

96 105

121 75

97 81

36.6 29.1

14

12

21

10.4

3 8 16 9.8 12 14 15 7.9 230 230 230

506 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

Table PT 4â•… Governments and Prime Ministers of Portugal since 1974 Party or Parties* Begin

No. of Prime Ministers† Months

1 Provisional 1974 25 Adelino da Palma Carlos, â•… Vasco Goncalvez (4), â•… José Pinheiro de â•… â•…Azevedo 2 Social Democrat (PS) 1976 6 Mário Soares 3 Social Democrat (PS)/ 1977 19 Mário Soares â•… Conservative (CDS-PP) 4 Presidential (nonpartisan) 1978 12 Alfredo Nobre da Costa, â•… Carlos Mota Pinto, â•… Maria Pintassilgo 5 Christian Democrat (CDS)/ 1980 35 Francisco Sá Carneiro (2), â•… Conservative (CDS-PP)/ â•… Francisco Balsemão (2) â•… Monarchist Conservatives 6 Social Democrat (PS)/ 1983 26 Mário Soares â•… Christian Democrat (PSD) 7 Christian Democrat (PSD) 1985 115 Aníbal Cavaco Silva (3) 8 Social Democrat (PS) 1995 77 António Guterres 9 Christian Democrat (PDS)/ 2002 35 José Manuel Barroso, â•… Conservative (PDS-PP) â•… Pedro Santana Lopes 10 Social Democrat (PS) March 2005 José Socrates Total: 10 periods Total: 14 prime ministers, â•… 23 cabinets * PS = Socialist Party; CDS-PP = Democratic and Social Center – People’s Party; PSD = Social Democrat Party. † The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed.

Judicial Power The Constitutional Court (Tribunal constitucional), which has the competency to review the constitutionality of laws, is separate from the rest of the court system. The Constitutional Court consists of 13 judges who can only serve one nine-year term. Ten of the judges are appointed by the legislature by a two-thirds majority; three judges are selected by the other 10 members. The highest regular court is the Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal de Justiça).

Referendums Portugal has organized only two nationwide referendums, both on abortion; in 2005 a third referendum on the EU constitution was canceled by the Constitutional Court because of the wording of the question. The first referendum in 1998 left the ban on abortion intact, except for special circumstances, the second one in 2007 allowed abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Social



PORTUGAL (Portugal)╇ | 507

Democrats were in favor of the 2007 referendum, and Christian Democrats were divided.

Civil Society State and (Catholic) church have been separated since the revolution of 1910; the separation was to some extent lifted under fascism but reintroduced in the new democratic constitution. The Church only incidentally speaks out on political issues, far less so than in Spain. The two major Portuguese trade unions are the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses [CGTP]) and General Workers Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores [UGT]). The CGTP has close connections with the Communist Party and UGT with the Socialist Party and the Christian Democrats. Trade-union density stands at 22 percent. Collective bargaining mainly takes place at the branch level and is more decentralized than sectoral bargaining. Tripartism exists, but it is not well developed because the CGTP refuses to tie its hands in central-level negotiations. Still, a number of such tripartite and joint employer–trade union agreements have been signed in recent years, mainly on technical elements of employment conditions.

Policies In ethical issues the country was very late in allowing abortion but early in recognizing same-sex marriages in 2010. Portugal was the last to give up its colonies. Angola and Mozambique in southern Africa had to wrest independence in a war of liberation that lasted until 1975; the new democratic regime almost immediately granted them independence and later also gave up the small colony of Macao on the Chinese coast in Asia.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Democratic Unity Coalition (Coligação Democrática Unitária [CDU]) This coalition, a combination of the Portuguese Communist Party (Partido Comunista Português) and the Greens, was formed in 1987. The two parties still exist as separate organizations, but since 1987 have always entered elections as a coalition. In the 1991 elections the coalition lost almost half of its total number of seats, and since that time it has mostly occupied about 15 seats in the parliament. The coalition is dominated by the communists, who have always proposed their own presidential candidate, though none of them was ever elected. The Communist Party was founded in 1921 but was soon outlawed by the fascist dictatorship. After the dictatorial period it revived under its founder, Álvaro Cunhal, who had spent 11 years in prison, and it stuck to orthodox Marxism-Leninism. Cunhal represented the party in the first provisional governments, but since then the party has never been in government. The current party leader is Jerónomo de

508 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

Sousa. In the EU the party is a member of the radical socialist European United Left (EUL). The junior party in the coalition, the Ecologist Party “The Greens” (Partido Â� Ecologista “Os Verdes”), was founded in 1982. The strong bonds with the Â� Â�communist parties have been a major source of disputes within the party. In the EU it is affiliated with the Greens.

Left Bloc (Bloco do Esquerda) The Bloc was founded in 1999 as a combination of radical movements, which presented itself as a modern alternative to the Communist Party that combined anti-capitalism with a libertarian stance on ethical questions and euroskepticism. Its best year was 2009 when it doubled its share of seats to seven percent, which made it the third-largest party in the parliament. The party has been the driving force behind the legalization of same-sex marriage, which was approved in 2010. The party leader is Francisco Louçã. In the EU the party has joined the radical socialist EUL.

Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) The party was founded in 1975 as a radical Socialist Party, but in 1986 all references to Marxism were removed and the party became a Social Democratic Party, which has taken a libertarian stance on ethical issues such as abortion and gay rights. The party scored more than 40 percent of the seats in the first free elections (1975 and 1976) and then declined to under 25 percent. Since 1995, however, it has never scored less than 40 percent, and in 1999 and 2005 it scored 50 percent or more of the seats. Its stronghold is in the southern half of Portugal, among rural laborers on the large estates. The first and the greatest leader of the party was Mário Soares, who was prime minister in 1976–1978 and 1983–1985 before being elected president. In 1995–2002, the party was in power again in one-party governments under Prime Minister António Guterres, who later became the United Nations high commissioner for refugees. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata) The party was founded in 1974 as a party on the right side of social democracy; when it was rejected as a member by the international association of social democratic parties, it moved further to the right. By now its position is on the conservative side of Christian democracy, and it is divided into a number of factions. The party has often been second to the socialists in share of seats. Two prominent prime ministers were Aníbal Cavaco Silva (1985–1995), who was the party’s most popular leader, and the current president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who was prime minister between 2002 and 2004. The party especially recruits support in the northern half of the country, in particular among independent farmers and



SPAIN (España)╇ | 509

middle class. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and Â�conservative European People’s Party (EPP).

Democratic and Social Centre – People’s Party (Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular) Founded in 1974 as Centro Democrático Social, the party adopted its current double name in 1991. It is a rightist Christian Democratic Party, to the right of the larger Christian Democratic Social Democratic Party. Its best year was 1976, when it gained 16 percent of the seats, but since 1985 it has always scored under 10 percent. In spite of its conservatism in social and ethical issues, it participated in a coalition under Prime Minister Soares in 1977. In 1980, however, it joined a rightist coalition with the Social Democratic Party. In both referendums on abortion it opposed legalization of abortion. The current party leader is Paulo Portas. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP.

SPAIN (España) At the end of the fascist period Spain also occupied a relatively marginal position in Western Europe. Since that time, Spain’s efforts to catch up with the richer nations of Western Europe have been more successful than the Portuguese attempts. Political stability seemed to be a problem in the early years when in 1982 a military coup suspended parliamentary debate for some time, but the Spanish king Juan Carlos was actively involved in crushing the coup. Since that time terrorist bomb attacks by the Basque separatist movement ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or Basque Homeland and Freedom) have threatened democracy but have not been able to destabilize it. The left–right divide is stronger than it is elsewhere in Latin Europe, let alone in Germanic Europe, but not greater than in the United States.

The Land and the People The Land

Spain occupies the larger part of the Iberian Peninsula in southwest Europe. Its form is a square with a panhandle in the northwest. The longest road distance is 580 miles (930 kilometers) from north to south and 650 miles (1020 kilometers) from west to east. The country also includes a few territories that are located in Africa, the Canary Islands, which are off the Moroccan coast, and two small urban enclaves on the Mediterranean coast in Morocco, Ceuta and Melilla. Spain is the second-largest country in Western Europe, with a total area of 192,237 square miles (497,891 square kilometers); if the two African towns and the Canary Islands are included, as is always done in Spanish statistics, the area is 195,125  square miles (505,370 square kilometers), larger than Germany and

510 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

Switzerland combined and twice the size of Oregon. Apart from the Moroccan borders of the two enclaves, the country has only two neighbors, Portugal to the west and France to the northeast; the rest is all coastline—the Atlantic Ocean in the north and west and the Mediterranean in the east and south. The borders have been stable since Napoleonic times. Spain is a mountainous country crisscrossed with mountain ranges, the highest of which are the Sierra Nevada in the south, with a highest peak of 11,421 feet (3,481 meters), and the Pyrenees on the French border, with a summit that reaches similar heights. Mountains in the center of the peninsula divide the large Castilian plateau into two parts: Old Castile and New Castile. Other important regions are Galicia in the northwest, Asturias and Basque Country in the north, Catalonia in the northwest, and Andalusia in the south. The climate varies from maritime in the west to continental in the center to Mediterranean on the Mediterranean coast; the country has both the wettest and the driest spots in Europe.

The People Spain has 45.8 million inhabitants; they are concentrated on the coast and in the centrally located national capital, Madrid, which is the country’s largest city with 5 million inhabitants. Other big cities are Barcelona (almost 4 million people) and Valencia (1.4 million people), both on the east coast, and Seville (more than 1 million) in the south. Ethnically, Spain is divided; about 75 percent of the people speak Castilian (Spanish), a Latin language; 17 percent speak Catalan, which is also a Latin language; 7 percent speak Galician, which is related to Castilian and Portuguese; and 2 percent speak Basque, which is not related to any other European language. Traditionally, almost all Spaniards are Catholic.

The Economy Spain is a high-income country; the economy has experienced rapid change since the end of fascism with the assistance of large foreign investments and a steep increase in the number of women participating in the labor market. Although GNP per capita is still lower than in the rest of Latin and Germanic Europe (with the exception of Portugal), the difference is much smaller than it used to be. Agriculture remains an important sector (olives, wine), and in services Spain now has a number of internationally operating firms in banking (Banco Santander), telecommunications (Telefónica), and utilities (Iberdrola).

Culture Spain has been a leading country in painting. Important painters include Diego Velázquez (1599–1660); Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664); Francisco Goya (1746–1828); and, more recently, Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), who was probably the most important painter of the 20th century; Joan Miró (1893–1983); and surrealist painter Salvador Dali (1904–1989).



SPAIN (España)╇ | 511

In architecture the country has fine examples of styles that are rarely found outside the country: Muslim buildings, such as the Córdoba Mosque and the Alhambra of Granada; the national Mudejar style, which was inspired by Muslim art and is exemplified by the Alcázar in Seville; the richly decorative Plateresque style typical of the renaissance; and its opposite, the austere baroque style of Juan de Herrera (1530–1597), who built the Escorial. In the early 20th century, Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926) built in a highly personal art nouveau style, in particular in Barcelona. A leading film director is Luis Buñuel (1900–1983). Explorers were Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), who explored Mexico and destroyed the Aztec civilization, and Francisco Pizarro (ca. 1475–1541) who explored Peru and destroyed the Inca civilization. Perhaps the most famous Spaniard is the immortal tragic figure Don Quixote (El Quijote), created by Spain’s most outstanding author Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616).

History Table ES 1╇ Timeline of Spanish History First century BC Iberians and newly arrived Celts mingle as Celtiberians 139 BC Last great revolt against the Romans fails; all of Spain is under â•… Roman rule First century AD Spread of Christianity Fifth century Germanic Visigoths conquer the country; Toledo is their capital 711 Moors from North Africa invade the country; in the following â•… centuries they conquer most of it 11th century Start of the Reconquista against the Moors 12th century Kings of Castille and Aragon defeat the Moors, who only keep â•…Granada 1479 Queen Isabella of Aragon becomes queen of Castille; all of Spain is â•… under one crown 1492 Granada is conquered and all Muslims and Jews are expelled; â•… Columbus discovers America 1494 Tordesillas Treaty with Portugal divides Latin America among them 1516 Charles V inherits all Habsburg possessions and in 1519 also â•… becomes German emperor, though he splits with the Austrian â•… branch of the dynasty; Spain’s Golden Age; enormous mass of â•… gold imported from Latin America 1556 Philip II succeeds his father Charles V 1588 Spanish Navy (the Invincible Armada) is destroyed by the British â•… and heavy storms 1700–1713 War of the Spanish Succession; Philip, a Bourbon from Anjou, â•… France, becomes king, but has to defend the throne against most â•… of Europe, including Catalonia; Gibraltar is lost to the British (Continued)

512 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain 1805 In the Napoleonic Wars Spain is conquered by France and then â•… sides with France, but the British destroy the Spanish fleet at â•… Trafalgar, off the south coast 1808 Popular revolt against the French initiates Independence War; â•… Napoleon helps restore absolutism Mid-19th century Failed attempts to proclaim liberal constitutions; Carlist Wars in â•… which the North, including Basque country, fights liberals 1873 After proclamation of a liberal constitution in 1868 the king â•… abdicates: First Republic 1874 Bourbon dynasty is back on the throne 1914–1918 In World War I Spain is neutral 1923 Dictatorship under General Miguel Primo de Rivera 1931 Liberals win local elections; the king abdicates in favor of the â•… Second Republic, which is dominated by anticlericals 1934 Catalonia proclaims autonomy; large worker uprising in Asturias is â•…suppressed 1936 Popular Front wins the elections; royalist leader Calvo Sotelo is â•…assassinated 1936–1939 Civil War, which is won by General Francisco Franco, who installs â•… a fascist regime 1939–1945 Spain remains neutral during World War II in spite of fascist and â•… Nazi support for Franco during the Civil War 1975 Franco appoints Juan Carlos as the new king of Spain; Franco dies 1977 First democratic elections; universal suffrage is introduced in 1993 â•… (it had been suspended under Franco) 1986 Member of the EU 2002 Euro adopted 2004 Muslim terrorist bomb attacks in Madrid; more than 200 are â•… people killed

Political System Spain is a constitutional and increasingly a federal monarchy with a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by two parties: Social Democrats and Conservatives.

Constitution Spain has followed the French example; it has had a sequence of short-lived constitutions, starting with the liberal 1812 Constitución de Cadiz. The current constitution dates from 1978, after the return to democracy; it was approved by a referendum and went into effect on December 29, which is now celebrated as Constitution Day. It has been amended once, in 1992, to give foreign nationals the right to vote and be elected in local elections. Amendments require a threefifths majority in both houses of parliament. The sections on civil liberties and



SPAIN (España)╇ | 513

the monarchy are protected, however, and amending them requires even a larger majority: a two-thirds majority in both houses, followed by elections, a new twothirds majority in both houses, and a referendum.

Head of State The head of state is King Juan Carlos. Though he was crowned during the last days of the fascist regime, he has been a persistent defender of democracy. Royal powers are limited, but the king played a very active role in ending a military coup in 1982. The rule of succession to the throne is a traditional one: males come first.

Legislative Power The Spanish parliament or General Courts (Cortes Generales) consists of two houses: the Congress of Representatives (Congreso de los Diputados) and the Senate (Senado). The members of the Congreso and the elected members of the Senado have a four-year term; elections for both houses are simultaneous, but not all senators are popularly elected. For the Congreso elections Spain uses proportional representation. The 350 members, 37 percent of whom are women, are elected in 50 multimember constituencies and two single-member districts. The 50 provinces serve as districts; they each have at least two seats, and additional seats in proportion to population size. The two overseas territories of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco also serve as districts, but they have only one seat each. There is a threshold of three percent in each constituency. Table ES 2 presents the composition of the Congreso. Proportional representation does not apply to the election of the Senado. The 264 members of the Senado (before the 2008 elections the number was 259) are elected in a combination of direct and indirect elections. Two hundred and eight are elected by simple plurality vote. All 47 mainland provinces send four senators, who are elected in direct elections. The larger of the Balearic and Canary islands Table ES 2╇ The Spanish Congreso since 2000 Party Ideology Spanish Socialist Social democrat â•… Workers’ Party People's Party Conservative Convergence and Catalonian regionalist â•… Union Basque National Basque regionalist â•… Party Others Total

No. of No. of No. of Percent of seats 2000 seats 2004 seats 2008 votes 2008 125

164

169

43.9

183 15

148 10

154 10

39.9 3.0

7

7

6

1.2

20 21 11 12.0 350 350 350 100

514 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

Table ES 3╇ The Spanish Senado since 2000 Party Ideology People’s Party Conservative Spanish Socialist Social democrat â•…Workers’ Party Catalan Agreement Catalonian â•…of Progress â•…regionalist Others Total

No. of Seats No. of Seats No. of Seats 2000 2004 2008 151 67

126 94

123 104

12

16

16

29 23 21 259 259 264

have three senators, the overseas territories of Ceuta and Melilla have two, and the smaller islands have one. Voters have three votes and may use them in a nonpartisan way, by voting for candidates from different parties. Fifty-six members of the Senado are elected indirectly, by the 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas). Each has one senator plus one additional senator for each million inhabitants. This means the smaller communities have one senator each, Catalonia has eight, and Andalusia has nine. The communities may decide themselves on the way their senators are elected, but mostly they are elected by the community legislatures. The whole procedure shows that the Senado is not a full representation of the communities, but changing the electoral system in that direction is now being discussed. Table ES 3 shows the composition of the Senado. As the tables show, the current Social Democratic government does not enjoy a majority position in either house; in both houses it needs the support of regionalist parties for the approval of its bills. The two houses are unequal in power. The Congreso can ignore amendments made to bills by the Senate, which means the Senate has no more than a suspensive veto. It has the exclusive rights, however, to appoint the judges of the top courts and to supervise the regional governments to some extent.

Executive Power Since the return to democracy Spain has had one-party governments. Some, the current Social Democratic government for instance, have been minority governments, which need the support of regionalist parties. Ministers are recruited mostly, but not necessarily from the ranks of the members of parliament. The Spanish executive power enjoys relatively great latitude in issuing decrees (reglamentos), which need not be submitted to the parliament. Table ES 4 shows the limited number of prime ministers the country has had since 1976, pointing to great governmental stability in spite of the minority cabinets. Social Democratic prime minister Felipe González served for more than 13 years and had a great role in modernizing the country.



SPAIN (España)╇ | 515

Table ES 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Spain since 1976 Party Ideology Begin No. of Prime Minister Months Union of the Liberal 1976 63 Adolfo Suárez, Leopoldo â•… Democratic Centre â•… Calvo Sotelo Spanish Socialist Social democrat 1982 161 Felipe González â•…Workers’ Party People’s Party Conservative 1996 95 José María Aznar Spanish Socialist Social democrat April José Luis Zapatero â•…Workers’ Party â•… 2004 Total: four periods Total: five prime ministers

Judicial Power The Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) is the top of the pyramid of courts. A separate Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) is in charge of judicial review of the constitutionality of laws. The 12 judges of the Constitutional Court serve a nine-year term, which is not renewable. Four are selected by the Congreso, four by the Senado, two by the government, and two by the judiciary.

Referendums Since 1976 there have been four nationwide referendums. They concerned political reforms in 1976, the constitution in 1978, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership in 1986, and the EU constitution in 2005; all four had a majority in favor.

Civil Society Spain has long been the most fervent defender of Catholicism in Europe, dedicated to eradicating all kinds of heresies. The constitution still mentions that the majority of the population is Catholic, but the Catholic Church has no more formal privileges. Probably more so than in the rest of Latin Europe, Spanish civil life is divided between rightist clerical Catholics and leftist anticlericals; these were also the dividing lines in the Civil War. The major trade unions are Workers’ Â�Commissions (Comisiones Obreras [CCOO]), which has links with the Â�Communist Party, and the General Workers’ Union (Union General de Trabajadores [UGT]), which is close to the Social Democratic Party. Total membership amounts to less than two million, a lower figure than in Belgium or Sweden because of the low union density of 17  Â�percent. The two union federations cooperated in a number of general Â�protest strikes, one right after the fall of the Franco regime, three times against the Social Democratic government of Felipe González, and once against the Aznar government. The main employers’ association is the Spanish Confederation of Â�Enterprise Organizations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones

516 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

Empresariales [CEOE]). Collective bargaining mainly takes place at sector level, either nationwide or for each province separately. Tripartism has fluctuated over time, due to the CCOO’s hesitation to tie its hands, but over the past few years such contacts have been intensified again in order to conclude nationwide Â�agreements on elements of employment conditions. In Basque Country, but also in the rest of the nation, civil society and politics are disturbed by bomb attacks by the Basque separatist movement ETA, which demands total independence for the Basque region in northern Spain; it operates mainly in Spain, but also on a limited scale in France. The ETA’s bomb attacks have killed more than 800 people. ETA also undermines freedom of information by Â�terrorist attacks against journalists and others who write in a critical vein about them.

Federalism Spain has been federalized since the late 1970s, and government policies, Â�including education and health care, have been transferred to the 17 communities Â�(comunidades), and to a lesser degree to Ceuta and Melilla, the two cities on the North African coast. The devolution of power and the financial regime are not the same for all comunidades, however, because some raise their own tax and then allocate part of the funds to the central government, while others still lack taxation autonomy; still, the development is in the direction of full autonomy. The comunidades, listed in Table ES 5, have their own elected legislature and government. In area Castile and Leon is the largest; it is larger than Portugal. The most populous is Andalusia. Basque is spoken in the Basque Country (País Vasco, Euskadi), Catalan in Catalonia (Cataluña) and to some extent also in Valencia (Comunidad Â�Valenciana) and on the Balearic Islands (Islas Baleares) in the Mediterranean Sea.

Policies The country has been successful in raising the national economy to the level of the group of richest European countries, but a persistent problem is high unemployment, at times up to 20 percent. For the most part the Spanish welfare system has been created since 1976; many provisions are based on the Bismarckian system of employer and employee contribution, with a great deal of differentiation among sectors or occupations. The Social Democratic governments have made bold steps to raise the country from radical authoritarianism to the level of libertarianism and gender equality of the Germanic nations. Spain was the third European country to legalize samesex marriage in 2005. There is also a movement going on to put an end to one of Spain’s age-old traditions, bull fights; in 2010 Catalonia was the first comunidad on the Spanish mainland to do so.



SPAIN (España)╇ | 517

Table ES 5╇ The Spanish Autonomous Communities (Comunidades) Comunidad

Area in 1,000 Population Capital Party in Power* square miles (in millions) (1,000 square kilometers)

Andalusia 33.7 (87.3) 8.1 Seville PSOE Aragon 18.4 (47.7) 1.3 Zaragoza PSOE Asturias 4.1 (10.6) 1.1 Oviedo PSOE Balearic Islands 1.9 (5.0) 1.1 Palma de Regionalist – â•…Mallorca â•…PSOE Basque Country 2.8 (7.2) 2.1 Vitoria Regional social â•…democrat Canary Islands 2.9 (7.5) 2.1 Santa Cruz/Las â•… Palmas Cantabria 2.1 (5.3) 0.6 Santander Regionalist Castile and Leon 36.4 (94.2) 2.5 Valladolid PP Castile La Mancha 30.7 (79.5) 2.0 Toledo PSOE Catalonia 12.4 (32.1) 7.2 Barcelona Regionalist Extremadura 16.1 (41.6) 1.1 Mérida PSOE Galicia 11.4 (29.6) 2.7 Santiago de PP â•…Compostela La Rioja 2.0 (5.1) 0.3 Logroño PP Madrid 3.1 (8.1) 6.3 Madrid PP Murcia 4.4 (11.3) 1.4 Murcia PP Navarre 4.0 (10.4) 0.6 Pamplona Regionalist – PP Valencia 9.0 (23.3) 5.0 Valencia PP * PSOE indicates Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party; PP, People’s Party

Major Political Parties from Left to Right National Parties

Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español [PSOE]) The party was founded in 1879, and in 1910 its founder was voted into the parliament. The party was in government under the Second Republic, but under fascism it was banned, many of its leaders were imprisoned, and others went into exile. In the early 1970s it was reestablished in France, and came under the leadership of Felipe González. Threatening to step down if the party did not shift from classical Marxism to reformist social democracy, he successfully got the whole party on that track, which motivated other Social Democratic parties, in particular the German party, to provide financial assistance. In 1977 were held the first free elections after the reintroduction of democracy, and in 1979 the party was second to the Democratic Center Union with just about

518 |╇ Iberian Peninsula: Portugal, Spain

one third of the seats. In 1982 the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party won the elections and enjoyed a majority in the parliament until 1993. In 2004 it became the largest party once again, with more than 45 percent of the seats. The party has had two prime ministers, Felipe González (1982–1996) and the current prime minister José Luis Zapatero (since 2004). The party especially attracts industrial workers and workers in public services but typically no civil servants. Its regional strongholds are Catalonia, where it is a better promoter of regional autonomy than the People’s Party, and Andalusia, where it is supported by many agricultural workers. In the EU the party is a member of the Social Democrat S&D. Peoples’ Party (Partido Popular [PP]) The party was founded in 1977 by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, who had been a government minister in the fascist regime. The party was made up of groups of Christian Democrats and Conservative Liberals. In 1977 and 1979 the party won a few seats, but its ascendancy began in the 1982 elections, when the Democratic Center Union, which had dominated the early post-Franco years, was dissolved and many of its members and leaders joined the People’s Party. In the 1980s it won 30 percent of the seats, in 1993 it won 40 percent, and in the 1996 and 2000 elections it was the biggest party, with between 45 and 53 percent of the seats. The party attracts rural and small-town voters, civil servants, and middle-class voters, especially clerical Catholics. Regionally, it is very strong in Madrid and the central regions of the country (Old Castile and New Castile) and in Galicia. The party has had one prime minister, José María Aznar (1996–2004). In 2004 Aznar did not want to serve another term and Mariano Rajoy became party leader. The 2004 electoral defeat, contrary to the expectations at the time, was mainly due to the party’s blaming the ETA for the terrorist bomb attacks on Spanish trains and a Madrid train station a few days before the election, although it was clear to everyone, and indeed turned out, that the attacks were committed by the Arab terrorist organization of Al Qaeda. Mariano Rajoy is still the party leader. In the EU the People’s Party is a member of the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP.

Regional Parties Convergence and Union (Convergència i Unió [CiU]) The party was created in 1977 when two Catalan parties formed an alliance, the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (Convergència democratica de Catalunya) and the Democratic Union of Catalonia (Unió democratica de Catalunya). Convergence is a Conservative Liberal Party and Union is a Christian Democratic Party. Since its foundation the combination has been very stable in its share of seats in the national parliament, between three and five percent, which means it is the third party, although still far behind the two dominant parties. It participated in the national government between 1996 and 2000 as a junior coalition partner of the People’s Party; cooperation was discontinued in 2000 because the People’s



SPAIN (España)╇ | 519

Party then gained a majority of seats and no longer needed a coalition partner. The party ruled the Catalonia comunidad until 2003, when it lost the majority in the regional council and was replaced by a combination of Social Democrats and radical leftist parties. In the EU the two parties that make up Convergence and Union are members of different European parties; Convergence is a member of the liberal ALDE, and Union a member of the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP. Basque National Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea [EAJ]; in Spanish: Partido Nacionalista Vasco [PNV]) The party, mostly described under its Basque and Spanish names EAJ-PNV, was founded in 1895, but it suffered from divergence between adherents of total independence and more modest protagonists of autonomy. During the Civil War the party was on the republic’s side. It was banned under fascist rule, and its leaders went into exile or were imprisoned. The party was reestablished after the return to democracy but has always been very small on a nationwide scale. In Basque Country it governed until 2009, when it was defeated in the regional elections. The party has a conservative liberal platform, and in the EU it is a member of the liberal ALDE.

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7â•…The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

T

he group of Baltic States, or Baltic Nations, comprises Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (for the map, see p. 410). All three are small countries and �small-scale societies, resembling Scandinavia; the Latvian capital, Riga, is the only big city. The three countries have been very successful since 1991 in �making the transformation from communist dictatorships within the Soviet Union to �independent countries with democratic parliamentary political systems. As a group they now lead the rest of Central Europe on most rankings of democracy; they are behind the British Isles and the Germanic nations but more or less on par with Latin Europe. The three countries differ from Scandinavia on two points: they are much stricter in ethical issues (for example, the Latvian and Lithuanian constitutions state that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman), and a larger part of their population is in prison. The incarceration rate in the Baltic States is the highest of all democratic countries in Europe, surpassed only by that of Eastern Europe.

ESTONIA (Eesti) Of all Central European countries, Estonia occupies the leading position on most rankings of democracy, and it is usually ranked above Italy.

The Land and the People The Land

Estonia’s shape is a square, with seacoasts on two of the four sides, the Baltic Sea to the west, and the Gulf of Finland to the north. It also includes two big islands in the Baltic Sea. Estonia is the smallest of the three Baltic nations, both in area and population size. Its area is 17,463 square miles (45,228 square kilometers), slightly larger than Denmark and the combined area of Massachusetts, Â�Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The longest road distances on the mainland are 155 miles (250 kilometers) from east to west and 150 miles (240 kilometers) from 521

522 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

north to south. The country borders Russia in the east and Latvia in the south. The border with Russia, which is almost totally formed by a lake shared by the two nations, is a source of dispute, and Russia refuses to sign the border agreement. Estonia is a flat country of pinewoods and lakes, comparable to �Finland; the highest peak is 1,040 feet (317 meters). The climate is cold maritime.

The People The total population of Estonia stands at 1.3 million, less than in the other Baltic States but comparable to New Hampshire. There is only one major city, the capital Tallinn on the north coast, which has 400,000 inhabitants. The population is divided into two groups: a 69 percent majority of traditionally Lutheran ethnic Estonians, who speak Estonian, and a 26 percent minority of traditionally Orthodox Russians, who speak Russian; in addition, there is a two percent Ukrainian minority. The Estonian language belongs to the �Finno-Ugrian group; it is closely related to Finnish, distantly related to Hungarian, and not related at all to the Baltic languages spoken in Latvia and Lithuania or to any other European language group. Estonian and Finnish are to some extent mutually understandable. Although Estonians are not related to the neighboring Latvians, they have a long history in common, in particular rule by the German Teutonic Order of Knights and the presence of a German upper class.

The Economy Estonia is a low-income country with a service-oriented economy. It has one natural resource: oil shale, which is the base of an oil-shale processing industry. The extensive woods serve as the base for a timber and paper industry.

Culture Tallinn is one of the best-preserved medieval Hanseatic towns in northern Europe.

History Table EE 1╇ Timeline of Estonian History First century BC Finno-Ugrian tribes from the Urals inhabit Estonia Ninth century AD Swedish Viking raids on the coast 1219 Occupied by Denmark, Christianized 1346 Sold to the German Teutonic Knights, who share power with ╅ the Hanseatic League 1556 Northern part of the country is under Sweden, which introduces ╅Reformation 1629 All of Estonia is under Swedish rule 1710 Russian invasion 1729 All of Estonia is under Russian rule (Continued)



ESTONIA (Eesti)╇ | 523

1819 Abolition of serfdom Late 19th century Russification campaign 1905 Nationalist uprising is suppressed 1918 Proclamation of independence; occupied by German troops â•… until late 1918 1920 Soviet Russia recognizes independence 1934 Prime Minister Constantine Päts becomes dictator 1938 Partial return to democracy under Päts 1940 Occupied by the Soviet Union 1941 Occupied by Nazi Germany 1944 Incorporated into the Soviet Union; communist dictatorial regime 1989 Mass demonstrations in Tallinn during music festivals â•… (the Singing Revolution) 1994 Last Russian troops leave the country 2004 Member of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization â•…(NATO) 2011 Adopts the euro

Political System Estonia has a parliamentary political system. It has a large Russian minority, and the relations between the Estonian majority and the Russian minority are a major political issue. Politics is dominated by two rightist parties and a centrist party; the left is weakly developed.

Constitution The current 1992 constitution refers to the 1918 constitution, which was proclaimed after the country had become independent from Soviet Russia for the first time, This period is regarded as the beginning of Estonian independence and democracy. After regaining independence in 1991, the 1992 constitution was adopted by referendum. Among its precepts it proclaims Estonian as the national language. Amending the constitution requires a three-fifths majority in the parliament, a referendum, and another simple majority in the parliament.

Head of State The president is the head of state; he or she is elected by the parliament for a five-year term and may serve no more than two consecutive terms. In the first three rounds of the election a two-thirds majority is required; if no decision is reached, the parliament and members of local government elect the president. The full procedure was needed in 2006 when the opposition parties boycotted the presidential elections and Toomas Ilves, who was the only candidate, did not gain a two-thirds majority.

524 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Table EE 2╇ The Estonian Riigikogu since 2003 Party Ideology

No. of No. of Percent of Seats 2003* Seats 2007 Votes 2007

1 Estonian Reform Party Conservative liberal 19 2 Estonian Centre Party Social liberal 28 3 Union of Pro Patria and Conservative 7 â•… Res Publica 28 4 Social Democratic Social democrat 6 â•…Party 5 Estonian Greens Green – 6 People’s Union of Agrarian conservative 13 â•…Estonia Total 101

32 28 19

27.8 26.1 17.9

10

10.6

6 6

7.1 7.1

101

*In 2003, Pro Patria and Res Publica operated separately and the Social Democratic Party was named People’s Party Moderates.

Presidential powers are mainly ceremonial. The country has had three presidents since independence: Lennart Meri (1992, Pro Patria, Conservative); Arnold Rüütel (2001, People’s Union, Agrarian Conservative), and Toomas Hendrik Ilves (2006, Social Democrat). President Rüütel was the communist leader of Estonia in the Soviet Union.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament (Riigikogu) consists of 101 members (23 of whom are women), elected in popular elections for a four-year term by means of proportional representation, with a five percent threshold. There are 12 multimember constituencies with 6 to 12 mandates each. Table EE2 shows the composition of the Riigikogu since 2003. From left to right the political spectrum consists of the following parties: Social Democratic Party to Estonian Greens to Estonian Centre Party to People’s Union of Estonia to Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica to Estonian Reform Party.

Executive Power All governments have been coalitions, and all of them have been rightist or centerright. Table EE 3 lists the Estonian prime ministers since 1991. Andrus Ansips’s period as prime minister encompassed three cabinets: from 2005 until the 2007 elections with the Centre Party and the People’s Union; between 2007 and 2009 with the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica as well as the Social Democratic Party; and since 2009 as a minority cabinet with the Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica. Before the merger Res Publica was larger than the Union of Pro Patria, and it had one prime minister, Juhan Parts, who stepped down in 2005 after a vote of no confidence against his minister of justice.



ESTONIA (Eesti)╇ | 525

Table EE 3╇ Prime Ministers of Estonia since 1991 Prime Minister Party

Prime Minister’s Begin No. of Ideology Months

╇ 1 Edgar Savisaar Popular Front of Liberal 1991 5 â•…Estonia ╇ 2 Tiit Vähi Independent 1992 9 ╇ 3 Mart Laar Pro Patria Union Conservative 1992 25 ╇4 Andres Tarand Independent 1994 ╇5 ╇ 5 Tiit Vähi Estonian Coalition Conservative liberal 1995 23 â•…Party ╇ 6 Mart Siiman Estonian Coalition Conservative liberal 1997 24 â•…Party ╇ 7 Mart Laar Pro Patria Union Conservative 1999 33 ╇ 8 Siim Kallas Estonian Reform Conservative liberal 2002 15 â•…Party ╇ 9 Juhan Parts Res Publica Conservative 2003 24 10 Andrus Ansip Estonian Reform Conservative liberal April â•…Party â•…2005 Total: 10 prime â•…ministers

Judicial Power The highest court is the Supreme Court (Riigikohus), which consists of 19 judges. It has the right of judicial review, which is normally executed by five members who form the Constitutional Review Chamber.

Referendums The only referendum since the 1991 referendum on independence and the 1992 one on the constitution was the 2003 referendum on EU membership. All three referendums had a broad majority in favor.

Civil Society Collective bargaining between trade unions and employers mainly takes place at the company level, but the organization rate of both employees and employers is low, a mere 8 percent for employees and 25 percent for employers, among the lowest in Europe. Tripartism has not developed, but employment relations are not contentious. The strike rate is also very low.

Policies Estonia introduced strict citizenship policies after 1991. Only people who had lived in the country before 1940 and their descendants were granted citizenship, including voting rights (although such restrictions did not apply in the 1991 referendum

526 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

on independence). This provision excluded Russians who had settled in Estonia during the Soviet period, and consequently, one third of the total population did not have citizenship in 1992. Naturalization required knowledge of the Estonian language and Estonian history. Under pressure from Russia and international organizations the requirements were mitigated, and in 2009 only eight percent of the population were still noncitizens. In economic policies the country has followed a course of low government expenses and low taxation. Its low budget deficit and level of national debt allowed it to become the 16th member of the eurozone in 2011, ahead of the other Baltic nations. A recent dispute between Estonia, its Russian-speaking inhabitants, and Russia concerned the removal in 2007 of a Soviet war memorial (in honor of the Soviet Army as liberator) from the center of Tallinn to a military cemetery, which gave rise to riots in Tallinn and protests by Russia.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Estonian Centre Party (Eesti Keskerakond [EK])

The party was a successor of the Popular Front of Estonia, set up at the time the Soviet Union broke down, after a number of prominent members had left that party. Since 1995 it has been successful in elections; since 1999 it has even been the Â�largest party in the parliament (in 2003 together with Res Publica). It is a social liberal party, which enjoys wide support among the Russian speakers. In the EU it is affiliated with the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The party leader is Edgar Savisaar.

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica (Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit [IRL]) The party was formed in 2006 out of a merger of the Pro Patria Union and Res Publica, both of which were conservative parties. The party leader since 2006 is Mart Laar. In the 1990s Pro Patria was the larger party, with one prime minister, Mart Laar, who headed two coalition governments, but in the 2000s Res Publica became the larger party, with 28 percent of the seats in 2003 and Prime Minister Juhan Parts. Among the basic values of the party are the Christian tradition, patriotism, and free enterprise. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian democrat and conservative European People’s Party (EPP).

Estonian Reform Party (Eesti Reformierakond [RE]) The party has been one of the largest Estonian parties since 1995, but it did not �outrun the other parties until the very successful elections in 2007. It has �participated in most coalition governments since the mid-1990s and has provided two prime ministers: Siin Kallas (who later became a member of the European Commission) and Andrus Ansip. The party has been the driving force behind the conservative liberal tax policies of the country, which have resulted in a very low uniform tax rate. The party is affiliated with the liberal ALDE. The party leader is Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.



LATVIA (Latvija)╇ | 527

LATVIA (Latvija) Like Estonia, Latvia has a large Russian minority, and in this country, too, the relations between majority and minority are a major political issue.

The Land and the People The Land

Latvia is situated on the Baltic Sea and the smaller Gulf of Riga. The total area is 24,938 square miles (64,589 square kilometers), which is almost as large as Lithuania, one and a half times the size of Estonia, and slightly larger than West Virginia. The Gulf of Riga cuts the country into two parts, Kurland in the west and the larger Livonia (which it shares with Estonia) in the east. The longest road distances are 310 miles (500 kilometers) from east to west and 125 miles (200 kilometers) from north to south. In the north the country borders Estonia, in the south Lithuania, in the east Russia, and in the southeast Belarus. The borders have been stable since the breakdown of the Soviet Union. The country is covered with pinewoods and lakes, comparable to Estonia and Finland. The western part, Kurland, is flat. The east is flat to hilly with a highest elevation of 1,023 feet (312 meters). The climate varies from cold maritime in the west to cold continental in the east.

The People Latvia has 2.2 million inhabitants, halfway between the population size of Estonia and Lithuania or between New Mexico and Nevada. The capital Riga (one million inhabitants), centrally located on the Gulf of Riga, is by far the largest city, not only of Latvia but of all three Baltic nations. Latvia’s population is divided between 60 Â�percent traditionally Lutheran Latvians or Letts, who speak Latvian, and 28 percent traditionally Orthodox Russians. Smaller minorities, altogether fewer than 12 percent, are Belarussians, Ukrainians, and Poles. The Latvian language belongs to the group of Baltic languages, of which Lithuanian is the only other member, but the two languages are not mutually understandable and are not related to any other European language group either. Although the Latvians are ethnically related to the Lithuanians, not to the Estonians, they have a long history in common with Estonia, in particular long-lasting rule by the German Teutonic order of Knights and a general German influence.

The Economy Latvia is a low-income country with a service-oriented economy. It has no natural resources, but the vast woods serve a timber and paper industry; timber is also one of the major export products.

Culture Riga has preserved its old medieval center from Hanseatic times, and the city rivals Brussels and Prague as a capital of art nouveau architecture.

528 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

History Table LV 1╇ Timeline of Latvian History First century BC Baltic tribes inhabit the country Ninth century Swedish Vikings raid the coasts 1201 Riga is founded by the German Teutonic Order 1282 Riga joins the Hanseatic League 16th century The Teutonic Order converts to Lutheranism and introduces â•…Reformation 1583 After the Polish-Russian Livonian War Latvia is under Polish rule 1621 After the Swedish-Russian War Latvia is under Russian rule 1819 Serfdom is abolished Late 19th century Russification campaign 1918 Proclamation of independence, but it is occupied by Germany â•… until the end of 1918 1920 Soviet Russia recognizes Latvia’s independence 1934 Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis becomes dictator 1940 Occupied by the Soviet Union 1941 Occupied by Nazi Germany 1944 Incorporated into the Soviet Union; communist dictatorial regime 1987 Mass demonstrations against Russian domination 1990 Proclamation of independence 1991 Independence is recognized by Russia 2004 Member of the EU and NATO

Political System Latvia has a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by rightist political parties; the left is less well developed.

Constitution The Latvian constitution was proclaimed in 1993, but its main principles continued those of the 1922 constitution that was introduced after the country first became independent from Soviet Russia. The original 1993 version did not contain civil rights; they were introduced by amendment in 1998, and so was the status of �Latvian as the national language. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in the parliament in three parliamentary readings, but amendments of the articles devoted to the national language and the election of parliament also require a referendum.

Head of State The president is the head of state. The president is elected by the parliament for a four-year term, though until 1997 the term lasted three years. Presidents may serve two consecutive terms. The presidential function is mainly a ceremonial one. The president may ask the parliament to change a bill, however; if the parliament



LATVIA (Latvija)╇ | 529

Table LV 2╇ Presidents of Latvia since 1990 President

Party and Ideology

Begin

Anatolijs Gorbunovs Latvian Way: conservative liberal Guntis Ulmanis Latvian Farmers’ Union, agrarian Vaira Vı̄k, e-Freiberga Independent Valdis Zatlers Independent

1990 1993 1999 2007

refuses to do so, the law must either be signed or subjected to a referendum. Vaira Vı̄k, e-Freiberga took this route with a controversial law that obliged people to speak Latvian in public functions. Table LV 2 lists the presidents since 1990; the first president, Anatolijs Gorbunovs, was the last leader of Latvia under Soviet Russian rule.

Legislative Power The 100 members of the unicameral parliament (Saeima) are elected for a four-year term using the electoral system of proportional representation and a five percent national threshold. For the elections the country is divided into five multimember districts with 15 to 29 mandates each. Table LV 3 shows the composition of the Saeima since 2002. Table LV 3╇ The Latvian Saeima since 2002 Party Ideology People’s Party Conservative Union of Greens and Farmers Agrarian â•… (coalition of the Latvian â•… conservative/Green â•… Farmers’ Union and the â•… Green Party of Latvia) New Era Conservative liberal Harmony Centre (coalition Social democrat â•… of the National Harmony â•… Party and the Latvian â•… Socialist Party) Coalition of Latvia’s First Conservative â•… Party and Latvian Way For Fatherland and Freedom Nationalist/radical â•…right For Human Rights in United Russian-speaking â•…Latvia â•…minority Total

No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats of Votes 2002 2006 2006 20 12

23 18

19.6 16.7

26 –

18 17

16.4 14.4

10

10

8.6

7

8

6.9

25

6

6.0

100 100

530 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

From left to right the composition of the political spectrum is as follows: Â�Harmony Centre and For Human Rights in United Latvia to the left; Latvia’s First Party in the center, Union of Greens and Farmers, People’s Party to the right; and New Era and For Fatherland and Freedom at the radical right side.

Executive Power All governments (listed in Table LV 4) have been coalitions, mostly consisting of rightist parties. Most coalitions have been short-lived.

Judicial Power The highest court is the Supreme Court (Augstākā tiesa). Since 1996, a separate Constitutional Court (Satversmes tiesa) takes care of judicial review of the compliance of laws with the constitution. It consists of seven judges who have a 10-year term. All of them are appointed by the parliament—three of them are nominated by at least 10 members of parliament, three by the government, and one by the Supreme Court.

Table LV 4╇ Prime Ministers of Latvia since 1990 Prime Minister

Prime Minister’s Ideology Begin Party

No. of Months

╇ 1 Ivars Godmanis Latvian People’s Conservative 1990 39 â•… Front ╇ 2 Valdis Birkavs Latvian Way Conservative 1993 13 ╇3 Māris Gailis Latvian Way Conservative 1994 15 ╇ 4 Andris Šk, ē̄le Independent 1995 20 ╇ 5 Guntars Krasts For Fatherland Nationalist/radical 1997 15 â•…and Freedom â•…right ╇ 6 Vilis Krištopans Latvian Way Conservative 1998 8 ╇ 7 Andris Šk, ēle People’s Party Conservative 1999 10 ╇ 8 Andris Bērzin,š Latvian Way Conservative 2000 30 ╇ 9 Einars Repše New Era Party Conservative liberal 2002 16 10 Indulis Emsis Green Party Agrarian 2004 9 â•…conservative/green 11 Aigars Kalvı̄tis People’s Party Conservative 2004 37 12 Ivars Godmanis Latvia’s First Conservative 2007 15 â•…Party/Latvian â•…Way 13 Valdis New Era Party Conservative liberal March â•…Dombrovskis â•…2009 Total: 13 prime â•…ministers



LATVIA (Latvija)╇ | 531

Referendums The country has organized a number of referendums. Referendums to repeal laws require at least 150,000 signatures. The latest were a 1998 referendum against easier naturalization of noncitizens, which was rejected; a 2003 referendum on EU membership; a 2007 referendum on security laws; a 2008 referendum on the right to dissolve the parliament by means of a referendum (which failed because of low turnout, but had a great majority in favor); and another one in 2008 that linked oldage pensions to the official subsistence level (which also had a great majority in favor but failed because of low turnout).

Civil Society Latvia has a council for tripartite consultation between the main employers federation and the major trade union federation: the National Tripartite Cooperation Council (Nacionālā trı̄spusējā sadarbı̄bas padome [NTSP]). The organization rate on both sides is low, however, 18 percent for employees and 30 percent for employers, and most collective bargaining takes place at the company level. Strikes are rare.

Policies The country has imposed very strict citizenship policies, denying citizenship to Russians who do not speak Latvian, do not know the words of the national anthem, and do not have some basic knowledge of Latvian history, including the occupation by the Soviet Union (many of the Russians in the country probably don’t see it as occupation). The nonnaturalized Russians are regarded as noncitizens and have no voting rights, although allowing them to vote only in local elections has been considered at times. Although the basic citizenship requirements are not different from those in other European countries, the large number of noncitizens has become an international source of concern, and it is a source of dispute with Russia.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Harmony Centre (Saskanas Centrs [SC])

This is an alliance of a small number of political parties that was founded in 2005. Its platform is social democrat, in favor of an active role of the government in the economy, and it also focuses on the Russian speakers in the country. The party’s stronghold is Riga and most of its voters are Russian speakers. In the EU it is affiliated with the Social Democrat Progessive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Â� (S&D) and with the radical socialist European United Left. Its leader is Nils Ušakovs, who is of Russian descent and in 2009 became mayor of Riga.

For Human Rights in United Latvia (Par cilveˉka tiesˉI baˉm vienotaˉ Latvijaˉ [PCTVL]) The party was founded in 1998 out of a merger of three small parties and has its stronghold in Riga. It mainly defends the interests of the Russian-speaking minority and

532 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

promotes better relations with Russia; it also opposed Latvia’s NATO Â�membership. In the EU it is affiliated with the European Greens. It has a collective leadership.

Union of Greens and Farmers (Zal,o un Zemnieku SavienˉI ba [â•›ZZS])

This is a combination, founded in 2002, of two political parties: Latvian Farmers’ Union (Latvijas Zemnieku Savienı̄ba) and the Latvian Green Party (Latvijas Zal,ā Â�Partija). The Farmers’ Union existed before World War II and is a Conservative Party espousing agrarian interests, in particular defending small family farms. The Green Party has shared the same concerns and is less of a leftist party than green parties in the rest of Europe. The two parties scored under 10 percent of the seats before they combined, and after they combined 2006 was their best result with 18 percent. The Greens had one prime minister: Indulis Emsis in 2004, the first Green prime minister in any European country. In the EU the Farmers’ Union is affiliated with the liberal ALDE, the Green Party with the European Greens. The party leader is Raimonds Vējonis.

People’s Party (Tautas Partija [TP]) The party was founded by former prime minister Andris Šk, ēle in 1998, who is also one of the richest men in the country. The party has been successful in parliamentary elections, winning 20 percent of the seats or more, which made it the largest party in 1998 and 2006. It has provided two prime ministers: Andris Šk, ēle (1999–2000) and Aigars Kalvı̄tis (2004–2007). It is a conservative party, and in the EU it is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP. Andris Šk, ēle is still the party leader and the dominant personality in the party.

New Era (Jaunais Laiks [â•›JL]) The party was founded in 2002 by Einars Repše, a banker who became minister president in that year and has remained the dominant person in the party. In 2002 it was the largest party, whereas in 2006 it scored fewer seats but remained one of the large parties. Its second prime minister is Valdis Dombrovskis, who has been in power since 2009. Originally the party platform was radical rightist and especially devoted to the fight against corruption, but the party has shifted toward the center of the political spectrum. In the EU it is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and ˉ boltin,a. conservative EPP. The party leader is Solvita A

Defunct Party

Latvian Way (Latvijas Cel,š [LC])

The party was founded in 1993 as a Conservative Liberal Party. It was especially popular among former exiles and was the largest party in the first free elections in 1993, earning more than one third of the seats, but then its share declined to one fifth of the seats in 1998 and less in the 2000s. Yet, it provided four prime ministers: Valdis Birkavs (1993–1994), Māris Gailis (1994–1995), Vilis Krištopans (1998–1999), and Andris Bērzinš (2000–2002). In the EU the party was affiliated with the liberal ALDE. The party was dissolved in 2007.



LITHUANIA (Lietuva)╇ | 533

LITHUANIA (Lietuva) Lithuania is ethnically less divided than the other two Baltic nations.

The Land and the People The Land

Lithuania is situated on the Baltic Sea. Its form is something between an oval and a circle. Its area is 25,212 square miles (65,300 square kilometers), slightly larger than Latvia, one and a half times the size of Estonia, and slightly larger than West Virginia. The longest road distances are 217 miles (350 kilometers) from west to east and 174 miles (280 kilometers) from north to south. Lithuania not only borders Latvia but also Belarus in the east and Poland and the Russian Kaliningrad enclave in the south. The borders have been stable since the breakup of the Soviet Union. The short border with Poland nowadays serves as the narrow corridor from the rest of Western and Central Europe to the Baltic nations. The coastline is short, which makes Lithuania a more, but not totally, landlocked nation than the other Baltic countries. From the east to the Belarusian border one passes a flat coastal region, hills, lowlands, and higher hills, which rise to an elevation of 965 feet (294 meters). Although there are large woods and lakes, as in the rest of the Baltic region, the share of arable land is greater than in Estonia and Latvia. The climate varies from cold maritime in the coastal region to cold continental in the east.

The People Lithuania has 3.6 million inhabitants, less than Connecticut but more than the other Baltic nations combined. The capital, Vilnius, in the southeast, with half a million inhabitants, is less dominant than Riga in Latvia or Tallinn in Estonia; the second-largest town is the more centrally located Kaunas, with 380,000 inhabitants. The Lithuanian population is less divided than the �Latvian or �Estonian: 85 percent is Lithuanian and speaks the Lithuanian language. The largest minorities are Poles, at seven percent, and Russians, at 6.5 percent. With Latvian, �Lithuanian constitutes the small group of Baltic languages, but the languages are not mutually understandable and are not related to any other European language. Lithuania is the northernmost Catholic nation on the �European continent.

The Economy Lithuania is a low-income country with a service-oriented economy. The country has no natural resources; it mainly exports and imports industrial products.

Culture By way of contrast with Hanseatic Tallinn and Riga, Vilnius is more a city of Baroque architecture, dating from the time it was the capital of a large empire.

534 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

History Table LT 1╇ Timeline of Lithuanian History First century BC Baltic tribes from Russia inhabit Lithuania 1231 Mindaugas founds the Lithuanian kingdom Late 13th century Lithuania conquers Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine as far as â•… the Black Sea 1387 Lithuanian king baptized; adoption of Catholicism; creation of â•… Polish-Lithuanian Empire 1569 Union of Lublin, Commonwealth with Poland, dominated by â•… Poland; influx of Jews 18th century Empire weakened because of internal strife 1795 Under Russian rule 1812 Napoleon invades the country on his way to Russia 1831 Revolt against Russian rule 1861 Serfdom is abolished 1863 New uprising; beginning of Russification campaign 1918 Proclamation of independence; occupied by Germany until the â•… end of the year 1920 Independent, but Polish troops occupy Vilnius 1926 Military coup by General Antanas Smetona 1939 Port of Memel occupied by Nazi Germany 1940 Occupied by Soviet Union 1941 Occupied by Nazi Germany 1944 Incorporated into the Soviet Union; communist dictatorial regime 1990 Proclamation of independence by independence movement â•…Sajūdis 1991 Soviet forces invade Vilnius, followed by Russian recognition of â•…independence 1992 Last Russian troops leave the country 2004 Member of the EU and NATO; President Rolandas Paksas â•… impeached, convicted, and removed

Political System Lithuania has a parliamentary political system, with a greater variety of parties and coalitions than Estonia and Latvia.

Constitution A new constitution was introduced in 1992 after it had been approved by referendum. In 1990 a constitution had been proclaimed that retained some elements of the Soviet political structures; plans for a totally new constitution were delayed because of the debate between proponents of a parliamentary political system and those advocating a presidential political system. Lithuania finally opted for a



LITHUANIA (Lietuva)╇ | 535

parliamentary system but with a directly elected president. The constitution also states that Lithuanian is the national language. Amendments require two readings in the parliament, and in both a two-thirds majority is needed; amending the first chapter of articles, on the nature of the state, requires a referendum.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected in popular elections for a five-year term, and no more than two consecutive terms are allowed; the presidents are listed in Table LT 2. The first president, Vytautas Landsbergis, was not elected, but he headed the interim supreme council that governed the country at the time of independence. In 1992, Algirdas Brazauskas, who had been the last communist leader of Lithuania, was acting president for three months between the parliamentary elections and the presidential elections in which he was elected. In 2004, President Rolandas Paksas was impeached, convicted, and removed, the first impeachment of a head of state in a European democracy, because he had granted citizenship to a Russian-speaking inhabitant in exchange for election funding. Artūras Paulauskas, the speaker of the parliament, then acted as president for three months until the next elections. Although the direct presidential elections might suggest otherwise, the president has mainly ceremonial functions.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament (Seimas) consists of 141 members, who are elected for a four-year term; 22 percent of them are women. The electoral system is a combination of plurality and proportional representation: 71 candidates are elected in �single-member constituencies, in two-ballot elections; 70 candidates are elected by means of proportional representation, in which the country counts as one district Table LT 2╇ Presidents of Lithuania since 1990 President

Ideology

Begin

Vytautas Landsbergis Conservative 1990 Algirdas Brazauskas 1992 â•… (acting president) Algirdas Brazauskas Leftist 1993 Valdas Adamkus Independent 1998 Rolandas Paksas Rightist 2003 Artūras Paulauskas 2004 â•… (acting president)* Valdas Adamkus Independent 2004 Dalia Grybauskaite Independent July 2009 Total: Six presidents

No. of Months 21 3 60 60 13 3 60

*As speaker of the parliament, Paulauskas was acting president after Paksas was impeached and removed from office.

536 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

with a five percent threshold (until 1996 the threshold was four percent). Table LT 3 shows the composition of the Seimas.

Executive Power Lithuania has had 12 prime ministers since 1991, listed in Table LT 4, and three acting prime ministers to serve the time between the retreat of a government and the next elections or the formation of a new government. All Â�governments have been coalitions, some of them minority coalitions. In 1996, Prime Â�Minister Â�Adolfas Šleževičius was forced to resign due to allegations of corruption because he had withdrawn his private savings from banks just before they went bankrupt.

Judicial Power Judicial review of the compliance of laws with the constitution is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Konstitucinis Teismas), which consists of nine judges who serve a nine-year nonrenewable term. The president nominates three candidates, the Seimas three, and the Supreme Court three. The

Table LT 3╇ The Lithuanian Seimas since 2004 Party Ideology No. of Seats 2004 Homeland Union/ Christian â•…Lithuanian â•…democrat/ â•…Christian â•…conservative â•…Democrats Social Democratic Social â•… Party of Lithuania â•… democrat National Resurrection Conservative â•…Party â•…liberal Order and Justice Radical right Liberals’ Movement Conservative â•… of the Republic of â•… liberal â•…Lithuania Coalition Labour Social liberal â•… Party and Youth Liberal and Centre Conservative â•…Union â•…liberal Others Total

No. of No. of Total Plurality Proportional Seats Seats Representation 2008 2008 Seats 2008

25

27

18

45

20

15

10

25

–

3

13

16

11 –

4 6

11 5

15 11

39

2

8

10

18

3

5

8

28 11 141 71

– 11 70 141



LITHUANIA (Lietuva)╇ | 537

Table LT 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Lithuania since 1991*

Parties

Ideologies

Begin No. of Months Prime Minister

1 Christian democrats, Center/Right 1991 12 Albertas â•… supported by Sajūdis â•… Šime·nas 2 Independent, supported Center/Right 1991 23 Gediminas â•… by Sajūdis â•…Vagnorius, â•…Aleksandras â•…Abišala 3 Independent, supported Center/Left 1992 15 Bronislovas â•… by Democratic Labour â•… Lubys â•…Party 4 Democratic Labour Left 1993 32 Adolfas â•…Party â•…Šleževicˇius, â•…Laurynas â•…Mindaugas â•…Stankevicˇius 5 Homeland Union/ Right 1996 47 Gediminas â•… Conservatives ╇ Vagnorius, ╇╛Rolandas Paksas, ╇╛Andrius Kubilius 6 Liberal Union Right 2000 8 Rolandas Paksas 7 Social Democratic Left 2001 89 Algirdas â•…Party â•…Brazauskas, â•…Gediminas â•…Kirkilas 8 Homeland Union/ Right Nov 2008 Andrius Kubilius â•…Conservatives Total: Eight Total: 12 prime â•…periods â•…ministers *A few brief interim periods with acting prime ministers have been omitted.

� Constitutional Court is not part of the pyramid of courts, of which the Supreme Court is the highest, but occupies a separate position in the judiciary. It played a role in the impeachment of President Paksas, accusing him of a breach of the oath of office.

Referendums Referendums require 300,000 signatures and a turnout of 50 percent of the registered voters in order to be valid. The two referendums held in the 2000s regarded joining the EU and extending the functioning of a nuclear power plant in spite of the EU demand that it should be closed. A majority voted for extension, but the turnout was too low.

538 |╇The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Civil Society Lithuania has a tripartite council for consultation between employers, trade unions, and the government, the Tripartite Council (Trišalė taryba). On the employers’and trade unions’ side a number of organizations participate. Trade-union density is only 10 percent; however, collective bargaining takes place at the company level, and the strike rate is low.

Policies Lithuania has a different dispute with Russia than the other Baltic nations. The issue is not the status of the Russian minority, which is small, but the transit connection between Russia and the Russian Kaliningrad enclave that is squeezed between Lithuania and Poland and has no direct border with Russia. At first Russians could travel to and from the enclave through Lithuanian territory without a visa, but a problem arose after Lithuania joined the EU Schengen Agreement allowing for free transit among the member states. Since then special transit documents have been issued for Russians. In ethical issues, Lithuania is conservative. As is the case in Latvia, the constitution now stipulates that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman. The country also supports Italy in its attempts to retain the crucifix in public schools.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (Lietuvos Social Demokratu˛ Partija – LSDP) The party was founded in 2001 out of a merger of a new Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party, which provided the first president, Algirdas Brazauskas, after the proclamation of independence. The communist section in the party lost most of its appeal in later elections. The Social Democrats were the largest party in government in 1993–1996 and in 2006–2008, providing four prime ministers in those short periods. The party promotes state investments in the economy rather than cuts in public spending. In the EU it is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D. The party leader is Algirdas Butkevičius.

Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Te˙vyne˙s sajunga – Lietuvos krikščionys demokratai – TS) The combination was built in 2008 out of a merger of the two parties that are still listed in its name. The Homeland Union was founded in 1993 by the conservative wing of the independence movement Sajūdis, headed by Vytautas Landsbergis. The Christian Democrats dated from before the Soviet period and were refounded in 1989. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius is the party leader. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP. Homeland Union was by far the largest party in 1996, with half of all parliamentary seats, but it dropped to six percent in 2000. It has also provided a number of presidents and prime ministers.



LITHUANIA (Lietuva)╇ | 539

National Resurrection Party (Tautos Prisike˙ limo Partija – TPP) The party was newly founded before the 2008 elections and, as a Conservative Party, joined the rightist coalition after the elections. The party founder and leader is Arūnas Valinskas.

Order and Justice (Tvarka ir teisingumas TT) The party was founded as a Liberal Democratic Party in 2002 and was successful from the start because of its populist founder Rolandas Paksas, who was elected president but was later impeached on corruption charges. The party then changed its name to Order and Justice. Since that time it has been the third- or fourth-largest party. The party platform is changing from populist radical right to conservative liberal, but Paksas is still the party leader.

Mid-Central Europe Baltic Sea

Kaliningrad

Lithuania

Russia Gdańsk

Berlin

Germany

Belarus

Warsaw

Poznan Lódź

Poland

Cracow

Prague

Czechia Brno

Slovakia

Vienna Bratislava

Austria

Debrecen Budapest

Hungary Slovenia Ljubljana

Ukraine

Romania

Croatia

Mid-Central Europe. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

8â•…Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

T

here is no term for the countries of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary as a group. All four countries are oriented toward neighboring nations, not toward the sea. Three are landlocked, and although Poland has a long coastline, it has never been sea-oriented, if only because Germany for centuries possessed or dominated the coast. The histories of the four countries are quite different, �ranging from empires to no independence at all until 1990. All four are now members of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); they have similar levels of gross national product (GNP) per capita and occupy comparable places on the Human Development Index. Together with the Baltic nations and Slovenia these countries have made the most successful transformation from communistdominated societies until the late 1980s to present-day democratic societies and are on their way to surpass Italy on several rankings of democracy (for the rankings, see the footnote at Table SCAN 2, p. 411).

POLAND (Polska) Poland, Central Europe’s most Catholic country, is deeply split between Catholic conservative liberals, supported by anticlericals, and very conservative Catholics. The divide coincides to some extent with the split between big cities and the rural and small-town periphery of Poland and to some extent with the division between the former German territories in the west and the rest of the nation.

The Land and the People The Land

Poland is situated on the Baltic Sea; its area is 120,728 square miles (312,685 square kilometers), larger than Italy and slightly smaller than New Mexico. The country’s shape is almost a square; the longest road distances are 480 miles 541

542 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

(760  kilometers) from west to east and 400 miles (640 kilometers) from north to south. To the north are the Baltic Sea, the Russian Kaliningrad enclave, and Â�Lithuania; to the east, Belarus and Ukraine; to the south, Czechia and Slovakia; and to the west, Germany—seven neighbors in total. The borders have been stable since the end of World War II, when, at the allied summit meetings at the end of the war, the country was shifted hundreds of kilometers to the west. Since that time the rivers Oder and Neisse have formed the border with Germany, which has long resisted recognizing this border. The greater part of Poland is relatively flat lowland; only on the Czech and Slovak border in the south are there any mountains, and the highest, with a summit of 8,200 feet (2,500 meters), is in the High Tatras range. The climate is continental, though in the coastal area it is somewhat more maritime. Historic regions are Pomerania in the north and Silesia in the west, which used to be partly German, and Galicia in the southeast, which had a large Jewish population before the Holocaust.

The People With 38.5 million people, less than Spain but slightly more than California, Poland is the least populous of the larger European countries (Romania is next with 21.5 million). The centrally located capital city of Warsaw is the largest city (two million inhabitants), followed by Lodz (one million), which is also centrally located and was the first industrial city in the Russian Empire, and by the former capital Cracow (800,000) in the south. Since the Holocaust, in which Polish Jews were a high percentage of the Â�victims, the shift of borders right after World War II, and the forced removal of millions of Germans to Germany, the country is ethnically more homogeneous than most of Central Europe: 98 percent are traditionally Catholic Poles who speak Polish, a West Slavonic language.

The Economy Poland is a medium-low-income nation with a service-oriented economy but also with a sizable agricultural sector (potatoes, sugar beets, rye), which still employs more than 15 percent of the population on very small family plots that mainly produce for their own consumption. (Poland was the only communist country in which agriculture remained in private hands.) The main industrial area is in the south, in Silesia, with a combination of mines and heavy industry, which are still being restructured after the end of communism; a large percentage of imports are capital goods for industry.

Culture Poland has fine examples of Teutonic castles (Malbork), Gothic architecture (Cracow), Renaissance architecture (Cracow, Torún), and Italian-style baroque



POLAND (Polska)╇ | 543

palaces (Warsaw). In music it can point to Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) and opera composer Stanisław Moniuszko (1819–1872), in literature to the national poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) and novelist Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916). Some of them lived part or most of their lives in exile, Chopin in Paris, for instance. Famous scientists were trailblazing astronomer Nicołaus Copernicus (1473–1543) and Marie Curie (1867–1934) who discovered radioactive elements, such as Â�polonium and radium.Â�

History Table PO 1╇ Timeline of Polish History First century BC Poland inhabited by Germanic tribes Ninth century AD Viking raids on the coast 10th century West Slavs, including Polans, settle in the country 966 Duke Mieszko, who unites Poland under the German emperor, â•… converts to Christianity, but the country soon falls apart 1333 Casimir the Great reunites the country, except German â•… western part 1386 Personal union with Lithuania; foundation of Polish-Lithuanian â•…Empire 1410 Poland and Lithuania defeat the German Teutonic Order 1569 Union of Lublin; Commonwealth with Lithuania under Polish â•…domination 2nd half of Large influx of Jews â•… 16th century Late 16th century The Reformation fails and the Catholic Counter-Reformation is â•… successful; beginning of Polish Golden Age 1652 Liberum veto: unanimity is required in aristocrats’ parliament â•… (Sejm) for all decisions 1655 Swedish invasion 1700 War with Sweden 1772, 1793 First and second partial partition of Poland among Prussia, â•… Austria, and Russia 1795 Third partition of the by now first Polish Republic, this time of all â•… of Poland 1808 Duchy under Napoleon’s rule 1815 Kingdom under Russian domination 1830 Nationalist uprising crushed, Russian suppression 1848, 1864 Nationalist revolts in the German and Russian parts 1918 Independent Second Polish Republic under Józef Piłsudski 1926 Coup by Piłsudski, who becomes dictator 1939 Germany and Soviet Union invade the country and massacre â•… population (Holocaust, Katyn Massacre) (Continued)

544 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary 1941 German occupation, mass killings of Polish and Polish Jews â•…(Holocaust) 1943 Uprising in Warsaw Ghetto crushed; Warsaw destroyed 1945 Occupied by the Russian army, government including communists 1948 Communist dictatorship under Russian domination 1956 Revolt in Poznan suppressed; threat of Soviet invasion; Władysław â•… Gomułka communist dictator 1970 Strike wave against increase of food prices; Edward Gierek â•… communist dictator 1978 Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II 1980 Strike wave and emergence of noncommunist trade union â•… Solidarity (Soldarnos´c´) 1981 Wojciech Jaruzelski military dictator, martial law, Soldarnos´c´ â•…banned 1989 Downfall of communism 1991 First free elections under Third Polish Republic 1997 New constitution enacted 1999 Member of NATO 2004 Member of the EU 2010 President Lech Kaczyn´ski killed in a plane crash

Political System Poland has a parliamentary political system, but in spite of the limited presidential powers, the presidents take care to be more visible in politics than is the case in most other parliamentary systems.

Constitution Poland already had a constitution in 1791; the current constitution dates from 1997, when it was approved in a referendum. Between 1990 and 1997 a “Small Â�Constitution” was in force that formed the basis of democratic politics. The Â�preamble refers to God and the human family, and to Polish as the national Â�language. The constitution has been amended only a few times, in particular to change rules of criminal law and bar convicted persons from being elected to the parliament. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in the lower house and a majority in the senate. Changes of the general articles on the Polish nation also require a referendum.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular two-ballot vote for a five-year term that is renewable once. The president has the right to veto legislation; presidents Lech Wałe̜sa and Lech Kaczyn´ski occasionally used the prerogative. Apart from the right of veto, which can be overruled by a three-fifths majority in the Sejm, the president has mainly ceremonial functions. Table PO 2 lists the Polish



POLAND (Polska)╇ | 545

Table PO 2╇ Presidents of Poland since 1990 President Ideology Begin Lech Wałe˛sa Aleksander Kwas´niewski Lech Kaczyn´ski Bronislaw Komowroski

Conservative Catholic Social democrat Conservative Christian democrat

1990 1995 2005 2010

presidents since 1990. President Kaczyn´ski died in a 2010 plane crash on a visit to Russia for the commemoration of the 1940 Katyn Massacre of Polish social and cultural leaders and military officers by the Soviet Union.

Legislative Power The 460 members of the lower house (Sejm), 20 percent of whom are women, are elected in proportional elections, with a very effective five percent electoral threshold. The threshold was introduced in 1993, motivated by the large number of parties (29) that had gained seats in the 1991 elections. There are 41 multimember constituencies, each with 7 to 19 mandates. The Sejm may oust a government, but only if it also names the successor, a kind of constructive vote of no confidence, in imitation of Germany. Only in 1993 did the Sejm vote down the government without proposing a new candidate for prime minister, which caused snap elections. The Senate (Senat) is elected at the same time as the Sejm, also in popular elections, for a four-year period. There are 40 districts, each of which elects two to four candidates, according to the plurality system. The Senat has fewer powers than the Sejm; a veto in the Senat can be overruled by an absolute majority in the Sejm. Only in the case of constitutional amendments can a Senat veto not be overruled. Table PO 3 shows the composition of the Sejm and the Senat. Table PO 3╇ Poland’s Sejm since 2001 and Senat since 2005 Party Ideology Civic Platform Christian â•…democrat Law and Justice Conservative Left and Social â•…Democrats â•…democrat Polish People’s Agrarian â•…Party â•…social â•…democrat

No. of No. of No. of Sejm by No. of No. of Sejm Sejm Sejm Percent Senat Senat Seats Seats Seats of Votes Seats Seats 2001 2005 2007 2007 2005 2007 65 133 209 41.5 34 60 44 216

155 55

166 53

32.1 13.2

49 –

39 –

42

25

31

8.9

2

– (Continuedâ•›)

546 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary Self Defense Agrarian 53 56 – 1.5 3 – â•… of the Republic â•… conservative â•… of Poland League of Polish Conservative 38 34 – 1.3 7 – â•…Families German Minority Minority 2 2 1 0.2 – – â•…rights Other – – – 1.3 5 1 Total 460 460 460 100 100 100

After the downfall of communism, a great number of new parties were founded; in the 1991 elections, for example, 69 parties participated. The five percent threshold has kept the number of parties that receive seats low, however. From left to right the composition of the political spectrum since the 2007 elections is Self Defense of the Republic of Poland to Left and Democrats (but it was dissolved in 2008) to Polish People’s Party to League of Polish Families to Civic Platform and to Law and Justice.

Executive Power Almost all governments are coalitions, headed by the prime minister, who is Â�usually the leader of the largest party in the coalition. Although the prime minister (they are listed in Table PO 4) has far more powers than the president, Â�occasionally there have been disputes between them, when presidents used their (suspensive) veto powers, as happened under presidents Lech Wałe̜sa and Lech Kaczyn´ski. Â�Sometimes voices are raised to reduce presidential powers, but they have not materialized. Only Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek (1997–2001) has been able to hold on for four years; the average term is some 18 months. The first Pawlak government in 1992 was an abortive one; it failed to get a vote of confidence in the Sejm and had to retreat after a month. Table PO 4╇ Prime Ministers of Poland since 1989 Prime Minister

Prime Minister’s Ideology Begin Party

╇ 1 Tadeusz Democratic Union Christian democrat 1989 â•…Mazowiecki ╇ 2 Jan Krzysztof Liberal Democratic Civic Platform 1991 â•…Bielecki â•…Congress ╇ 3 Jan Olszewski Centre Agreement Conservative 1991 ╇ 4 Waldemar Pawlak Polish People’s Party Agrarian social 1992 â•…democrat

No. of Months 4 11 5 1 (Continuedâ•›)



POLAND (Polska)╇ | 547

╇ 5 Hanna Suchocka Democratic Union Christian democrat 1992 ╇ 6 Waldemar Pawlak Polish People’s Party Agrarian social 1993 â•…democrat ╇ 7 Józef Oleksy Democratic Social democrat 1995 â•… Left Alliance ╇ 8 Włodzimierz Democratic Left Social democrat 1996 â•…Cimoszewicz â•…Alliance ╇ 9 Jerzy Buzek Solidarity Electoral Christian democrat 1997 â•…Action 10 Leszek Miller Democratic Left Social democrat 2001 â•…Alliance 11 Marek Belka Democratic Left Social democrat 2004 â•…Alliance 12 Kazimierz Law and Justice Conservative 2005 â•…Marcinkiewicz 13 Jarosław Law and Justice Conservative 2006 â•…Kaczyn´ski 14 Donald Tusk Civic Platform Conservative November â•…liberal â•…2007 Total: 14 prime â•…ministers

11 16 11 20 48 31 18 8 16

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Tribunal (Trybunał Â�Konstytucyjny), which stands separate from the pyramid of courts, of which the Supreme Court (Sa˛d Najwyz˙szy) is the highest one. The 15 judges are elected by the Sejm for one nine-year period, which cannot be renewed.

Referendums Under the Third Republic there have been four nationwide referendums: in 1996 there were two about individual property rights and the use of public property, in 1997 one on the constitution, and in 2003 one on joining the EU.

Civil Society In spite of the formal separation between state and church, the Catholic Church is still a powerful institution in Poland. Its strength is due to various factors. First, not unlike its position in Ireland under British rule, the Church played a role as opposition movement during the communist period and has close links with Solidarnos´c´. Second is the popularity of the first Polish pope, John Paul II, who was pope from 1978 until 2005 and several times visited his home country. Third, the fragmentation of parties in the early postcommunist period allowed the Church to maintain close contacts with a number of political parties, rather

548 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

than with just one, such as Solidarnos´c´, which was soon divided into a number of Â�factions and parties. Many politicians at the right side of the political spectrum are devout Catholics. The country has a Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Affairs (Komisja Trójstronna do Spraw Społeczno-Gospodarczych [TK]). Trade union membership is about 16 percent of all employees. The largest union Â�confederations are Solidarnos´c´ and the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (Ogólnopolkie Â�Porozumienie Zwia˛zkó Zawodowych); taken together they organize some Â�two-thirds of all unionized employees. On the employers’ side four federations participate in the TK. Most collective bargaining takes place at company level, however, and the strike rate is limited; strikes are mainly confined to the public sector. The media are relatively free, but radical rightist parties sometimes sue Â�journalists and there are frequent controversies regarding the objectivity of the public Â�television broadcasting stations.

Policies Poland is transforming its state-funded welfare state into a partially privatized one, but in health care any kind of privatization is very controversial. In ethical issues, Poland has strict laws on abortion, second only to Ireland. Homosexuality is still a controversial issue, though not a formal one, but coming out as a homosexual can cause a lot of trouble. According to polls, some 80 percent of the people are opposed to the legalization of same-sex marriage. In foreign policy the country has been the leading proponent of the New Europe, stressing the Atlantic relationship with the United States, even at the cost of good relations with Russia.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Polish People’s Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe [PSL]) The Polish People’s Party is also known as the Polish Peasants’ Party. Under that name it already existed under the Second Polish Republic and was even allowed to continue under the communist dictatorship as a junior partner of the Communist Â� Party; it was refounded in 1990. The party reveals its agrarian beginnings by Â�combining a leftist attitude on economic and social issues, in which it favors strong state interference in the market economy, with conservative views on ethical issues. It is the only party that has participated in all democratic elections; its best year was 1993, when it gained more than one quarter of the seats, but since that year it has never gained more than 10 percent. It scores well in the traditionally Polish and rural territories in the eastern half of the country. In the EU it is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative European People’s Party (EPP). The party leader is former prime minister Waldemar Pawlak.



CZECHIA (Česko)╇ | 549

Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska [PO]) This is something in between a conservative and a conservative liberal party, but leaning toward conservative liberalism. It was the fastest-growing party between 2001 and 2007, moving from 14 percent of the seats in 2001 to 45 percent in 2007, when it got its first prime minister, Donald Tusk, who is also the leader of the party. The party advocates a flat 15 percent tax rate, the privatization of health care, and strict laws on all kinds of ethical issues. It would like to see the Senat replaced by a kind of corporate chamber, representing the economy, the Church, the universities, and other institutions. The party scores best in the big cities and the formerly �German parts of the country; it is conservative liberal rather than Christian democratic, and regarding ethical issues it is far less authoritarian than the Law and Justice Party; in the EU it is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP.

Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość [PiS]) This is a Christian Democratic Party, but far more conservative regarding ethical Â� issues than the Christian Democratic parties in Germanic Europe. The party was founded in 2002 by the twins Lech Kaczyn´ski, who later became Â�president and died in 2010 in a plane crash, and Jarosław Kaczyn´ski, who was prime Â�minister in 2006–2007 and is the party leader. It mainly continued the Catholic Â�program set out by Solidarnos´c´ after independence. Its first prime minister was Â�Kazimierz Â�Marcinkiewicz in 2006, but his minority coalition only held on for eight months. Although it rapidly increased its number of seats (to 36 percent in 2007), it has been unable to match the best year of Solidarnos´c´ (40 percent of the seats in 1997). In the EU the party is affiliated with the eurosceptic European Â�Conservatives and Â�Reformists, of which it is the second-largest faction, behind the British Â�Conservative Party.

CZECHIA (Česko) Czechia (the name is hardly ever used without the addition “Republic”) has had the closest links with Germanic Europe of all Central European countries, in particular with Germany, in good and in bad times, partly because of its location. Prague is located midway between Berlin and Vienna. Czechia is a new country, only in existence since the split with Slovakia in 1993, but an old nation. Economically it is the most developed of the former Soviet Bloc countries. Of the countries in this group it also scores best on most democracy rankings.

The Land and the People The Land

Czechia is a landlocked and oval-shaped nation; its area is 30,451 square miles (78,867 square kilometers), which is larger than the Low Countries combined

550 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

but smaller than Austria and slightly smaller than South Carolina. The longest road distances are 170 miles (270 kilometers) from west to east and 160 miles (250 kilometers) from north to south. Czechia borders Poland to the north, G Â� ermany to the west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. The borders with Poland, Germany, and Austria have been stable since the end of World War II and the border with Slovakia since Czechoslovakia fell apart in 1993. The western part, Bohemia, with the national capital Prague, consists of a plateau, and the smaller eastern part, Moravia, in which Brno is the major city, is in the lowlands. Both are surrounded by mountains in the border regions, and the highest peak, at 5,250 feet (1,600 meters), is close to the Polish border. The climate is continental.

The People Czechia has 10.2 million inhabitants, slightly more than Hungary and Michigan but less than Belgium. The largest city is Prague (1.2 million inhabitants), �second is Brno (400,000), and third is Ostrava in the east (300,000). There are hardly any dividing lines; almost all Czechs speak Czech, a West Slavonic language, and most of them are traditionally Catholic. The small three percent Slovak minority, also Catholic, speaks Slovak, which is also a West Slavonic language, and both �languages are mutually understandable.

The Economy Czechia is a medium-high-income nation with a service-oriented economy; its GNP per capita is the second highest of Central Europe behind Slovenia. It was already an industrialized country before World War II, and has remained a leading manufacturer in Central Europe, for instance in automobiles (Škoda).

Culture Prague has been a center of European arts for centuries; its Renaissance and Baroque architecture attests to that role. It is also one of the capitals of art Â�nouveau architecture. In music the country can point to famous composers such as Bedr˘ich Smetana (1824–1884) and Antonín Dvorˇák (1841–1904), in literature to Franz Kafka (1883–1924), author of The Trial, who wrote in German. Other Â�outstanding Czechs are John Amos Comenius (1592–1670), a great educator, and Gregor Â�Mendel (1822–1884), the father of genetics. Arguably the most famous Czech is the always good-humored and compliant Good Soldier Schweik (Švejk), invented by author Jaroslav Hašek (1883–1923).

History First century AD Fifth century 830

Table CZ 1╇ Timeline of Czech History Germanic tribes expel the Celtic inhabitants Barbarian invasions; Slav tribes settle in the country Moravian Empire established, but it soon falls apart (Continued╛)



CZECHIA (Česko)╇ | 551

13th century King Otokar II unites the country and conquers Austria and â•… southern Poland 1342–1378 Reign of Charles IV, the Czech Golden Age 1410 Jan Hus preaches in Prague; expansion of Hussite Protestantism 1419–1434 Hussite Wars against the Catholic Holy Roman Empire 1526 Habsburgs on the throne 1618 Thirty Years’ War begins in Prague; Czechia is the battlefield 1620 Uprising against Habsburg rule; Counter-Reformation imposed 1663 Invasion by the Turks 1771 Great Famine, peasant revolt 1815 Conservative Habsburg reaction; suppression of Czech culture 1848 Serfdom abolished 1866 Prussian-Austrian War, partly on Czech soil 1918 Collapse of the Austrian Empire; Czechoslovakia created 1938 Munich Agreement: Nazi Germany occupies Sudetenland, â•… followed by the German occupation of the rest of the nation 1945 Soviet forces expel the Nazis 1948 Prague coup; communist takeover 1968 Prague Spring; Soviet Union and other communist regimes â•… occupy the country 1977 Formation of Charta 77 as an underground movement 1989 Overthrow of the communist regime 1993 Czechoslovakia dissolved; Charta 77 leader Václav Havel becomes â•… the last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of Czechia 1999 Member of NATO 2004 Member of the EU

Political System Czechia has a parliamentary political system, with relatively strong presidential powers. Politics is dominated by Conservative Liberals and Social Democrats.

Constitution In 1918, Czechoslovakia proclaimed a democratic constitution, which remained formally valid until the communist takeover in 1948. In 1960, a communist constitution was introduced. The current democratic constitution was adopted in 1992 and went into force in 1993. It does not mention Czech as the national language. Amendments require a constitutional act that must be approved by a three-fifths majority in both houses of parliament, but need not be signed by the president. The constitution has been amended a few times.

Head of State The president is the head of state; elected by both houses of parliament for a five-year term, which is renewable only once; candidates must have an absolute

552 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

majority in both houses. The president has more than ceremonial functions; presidential prerogatives include a veto of legislation, which may be overridden by a Â�three-fifths majority in the lower house, and the right to appoint members of the constitutional court and other high state offices, for which only senate consent is required. The right of veto does not extend to constitutional acts that amend the constitution. The country has had only two presidents since 1993: Václav Havel until 2003 and Václav Klaus, cofounder of the conservative liberal Civic Â�Democratic Party and former prime minister, since that time. Václav Havel (1936–) is a playwright. After the 1968 invasion his work was banned from the theaters, and he became active in protest against communism. In 1977, he wrote the Manifesto Charta 77, which became the start of a group of dissidents and for Havel led to constant harassment by the police and years in prison. Yet it also made him the symbol of protest against suppressive communism, a position he strengthened by a number of essays. In 1989, in the course of the Velvet Revolution, he became leader of the democratic movement Civic Forum. He became the first president of democratic Czechoslovakia after the breakdown of the communist regime and president of Czechia after the division of the nation. During his presidency he opposed Prime Minister Klaus’s rapid privatization of the economy.

Legislative Power The parliament (Parlament) consists of two houses: the chamber of deputies (Poslanecká sneˇmovna) and the senate (Senát). The 200 members of the chamber are elected for a four-year term under the electoral system of proportional representation, in which the country is divided into 14 multimember constituencies; there is a five percent threshold. The 81 members of the Senát are elected by the majority system in two-ballot elections. They have a six-year term; every two years one-third of the Senát is renewed. The Senát has fewer powers than the chamber. It has a veto, which can be overridden by a majority vote in the chamber, and it cannot vote on budget laws. Yet, only Senát approval is required for the presidential appointment of constitutional court judges and other high state officials. Table CZ 2 shows the composition of the Poslanecká since 2002 and the Senát since 2008.

Executive Power Table CZ 3 lists the prime ministers; all governments have been coalitions. Václav Klaus in 1997 and Stanislav Gross in 2005 stepped down after allegations of Â�corruption; in Klaus’s case the charges concerned party funding and in Gross’s case personal loans. Mirek Topolánek was ousted from office by a vote of no Â�confidence after a series of scandals. In 2009 the Social Democrats, the largest party, failed to form a coalition.



CZECHIA (Česko)╇ | 553

Table CZ 2╇ Czechia’s Poslanecká since 2002 and Senát since 2008 Party Ideology No. of No. of No. of Percent No. of Seats Seats Seats of Votes Senát 2002 2006 2010 2010 Seats 2008 Social Democratic Social democrat 70 74 56 22.1 29 â•…Party Civic Democratic Conservative 58 81 53 20.2 35 â•…Party â•…liberal TOP 09 Conservative – – 41 16.7 – â•…liberal Communist Party of Communist 41 26 26 11.3 3 â•… Bohemia and Moravia Public Affairs Radical right – – 24 10.9 – Christian and Christian 22 13 – .4 7 â•… Democratic Union – â•… democracy â•… Czech People’s Party Others 9 6 – 14.4 7 Total 200 200 200 100 81

Judicial Power The top of the court pyramid is the Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud). Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud), which consists of 15 judges who are appointed by the president with Senát approval for a 10-year term. Table CZ 3╇ Czechia’s Governments and Prime Ministers since 1993 Leading Party Ideology Begin No. of Prime Ministers Months Civic Democratic Party Conservative 1993 48 Václav Klaus â•…liberal Independent 1997 7 Josef Tošovsky (caretaker) Social Democratic Party Social democrat 1998 97 Miloš Zeman, Vladimir â•…Špidla, Stanislav Gross, Jirˇí Paroubek Civic Democratic Party Conservative 2006 33 Mirek Topolánek â•…liberal Independent 2009 12 Jan Fischer (caretaker) Civic Democratic Party Conservative June Petr Necˇas â•…liberal â•…2010 Total: 5 periods Total: 9 prime ministers

554 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

Referendums The only nationwide referendum was in 2003 on joining the EU; a �prospective 2006 referendum on the Concept EU Constitution was canceled after other �countries had already rejected the concept.

Civil Society Czechia has become a secularized country in which only a minority of the Â�population calls itself Catholic. Neither of the two leading parties has links with the Catholic Church. The country has a tripartite Council of Economic and Social Agreement (Rada hospodárˇské a sociální dohody); on both sides more than one organization participates in the council. Trade union density is about 22 percent, which is relatively high for Central Europe, and comparable to that of Hungary; collective bargaining takes place at the company level, although there is some sector bargaining; strikes are mainly confined to the public sector. The free media, in particular the press, has played a big role in disclosing Â�corruption scandals, including one that forced Klaus to resign as prime minister in 1997.

Policies The Czech governments have reformed the health care system and partially privatized it. The country has a relatively well-developed welfare state. In ethical issues the country had legalized abortion under communism, and it was the first nation in Central Europe to provide a legal foundation for same-sex relations (except for marriage).

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Czech Social Democratic Party (Česká strana sociálně demokratická [ČSSD]) The Party was already founded in 1878, following the example of German social democracy, and it was one of the forces behind Czech independence. It played an active role in the years between the wars but was banned under the Nazis and in 1948 by the communists, and now it is especially popular in Moravia. Since 1996 it has scored between 30 and 40 percent of the seats in the Chamber, and it has provided four prime ministers in the period 1998– 2006: Miloš Zeman (1998–2002), Vladimir Špidla (2002–2004, later member of the European Â�Commission), Stanislav Gross (2004–2005) and Jirˇí Paroubek (2005–2006). The party opposed Prime Minister Klaus’s program of fast privatization and has a platform of state investments and raising social benefits. The party is affiliated in the EU with the Social Democratic Party—Â�Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The party leader is Bohuslav Subotka.



SLOVAKIA (Slovensko)╇ | 555

Civic Democratic Party (Občanská demokratická strana [ODS]) The party was founded in 1991 by Václav Klaus, who later served as prime minister and president. It is a euroskeptic Conservative Liberal Party, favoring free enterprise, low taxes, and a flat-rate tax. Since 1992, it has scored 30 percent or more of the seats (except in 2002, when it only earned 29 percent), and it has competed with the Social Democrats for the first place in the Chamber, which it has lost in 1998, 2002, and 2010. It scores best in the Bohemian part of the country, including Prague. It has provided three prime ministers: Václav Klaus (1993–1997), Mirek Topolánek (2006–2009) and Petr Necas (2010–). The party is affiliated in the EU with the euroskeptic European Conservatives and Reformists, led by the British conservatives. The party leader is Peter Necˇas.

SLOVAKIA (Slovensko) This is a new nation, split off from Czechoslovakia in 1990; before its union with Czechia it had been under Hungarian rule for centuries. Nowadays, the rights of the Hungarian minority are a bone of contention in the new state.

The Land and the People The Land

Slovakia is a landlocked country, centrally located in Central Europe. Its area is 18,933 square miles (49,035 square kilometers), somewhat larger than �Estonia and slightly larger than Vermont and New Hampshire combined. The longest road �distances are 300 miles (490 kilometers) from west to east and 150 miles (250 �kilometers) from north to south. The country borders Poland to the north; Ukraine to the east; Hungary, with which it has the longest border, to the south; and Austria and Czechia to the west. The border with Czechia has been stable since Czechoslovakia was split off in 1992, and the other borders have been stable since the end of World War II. The greater part of the country is covered with mountains, which rise to 8,711 feet (2,655 meters) in the High Tatras on the Polish border. The climate is continental.

The People Slovakia’s population totals 5.5 million, a smaller number than in any of the neighboring countries, almost as many as Denmark, and slightly less than WÂ�isconsin. The capital, Bratislava, located in the southwest corner on the Â�Danube River and the Austrian border, between Vienna and Budapest, is the largest city (430,000 inhabitants). Kosice, in the east, has 250,000 inhabitants. Eighty-six percent of the population is Slovak and speaks Slovak, a West Slavonic language closely related to Czech. Up to 10 percent are Hungarians who live on the southern border with Hungary. There is also a Roma minority. The population is traditionally Catholic.

556 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

The Economy Slovakia is a medium-low-income nation with a service-oriented economy. Its GNP per capita is below that of Czechia but on a par with that of Hungary. The country has a big industrial sector, including car-assembly factories. Over the past 10 years, Slovakia has had one of the fastest-growing economies. In 2009 it adopted the euro—the first country in this group that was able (and willing) to do so.

Culture Bratislava has baroque and other buildings from the Habsburg period, but it has always been in the shadow of Budapest and Vienna.

History Table SK 1╇ Timeline of Slovakian History First century AD Germanic tribes expel Celtic inhabitants Fifth century Barbarian invasions; Slav tribes settle in Slovakia 830 Part of the newly created Moravian Empire, but the empire soon â•… falls apart 907 Hungarian invasion; Moravian Empire is defeated 1000 Part of the newly created Hungarian kingdom 1241 Mongol invasion; royal power is weakened in favor of feudal â•…landlords 1541 Hungary conquered by Turks; Slovakia is under Austrian rule as â•… “Royal Hungary” 1848 Slovakia supports Austria against the Hungarian uprising 1867 Slovakia definitely part of Hungary in the new Austro-Hungarian â•… Dual Monarchy 1906 Suppression of Slovak language and culture 1918 Foundation of Czechoslovakia, with strong support of the â•… Slovak elite 1938 Secession of southern Slovakia to Hungary, enforced by  â•… Nazi Germany 1939 Formally independent but is a fascist puppet regime under â•…Nazi control 1942 Deportation and mass killing of Jews in the Holocaust 1944 Military and civilian national uprising against the Nazis; â•… Nazis occupy the country 1945 Soviets Russia expels the Nazis 1948 Communist takeover; communist dictatorship under Soviet â•…domination 1968 Soviets invade to stop the reformist movement 1989 Overthrow of communist regime (Continuedâ•›)



SLOVAKIA (Slovensko)╇ | 557 1993 1999 2004 2009

Czechoslovakia divided; Slovakia independent Member of NATO Member of the EU Slovakia adopts the euro

Political System Slovakia has a parliamentary political system. During the 1990s politics was �dominated by a populist and authoritarian leader. In the 2000s, Christian D � emocrats and Social Democrats have alternated in government.

Constitution The constitution was signed and went into effect in 1992. It proclaims Slovak as the national language. Amendments require a three-fifths majority in the parliament. The constitution has been amended five times. Important amendments were regarding the change of the system of presidential election from election by the parliament to popular vote in 1999 and the recognition of international treaties, as a precondition for joining the EU, in 2001.

Head of State Since the 1999 constitutional amendment, the presidents, listed in Table SK 2, are no longer elected by the parliament but by popular vote in a two-round election for a five-year term, which is renewable once. The 1999 change was introduced because the parliament could not reach a decision about a president in 1998 and again failed to reach a decision in 1999. Ivan Gašparovicˇ was reelected in 2009. The presidential powers are mainly ceremonial.

Legislative Power Slovakia has a unicameral parliament, National Council (Národná Rada); see Table SK 3. The 150 members, only 15 percent of whom are women, are elected Table SK 2╇ Presidents of Slovakia since 1993 Year President

Party

Ideology

1993 Michal Kovácˇ Movement for Democratic Populist â•… Slovakia â•…conservative 1998 Four acting presidents, including Various â•… Vladimír Mecˇiar and later â•… president Ivan Gašparovicˇ 1999 Rudolf Schuster Party of Civic Liberal â•…Understanding 2004 Ivan Gašparovicˇ Movement for Democracy Populist â•…conservative

558 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

Table SK 3╇ Slovakia’s Národná Rada since 2002 Party Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats of Votes 2002 2006 2010 2010

Direction – Social Social democrat 25 50 62 34.8 â•…Democracy Slovak Democratic Conservative 28 31 28 15.4 â•… and Christian â•… Union – Democratic â•…Party Freedom and Conservative – – 22 12.1 â•…Solidarity â•…liberal Christian Democratic Christian 15 14 15 8.5 â•…Movement â•…democrat MostHíd Hungarian – – 14 8.1 â•…minority Slovak National Party Nationalist – 20 9 5.1 Party of the Hungarian Hungarian 20 20 0 4.3 â•…Coalition â•…minority People’s Party Conservative 36 15 0 4.2 â•… Movement for a â•… Democratic Slovakia Other 26 0 0 7.5 Total 150 150 150 100

for a four-year term. The electoral system is proportional representation, in which the whole country counts as one multimember constituency (as is the case in �the Netherlands), with a five percent threshold.

Executive Power Table SK 4 lists the prime ministers and their parties; all governments have been coalitions, a number of them without the participation of the largest party. The dominant prime minister in the 1990s was Vladimír Mecˇiar, head of the populist party Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. He was prime minister in 1993– 1994, then ousted, but after the 1994 elections was in power again until 1998. He also participated unsuccessfully in the 1999 and 2004 presidential elections. His style of governing was very autocratic, and there were frequent allegations of corruption, in particular related to the privatization of the economy, as well as complaints about the suppression of the opposition and the Hungarian-speaking minority. In 2000 he was even arrested for corruption yet he was released and never tried in court.



SLOVAKIA (Slovensko)╇ | 559

Table SK 4╇ Prime Ministers since 1993 Prime Minister Prime Minister’s Party Ideology Begin ╇ 1 Vladimír Mecˇiar People’s Party Movement Populist 1993 â•… for a Democratic â•… conservative â•…Slovakia ╇ 2 Josef Moravcˇík Independent 1994 ╇ 3 Vladimír Mecˇiar People’s Party Movement Populist 1994 â•… for a Democratic â•… conservative â•…Slovakia ╇ 4 Mikuláš Dzurinda Slovak Democratic and Christian 1998 â•… Christian Union – â•… democrat â•… Democratic Party ╇ 5 Robert Fico Direction – Social 2006 â•…Social Democracy â•…democrat ╇ 6 Iveta Radicova Slovak Democratic Christian July â•… and Christian Union – â•… democrat â•… 2010 â•… Democratic Party Total: 6 prime â•…ministers

No. of Months 15

9 46

92

48

Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ústavný súd). Until 2001 it had 10 judges, since that time 13 judges, who are appointed by the president for a seven-year term from a list of 26 candidates proposed by the parliament. The Constitutional Court stands separate from the other courts, of which the Supreme Court (Najvyšší súd) is the highest court. The seat of the court is in Košice, not Bratislava.

Referendums Referendums are compulsory in the exceptional case of constitutional acts, for instance the secession of territory. Other referendums require 350,000 signatures. The country has organized a number of such referendums, but, with the exception of the 2003 referendum on EU membership, all of them failed because of low turnout, including one in 1994 on the privatization of businesses and another in 1997 on the direct election of the president. The failed referendums were highly controversial and resulted in Constitutional Court rulings and strong polarization between Vladimír Mecˇiar’s party and the opposition.

Civil Society Collective bargaining takes place at the sector level and the company level, and strikes are rare. The only trade union confederation is the Confederation of Trade

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Unions (Konfederácia odborových zväzov Slovenskej republiky). About 20 Â�percent of all employees are organized, and on the employers’ side there are two major organizations. Tripartite consultation takes place in the Economic and Social Council (Hospodárska a sociálna rada), but the council has had several names over the last years.

Policies Tensions between Slovakia and Hungary at times mount because of the strict �Slovak language legislation. The Hungarians constitute about 10 percent of the population of Slovakia; they are concentrated along the Hungarian border, and in some regions they even form a majority. Since 1995, the use of Hungarian in public life was limited to districts in which Hungarian was spoken by more than 10 percent of the population. In 2009, the law was amended to give Slovak precedence over Hungarian in all areas of public life, with financial sanctions in case of repeated noncompliance. The amendments were proposed by a coalition in which the �radical rightist and nationalist Slovak Nationalist Party participated and provoked protest demonstrations in the Hungarian regions. In 2010, the �Hungarian decision to grant all Hungarians in other countries the Hungarian nationality caused new tensions between the two countries; Slovakia immediately banned double nationality for its citizens.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Direction – Social Democracy (Smer – sociálna demokracia) In 1999, the postcommunist Party of the Democratic Left broke apart, and Robert Fico and others founded the new party, which after some more mergers in 2005 adopted its current name, Direction – Social Democracy. Between 2002 and 2006 the party doubled its share of seats from one-sixth to one-third. The party has a “Third Way” social democratic platform; in the EU it is affiliated with the social democratic S&D, but its membership was suspended between 2006 and 2008 because of its coalition with the radical rightist and nationalist Slovak Nationalist party.

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (Slovenská demokratická a kresťanská únia – Demokratická strana [SDKÚ-DS]) The Slovak Christian and Democratic Union dates from 2000. The far smaller Democratic Party had a longer history, going back to the immediate postwar years; it was refounded in 1994. In 2005, the two parties merged. The combination has a Christian democratic program, more focused on cuts in public spending and on family values than the Social Democrat Party. It was the largest party in government from 1998 until 2006 under Prime Minister Mikuláš Dzurinda. The party is affiliated in the EU with the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP.



HUNGARY (Magyarország)╇ | 561

Freedom and Solidarity (Sloboda a Solodarita [SaS]) The party was founded in 2009 by Richard Sulik, an economist. The party is Â�conservative liberal in social issues—one of its issues was a flat-rate tax system—and it is libertarian in ethical issues, in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, for instance.

HUNGARY (Magyarország) Even more than Czechia or Poland, Hungary became a popular subject of research on the economic and political transformation process in Central Europe after the fall of communism, and it was often considered the most successful of such Â�transformation stories, due in part to the relaxation of communist economic and political control at the end of the communist era.

The Land and the People The Land

Hungary is a landlocked country, located in the heart of Central Europe; its shape is something between a bowl and an oval, cut into a western and an eastern part by the Danube River. The area is 35,918 square miles (93.028 square kilometers), slightly larger than Portugal and Maine. The longest road distances are 290 miles (470 kilometers) from east to west and 190 miles (310 kilometers) from north to south. The country borders Slovakia and Ukraine to the north, Romania to the southeast, Serbia and Croatia to the south, and Slovenia and Austria to the west; seven neighbors altogether. The borders were fixed after World War I, when the country lost most of its territory, and have been stable since, except for temporary annexation of bordering regions just before and during World War II. The larger part of the country consists of lowlands. There are relatively low mountains in the northeast, and the highest summit is 3,330 feet (1,015 meters). The climate is continental.

The People Hungary has 10.0 million inhabitants, slightly less than Czechia and almost as many as Michigan. The capital Budapest, located on the Danube (population 2.5 million), is not only the largest city of the country but also of the whole Danube region (Vienna included). The second-largest town is Debrecen in the east (240,000 inhabitants), and the third largest is Miskolc in the northeast (220,000 inhabitants). The population forms an ethnic unity; 90 percent are Hungarians, who speak Hungarian. The language belongs to the Finno-Ugrian group and is related to Â�Finnish and Estonian, but it is not mutually understandable by speakers of these two Â�languages. Ethnic minorities include 4 percent Roma, 2.5 percent Germans, and 2 percent Serbs. As for religion, Hungary is less of a unity; 60 percent of the

562 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

population is traditionally Catholic, 20 percent Calvinist Protestant, and 5 percent Lutheran.

The Economy Hungary is a medium-low-income nation with a service-oriented economy. It has a few coalmines, and most exports are industrial products. In recent years it has introduced large cuts in public spending, but not enough to bring down the budget deficit.

Culture Budapest was one of the prominent places of the Viennese Jugendstil Â�architecture in the early 20th century. Famous Hungarian authors include Sándor Márai Â�(1900–1989) and Imre Kertész (1929–), and famous photographers include André Kertesz (1894–1985) and Robert Capa (1913–1954). Yet, Hungary is also a country of music, including composers Franz Liszt (1811–1886) and Béla Bartók (1881–1945), but even more of Hungarian Romani (Gypsy) music.

History Table HU 1╇ Timeline of Hungarian History First century AD Romans conquer Hungary, which is inhabited by Celtic tribes Fifth century Barbarian invasions by Huns and other tribes 896 Magyars from Central Asia under Árpád settle in the country 1000 King Stephen crowned as Christian king of Hungary, Slovakia, â•… and Croatia 1222 Golden Bull: first constitution on the continent that reduces â•… royal power 1241 Brief Mongol invasion and devastation 14th century King Louis the Great, expansion on the Balkan Peninsula 1456 Hungary defeats Turkish troops near Belgrade Late 15th century King Matthias Corvinus, Renaissance flourishes; foreign â•…expansion 1526 Defeated by the Turks in Battle of Mohács; landlords (Magnates) â•… in power 1541 Buda conquered by Turks; western and central Hungary under â•… Austrian rule 1711 Uprising in western Hungary suppressed by Austria 1820 Parliament convened, but Austria halts reforms 1848 Large revolt against Austria, crushed by Austria and Russia 1867 Hungary is the junior partner in Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy 1918 Dual Monarchy disbanded 1919 Brief Hungarian Soviet Republic, defeated by Romanian army; â•… conservative reaction under dictator Miklos Horthy (Continuedâ•›)



HUNGARY (Magyarország)╇ | 563 1920 Trianon Peace Treaty; Hungarian territory reduced to its â•… current size 1938 Shift to pro-Nazi course in the hopes of regaining the lost â•…territories 1941 Hungary joins the Nazi German invasion of Russia; Holocaust 1945 Occupied by Soviet Russia 1948 Communist takeover; Mátyás Rákosi communist dictator 1956 Nationalist uprising in Budapest; crushed by Soviet troops; Prime â•… Minister Imre Nagy executed; János Kádár communist dictator 1960s Economic reforms (New Economic Mechanisms) and limited â•…liberalization 1989 Overthrow of communism 1991 Last Soviet troops leave the country 1999 Member of NATO 2004 Member of the EU

Political System Hungary has a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by a �combination of Christian Democrats and Conservatives on the one hand and Social Democrats on the other.

Constitution Until 1949 the country did not have a real constitution, except for the very early 1222 Golden Bull. The current constitution dates from 1949, during the communist period. It was thoroughly amended in 1989 but not replaced by a new constitution, as in the other postcommunist Central European countries. Interestingly, the constitution does not contain any provisions regarding the procedure of amendment.

Head of State The president is the head of state, but has mainly ceremonial tasks. Presidents, listed in Table HU 2, are elected by the parliament for a five-year term, which is renewable once. Table HU 2╇ Presidents of Hungary since 1990 President

Ideology Begin

Mátyás Szu˝rös (acting) Árpád Göncz Ferenc Mádl László Sólyom Pal Schmidt

Postcommunist Liberal Independent Independent Conservative

1989 1990 2000 2005 2010

564 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

Table HU 3╇ Hungary’s Országgyu˝lés since 2002 Party Ideology Fidesz + Christian Conservative + â•…Democratic Party â•…Christian â•…democrat Hungarian Socialist Social democrat â•… Party (MSZP) Jobbik Radical right Alliance of Free Liberal â•…Democrats Others Total

No. of No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats Seats of Votes 2002 2006 2010  2010 188

164

263

52.7

178

190

59

19.3

– 20

– 20

47 –

16.7 –

– 12 17 11.3 386 386 386 100

Legislative Power Hungary has a unicameral parliament, the National Assembly (Országgyu˝lés), which is housed in one of the most impressive parliamentary buildings of Europe, a neo-Gothic construction on the Danube bank. The parliament has 386 members, elected for a four-year period; its composition is shown in Table HU 3. Only nine percent of the members are women, an exceptionally low percentage (and far below that of the other countries in this group). The electoral system is a German-like two-vote system combining the plurality electoral system and proportional representation. Of the members, 176 are elected in one-member constituencies and 152 by means of proportional representation in multimember constituencies with a five percent threshold. The remaining 58 seats are filled as a second-tier allocation, based on the surplus votes that did not produce seats in either system. A reduction of the size of the parliament to 200 members is under discussion. A few decisions, mainly in emergency conditions, must be made by a two-thirds majority. The parliament can only be removed by means of a constructive vote of no confidence in which a new prime minister is proposed. From left to right the political spectrum consists of Hungarian Socialist Party to the combined Fidesz and Christian Democratic Party to Jobbik.

Executive Power Until 2010 all governments, listed in Table HU 4, were coalitions. József Antali died in office; Ferenc Gyurcsány resigned after a constructive vote of no confidence, after he admitted to having withheld budget deficit information from the parliament.



HUNGARY (Magyarország)╇ | 565

Table HU 4╇ Prime Ministers of Hungary since 1989 Prime Minister Political Party Begin

No. of Months

1 Miklós Németh Hungarian Socialist Workers Party 1989 â•… (Communist) 2 József Antali Hungarian Democratic Forum (Centrist) 1990 3 Péter Boross Hungarian Democratic Forum (Centrist) 1993 4 Gyula Horn Hungarian Socialist Party (Social 1994 â•…Democrat) 5 Viktor Orbán Fidesz (Conservative) 1998 6 Péter Medgyessy Independent (Majority: Social Democrat) 2002 7 Ferenc Gyurcsány Hungarian Socialist Party (Social Democrat) 2004 8 Gordon Bajnai Independent (Majority: Social Democrat) 2009 9 Viktor Orbán Fidesz (Conservative) May 2010 Total: 9 prime â•…ministers

7 43 7 48 47 28 55 14

Judicial Power The Supreme Court is the highest court of the court pyramid; but judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court Â�(Köztársaság Alkotmánybíróság), which stands separately from the rest of the judiciary. Its 11 judges are elected by a two-thirds majority in the parliament for a nine-year term that is renewable once but ends when a judge reaches the age of 70.

Referendums The country has had a few referendums, including a 2003 referendum on joining the EU. Referendums require 200,000 signatures and a majority in favor that represents one quarter of all those eligible to vote. In 2004, a referendum proposed by a nongovernmental organization on extending citizenship rights to Hungarians living outside the country (dual nationality, mainly for Hungarians in the surrounding countries) failed. The government had advised against it, and the opposition party Fidesz supported it. In 2008, the opposition party Fidesz organized a referendum against the government’s plans to introduce medical fees for visits to doctors and days in hospital and tuition fees in higher learning. It received a very large majority in favor.

Civil Society Hungary had one of the first tripartite councils in Central Europe. Its name has changed a few times, but it now functions as the National Council for the Reconciliation of Interests (Országos Érdekegyezteto˝ Tanác). On both sides, Â� trade unions and employers, a number of organizations participate. Trade union

566 |╇ Mid-Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary

Â� density is relatively high for Central Europe, between 20 and 30 percent. Collective Â�bargaining takes place mainly at the company level, and sector bargaining is mostly Â�multiemployer bargaining in the strict sense of the term without a sector organization at the employers’ side. Strikes are uncommon and confined to the public sector.

Policies Extending Hungarian rights to the Hungarians in the surrounding nations has been a recurrent issue in policy making. Conservative governments in particular have advocated such rights, not only in the 2004 referendum but also in a 2001 law that provided easy access to Hungary’s educational system for Hungarians in Slovakia and Romania. The 2010 decision to grant Hungarian nationality to all Hungarians outside the country caused tension with Slovakia.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt [MSZP]) This party was founded in 1989 as the successor of the former Communist Party, in spite of the fact that the great majority of Communist Party members did not join the new party. The party has converted to social democracy; more or less in line with Third Way social democracy it has attempted to downsize the national government. The party won a majority of seats in 1994, no more than 35 percent in 1998, more than 45 percent in 2002 and 2006, to be cut to one third of that size in 2010. The party had two prime ministers, Gyula Horn (1994–1998) and Ferenc Gyurcsány (2004–2009), but it was also the leading party in government in 2002–2004 and 2009–2010 under independent prime ministers. In the EU the party is affliated with the social democratic S&D. The party leader is Ildikó Lentvai.

Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union (Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) Fidesz was founded in 1988 as the Alliance of Young Democrats (the Â�Hungarian name is an abbreviation), a social liberal party that opposed the Conservative Â�governments in the early 1990s. In the course of the 1990s, however, it shifted to a conservative course in social and ethical issues and adopted the current name. The new course turned out to be advantageous. From being a marginal party it increased to 30 percent of the seats in 1998, and, in combination with other parties, reached more than 40 percent in 2002 and an even more formidable 53 percent in 2010. The most prominent party leader is Viktor Orbán, who was prime minister from 1998 until 2002 and became prime minister again in 2010. He was one of the instigators of the shift to conservatism. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democratic and conservative EPP.



HUNGARY (Magyarország)╇ | 567

Jobbik – the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom) The party was founded in 2003 as a nationalist, anti-Roma, and radical rightist party. As of 2006 it had not yet won any seats, but in 2010 it became the third Â�largest party. The party leader is Gábor Vona.

Balkan Peninsula Ukraine

Slovakia

Vienna

Moldova

Bratislava

Austria

Budapest

Chisinau

H u n g a ry Romania

S lovenia Ljubliana

Zagreb

Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo

Bucharest

Belgrade

Serbia

MonteKosovo n e g r o Pristina Podgorica

Danub

e R.

Sofia

Bulgaria

Skopje

Istanbul

M a c e d o ni a

Adriatic

Black Sea

Tirana

Italy

Albania Turkey

Greece Aegean Sea Athens

Ionian Sea

Crete

Balkan Peninsula. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

9â•…Balkan Peninsula: The Former Yugoslavia—Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia

T

he large group of Balkan nations has a number of relevant features in �common, which to some extent set them apart from the Baltic nations and Mid-Central Europe. The same features, listed in Table YU 1, also apply to the other Balkan countries, discussed in Chapter 10.

SLOVENIA (Slovenija) By all standards, Slovenia is by far the most developed of all the Balkan nations. It was also the first to fulfill the conditions for EU membership. Table YU 1╇ Common Characteristics of the Former Yugoslav Countries Ethnic composition Ethnic minorities (Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia) Score in democracy rankings With the exception of Slovenia, scores are lower for ╅the Balkan nations than for the Baltic States and Mid-Central Europe Corruption With the exception of Slovenia, corruption is more ╅extensive in the Balkan nations than in the Baltic nations and Mid-Central Europe Quarrels with neighbors Almost all of them EU membership Only Slovenia has qualified; it has been a member ╅ since 2004

569

570 |╇Balkan Peninsula

The Land and the People The Land

Slovenia is situated to the northwest of the Balkan Peninsula on the northern Adriatic Sea. It is one of the smaller nations of Central Europe, with an area of 7,827 square miles (20,273 square kilometers), half the size of Switzerland and slightly larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. The longest road distances are 130 miles (210 kilometers) from west to east and slightly less than that from north to south. The country borders Austria to the north; Hungary to the east; Croatia, with which it has the longest border, to the south; and Italy to the west, where it also has a very short coastline on the Adriatic Sea. The Â�borders have been stable since Slovenia’s independence, except for a minor Â�border Â�dispute with Croatia, which is still unsettled. Most of the country consists of mountains, in particular the Alps in the north, which rise to 9,394 feet (2,864 meters). The climate is Mediterranean on the coast and slightly more continental in the east.

The People Slovenia has 2.0 million inhabitants, less than any of its neighbors but as many as Macedonia and slightly more than New Mexico. The two biggest towns are the centrally located capital, Ljubljana, with almost half a million inhabitants, and Maribor, in the northeast, with 200,000. The population consists of 83 percent Slovenes who speak Slovene, a south-Slavonic language, and small groups of Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks. Traditionally, almost all inhabitants are Roman Catholic.

The Economy Slovenia was the richest part of the former Yugoslavia, and it is still the richest country of the Balkan Peninsula. It is a high-income nation, more or less on a par with Italy and Spain, and it has a service-oriented economy.

Culture Slovenia’s architecture has been influenced by Austria, in particular by its Baroque style, but architect Jože Plecˇnik (1872–1957) developed a national style in Ljubljana that was influenced by the Austrian Sezession style. The national poet is France Prešeren (1800–1849).

History Table SI 1╇ Timeline of Slovenian History First century BC Fifth century Sixth century 592 Seventh century

Celts and Illyrians inhabit the region Barbarian invasions; Huns and Ostrogoths pass through Slavs (Slovenes) and Avars settle in the region Slavs and Avars defeat the Germanic Bavarians Christianity is introduced (Continued)



SLOVENIA (Slovenija)╇ | 571 745 The autonomous Duchy of Carinthia becomes part of the â•… Frankish Empire 843 Charlemagne’s empire is divided; Slovenia becomes part of the â•… eastern (German) kingdom 975 Slovenia is part of the Holy Roman Empire 1282 Slovenia is under Austrian Habsburgs 1593 Battle of Sisak stops the expansion of the Ottoman Turkish Empire 1809 The southern part of Slovenia is under French rule 1814 Slovenia is under the Austrian Habsburgs again 1848 Rise of nationalism and of Slovene as a written language 1918 Slovenia is integrated into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1920 Treaty of Rapallo; western part is ceded to Italy 1941 Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and fascist Hungary occupy and divide â•…Slovenia 1945 Slovenia becomes part of the communist Republic of Yugoslavia 1947 Italy returns part of the coast 1990 Referendum on independence and the first free elections are held 1991 Independence is proclaimed; brief invasion by Serbian troops 2004 Slovenia becomes a member of the EU and NATO 2007 The euro is introduced

Political System Slovenia has a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by �Conservatives and Social Democrats.

Constitution The constitution was adopted right after the proclamation of independence in 1991. The constitution states that Slovene is the national language, but that in Hungarianand Italian-speaking communities, those languages are also official languages. The constitution has been amended a few times, mainly to serve EU membership. In addition, there was an amendment to introduce the electoral system of proportional representation after a referendum on the electoral system did not provide a clear victory for any of the options and the constitutional court decided in favor of the option that got the most votes. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in two readings and, if 30 members of parliament wish so, a referendum.

Head of State The president is head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which is renewable once. The presidential functions are mainly ceremonial. The country has had three presidents since 1991: Milan Kucˇan, an independent, until 2002; Janez Drnovšek, of the Liberal Democratic Party, until 2007; and Danilo Türk, an independent, but supported by the Social Democrats since 2007.

572 |╇Balkan Peninsula

Legislative Power The country has a two-chamber parliament (Parlament), consisting of a lower house, the National Assembly, and a senate, called the National Council. The National Assembly (Državni zbor) consists of 90 deputies, 14 percent of whom are women, elected for a four-year term by means of a variant of proportional representation that resembles the German system, with a four percent threshold. The country is divided into eight multimember districts, each of which has 11 mandates. The mandates are allocated to the parties, but the local party candidates with the most votes come first. The other two seats are reserved for the Italian and Hungarian minorities; they have a veto for all issues concerning them. Table SI 2 shows the composition of the Zbor since 2004. The National Council (Državni svet) is a corporate chamber consisting of 40 members who serve a five-year term. Of the 40 members, 22 are local councillors who represent local interests; 6 represent noncommercial interests; 4 represent employers; 4 represent the trade unions; and 4 represent the combination of farmers, craftspeople, and independent professionals. The members are elected indirectly; the local councillors by the local councils of the country, the others by their interest associations. The Svet has a suspensive veto that can be overridden by a majority of the Zbor, and it may call for a referendum. Table SI 2╇ The Slovenian Zbor since 2004 Party Ideology

No. of Seats 2004

No. of Seats 2008

Percent of Votes 2008

Social Democrats Social democrat 10 29 30.5 Slovenian Conservative 29 28 29.3 â•… Democratic Party Zares—New Politics Social liberal – 9 9.4 Democratic Party Single-issue: 4 7 7.5 â•… of Pensioners â•… old-age pensions Slovenian Nationalist 6 5 5.4 â•… National Party Slovenian Christian democrat 7 5 5.2 â•… People’s Party Liberal Democracy Conservative liberal 23 5 5.2 Other 9 – 7.5 Hungarian and 2 2 – â•… Italian minorities* Total 90 90 100 * The two guaranteed seats for the Hungarian and Italian minorities are allocated on the basis of separate majority-system elections.



SLOVENIA (Slovenija)╇ | 573

Executive Power All governments are coalitions (see Table SI 3). Prime Minister Drnovšek resigned in May 2000, half a year before the elections, because of disputes within the coalition, but he then won the elections and returned to office, winning the presidential elections in 2002.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ustavno sodišcˇe). The court consists of nine judges, elected for a nonrenewable nine-year period by the National Assembly. The highest regular court is the Supreme Court (Sodišcˇe).

Referendums Since the 1996 referendum on the electoral system, a number of other referendums have been organized. Issues have included EU membership and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership, the treatment of infertility, and the financing of a coal-fired power plant. There was also a poll in June 2010 on bringing the border dispute with Croatia before an international arbitration tribunal, which was approved.

Civil Society Slovenia offers no privileged position for any church. The country has a tripartite Economic and Social Council (Ekonomsko socialni svet), in which a number of employers’ organizations and trade unions participate. By way of contrast with most Central European countries, labor conditions are regulated by sector, and there is an intersectoral national labor agreement. The organization rate of Table SI 3╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Slovenia since 1990 Prime Minister’s Party Ideology Begin No. of Prime Minister Months Christian Democrats Christian democrat 1990 24 Lojze Peterle Liberal Democracy Conservative liberal 1992 96 Janez Drnovšek Slovenian People’s Christian democrat 2000 6 Andrej Bajuk â•…Party Liberal Democracy Conservative liberal 2000 25 Janez Drnovšek, â•… Anton Rop Slovenian Democratic Conservative 2004 48 Janez Janša â•…Party Social Democrats Social democrat Nov 2008 Borut Pahor

574 |╇Balkan Peninsula

employees (more than 40 percent) and employers (more than 90 percent) is also higher than elsewhere in Central Europe.

Policies The border dispute with Croatia has lingered on for a long time. In 2009 the country recognized same-sex relationships, short of same-sex marriage; it was one of the first Central European countries to do so.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati [SD])

The party is the successor of the Slovenian communist party, and after shifting to a social democratic platform and a number of mergers, it adopted its current name. The Social Democrats never gained more than 16 percent of the seats until its victory in 2008. It participated in coalition governments in 1993–1996, 2000–2004, and since 2008, this time as the leading coalition party. In the EU the party is affiliated with the social democrat Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The party leader is Prime Minister Borut Pahor.

Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka [SDS]) Until 2003 the party was named the Social Democratic Party, but in the course of the 1990s it shifted toward a moderate conservative course. In 2004 and 2008 its electoral record was twice that of the previous years, in which it scored 16 to 18 percent of the seats. It participated in government as a minor partner until 1994; it was in opposition until 2004, when it became the leading coaliton party; and after the 2008 election it returned to the opposition. In the EU it is affliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative European People’s Party (EPP). Janez Janša has been the party leader since 1993.

CROATIA (Hrvatska) Croatia is a strange combination of influences. The regions along the Istrian and Dalmatian coast have been influenced by Italy (especially Venice), and the interior, Slavonia, is more typical of the Balkan Peninsula, as it was long under Turkish and Hungarian rule. After proclaiming independence in 1991, Croatia was attacked by Serbia, later it was involved in the Bosnian war.

The Land and the People The Land

Croatia is situated in the northwestern Balkan Peninsula. The country consists of three parts, which form the shape of a big jaw. The lower jaw is formed by the two western parts: Istria, a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, and Dalmatia, a very long



CROATIA (Hrvatska)╇ | 575

and coastal region that narrows to the south. The shorter upper jaw is Slavonia, a stretch of land in the interior, separated from the coast by Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is situated between the two jaws, like a prey that is about to be devoured. The two jaws are connected by a plain. Total area is 21,851 square miles (56,594 square kilometers). In spite of the long distances in the two jaws the country is smaller than Latvia or Lithuania and half the size of Virginia. The longest road distance from north to south is a 400-mile (650-kilometer) stretch on the coast, and the longest west to east distance is 200 miles (320 kilometers) in Slavonia. Croatia borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the west, and Montenegro in the southernmost point; by far the longest border is with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is between the two jaws of Croatia. The borders have been stable since Serbia gave up its attempts to conquer part of the country in 1992. The interior and the connecting piece of land consist of lowlands, the coastal region is mountainous, with a highest peak of 6,007 feet (1,831 meters). Along the coast are more than 1,000 islands, almost all of them relatively small. The climate varies from Mediterranean on the coast to continental in the interior.

The People Croatia has 4.5 million inhabitants, more than double the population of Slovenia, less than Bosnia, and comparable to Louisiana. The largest cities are the capital, Zagreb, in the central plain, with 800,000 inhabitants, and Split, which is halfway along the coast, with 180,000. Croats, who speak Croat, a South Slavonic language, make up 90 percent of the population; in addition, there are a Serb minority (about five percent of the population) and smaller communities of Bosnians. Traditionally, Croats are Catholic; Croatia has the largest concentrations of Catholics on the Balkan Peninsula.

The Economy Croatia is a medium-low-income country, but on the Balkan peninsula its gross national product (GNP) per capita is second or third, behind only Slovenia and Greece. Although agriculture is still important in the interior, the coast lives on tourism, which is one of the major sources of the nation’s income.

Culture Croatia has its share of Roman architecture (Split, Pula), Romanesque and Gothic Christian churches, and Baroque churches and palaces, all of which are found in the Dalmatian town of Dubrovnik, which has been heavily Â�influenced by Venice and Venetian art. Austria exercised influence in the Baroque and early-20th-century styles. One of the most outstanding Croatian artists was sculptor Ivan Meštrovic´ (1883–1962). An outstanding novelist was Miroslav Kricža (1893–1981).

576 |╇Balkan Peninsula

History Table HR 1╇ Timeline of Croatian History First century BC Illyrian tribes inhabit the country; Greek settlements are on â•… the coast AD 9 Romans conquer the country; it becomes a province of Illyria 395 Roman Empire is divided; Croatia falls under Eastern Roman Empire Sixth century Invasion of Avars from Central Asia; Byzantine emperor invites â•…Slavonic Croats from Romania to settle in the area, which is soon Christianized 812 Croatia is under Frankish rule, except for Dalmatia, which remains â•…Byzantine 925 An independent kingdom under Tomislav is established in the â•…interior; Croatia obtains Dalmatia as a reward for helping the Byzantine Empire against the Bulgars 1102 Croatia is under Hungarian rule 1202 Venice conquers part of the coast 1358 Hungary defeats Venice 1493 Turks defeat the Hungarian-Croatian army; the interior is under â•… Turkish rule 1573 Austrian Habsburgs fortify their border in Croatia against the Turks 1687 Austria conquers the interior 1808 Croatia is under French rule 1815 Congress of Vienna; Croatia is under Hungarian rule 1830 A nationalist uprising is defeated 1848 Croatia supports Austria against the Hungarian uprising and falls â•… under Austrian rule 1867 Croatia is back under Hungarian rule 1918 At end of World War I Croatia becomes part of the kingdom of â•…Yugoslavia 1928 Stjepan Radic´ seeks independence but is assassinated in Belgrade 1941–1944 Fascist regime is established under the Ustaša movement 1945 Croatia becomes part of the Republic of Yugoslavia under Josip â•… Broz Tito 1971 The Croatian Spring revolt is suppressed 1991 Independence is proclaimed under Franjo Tudman; Serbia occupies â•… Slavonia and bombs Zagreb and Dalmatia 1992 Independence is recognized 1993–1994 Croatia is involved in civil war in Bosnia; Dayton Agreement â•… is signed in 1995 2001 Democratic constitution is established 2009 Croatia becomes a member of NATO



CROATIA (Hrvatska)╇ | 577

Political System Croatia has shifted from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by Conservatives and Social Democrats.

Constitution The constitution was adopted in 1990, replacing the 1974 communist constitution. The constitution introduced a semi-presidential system, inspired by France, with a bicameral legislature. In 2000, however, the constitution was changed to a parliamentary system; presidential powers were reduced and the upper house was abolished. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in the parliament. The constitution states that Croatian is the national language.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which is renewable once. The first president, Franjo Tuđman, of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union, served from 1990 until 1999. He died in office in December 1999 and was succeeded by two acting presidents until a new president, the independent Stjepan Mesic´, was elected early in 2000. Mesic´ also served two terms. The Social Democrat Ivo Josipovic´ has been president since 2010.

Legislative Power In 2001, the House of Counties (Županijski dom) was abolished; since that time the country has a unicameral parliament (Sabor). Its 153 members (24 percent of whom are women) are elected for a five-year period by means of proportional representation, with a five percent threshold. The country is divided into 10 multimember districts, each of which has up to 14 mandates; up to 12 seats are reserved for citizens abroad and eight for minorities. Table HR 2 shows the composition of the Sabor since 2003. Table HR 2╇ The Croatian Sabor since 2003 Party Ideology

No. of Seats No. of Seats Percent of 2003 2007 Votes 2007

Croatian Democratic Union Conservative 66 66 36.6 Social Democratic Party Social democrat 34 56 31.2 Green Yellow Coalition* Conservative 13 8 6.5 Croatian People’s Party— Social liberal 11 7 6.8 â•… Liberal Democrats* Other 29 16 18.9 Total 153 153 100 * This coalition of parties did not exist under this name in the 2003 elections; the 2003 seats of the constituent parties have been counted instead.

578 |╇Balkan Peninsula

Table HR 3╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Croatia since 1991 Prime Minister’s Party Ideology Begin No. of Prime Ministers ╇Months Croatian Democratic Union Conservative

1991

102 Franjo Greguric, â•… Hrvoje Šarinic´, â•… Nikica Valentic´, â•… Zladko Mateša Social Democratic Party Social democrat 2000 47 Ivica Rac´an Croatian Democratic Conservative December Ivo Sanader, â•…Union 2003 â•…Jadranka Kosor Total: 3 periods Total: 7 prime â•…ministers

Executive Power Until 2000 the Croatian Democratic Union governed by itself; since that time all governments have been coalitions under one of the two largest parties. In 2009, after many allegations of bribery and corruption, Prime Minister Sanader announced his retreat. This was soon followed by a new announcement that he had not resigned, but one week later, before the 2010 elections, he was expelled from his party. Table HR 3 lists the prime ministers since 1991.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud), which consists of 13 judges who are elected by the parliament for an eight-year term. The court stands apart from the regular courts, of which the Supreme Court (Vrhovni sud) is the highest institution.

Referendums In the 1991 referendum, more than 90 percent of the voters opted for independence.

Policies Croatia was slow in chasing its own war criminals from the Bosnian War, but it gave up its indolence when the EU threatened to delay talks on association and a future membership for the country.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica [HDZ]) The party was founded in 1989 by Franjo Tuđman, who remained party leader until his death in 1999. Until 2000, the party had a majority of more than 60 percent of the seats in the parliament, which allowed it to govern in one-party governments. In 2000 it was second to the Social Democrats, but in later elections it was the



BOSNIA (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Bosna i Hercegovina)╇ | 579

largest party again, with 43 percent of the seats. The Croatian Democratic Union is a conservative party, developing bonds with the Christian democrat and conservative EPP in the EU.

Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske [SDP]) The Social Democratic Party was founded in 1990, but it is the successor to the Communist Party of Croatia, which in 1990 refused to continue the cooperation with the Serbian Communist Party. The Social Democratic Party only became a major force in politics in 2000, when it was the largest party with almost 50 percent Â� of the seats, but since then it has been second. It has only provided one prime Â�minister. It has developed bonds with the European Social Democrats. The party leader is Zoran Milanovic´.

BOSNIA (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Bosna i Hercegovina) Bosnia is officially called Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been the heartland of the Muslims in the former Yugoslavia. Following independence it was involved in a civil war, in which Serbia and Croatia interfered. Since that time it has been divided along a very irregularly drawn borderline that reflects the situation existing at the time of the cease-fire.

The Land and the People The Land

Bosnia is situated in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula. Herzegovina is the country’s southern region. The total area is 19,767 square miles (51,197 square kilometers), smaller than Croatia but almost twice the size of Macedonia, and as large as Massachusetts and New Hampshire combined. The shape of the country is a triangle, squeezed between the northern and the southern jaws of Croatia. The southern jaw almost totally cuts off Bosnia from the Adriatic Sea, leaving only a very short 13-mile (20-kilometer) coastline close to its southern corner. The longest road distances are 250 miles (400 kilometers) from north to south and 230 miles (360 kilometers) from west to east. The larger part of Bosnia is covered with mountains, and the highest peak is 6,276 feet (1,913 meters); only in the north is there a narrow stretch of lowlands. The country borders Croatia to the south, west, and north and Serbia and Montenegro to the east. The climate is continental.

The People Bosnia has 4.6 million inhabitants, slightly more than Croatia and as many as Oregon. The biggest city is the capital, Sarajevo, which has more than half a million inhabitants, and the second largest is the northern town of Banja Luka, which

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has more than 200,000. The population is strongly divided between 48  Â�percent Bosnians, 37 percent Serbs, and 14 percent Croats. All three groups speak South Slavonic languages, but Bosnian and Croat are written in the Latin alphabet and Serbian in the Cyrillic alphabet. The three groups have traditionally adhered to different religions: Bosnians are Muslims, Serbs Orthodox, and Croats Catholic. The country is actually split into two parts that function as totally separate and independent nations, nominally united in a kind of federation. The first part is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine), which is internationally recognized as representing the whole nation, and the second the Bosnian Serb Republic (Republika Srpska), which wrested almost total autonomy in the course of the civil war of the 1990s. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina makes up 51 percent of the territory, or 10,068 square miles (26,076 square kilometers). It occupies the northwestern and central parts of the country and the southern region of Herzegovina, all of which are mountainous areas. In the southwest and west it borders Croatia; the Republika Srpska almost surrounds Croatia and separates it from all other countries. The population of 2.3 million consists of Bosnians and Croats; the capital city is Sarajevo. The Republika Srpska has 49 percent of the territory, or 9,973 square miles (25,023 square kilometers). It is a very oddly shaped country, comprising the larger part of the northern lowlands and all of eastern Bosnia, but these two regions are separated from each other. This means the Republika Srpska borders Croatia to the north and Serbia and Montenegro to the east, but on the northern border with Croatia there is a small enclave of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina that is mainly inhabited by Croats. The Republika has 1.4 million inhabitants, almost all of them Serbs; the de facto capital is Banja Luka. The two parts of the federation (the northern enclave and the main body of the federation) and the two parts of the Republika Srpska are connected by a small neutral corridor, formed by the town of Brc˘ko. It is under joint authority of the three ethnic groups in Bosnia and under international supervision, mostly exercised by United States diplomats as international supervisors.

Economy Bosnia is a low-income nation with a service-oriented economy. It has some natural resources, such as coal and iron ore, but the national economy has been affected by recent warfare; the country is still recovering from the war.

Culture Sarajevo has many remains from Islamic culture, which were damaged in the war but are now being reconstructed; later Bosnia was influenced by Austrian art. The country’s most famous author was Ivo Andric´ (1892–1965), a Bosnian Croat who wrote in Serbian.



BOSNIA (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Bosna i Hercegovina)╇ | 581

History Table BA 1╇ Timeline of Bosnian History First century BC Inhabited by Illyrians AD 9 Part of the Roman Empire 395 The Roman Empire is split; Bosnia becomes part of the â•… Western Roman Empire 455 Conquest by the Ostrogoths Sixth century Germanic and Slav tribes pass through; Slavs settle in the country, â•… which becomes part of the Byzantine Empire Ninth century Bosnia is part of the Frankish Empire; Christianity is â•…introduced 1145 Bosnia is autonomous unit under Hungarian rule 1322 Emergence of a kingdom 1383 First Turkish attacks 1463 Bosnia is under Turkish rule; many inhabitants convert to Islam 16th century Bosnia becomes a reinforced border zone for the weakened Turkish â•… Ottoman Empire 1831 Nationalist uprising is defeated 1875 Peasant revolt is defeated 1878 Turkey is defeated by Russia; Bosnia falls under Austrian rule 1908 Total annexation by Austria 1914 Habsburg’s crown prince is assassinated in Sarajevo; the action sparks â•… World War I 1918 Bosnia is part of the kingdom of Yugoslavia 1941 Bosnia is occupied by fascist Croatia 1945 Bosnia is part of the republic of Yugoslavia 1990 Independence is proclaimed 1992 Bosnia is invaded by Serbian troops; ethnic cleansing by Serbs in the â•… northern part and destruction in the southern part 1995 Dayton Agreement ends the Bosnian War

Political System Bosnia’s political system is a very intricate one, consisting of federal officers and institutions and two regional governments and parliaments.

Constitution A part of the 1995 Dayton Agreement is officially regarded as the constitution. It provides for international supervision of the Bosnian government, executed by the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constitution contains intricate rules for the government of the country, which consists of three ethnic groups, Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats, and for two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, populated by Bosnians and Croats, and the Serb Republic, populated

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by Serbs. In governmental structures the three ethnic groups are treated on an equal basis, which means the federation elects two-thirds of the representatives and other governmental bodies, the Serb Republic one third.

Head of State The high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina is the highest authority. The high representative is elected by a steering group, consisting of a group of large countries, including Russia, Japan, the EU, and an international Islamic body. The function has been exercised by leading (former) politicians and diplomats Â� from EU countries, elected by the EU for a period of two to three years. Â�Valentin Inzko, from Austria, has been the incumbent since March 2009. A main Â�function of the high representative is to supervise the contacts between the federation and the Serb Republic, but the high representative has wide powers and has forced three members of the collective presidency to step down, one Serb and two Croats. The collective presidency of the country as a whole is exercised by three politicians who are elected by popular vote for a four-year term: the Croat and the Bosnian presidents are elected in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serb in the Serb Republic; the chair rotates every eight months. Table BA 2 lists the members of the presidency since 2002. Two of the three members elected in 2002 were forced to step down. Mirko Šarovic´ stepped down in 2003 because of his personal involvement in a scandal over arms sales to Iraq; he was succeeded by Borislav Paravac. Dragan Cˇovic´ was dismissed by the high representative because of allegations of corruption; he was succeeded by Ivo Miro Jovic´. Presidential powers are restricted as the country is a parliamentary republic.

Table BA 2╇ Presidents of Bosnia since 2002 Group 2002

Party

2006

Party

Bosniaks Sulejman Tihic´ Party of Democratic Haris Party for Bosnia â•… Action â•… Silajdžic´ and Herzegovina Serbs Mirko Šarovic´: Serbian Democratic Nebojša Alliance of â•…Dismissed in 2003 â•…Party â•…Radmanovic´ â•…Independent â•… and succeeded by â•… Social â•…Borislav Paravac â•…Democrats Croats Dragan Cˇovic´: Croatian Željko Social â•…Dismissed in 2005 â•…Democratic â•…Komšic´ â•…Democratic â•… and succeeded by â•… Union â•… Party of â•… Ivo Miro Jovic´ â•… Bosnia and â•…Herzegovina



BOSNIA (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Bosna i Hercegovina)╇ | 583

Table BA 3╇ The Bosnian Predstabnicˇki Dom since 2002 Party Ideology Total Federation Serb Total 2002 of Bosnia Republic 2006 and 2006 Herzegovina 2006 Party of Democratic Conservative 10 8 1 9 â•…Action â•…Bosniak Party for Bosnia and Conservative, 6 7 1 8 â•…Herzegovina â•…nationalist â•…Bosniak Party of Independent Social 3 0 7 7 â•…Social Democrats â•…democrat â•…Serb Social Democratic Social 5 5 0 5 â•…Party â•…democratic â•…Croat Serbian Democratic Nationalist 5 0 3 3 â•…Party â•…Serb Croatian Democratic Christian 5 3 0 3 â•…Union â•…democrat â•…Croat Other 8 5 2 7 Total 42 28 14 42

Officially, the two entities have a president and two vice presidents, all three from different ethnic groups. In practice, the presidency of the federation is exercised by a Bosnian or Croat and that of the Serb Republic by a Serb.

Legislative Power The Parliamentary Assembly (Parlamentarna Skupština) consists of two houses. The lower house or House of Representatives (Predstabnički dom) has 42 Â�members, who are elected out of the two legislatures (28 from the federation, 14 from the republic) for a four-year term (see Table BA 3); currently, 19 percent are women. The upper house or House of Peoples (Dom Naroda) has 15 members, also elected by the parliaments of the two units.

Executive Power Both parts of the country have their own governments; the combined nation has its own government, yet most policies are made by the two parts separately. Since 2007, Nikola Špirič has been the prime minister of the country as a whole.

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Judiciary Power The country has a Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud), consisting of nine members. Four come from the federation, two from the republic, and three are proposed by the European Court of Human Rights, a body of the Council of Europe, not the EU. The judges serve a five-year term that is not renewable. The court stands apart from the court pyramid, in which the highest court is the State Court (Sud), which has an intricate structure and includes international judges.

Referendums Since the 1992 independence referendum, which was boycotted by the Serbs, there have not been any other referendums. In 2010, the republic enacted a controversial new law providing for referendums.

Policies The two entities have their own economic, social, and ethical policies.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata)

The party is the main party of the Serb Republic, and it dominates the �government of that republic. The party increased its share of seats from 2 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2006. It claims to have a social democratic platform and demands total independence for the republic. The party leader is Milorad Dodik.

Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Socijaldemokratska Partija Bosne i Hercegovine [SDP]) The party is the successor to the Communist Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which shifted to a social democratic platform, opposing the nationalist parties. It was the largest party in 2000, with more than 20 percent of the seats, but it declined to 12 percent in 2006. Now it is the largest party among the Croats. The party leader is Zlatko Lagumdžija.

Party of Democratic Action (Stranka Demokratske Akcije [SDA]) The party was founded in 1990 by Bosnia’s first leader, Alija Izetbegovic´, and was in government from 1990 until 2000. It is a conservative and nationalist party of the Bosniak population, more fervently nationalist than the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has been the largest party since 1990, except for 2000, when it received less than 20 percent of the seats, and went in opposition. The party leader is Sulejman Tihic´.

Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (Stranka za Bosnu i Hercegovinu [SbiH]) The party was founded in 1996 and is a conservative and nationalist Bosniak party, advocating a unified country. Between 2000 and 2006 it increased its share of



SERBIA (Srbija)╇ | 585

seats and almost rivaled the Party of Democratic Action. The party leader is Haris Silajdžic´.

SERBIA (Srbija) Serbia was the core and the most powerful unit of the interwar kingdom of �Yugoslavia and the postwar communist republic. When Slovenia and Croatia proclaimed independence, Serbia attempted to get them back under control, so it invaded Croatia and later was massively involved in the Bosnian war.

The Land and the People The Land

Serbia is a landlocked country at the heart of the Balkan Peninsula. Its surface totals 25,714 square miles (66,600 square kilometers), almost as large as Czechia and as large as Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont combined. Its form is something between an irregularly shaped rectangle and an oval. The longest north to south road distance is about 360 miles (580 kilometers); the longest west to east distance is 185 miles (300 kilometers). Serbia borders Hungary to the north; �Romania, with which it has the longest border, to the northeast; Bulgaria to the southeast; Macedonia to the south; and Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and �Herzegovina, and Croatia to the west. Its total number of neighbors, eight, for such a relatively small country, shows how much of a patchwork the Balkan Peninsula is. The borders have been stable since 2008, when Kosovo declared itself independent, only two years after Montenegro had done the same. The northern half of the country consists of lowlands; the southern half is more mountainous, with a �highest peak of 6,615 feet (2,016 meters). The climate is continental.

The People Serbia has a population of 7.4 million, slightly less than the three Baltic nations combined, and slightly less than Virginia. The centrally located capital, Belgrade (Beograd), with more than 1.5 million inhabitants, is by far the largest city, followed by Novi Sad in the north and Niš in the south, both of which have more than 200,000 inhabitants. Eighty-three percent of the population is Serb and speaks Serbian, a South Slavonic language, written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The four percent Hungarian minority is concentrated in Vojvodina, the northernmost region of the country. There are also small minorities of Croats and Roma. Traditionally, the Serbs are members of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Economy Serbia is a low-income country with a service-oriented economy. It has a sizable agricultural sector (grain exports) and an industrial sector, including coal mining

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and a steel industry. The country was late in privatizing the economy because of the lasting domination by communist dictators.

Culture Serbia has a number of Byzantine churches (Studenica) that are decorated with frescoes. It also had a long tradition of Byzantine icons.

History Table RS 1╇ Timeline of Serbian History Fourth century BC Celtic invasion of the country; inhabited by Illyrians Third century BC Roman conquests AD 395 Roman Empire split; the region is under Byzantine rule Seventh century Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs) invade the country; â•… Serbs settle 895 Serbs converted to Christianity 969 An independent Serbian kingdom is established 11th century Serbia is under Byzantine rule again 1217 Serbia is an independent kingdom Mid-14th century Serbs expand to Greece; Golden Age of Serbian Byzantine culture â•… under King Dušan 1389 Battle of Kosovo; Serbs are defeated by Turkish troops 1459 Serbia becomes part of the Ottoman Empire 1816 Serbia declares independence after a large revolt 1878 Serbia’s independence is recognized internationally after the â•… Russian victory over the Turks 1912 First Balkan War; Serbia and Greece ally against Turkey 1913 Second Balkan War; Serbia and Greece ally against Bulgaria 1914 Serbia is invaded by Austria; beginning of World War I; Serbian â•… troops retreat to Greece 1918 Largest and most populous part of the new kingdom of Yugoslavia â•… (the name was given later) 1929 Yugoslavia’s government is a dictatorship under King Alexander 1934 The king is assassinated; the regent forms a dictatorship 1941 Yugoslavia joins Germany as an ally in World War II, but after â•… a military coup withdraws its support; Yugoslavia is invaded â•… by Germany 1945 Yugoslavia is liberated by partisans under Josip Broz Tito; party â•… leader and dictator Tito forms a communist republic 1948 Tito breaks with Stalin; Yugoslavia takes an independent â•… communist course with “worker self-management” 1956 Yugoslavia is cofounder of the group of nonaligned and neutral â•…countries 1980 Death of Tito; cracks appear in the unity of the country (Continued)



SERBIA (Srbija)╇ | 587 1986 Slobodan Miloševic´ becomes Communist Party leader â•… and dictator 1988 Autonomy of the Serbian province of Kosovo is abolished 1991 Yugoslavia disintegrates in spite of military action against Slovenia â•… and Croatia 1992 Serbia forms federation with Montenegro; it lasts until 2008 1998 Serbia suppresses the Kosovo Albanians; NATO launches air raids â•… against Serbia 2000 Miloševic´ resigns after fraudulent elections and is arrested and sent â•… to The Hague to stand trial for war crimes 2008 Kosovo and Montenegro declare independence; Serbia arrests â•… former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžic´, who is also sent â•… to The Hague to stand trial

Political System Until 2000 Serbia remained under communist dictatorial rule. Since that time it has developed a parliamentary political system. It has a variety of political parties ranging from Social Democrat to Radical Right.

Constitution When still under communist rule, Serbia adopted a new constitution in 1990, which was replaced by the current constitution in 2006. Differences from the 1990 constitution included adaptations to European standards, such as decentralization; economic autonomy for the province of Vojvodina, where many Hungarians live; and the definition of marriage as a union between man and woman. The constitution states that Serbian is the national language and that it is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. It mentions Kosovo as an integral part of the country. The constitution was adopted after a referendum, which was boycotted by the Kosovo Albanians. Amending the constitution requires a two-thirds majority in two readings of the parliament.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which is renewable once. Presidential functions are mainly ceremonial. The Â�current president is Boris Tadic´ of the Democratic Party. He entered office in 2004, when the country was still united with Montenegro.

Legislative Power The unicameral National Assembly (Narodna skupština) has 250 members, 22 Â�percent of whom are women. Members are elected for a four-year term by means of proportional representation in which the whole country serves as one district, with a five percent threshold (see Table RS 2).

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Table RS 2╇ The Serbian Skupština since 2008 Party or Alliance with Ideology Major Party

No. of Seats 2008

Percent of Votes 2008

For a European Serbia* Social democrat 102 38.4 Serbian Radical Party Radical right, nationalist 78 29.5 Democratic Party of Conservative 30 11.6 â•… Serbia—New Serbia Socialist Party of Serbia Postcommunist 20 7.6 â•… plus others Liberal Democratic Party Conservative liberal 13 5.2 Other 7 7.7 Total 250 100 * For a European Serbia is a coalition of parties. The largest participating party, the Democratic Party, won 64 of the coalition’s 102 seats.

Executive Power Most governments are coalitions. Since 2006 the country has had two prime Â�ministers: Vojislav Koštunica (2006–2008), of the Democratic Party of Serbia, who had been in charge of the united Serbia and Montenegro since 2004, and Mirko Svetkovi´c, of the Group for a European Serbia, who has served since 2008.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud). It consists of 15 justices, elected for a nine-year term, which is renewable once. The president, the parliament and the Supreme Court (Vrchovny sud) each elect five of the justices.

Referendums The 2006 constitution was approved by referendum; since then no referendums have been held.

Policies Since the ousting of dictator MiloŠevi´c, the country has been more oriented toward the EU, and it even consented in sending MiloŠevi´c and other war criminals, including the former president of the Bosnian Serb Republic Radovan Karadži´c, who was arrested in Belgrade, to The Hague to stand trial before the International Yugoslav Tribunal. One leading Serbian war criminal, the Serb Â�general Ratko Mladi´c, is still missing.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka)

The party is the successor of the Liberal Party that was founded in 1919 and banned under communism. It was reestablished in 1989, this time with a social democrat



MONTENEGRO (Crna Gora)╇ | 589

platform. Both the president and the prime minister are party members. The party actively seeks EU membership.

Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka) The party was founded in 1991. It is a radical rightist and nationalist party that opposes any steps toward EU membership. Dragan Todorovi´c has been the party leader since the former party leader, Vojislav Šešelj, surrendered to the International Yugoslavia Tribunal in The Hague.

MONTENEGRO (Crna Gora) Until 2006 Montenegro was the junior partner (very junior indeed) of Serbia in the remnant of Yugoslavia, and the combined nations were known as Serbia.

The Land and the People The Land

Montenegro is located in the center of the Balkan Peninsula’s west coast. The area totals 5,333 square miles (13,813 square kilometers), almost half the size  of Albania and slightly smaller than Connecticut. The country has the shape of a square, and the longest distance from one end of the Â�country to the other is 110 miles (180 kilometers). Montenegro is a mountainous Â�country—even the coast is mountainous—and the highest peak is 8,274 feet (2,522 meters). The climate is Mediterranean on the coast and continental in the interior. The country borders Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, which is its Â�longest border; Serbia to the northeast; and Kosovo and Albania to the southeast. To the southwest is the Adriatic Sea. The borders have been stable since independence.

The People Montenegro is the least populous country on the Balkan Peninsula and one of the five European nations with fewer than one million inhabitants; its �population totals 670,000, about as many as Vermont. The capital, Podgorica (174,000 inhabitants), is the only city. The population is ethnically divided. About 70 percent are �Montenegrins, but they have traditionally been so closely related to Serbs that some describe themselves as Serbs. The Montenegrin language is a South �Slavonic language, very close to Serbian. Even many inhabitants consider it to be a variant of Serbian rather than a separate language; both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets are used. The two largest minorities are Bosnians and Albanians, each at about 10 percent of the population. Traditionally, the Montenegrins are members of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church or the Serbian Orthodox Church, but most �Bosnians and Albanians are Muslims.

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The Economy Montenegro is a low-income country with a service-oriented economy. �Agriculture is not widespread because of the mountainous relief, but there is some heavy �industry and coal mining. Tourism is by far the leading service branch.

Culture The country has medieval remains from Romanesque and Gothic architecture (Kotor) and examples of Byzantine art in wall frescoes of churches.

History Table ME 1╇ Timeline of Montenegrin History First century BC Illyrians and Celts inhabit the region; Greek communities are on the coast AD 9 Annexed by Rome 395 The Roman empire is divided; line of division cuts through ╅Montenegro Sixth century Ostrogoths and Avars pass through Seventh century Slavs settle in the region Ninth century Introduction of Christianity; later Montenegro is under Serbian ╅ rule, though the coast is under Venetian rule 960 Most of Montenegro is under Byzantine rule 1040 A large revolt puts an end to Byzantine rule 1077 The region becomes known as the Catholic independent kingdom ╅ of Duklia 1345 After the decline of Duklia, the country becomes the principality ╅ of Zeta; it is under Serbian rule for a time 1496 Montenegro is conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire; the ╅ coast remains under Venetian rule 1516 A prince-bishop rules the country, which remains independent 1877 Montenegro goes to war with Turkey and annexes neighboring ╅regions 1916 Invaded by Austria and Germany 1918 Part of the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1941 Invaded by fascist Italy 1943 Invaded by Nazi Germany 1945 Montenegro is part of the communist republic of Yugoslavia 1992 Montenegro joins a common war effort with Serbia against ╅ Croatia; Montenegro forms a federation with Serbia 2006 Montenegro declares independence after a referendum



MONTENEGRO (Crna Gora)╇ | 591

Political System Montenegro has a parliamentary political system. Social Democrats and �Conservatives are the biggest parties.

Constitution The constitution was adopted in 2007. It sets Montenegrin (Serbian) as the official language, with an equal position for the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabet. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in the parliament, but amendments of some of the basic provisions also require a three-fifths majority in a referendum. The constitution was a source of dispute. Serbs thought it was anti-Serb, and the Albanian minority also rejected it.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term that is renewable once. The presidential functions are mainly ceremonial. Filip �Vujanovic, the first president of the independent republic, has served since 2008 and is a member of the Democratic Party of Socialists.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament (Skupština) has 81 members (11 percent are women), elected by means of proportional representation for a four-year term. The Skupština’s composition is shown in Table ME 2.

Executive Power The current prime minister, Milo Ðukanovi´c, was in power during the union with Serbia from 1991 until 1998 and from 2003 until after independence in 2006. His current tenure as prime minister began in 2008. Filip Vujanovi´c, the current president, was prime minister from 2006 to 2008. Table ME 2╇ The Montenegrin Skupština since 2009 Party

Ideology

No. of Seats

Percent of Votes

Coalition for a European Social democrat 48 51.9 â•…Montenegro Socialist People’s Party Social democrat 16 16.8 New Serb Democracy Conservative 8 9.2 Movement for Change Conservative 5 6.0 Other 4 16.1 Total 81 100

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Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Â� Court (Gjykata Kushtetuese). Its seven judges are elected by the parliament for a Â�nine-year term. The highest court of the regular courts is the Supreme Court.

Referendums The outcome of the 2006 referendum on independence was a 55.5 percent majority in favor, just above the required majority of 55 percent.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Socialist People’s Party of Montenegro (Socijalistićka narodna partija Crne Gore) The party initially rejected Monetengro’s independence and favored continuing the union with Serbia instead, but since independence it has gradually shifted to a pro-EU course. It has more or less a social democratic platform. The party leader is Srđan Mili´c.

Coalition for a European Montenegro (Koalicija za Evropsku Crnu Goru) The coalition is dominated by the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro Â� (Demokratska partija socijalista Crne Gore), which is the successor of the Â�Communist Party in Montenegro and has for a long time been dominated by Prime Minister Milo Ðukanovi´c. Its platform is also to some extent social democratic.

KOSOVO (Kosovë) Kosovo is the latest newcomer to the prism of European nations. Kosovo declared its independence in 2008, although its independence has not been recognized by a number of European countries.

The Land and the People The Land

Kosovo is a landlocked country in the western Balkan Peninsula. It is the smallest country in surface on the Balkan Peninsula, with an area of 4,204 square miles (10,887 square kilometers), about half the size of Slovenia and one and a half times the size of Delaware. The longest northwest to southeast road distance is 90 miles (145 kilometers). The country has a square shape and mostly consists of a plateau and mountains; the highest peak rises to 8,714 feet (2,656 meters). The climate is continental. Kosovo borders Serbia to the north and east, Macedonia to the south, and Albania and Montenegro to the west.



KOSOVO (Kosovë)╇ | 593

The People Kosovo has 1.8 million inhabitants, slightly less than Macedonia or Slovenia, and smaller than New Mexico. The capital, Pristina (160,000 inhabitants), located in the east, is the only big city. More than 90 percent of the population consists of Albanians who speak Albanian and are traditionally Muslims. The largest minority, at five percent of the population, are the Serbs, who speak Serbian and are traditionally members of the Serbian Orthodox Church. They live in the northwestern corner of the country.

The Economy Kosovo is a low-income country; its economy relies on small-scale agriculture and some industries and mining. Under communism it was the poorest region of Yugoslavia.

Culture The country has a few Byzantine churches (Grac´anica), whose interiors are decorated with frescoes.

History Table KS 1╇ Timeline of Kosovo’s History First century BC Illyrians, Thracians, and Celts inhabit the region 168 BC The region is conquered by Rome AD 395 The Roman Empire splits; Kosovo becomes part of the â•… Byzantine Empire Seventh century Slavs invade the country but Illyrians remain the majority 893 Kosovo is under Bulgarian rule 1018 Kosovo is under Byzantine rule again 1216 Kosovo is part of Serbia 1389 First Battle of Kosovo (Kosovo Polje); Serbs defeated by Turkish â•… Ottoman Empire; Kosovo is under Turkish rule 1448 Second Battle of Kosovo; Hungarians are defeated by the â•… Ottoman Empire 1683 Brief period of Austrian rule until 1699 1878 Kosovo Albanians are deported by Serbia during the â•… Russian-Turkish War 1909 Nationalist uprising 1912 Balkan Wars; Kosovo becomes part of Serbia 1918 Kosovo is integrated in the kingdom of Yugoslavia as part of Serbia 1941 Kosovo is occupied by fascist Italy 1946 Kosovo becomes an autonomous region of Serbia in the â•… communist Yugoslav republic 1989 Kosovo autonomy is curtailed by Serbia under the Serbian â•… dictator Slobodan Miloševic´; Serbification campaign 1998 Warfare between separatists and Serbians; Serbian atrocities (Continued)

594 |╇Balkan Peninsula 1999 NATO air raids against Serbia, armistice; United Nations force ╅ in Kosovo 2008 Independence is proclaimed and recognized by most European ╅ countries; euro is introduced on informal basis

Political System Kosovo is developing a parliamentary political system.

Constitution The constitution was enacted in 2008, the year independence was proclaimed. It is not enforced in the region where Serbs form the majority. The constitution excludes the option of a union with any other country, a clause that especially applies to Albania. Both Albanian and Serbian are official national languages. Amendments must be approved first by the Constitutional Council, and they require a two-thirds majority of the parliament, including two thirds of all deputies who hold seats that are reserved for the ethnic minorities.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by the parliament. Fatmir Sejdiu, of the Democratic League, became the first president of the new nation. The presidential functions are mainly ceremonial.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament (Kuvendi, Skupština) has 120 members, elected for a four-year term. One hundred deputies are elected by means of proportional representation for a three-year term, 10 seats are reserved for the Serbian minority, and 10 seats are reserved for other minorities. Table KS 2 shows the composition of the Kuvendi since 2007. Table KS 2╇ Kosovo’s Kuvendi since 2007 Party

Ideology

No. of Seats

Percent of Votes

Democratic Party Social democrat 37 34.3 Democratic League Conservative 25 22.6 New Kosovo Alliance Conservative 13 12.3 Democratic League of Christian democrat/ 11 10.0 â•…Dardania – Albanian â•…Conservative â•… Christian Democratic Party Alliance for the Future Conservative liberal 10 9.6 Minorities * Minority rights 20 5.8 Other 4 5.4 Total 120 100 * The minorities have the right to occupy 20 seats, independent of the outcome in their region.



MACEDONIA (Makedonija)╇ | 595

Executive Power Since 2008, Hashim Thaçi of the Democratic Party has been the prime minister.

Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ustaven Sud). The Court has nine members, elected by the Kuvendi for a six-year term. A special Judicial Council selects the candidates. The Constitutional Court (Gjykata Kashtetuese) stands apart from the judicial �pyramid, of which the Supreme Court is the highest court.

Referendums No referendums have been held since independence.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës [PDK]) The party was founded in 1999, as a Social Democratic Party in favor of independence. Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi is the current party leader.

Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës [LDK]) The party was founded in 1989, but it boycotted all elections before independence. It is a conservative party. President Fatmir Sejdiu is party leader.

MACEDONIA (Makedonija) Formally, the country is called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), because of Greek objections to the name. Greece claims that the real Macedonia is a part of northern Greece, and the use of the name by another nation might imply aspirations of foreign expansion from that side.

The Land and the People The Land

Macedonia is a landlocked country in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It has a rectangular form, and its area totals 9,928 square miles (25,713 square kilometers), making it somewhat smaller than neighboring Albania and slightly larger than Vermont. The longest road distances are 110 miles (180 kilometers) from north to south and 125 miles (200 kilometers) from west to east. �Macedonia borders Kosovo and Serbia to the north; Bulgaria to the east; Greece to the south, which is its longest border; and Albania to the west. The borders have been �stable since independence. Macedonia is a mountainous country; the highest peak is 8,530 feet (2,600 meters). The climate is continental.

596 |╇Balkan Peninsula

The People Macedonia has 2.1 million inhabitants and is the second least populous state on the Balkans, before Montenegro. Its population is similar to that of Slovenia and slightly more than New Mexico’s. The capital Skopje, in the north, is the Â�biggest city with half a million inhabitants; nearby Kumanovo (100,000) is the second largest. The population is strongly divided along ethnic and religious lines. Sixtyfive percent are Macedonians, who speak Macedonian, a South Slavonic language closely related to Bulgarian and written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Traditionally, Â�Macedonians are members of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Twenty-five Â�percent are Albanians; they speak Albanian, the language of neighboring Â�Albania, which is not related to any other European language and is written in the Latin alphabet. Traditionally, Albanians are Muslim, and they are concentrated in the northwest of the country. In addition, there are a four percent Turkish minority and smaller Serbian (3 percent) and Roma (2 percent) communities.

The Economy Macedonia is a low-income country. In its economy subsistence agriculture still plays a major role, along with small industries.

Culture Macedonia has a number of Byzantine churches with fresco-covered interiors, especially in Ohrid.

History Table MK 1╇ Timeline of Macedonian History First century BC Macedonia is inhabited by Illyrians 150 BC Macedonia is conquered by Rome AD 395 Becomes part of the Eastern Roman Empire after the division of the ╅ Roman Empire Sixth century Germanic and Slav tribes invade; the Slavs remain in the country 893 Macedonia is conquered by Bulgaria 1014 Macedonia is under Byzantine rule 1389 Macedonia is conquered by Turkey 1564 First large revolt is defeated 1828 Surrounding countries gain independence and claim ╅ Macedonian territory 1878 Turkey is defeated by Russia, which gives Macedonia to Bulgaria; ╅ the other great powers force Bulgaria to return Macedonia ╅ to Turkey 1903 A nationalist uprising under Goce Delceve is defeated 1913 Balkan Wars; Macedonia is divided among Greece, Bulgaria, ╅ and Serbia (Continued)



MACEDONIA (Makedonija)╇ | 597 1919 The Serbian part of Macedonia is integrated in kingdom â•… of Yugoslavia 1941 Macedonia is invaded by Bulgaria, which had joined the â•… Axis Powers 1945 After liberation, Macedonia is integrated into the communist â•… Yugoslav republic 1991 Macedonia proclaims independence; Greece rejects Macedonia’s â•…name 1993 Macedonia’s independence is recognized under the name Former â•… Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as Greece’s â•… condition for the country’s admission to the United Nations 1994 Greek institutes boycott and embargo against Macedonia 2001 Fighting between Macedonians and the Albanian minority ends in â•… the Ohrid Agreement 2008 Greece vetos Macedonia’s membership in NATO

Political System Macedonia has a parliamentary political system. Two parties, Conservatives and Social Democrats, dominate politics.

Constitution A new constitution was adopted in 1991, the first constitution of the new �Macedonian state. It proclaims Macedonian, written in the Cyrillic alphabet, as the official language, but it also grants full rights to the other nationalities that live within the borders. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in two sessions of the parliament.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which can be renewed once. Table MK 2 lists the Macedonian presidents since 1991; their tasks are mainly ceremonial. President Kiro Gligorov survived a car bomb attack in 1995. President Boris Trajkovski died in a plane crash in 2004.

Table MK 2╇ Presidents of Macedonia since 1991* President Party

Ideology Begin

Kiro Gligorov Boris Trajkovski Branko Crvenkovski Gjorge Ivanov

Postcommunist Conservative Social democrat Conservative

Independent VMRO-DPMNE Social Democratic Union VMRO-DPMNE

* Brief interim periods shorter than three months are not included.

1991 1999 2004 2009

598 |╇Balkan Peninsula

Table MK 3╇ Macedonia’s Sobranie since 2002* Party Coalition Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent of Seats Seats Seats Votes 2002 2006 2008 2008

VMRO-DPMNE Conservative 33 45 63 48.8 â•… (+ allied parties) Social Democratic Social democratic 61 32 27 23.7 â•… Union (+ allied parties) Democratic Union for Albanian minority 16 17 18 12.8 â•… Integration (+ allies) Other 10 26 12 14.7 Total 120 120 120 100 * VMRO-DPMNE is the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity

Legislative Power The parliament (Sobranie) is unicameral; it has 120 members who are elected for a four-year term (see Table MK 3). One third of the members are women, the highest share of any Central European country. The electoral system is proportional representation, with six constituencies, each of which has 20 mandates. The system in 2002 replaced an intricate combination of a second-ballot majority system for 85 deputies and proportional representation for 35 deputies.

Executive Power Table MK 4 lists the prime ministers since 1991. Prime Minister Hari Â�Kostov resigned after six months because of disputes in the coalition between ethnic Macedonian and ethnic Albanian ministers. In 2008, former prime minister Vlado Bučkovski was sentenced to three years in prison on charges that he illegally Â�purchased arms in 2001, when he was minister of defense, during armed border conflicts with Albania.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Ustavn Sud), which consists of nine judges who are elected by the Sobranie for a nine-year, nonrenewable term. The Supreme Court (Vrhoven Sud) is the highest court of the regular court pyramid.

Referendums A very controversial 2004 referendum against regional redistricting failed because of low turnout. It aimed at greater autonomy for the Albanian minority, as envisaged in the Ohrid Agreement that ended fighting between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians.



MACEDONIA (Makedonija)╇ | 599

Table MK 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Macedonia since 1991* Party† Ideology Begin

No. of Prime Minister Months

1 Independent – 1991 19 Nikol Kljusev 2 Social Democratic Social 1992 75 Branko â•…Union â•…democratic â•…Crvenkovski 3 VMRO-DPMNE† Conservative 1998 47 Ljubčo Georgievski 4 Social Democratic Social 2002 18 Branko â•…Union â•…democratic â•… Crvenkovski 5 Independent – 2004 6 Hari Kostov 6 Social Democratic Social 2004 20 Vlado â•…Union â•…democratic â•…Buckovski 7 VMRO-DPMNE Conservative August Nikola Gruevski â•… 2006 Total: 7 prime â•…ministers (interim prime ministers not included) * Brief periods of interim prime ministers are not included. † VMRO-DPMNE is the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization–Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija) The party was the successor to the Communist Party but was refounded in 1990 as a democratic party, under leadership of former prime minister Branko Â�Crvenkovski. During most of the 1990s the party was the largest in the parliament and the major party in government. Since its electoral defeats in 2006 and 2008, it has been in opposition. The party platform is social democratic, but more to the right than Â�Germanic Europe’s Social Democratic parties.

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (Vnatrešna makedonska revolucionerna organizacija – Demokratska partija za makedonsko nacionalno edinstvo) The party was founded in 1990 as a nationalist force for the integration of all nationalities into the Macedonian nation. It was the largest party in 1990, but in 1994 it refused to participate in the second ballot of the then operative two-ballot parliamentary elections. It was in power between 1998 and 2002, and since 2006, it has been the largest party and has been in power. The party platform is conservative. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is the party leader.

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10â•…The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

T

he other Balkan countries share the political features of the former Yugoslav countries listed in Table YU 1 (p. 569). Although Romania and Bulgaria have become EU members since 2007, the EU often warns them to improve the degree of �democracy and fight corruption. Greece occupies an exceptional position, as it was never under communist rule and its score on democracy rankings is slightly better than those of the other Balkan countries. For the map of these countries, see chapter 9 (p. 568).

ALBANIA (Shqipëria) Albania was long isolated, as it was the only Balkan nation whose total population is Muslim (until Kosovo’s independence in 2008), and it was under an extremely isolationist communist dictatorship.

The Land and the People The Land

Albania is situated on the southwest coast of the Balkan Peninsula. Its area is 11,100 square miles (28,748 square kilometers), slightly larger than neighboring Macedonia and slightly larger than Massachusetts or Hawaii. The country’s shape is like a vertical sausage, and the longest road distances are 200 miles (320 kilometers) from north to south and 80 miles (130 kilometers) from west to east. The country borders Montenegro to the north, Kosovo and Macedonia to the east, and Greece to the southeast and south. The borders have been stable since the end of World War II. To the west is the Adriatic Sea, but there are few Albanian islands. Along the coast is a narrow coastal plain, but most of the country is mountainous, with a highest peak of 9,022 feet (2,750 meters). The climate is Mediterranean. 601

602 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

The People Albania has 3.7 million inhabitants, slightly less than Lithuania or Ireland and slightly more than Iowa. The biggest city is the centrally located capital, Tirana (400,000 people), and the second largest is the country’s main port, Durrés (100,000 people). Almost all Albanians are ethnic Albanians and speak Albanian, a language that is not related to any other European language. Albanians are traditionally Â�Muslims, but there is also a small minority of Greek Orthodox Albanians.

The Economy Albania is a low-income country. Subsistence agriculture still dominates the economy, though the textile industry is important for export.

Culture Albania has had the most rigorous iconoclasts of all dictatorships. Hardly anything is left of traditional architecture or other expressions of culture.

History

Table AL 1╇ Timeline of Albanian History

First century BC Illyrians inhabit Albania; Greek settlements are on the coast 167 BC Roman conquest of Albania AD 395 The Roman Empire splits; Albania is part of the Eastern Roman Empire 520 Huns and Goths pass through the country; Slavs remain in the â•… northern part 1190 The autonomous duchy of Arbanon is established in Central Albania 1344 Albania is conquered by Serbia 1389 Albania is conquered by Turkey; some ports are under Venetian rule 1443 Beginning of resistance by Skanderbeg 1571 Some ports remain in Turkish hands, but there is relative autonomy for â•… the various Albanian clans; gradual conversion to Islam Late 18th century Ali Pasha wrests autonomy from Turkey, but he is killed by Turkish â•…troops 1881 A large nationalist uprising is crushed 1912 Independence is proclaimed but not internationally recognized 1925 Republic under Ahmed Bey Zogu, who proclaims Albania a kingdom â•… in 1928 1939 Occupied by fascist Italy 1943 Occupied by Nazi Germany 1944 Germans leave; communists take over 1946 Communists win elections, but Enver Hoxha, the communist dictator, â•… steers an independent course 1947 Yugoslav attempt to annex Albania is prevented by Stalin 1953 Breach with Soviet Union; continuation of Stalinist repression; â•… relations established with China (Continued)



ALBANIA (Shqipëria)╇ | 603 1985 1990 1991 2009

Hoxha dies and is succeeded by Ramiz Alia Protest movement gains, mainly supported by students First free elections are held though most are fraudulent Albania becomes a member of NATO

Political System Albania has a parliamentary political system, but since the fall of communism politics has been dominated by one leader, first as president and currently as prime minister. Together with Moldova, Albania is probably the least democratic state on the Balkan Peninsula.

Constitution In 1991 a provisional constitution was adopted to replace the communist �constitution. Attempts to introduce a more definitive constitution failed until 1998, when the current constitution was enacted after a referendum. The constitution states that Albanian is the official language, but that there is no official religion. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority in the parliament and a majority in a popular referendum.

Head of State The president is the head of state and is elected to the parliament for a five-year term, which is renewable once. Until 2008, a two-thirds majority was needed, and since that year a simple majority. The president has mainly ceremonial functions, although the high government turnover may at times allow the presidents, listed in Table AL 2, to step in. Sali Berisha, a professor of medicine, was a leader of the movement toward democracy in 1990. During his presidency the president still enjoyed wide powers, and he to some extent led the economic, political, and social reforms of the 1990s. In 1997, he was not reelected because of a large life insurance swindle; many Albanians had invested money in a Ponzi-type pyramid scheme that went bankrupt. The government was accused of involvement, mass demonstrations were held, and for some time the country seemed on the brink of civil war, but it slowly calmed down. Table AL 2╇ Presidents of Albania since 1992* Presidents Party Sali Berisha Rexhep Meidani Alfred Moisiu Bamir Topi

Ideology Begin

Democratic Party Conservative Socialist Party Social democrat Independent Democratic Party Conservative

* Brief interim periods are not included.

1992 1997 2002 2007

604 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

Table AL 3╇ The Albanian Kuvendi since 2005 Party

Ideology ╛No. No. ╛╛╛╛╛of ╛╛╛╛╛╛of ╛ Seats ╛╛╛╛╛╛Seats ╛╛╛╛╛2005 ╛╛╛╛╛╛2009

Democratic Party (+allied parties) Conservative Socialist Party (+allied parties) Social democrat Socialist Alliance Social democrat Other Total

Percent of Votes 2009

63 70 46.9 53 66 45.3 5 4 5.6 19 – 2.2 140 140 100

Legislative Power Albania has a unicameral parliament (Kuvendi), consisting of 140 deputies, 16 percent of whom are women (see Table AL 3). Until 2008 a mixed system was in force, consisting of plurality in single-member constituencies for 100 deputies and proportional representation for 40 deputies. The new system is one of proportional representation, with 12 multimember constituencies, in each of which a threshold of three percent applies. In 1996 the Socialist Party refused to take its seats in the Kuvendi as a sign of protest against president Berisha’s authoritarian course, and it did not return until after the 1997 elections; since the 2009 elections it has Â�boycotted the parliament again, to some extent paralyzing the legislature.

Executive Power Table AL 4 lists the governments and prime ministers since 1991. Prime Minister Bashkim Fino was only in charge during the 1997 elections, after the Ponzi scandal and demonstrations. The other prime ministers of the Socialist Party served for Table AL 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Albania since 1991 Party Ideology Begin 1 2 3 4 5

Party of Labour Postcommunist Socialist Party Social democrat Independent Democratic Party Conservative Socialist Party Social democrat

No. of Prime Ministers Months

1991 3 Fatos Nano 1991 6 Ylli Bufi 1991 4 Vilson Ahmeti 1992 59 Aleksander Meksi 1997 102 Bashkim Fino, Fatos Nano, â•… Pandeli Majko, Ilir Meta, â•… Pandeli Majko, Fatos Nano 6 Democratic Party Conservative September Sali Berisha 2005 Total: 6 periods Total: 8 prime ministers



MOLDOVA (Moldova)╇ | 605

more than one year. Sali Berisha’s terms as prime minister (like his presidential term) have been characterized by allegations of corruption and an authoritarian style of governing.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Gjykata Kushtetuese). Its nine judges are elected for a nonrenewable nine-year term by the Kuvendi. Every three years one-third of the judges finish their terms. The court stands apart from the court pyramid, of which the Supreme Court (Gjykata e larte) is the highest court.

Referendums In the 1990s, the country held a few referendums on constitutional changes. The last referendum was on the 1998 constitution.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Socialist Party of Albania (Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë [PS]) This is a Social Democratic Party, founded in 1991 as a successor to the Communist Party. Until 2005 it was led by Fatos Nano, who had been one of the Communist Party leaders, but was imprisoned in 1997 on charges of Â�corruption, which were never proved. When he escaped in 1997, he was allowed to continue his political activities. Since 2005 Edi Rama has been the party leader. The party gained a majority in 1991 and was in power between 1997 and 2005, when it had a number of prime ministers.

Democratic Party of Albania (Partia Demokratike e Shqipërisë [PD]) The party was founded in 1990 and was soon led by Sali Berisha, who is still the party leader. It is a Conservative Party; in 2009 it formed the Alliance for Changes with a few small parties. It gained a majority of the seats in the 1992 and 1996 elections, and since that time has remained the largest party.

MOLDOVA (Moldova) Moldova is the only European country that has a large movement to join a neighboring country (Romania). At the same time it also has a separatist movement that enjoys factual independence in a small part of the country.

The Land and the People The Land

Moldova is a landlocked country on the northeastern end of the Balkan Peninsula; it is close to the Black Sea but has no sea outlet. The total area is 13,070 square miles (33,851 square kilometers), slightly larger than Belgium or Albania and

606 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

slightly larger than Maryland. The country consists of hilly and flat lowlands; the highest hill is 1,402 feet (428 meters). Because of the lack of relief, more than half of the land is arable. The climate is continental. Moldova has only two borders: one with Romania to the west and a longer one with Ukraine. The borders with these two countries have been stable since the breakdown of the Soviet Union.

The People Moldova has 4.3 million inhabitants. Almost 80 percent are Moldovans or Romanians who speak Moldovan, which is very close to Romanian, a Latin �language; 15 percent of the population is Russian or Ukrainian and speaks one of these Slavonic languages. In the south lives a small minority of Turkic Gagauz. The great majority of the population, including the Russians and Ukrainians, traditionally follows the Orthodox religion. The capital, Chisinau, with 800,000 inhabitants, is the biggest city, the second largest is Tiraspol, with 200,000 inhabitants. Moldova is actually split; the region on the eastern bank of the Dniestr River, called Trans-Dniestria, or Transnistria, has claimed independence since the �split-up of the Soviet Union and is de facto independent, under the protection of Russian troops. It consists of a small strip of land, with half a million inhabitants, more or less evenly divided among Moldovans, Russians, and Ukrainians.

The Economy In Soviet times, Trans-Dniestria was Moldova’s richest part, handling more than one third of industrial production. Nowadays, Moldova is Europe’s lowest-income country; the economy is still dependent on subsistence farming, wineries, and some industries, mainly food processing.

Culture The country has a few Byzantine churches.

History Table MD 1╇ Timeline of Moldovan History First century BC Dacian tribes conquer parts of the country AD 106 Moldova is part of the Roman Empire as province of Dacia 395 Moldova is part of the Byzantine Empire after the breakup of the â•… Roman Empire Fifth century Huns, Ostrogoths, and Avars pass through the country 800 Moldova is part of Charlemagne’s empire 10th century Moldova is an autonomous duchy 1359 Principality of Moldova is founded (Continued)



MOLDOVA (Moldova)╇ | 607

1457 Prince Stephen the Great retains Moldova’s independence against â•… Hungarians and Turks 1538 Moldova is under Turkish rule but relatively autonomous 1774 Moldova is under Russian rule 1812 In the Russian-Turkish War Russia occupies Bessarabia, the larger â•… part of Moldova 1859 Bessarabia becomes part of the independent Romania 1878 Part of Bessarabia is conquered by Russia Late 19th century Russification campaign begins 1918 Independence is proclaimed; Moldova is united with Romania 1940 Moldova is occupied by Soviet Russia 1941 Romania joins the Axis Powers and reconquers Bessarabia 1944 Bessarabia is reconquered by Soviet Russia 1990 Independence movement spreads in Moldova and Trans-Dniestria 1991 Independence is proclaimed; separatist conflict begins in â•…Trans-Dniestria 1992 Cease-fire in Trans-Dniestria

Political System Since 2000 the country has a hybrid of a parliamentary and a semi-presidential political system; in practice the country is governed by a very powerful president. With Albania, this is probably the Balkan Peninsula’s least democratic nation.

Constitution The constitution was enacted in 1994; it replaced the 1978 communist constitution and more or less copied the Romanian constitution that had been enacted three years earlier. The new constitution proclaims Moldovan as the national language, but it “acknowledges and protects the right to preserve, develop and use the Russian language and other languages.” There is no reference to religion. Â�Amendments must be approved by a two-thirds majority in the parliament.

Head of State The president is the head of state. The constitution introduced a kind of semipresidential system, similar to the Romanian one, in which the president is �responsible for foreign policy, defense, and public order and enjoys other prerogatives, like the appointment of the prime minister. Originally, the president was elected by popular vote, but the Communists, who retook power in 2000, changed the process to election by the parliament, with a three-fifths majority. The new system resulted in political crisis in 2009, when the Communists enjoyed a 59 percent majority, just short of the required 60 percent in the parliament, but the opposition formed a coalition to prevent the election of a Communist president. After two failed attempts to elect a president, the incumbent had to organize new

608 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

Table MD 2╇ Presidents of Moldova since 1990 President Party Mircea Snegur Petru Lucinschi Vladimir Voronin Miha Ghimpu (acting)

Ideology Begin

Independent – 1990 Agrarian Party Agrarian conservative 1997 Party of Communists Communist 2001 Liberal Party Conservative liberal September 2009

parliamentary elections in July 2009, but these did not result in a clear majority for any candidate either. Since then, an interim president has been in charge. The Communists were in power during most of the 2000s, and though they shifted from direct presidential elections to election by parliament, they gave the Communist president an almost totally free hand, which almost amounted to a full presidential system. Table MD 2 lists the Moldovan presidents since 1990.

Legislative Power The Moldovan parliament is unicameral. The 101 members, of whom 24 percent are women, serve a four-year term. The electoral system is completely proportional. The whole country serves as one district, as is the case in the Netherlands and Â�Slovakia, yet with a six percent threshold, one of the highest in Europe. The 2000 reforms by the Communists to some extent changed the system into a parliamentarian one by having the president no longer elected by the people but by the parliament. At the same time the Communists’ authoritarian tradition concentrated power in the hands of the president and the prime minister. Since then, voting in the parliament is not only characterized by party discipline as in most of Europe, but also by bloc discipline, that is, the Communists versus the anticommunists, which does not allow for a regular legislative process. Table MD 3 Table MD 3╇ The Moldovan Parlamentul since 2005 Party Ideology â•›No. of â•›No. of â•›Seats â•›Seats â•›2005 â•›April â•›2009

No. of Seats July 2009

Percent of Votes July 2009

Party of Communists Communist 56 60 48 44.7 Liberal Democratic Party Conservative – 15 18 16.6 Liberal Party Conservative liberal – 15 15 14.7 Democratic Party Social democrat – – 13 12.5 Alliance Our Moldova Liberal 8 11 7 7.4 Other 37 – – 4.1 Total 101 101 101 100



MOLDOVA (Moldova)╇ | 609

shows the composition of the Parlamentul since 2005. The April 2009 elections were followed by pro-Romanian protest actions, which were not suppressed by the police but strained relations with Romania. The July 2009 elections were necessary Â� because the parliament could not agree on a new president. Executive Power The prime ministers, listed in Table MD 4, are selected by the president, who has to take into account the majority in the parliament. Under the Communists (2001–2009), the choice of the prime minister and individual ministers was totally up to the president. Although the prime minister is the head of the government, foreign affairs, defense, and public security are in the hands of the president.

Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Curtea Constitutionala), which consists of six judges who serve a renewable six-year term. Two are appointed by the government, two by the Parlamentul, and two by the highest regular court. Although the judiciary is plagued by similar problems as in Romania—bribery and inefficiency—the Constitutional Court has been able to maintain an independent position between the two blocs—Â�communists and anticommunists—and has kept both sides from taking unlawful steps, such as the Communist attempt to centralize power in 2002.

Referendums The parliament and the president may organize a referendum, but since 2000 no referendum has been held. The most important and controversial referendum was Table MD 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Moldava since 1990* Prime Minister’s Ideology Begin â•…Party

No. of Prime Ministers Months

Popular Front Anticommunist 1990 â•›25 Mircea Druc, â•…Valeriu â•…Muravschi Democratic Agrarian Agrarian 1992 â•›55 Andrei Sangheli â•…Party â•…conservative Alliance for Democracy Anticommunist 1997 â•›35 Ion Ciubuc, â•… and Reforms â•… Ion Sturza Independent – 1999 â•›16 Dumitru Braghis Party of Communists Communist 2001 101 Vasile Tarlev, â•… Zinaida Greceanîi Liberal Democratic Conservative September Vlad Filat â•…Party â•…2009 * A brief 10-day interim period in 2009 is not included.

610 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

held in 1994 about territorial sovereignty, but it was unclear if the question hinted at reunification with Romania or a new form of cooperation with Russia.

Policies Moldova has stressed its separate culture and language from the Romanian culture and tongue, yet almost a million Moldovans have applied for Romanian citizenship, if only because that country is an EU member. The Turkic Gagaz minority has a special status. The political agenda is dominated by the relation with separatist Trans-Dniestria.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Alliance for European Integration (Alianta pentra Integrare Europeana) The alliance was formed as a coalition of the four noncommunist parties in the Parlamentul. The two main points the four have in common are preventing a Communist majority and a Communist president, and seeking association with the EU.

Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (Partidul Comunistilor din Republica Moldova [PCRM]) The party was founded in 1994, but it considered itself the successor of the former Communist Party that governed the country when it was still part of the Soviet Union. While retaining its Marxist-Leninist ideology, it now claims to be a modern leftist European party, in favor of European integration, if only to keep the country from joining Romania. The party enjoyed a majority in the Parlamentul during most of the 2000s, and in that period it privatized the economy. In policy, the party is probably more akin to Western European conservatism than to Soviet communism, except in style of governing. The party is the major proponent of the special position of the Moldavian Orthodox Church (which is not mentioned in the constitution), and the church uses the party to prevent any idea of integration in Romania. Former President Vladimir Voronin is the party leader.

ROMANIA (România) Of all Soviet Bloc countries (of which communist Yugoslavia and Albania were not members), Romania had the harshest Communist rule, reminiscent of Stalinist times in the Soviet Union. As a consequence, with isolated Albania it had the longest way to go to arrive at some form of decent government. Although it still suffers from the nondemocratic plagues mentioned for the Balkan Peninsula as a whole, it succeeded in joining the EU, quite an accomplishment given its recent past.



ROMANIA (România)╇ | 611

The Land and the People The Land

Romania occupies the northeastern Balkan Peninsula. The country is almost circular but has a coastal plain that sticks out in the southeast, where the Danube River flows into the Black Sea. The area is 91,700 square miles (238,391 square kilometers), as large as Bulgaria and Greece combined, which makes it the largest country on the Balkan Peninsula, and it is between Minnesota and Michigan in size. The longest road distances are 500 miles (800 kilometers) from west to east and 380 miles (600 kilometers) from north to south. The country borders Moldova to the east; Ukraine to the east and northeast; Hungary and Serbia to the west; and Bulgaria, with which it has the longest border, for the greater part formed by the Danube River, to the south. The borders have been stable since the end of World War II, when the country had to cede Bessarabia, now a part of Moldova, to Russia. The northwestern third of Romania consists of a plateau that is cut off from the rest of the nation by the Carpathian Mountains, which rise to an elevation of 8,343 feet (2,543 meters). To the east and south of this mountain range are hilly regions and the small flat coastal region. The western part consists of the Banat, which is close to the Hungarian border, and the more centrally located Transylvania; the hilly region in the south is Walachia. The climate is continental.

The People Romania is the most populous of the smaller European nations; it has 21.5 million inhabitants, more than Bulgaria and Greece combined and between New York State and Texas in population. With more than 2 million inhabitants, the capital, Bucharest, is by far the largest city. Other large cities are Timisoara in the Banat, Iasi in the northeast, Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania, and Constanta, a Black Sea port, all of which have more than 300,000 inhabitants. About 90 percent of the population are Romanians who speak Romanian, 6.5 percent form a Hungarian minority that is concentrated in the Banat and Transylvania, and there is also a small 2.5 percent Roma minority. Romanian is a Latin or Romanic language, isolated from the other Latin languages by the surrounding Slavonic languages and Hungarian. Traditionally, the Romanian speakers are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and the Hungarians are Catholic.

The Economy Romania is a low-income country, more industry- and agriculture-based than the neighboring countries. It has limited natural resources, including natural gas and declining coal reserves, but also brown coal and some iron ore, which has given rise to a steel industry.

Culture The country has painted Byzantine churches in northern Bukovina with unique exterior frescoes, as well as Gothic (and neo-Gothic) castles (Hunedoara, Bran).

612 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

The pan flute plays a central role in the national musical tradition. Twentiethcentury artists were abstract sculptor Constantin Brâncusi (1876–1957), famous for his eggs, and absurdist playwright Eugène Ionesco (1909–1994), both of whom lived in exile in France most of their lives. Yet the country’s most famous son is Count Dracula.

History Table RO 1╇ Timeline of Romanian History First century Dacian tribes conquer parts of the country â•…BC AD 106 Romania is part of Roman Empire as the province of Dacia Fifth century Barbarian invasions; Huns and Goths pass through the country 800 Romania is part of Charlemagne’s Empire 10th century Walachia and Moldova become autonomous duchies; Transylvania is â•… under Hungarian rule 1150 The Hungarian king promotes German immigration in Transylvania 1330 Walachia and Moldava become formally independent 15th century Romania (including Walachia and Moldavia) is defeated by the Turks â•… but retains some autonomy under Turkish Ottoman rule 1601 Short-lived independence of Walachia and Moldava from the Ottoman â•… Empire, but it is soon under Turkish Ottoman rule again 17th century The influence of Austrian Habsburgs and Russia grows 1821 A popular uprising is defeated 1848 A popular uprising is defeated 1864 Serfdom is abolished 1877 Romania gains independence, but Transylvania remains under â•… Hungarian rule 1881 Romania becomes a kingdom under a German prince 1916 Romania joins the Entente Powers 1919 Trianon Peace Treaty after World War I; Transylvania is ceded â•… to Romania 1923 Universal voting rights are established 1933 A large labor revolt is crushed 1940 Under Russian and German pressure, Romania cedes territory to â•… Hungary, the Soviet Union, and Bulgaria 1941 Romania joins Nazi Germany in World War II 1944 End of dictatorship and of the alliance with Germany; Romania joins â•… the Allied Powers 1947 Monarchy is abolished; communist dictatorship is established under â•… Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej 1965 Nicolae Ceausescu becomes dictator; extreme repression, but â•… independent course from Soviet Union (Continued)



ROMANIA (România)╇ | 613 1968 1989 1990 1996 2004 2007

Refusal to join the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia Revolution ends the communist dictatorship; Ceausescu is executed Communists win the first elections Romania and Hungary sign treaty on Hungarians in Romania Romania becomes a member of NATO Romania becomes a member of the EU

Political System Romania has a semi-presidential system, to some extent in imitation of the French system. Although there are a variety of political parties, none of them is dominant.

Constitution The Romanian constitution was enacted in 1991. It proclaims Romanian as the national language. The constitution was opposed by the Hungarian minority because it lacked minority rights and by the radical right because it had too many minority rights (actually only one article), yet it was approved by referendum. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament and a referendum, but the basic articles, such as those on territory and national language, cannot be amended. The only major amendments were introduced in 2003 under EU pressure that judicial independence and minority rights should be stated more explicitly.

Head of State The president is the head of state and is elected by popular vote in second-ballot elections for a five-year period, which may be renewed once. Until the 2003 revision of the constitution, the term was four years; the aim of the change was to desynchronize presidential and parliamentary elections. The Romanian president is not merely a ceremonial figure but has considerable power. According to critics this continues the communist tradition in Romania that the dictator was also the president (in the other communist countries he was not). In its semi-presidential system, the president has decision-making competencies regarding foreign policy, defense, and public order; can organize a referendum; and has considerable latitude of action in appointing a new prime minister and dissolving the parliament. However, the president has no prerogatives in the area of EU decision making. Table RO 2 lists the Romanian presidents since 1989. Traian Basescu was suspended by the parliament in 2007, when he was accused of collecting funds for his former political party in defiance of his obligation to be independent and not a member of any party. The Constitutional Court acquitted the president but demanded a referendum anyway (which is required in such cases), and as a result Basescu was reinstalled.

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Table RO 2╇ Presidents of Romania since 1989 President

Party

Ideology Begin

Ion Iliescu Emil Constantinescu Ion Iliescu Traian Basescu

National Salvation Front Democratic Convention Social Democratic Party Democratic Liberal Party

Leftist Rightist Social democrat Conservative

1989 1996 2000 2004

Legislative Power Romania’s parliament (Parlamentul) consists of two houses. The Chamber of Deputies (Camera Deputatilor) has 315 members, 11 percent of whom are women, and the Senate (Senat) has 137 members; all members of both houses are elected in the same way. Until 2008, the electoral system was proportional representation with multimember districts, each of them with at least four mandates for the Camera Deputatilor and two for the Senat; there is a five percent threshold. Since 2008, a hybrid system has been in operation, which combines proportional representation with the majority system. The seats in both houses are allocated on the basis of the outcome of the vote in 43 multimember constituencies, and the remaining votes are allocated in a second-tier system of proportional representation, still with a nationwide five percent threshold (eight percent for party coalitions). Voters also elect candidates in smaller single-member constituencies, but candidates in these districts must win an absolute majority of the votes to be elected. The seats won by a party in these single-member constituencies (under the majority system) are deducted from the total number of seats they win in the multimember constituencies. The intricate system is a bit similar to the German system and to the system that operated in Italy until 1992 (see Table RO 3). The parliamentary role is more limited than in other countries because of the government’s frequent use of emergency measures, which only need to be passed retrospectively. Under EU pressure, however, the practice has become less popular. Table RO 3╇ The Romanian Camera and Senat since 2004 Party Ideology No. of No. of Percent of No. of No. of Seats in the Seats in the Votes in Seats Seats Camera Camera the in the in the Deputatilor Deputatilor Camera Senat Senat 2004 2008 Deputatilor 2004 2008 2008 Democratic Conservative 48 115 32.4 (49)* 51 â•…Liberal â•…Party (Continued)



ROMANIA (România)╇ | 615

Social Social 132 114 33.1 57 49 â•… Democrats + â•… democrat â•…Conservative â•…Party National Liberal Social 64 65 18.6 (49)* 28 â•…Party â•…liberal Hungarian Minority 22 22 6.2 10 9 â•…Democratic â•…rights â•…Union Greater Romania 48 – – 21 – â•…Party Other 18 18 9.7 – – Total 332 334 100 137 137 * The 2004 and 2008 results are not totally comparable because of different combinations of parties; in 2004 the Democratic Liberal Party and the National Liberal Party formed a coalition and earned a combined 49 seats.

Executive Power The selection of the prime minister is a complete presidential prerogative; it is a fine source of power, because various forms of coalitions are often possible. The new prime minister must survive a vote of confidence in the Camera Deputatilor, however, and cannot be removed from office by the president. The Â�government handles all domestic issues, except for public order. If the president and the prime minister are from different parties, a kind of French-style cohabitation has to be found. This happened after the 2004 elections, when relations between President Basescu and Prime Minister Tariceanu were strained. The constitutional amendment that prolonged the presidential term to five years should decrease the frequency of such conflict in the future, since the parliamentary and presidential terms are now unequal in length. The most stable coalitions (see Table RO 4) were those led by the social democrats (first known as the Party of Social Democracy in Romania, later as Social Democratic Party) in 1992–1996 and 2000–2004; other combinations included more parties and fell apart more easily.

Judicial Power Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Curtea Constitutionala). Three of the nine judges are appointed by the president, three by the Camera Deputatilor and three by the Senat. It stands apart from the rest of the judiciary, in which the highest court is the High Court of Cassation and Justice (Înalta Curte de Casatie si Justitie). The Constitutional Court has been criticized for blocking anticorruption measures, such as a 2005 bill to forbid members of the parliamentary committee that would be responsible for appointing judges from holding other important functions.

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Table RO 4╇ Prime Ministers of Romania since 1989 Party Ideology Begin

No. of Prime Minister* Months

1 National Salvation Front Rightist â•… 1989 35 Petre Roman (3), â•…Theodor â•…Stolojan 2 Party of Social Democracy Social democrat â•… 1992 47 Nicolae â•… in Romania â•… Va˘ca˘roiu 3 Christian Democratic Christian â•… 1996 36 Victor Ciorbea, â•…Peasants Party â•…democrat â•…Radu Vasile 4 Independent – â•… 1999 12 Mugur Isa˘rescu 5 Party of Social Democracy Social â•… 2000 48 Adrian Na˘stase â•…in Romania â•…democrat 6 National Liberal Party Social liberal â•… 2004 48 Ca˘lin Ta˘riceanu (2) 7 Democratic Liberal Party Conservative December Emil Boc â•…2008 Total: 7 periods (brief Total: 9 prime â•… periods of interim prime â•… ministers â•… ministers not counted) â•… (interim prime â•… ministers not â•… counted) and â•… 12 governments * Three brief interim periods of less than one month are not included. The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of governments that the prime minister headed.

Referendums The president and the parliament may organize a referendum. There have been few referendums—all of them on constitutional amendments. Referendums are not binding, however, as shown by a 2009 referendum, at the president’s initiative, to change to a unicameral parliament. The outcome was a 78 percent vote in favor, but the majority in parliament, which had already voted against holding the referendum, refused to enact it.

Civil Society Formally, state and church are separated, but in practice the Romanian Orthodox Church enjoys a number of privileges, including some supervision over the compulsory classes on religion at public schools. Probably because of the late dissolution of the compulsory communist trade union, union density still stands relatively high at some 50 percent, divided over a number of organizations. The employers have one umbrella federation, Alliance of Employers’ Confederations of Romania (Alianta Confederatiilor Patronale din România). The organizations meet each in the tripartite Economic and Social Council (Consiliul Economic ↜s¸ i Social).



ROMANIA (România)╇ | 617

Policies As a reaction to the very strict abortion legislation under the Communist regime, one of the first acts passed under democracy was to legalize abortion and contraceptives. Since then, ethical questions have not been on the agenda.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat [PSD]) The party was founded by Ion Iliescu as a split off from the National Salvation Front. Its original name was Party of Social Democracy in Romania, but after integrating some smaller parties in 1993, a new name was adopted. Under party leader Iliescu, who occupied leading posts under communism, the party was slow in carrying through privatization reforms, and it is still not in favor of large-scale privatization, in line with its social democratic orientation. In the EU it is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D. The party has been a stabilizing force in Romania; since 1992 it has scored between one quarter and one third of the seats, and in 2000 even 45 percent. It participated in the governments of prime ministers Nicolae Va↜渀屮˘ca˘â†œæ¸€å±®roiu and Adrian Na˘â†œstase.

National Liberal Party (Partidul National Liberal [PNL]) The party was founded at the end of the 19th century and refounded in 1990. The party’s orientation is social liberal, a combination of free enterprise, minority rights, and large-scale democratic reforms. It had its first success in 2004 when it gained 19 percent of the seats and became the second-largest party; the same share in 2008 made it the third-largest party. Its only prime minister was Calin Tariceanu (2004–2008). In the EU it is affiliated with the liberal Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). The party leader is Crin Antonescu.

Democratic Liberal Party (Partidul Democrat-Liberal [PD-L]) The party was founded in 2007, when the Democratic Party and the newly created Liberal Democratic Party merged. The Democratic Party was one of the two new parties that had its origins in the National Salvation Front, after Iliescu left it. The party’s original orientation was social democratic, and it joined international organizations of Social Democratic parties, but in the course of the 2000s it shifted to the right, and in the EU joined the Christian Democratic and conservative European People’s Party (EPP). The party is now is a Conservative Party, with a populist appeal. President Traian Basescu was the dominant leader of the party until he had to give up membership when assuming the office of president. Prime Minister Emil Boc is also party leader. The party (and the combination of former parties that built it) increased its share of seats from nine in 2000 to 35 in 2008, when it became the largest party.

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BULGARIA (Bulgaria) Bulgaria was the most compliant of all states in the Soviet Bloc, due in part to its traditionally strong relations with Russia. Of all Central European EU members Bulgaria and Romania least fulfilled the conditions for membership, but at least in corruption ratings Bulgaria now scores better than Romania.

The Land and the People The Land

Bulgaria is located on the southeastern Balkan Peninsula. Its form is almost rectangular. The total area is 42,811 square miles (110,879 square kilometers), less than half the size of Romania, smaller than Greece, and slightly larger than Virginia. The longest distance from west to east is 270 miles (430 kilometers) and from north to south is 250 miles (390 kilometers). The country borders Romania to the north, which is its longest border, almost for the whole length formed by the Danube River. To the west it borders Serbia and Macedonia and to the south Greece and Turkey; to the east is the Black Sea coast. The borders have been stable since the end of World War II, when the country was permitted to retain the northern coastal area on the Black Sea that Romania had ceded in the beginning of the war. Bulgaria is a mountainous country; the Balkan range runs west to east right in the middle of it, and in the south there is another range, the Rila Mountains, which has the highest peak on the whole Balkan Peninsula at 9,596 feet (2,925 meters), slightly higher than Greece’s Mount Olympus. The northern section of the country, the region between the two mountain ranges, and the coastal area are hills and lowlands. The climate is mostly southern continental but maritime on the coast.

The People The population totals 7.2 million, slightly less than Serbia, and in population as in surface it equals Virginia. The capital, Sofia (1.2 million inhabitants), is the largest city. Other large cities are Plovdiv (340,000), between the mountain ranges, and Varna (320,000) on the coast. The population is originally a combination of Slavs and Bulgarian invaders from Asia, who merged at an early stage with the Slavs that had settled in the region earlier. About 84 percent of the population is ethnic Bulgarian, who speak Bulgarian, a Slavonic language written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The largest minority groups are Turks, at 8.5 percent, and Roma, at 5 percent. The great majority of the ethnic Bulgarians are members of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and most Turks and Roma are Muslims, but there is also a community of more than 100,000 Muslim Pomaks, ethnic Bulgarians who were converted to Islam under Turkish domination.



BULGARIA (Bulgaria)╇ | 619

Culture Bulgaria has great musical traditions, including Byzantine religious chants, folk music, and polyphonic female choirs without musical instruments. It has a few Byzantine monasteries (Rila). The national poet is Ivan Vazov (1850–1921), who wrote an epic on the heroes from Bulgarian history.

History Table BG 1╇ Timeline of Bulgarian History Fifth century BC Thracians inhabit the country; Greek settlements are on the coast 359 BC Macedonian Greeks conquer the country First century AD Bulgaria is divided into two provinces as part of the â•… Roman Empire Sixth century Slavs invade the country, followed by the non-Slav Bulgarians 681 The first Bulgarian Empire is established 865 Conversion to Christianity 893 Bulgarian Czar Simeon the Great conquers large parts of the Balkan â•…Peninsula ╛╛ 1018 Bulgaria is under Byzantine rule ╛╛ 1204 Bulgaria becomes a kingdom under King Kaloyan ╛╛ 1396 Bulgaria becomes part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire but remains â•… relatively autonomous 18th century Bulgarian revival of national culture and arts ╛╛ 1878 Northern Bulgaria becomes an independent kingdom after the â•… Prussian-Turkish War ╛╛ 1887 Nationalist revolt results in the unification of southern and northern â•…Bulgaria ╛╛ 1895 Bulgaria becomes an independent kingdom under a â•… German prince 1912–1913 Balkan Wars; Bulgaria gains territory but loses it again ╛╛ 1915 Bulgaria joins the Central Powers ╛╛ 1919 Under the Neuilly Peace Treaty Bulgaria loses occupied â•…territories ╛╛ 1934 Czar Boris III establishes dictatorship ╛╛ 1941 Bulgaria allies with Nazi Germany ╛╛ 1944 Bulgaria is occupied by soviet Russian army ╛╛ 1946 The monarchy is abolished; a communist dictatorship is established â•… under Georgi Dimitrov ╛╛ 1962 Todor Zhivkov becomes dictator ╛╛ 1990 Communist dictatorship ends; a new constitution is written; first free â•… elections are held ╛╛ 2004 Bulgaria becomes a member of NATO ╛╛ 2007 Bulgaria becomes a member of the EU

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Table BG 2╇ Presidents of Bulgaria since 1990 President Party

Ideology Begin

Zhelyu Zhelev Petar Stoyanov Georgi Parvanov

Anticommunist Anticommunist Social democrat

Union of Democratic Forces Union of Democratic Forces Bulgarian Socialist Party

1990 1997 2002

Political System Bulgaria has a parliamentary political system, with a relatively large variety of political parties.

Constitution The first Bulgarian constitution, in 1879, established the monarchy; it was followed by two communist constitutions. The current constitution replaced the second (1971) communist dictatorial constitution and was adopted in 1991. It proclaims that Bulgarian shall be the official language and that state and church are separated, but it also states that Eastern Orthodox Christianity “shall be considered the traditional religion in the Republic of Bulgaria.” Amendments require a three-fourths majority during three sessions of parliament on three different days. The constitution has been amended a few times, mainly to adapt it to EU standards.

Head of State The president is the head of state. The president is elected by popular vote, if needed in two rounds, for a five-year term, which is renewable once. The president has mainly ceremonial functions, though political prerogatives include the right to veto bills that have passed the parliament, but the president’s veto can be overridden by a simple majority. Table BG 2 lists the Bulgarian presidents since 1990.

Table BG 3╇ The Bulgarian Narodno Sabranie since 2005 Party Ideology

No. of No. of Percent Seats Seats of Votes 2005 2009 2009

Citizens for Eur. Development Conservative – 116 â•… of Bulg. Coalition for Bulgaria Social democrat 82 40 Movement for Rights Conservative liberal 34 38 â•… and Freedoms

39.7 17.7 14.5 (Continued)



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National Union Attack Radical right; nationalist 21 21 9.4 Blue Coalition Conservative 37 15 6.7 Nat. Movement for Stability Conservative liberal 53 – – â•… and Progress Others 13 10 12.0 Total 240 240 100 The leading party in the coalition for Bulgaria is the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament is called the National Assembly (Narodno Sabranie). Its 240 members (21 percent of whom are women) are elected in different ways for a four-year period. The great majority, 209, are elected by means of proportional representation in 31 multimember constituencies, with a four percent threshold; the other 31 are elected in the same 31 districts, but this time the districts serve as singlemember constituencies. The constituencies more or less overlap with the regional units. Table BG 3 shows the composition of the Narodno Sabranie since 2005.

Executive Power Until 2009, all governments were coalitions. The 2009 government is a minority cabinet, based on 116 out of 240 seats in the parliament (see Table BG 4). The first Table BG 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Bulgaria since 1991 Party Ideology Begin No. of Months 1 Union of Democratic Forces Anticommunist 1991 2 Independent – 1992

Prime Minister

15 Philip Dimitrov 25 Lyuben Berov, â•… Reneta Indzhova â•…(acting)* 3 Bulgarian Socialist Party Social democrat 1995 24 Zhan Videnov 4 Union of Democratic Rightist 1997 53 Stefan Sofiyanski â•…Forces â•…(acting)*; â•… Ivan Kostov 5 Movement for Stability Conservative 2001 49 Simeon â•… and Progress â•…liberal â•…Sakskoburggotski 6 Bulgarian Socialist Party Social democrat 2005 47 Sergei Stanishev 7 Citizens for the European Conservative July Boyko Borisov â•… Development of Bulgaria â•… 2009 Total: 7 periods Total: 9 prime â•…ministers * The two periods of acting prime ministers lasted three months each.

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democratic prime minister, Philip Dimitrov, was ousted by a vote of confidence he himself had asked for. Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski (his name was originally a German noble name: von Saxe-Coburg) was to succeed his father as czar of Bulgaria in 1946, but in that year the monarchy was overthrown. Since then he lived in exile, to return in 1990 and form his own political movement that was successful in 2001, but is no longer represented in the parliament. Almost all prime ministers have been accused of corruption by the press, and in 2010 Sergei �Stanishev had to stand trial for the disappearance of official documents on �corruption and crime.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Konstitutionen Sad). It is not part of the judiciary and consists of 12 justices, three elected by the parliament, three by the president, and three by the justices of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court. They serve a nine-year term and are not eligible for reelection.

Referendums In 2009, the Referendum Act was adopted, which introduced referendums in Bulgarian politics. For a petition to the parliament to hold a referendum 200,000 signatures are needed. If there are at least 500,000 signatures the government cannot resist such a request and must organize a referendum. In 2009, the nationalist party Attack launched a plan for a referendum to stop a 10-minute news broadcast in Turkish on the Bulgarian public television. It aroused international attention, but the plan did not materialize.

Civil Society The Bulgarian Orthodox Church enjoys a privileged position, and a new law in 2002 on religion did not change the situation. With a union density of less than 20 percent, there are a number of trade union organizations; employers are even more divided over a number of associations. Collective bargaining is concentrated at the company level, and Bulgaria is one of the more strike-prone countries in Central Europe. Tripartite contacts take place in the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation.

Policies Bulgaria has taken a conservative stance in ethical issues, partly under influence of the Orthodox Church. The constitution now contains the phrase that marriage is exclusively a bond between a man and a woman. The country also supports Italy in its fight to retain the right to display a crucifix in public schools.



GREECE (Ellada)╇ | 623

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Bulgarian Socialist Party (Bulgarska sotsialisticheska partiya [BSP]) The party was originally founded in 1891. Later it became the Bulgarian Communist Party, and in 1989, it was reestablished as a Social Democratic Party. The party has had two prime ministers, Zhan Videnov (1995–1997) and Sergei Sanishev (2005–2009), as well as the current president, Georgi Parvanov. Until the devastating 2009 elections the party was a stable force in parliament, typically earning one third or more of the seats, except in 1997 when it only won a quarter of the seats. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D. The party leader is former prime minister Sergei Stanishev.

Movement for Rights and Freedom (Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi; Hak ve Özgürlükler Hareketi [DPS]) The party, founded in 1990, is a Conservative Liberal Party, in particular serving the interests of the Turkish minority. It has gradually increased its share of seats from 6 percent in 1994 to 16 percent in 2009. In the EU it is affilated with the liberal ALDE. The party leader is Ahmed Dogan.

Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya [GERB]) The party was founded in 2006 by Boyko Borisov (who later served as prime minister) as a Conservative Party, with a populist appeal, based on Borisov’s popularity. The party is committed to fighting corruption and crime and to family values. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP. The party’s landslide victory in 2009, the first elections in which it participated, allowed its leader to build a one-party minority government, just five (out of 240) seats short of a majority.

GREECE (Ellada) Although Greece was the only Balkan country that was not under communist rule after World War II, it shares many of the political problems that are common to the Balkans.

The Land and the People The Land

Greece occupies the southernmost part of the Balkan Peninsula. It has an area of 50,949 square miles (131,957 square kilometers), three times the size of �Denmark or Switzerland and somewhat smaller than Louisiana. It is even more irregularly shaped than Europe as a whole, with a mainland that includes two large peninsulas, and all three also contain smaller peninsulas. The mainland by itself is a kind of peninsula that forms the southern end of the Balkans; the

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longest road distance from north to south is 500 miles (800 kilometers), and the longest west to east distance is a 400-mile (650-kilometer) stretch in the northern part. In addition, there are 170 inhabited and hundreds of uninhabited islands, most of them in the Aegean Sea. Taken together, the islands form about one fifth of the country’s area. The country has land borders in the north with Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey, but the most important border is the one between the islands in the Aegean Sea and Turkey, particularly because a number of Greek islands are located just a few miles off the Turkish coast. The borders have been more or less stable since 1947, when the island of Rhodes was integrated, but at times there are minor border disputes with Turkey. Greece is a mountainous country; the highest peak, Mount Olympus, on which in classical Greek mythology the Greek gods resided, is 9,570 feet (2,917 meters). Most of the country is relatively arid, with only small and short rivers; about one quarter of Greece is arable. The climate is Mediterranean.

The People The total population is 10.8 million, half a million more than Belgium and slightly less than Ohio. There are only two big cities in Greece: the national capital, Athens, which, combined with the port of Piraeus in the south, has more than 3 million inhabitants (the largest metropolitan area of the Balkan Peninsula), and Thessaloniki (800,000 inhabitants) in the north. Apart from a few villages close to the Turkish land border that have a Turkish and Muslim population, the whole country speaks Greek, which has an alphabet of its own. The traditional religion is the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Economy Greece is a high-income nation with a service-oriented economy; with Slovenia it is the richest country on the Balkan Peninsula. Agriculture contributes to exports (olives, olive oil, fruit), and its main industries are food processing and shipping. The largest branch of the service sector is tourism. In 2010, Greece caused great problems, not only for itself but for the whole eurozone, when it proved unable to attract new government loans because of its large budget deficits and rising public debt. The false statistics it provided added to the problem. The problems seem to have been solved by billions in credits from the other eurozone members and the International Monetary Fund on condition of severe cuts in spending.

Culture The heydays of Greek culture were around 500 BC, hundreds of years after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, with many classical architects, sculptors, playwrights (Sophocles, Euripides), philosophers (Plato, Aristotle), and scientists (Hippocrates in medicine).



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Greece’s role in European art continued in the period of Hellenism under Alexander the Great, under the Roman Empire, and, leaving its classical roots, under the Byzantine Empire. Since the beginning of Turkish rule Greek culture has never reached new heights or brought forth very prominent artists. An exception was Greek painter Doménikos Theotokópoulos (1541–1614), who lived in Spain and is known as “El Greco.”

History Table GR 1╇ Timeline of Greek History 1500 BC Early culture on the islands 1000 BC Dorian tribes have settled on the mainland; Ionian tribes have settled â•… on the islands Fifth century BC Heyday of Athenian democracy; Athens is destroyed by the Spartan â•… military dictatorship Fourth century BC Alexander the Great extends Hellenist culture in the Middle East Second century BC Greece is under Roman rule and has a great influence on Roman â•…culture AD 396 The Roman Empire is divided; Greece becomes part of Eastern â•… Roman Empire; Christianity is established 10th century Crusaders establish small kingdoms on mainland; the islands are â•… under Venetian rule 1453 Greece is part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire 1820 Greece’s freedom struggle attracts international fighters 1830 Greece becomes an independent kingdom under a German prince 1912–1913 Balkan Wars; Greece gains parts of Thracia and Macedonia 1918 Greece joins the Entente Powers 1922 Greek invasion of the new Turkish Republic fails; sparks immigration â•… wave from Turkey 1930 Greece is under a fascist dictatorship under General Ioannis Metaxas 1941 Greece is occupied by Nazi Germany after Italy’s failed invasion of â•…Greece 1944 German troops leave the country; civil war begins between â•… communists and rightists 1949 Civil war ends; the monarchy is restored; Greece becomes a member of NATO 1967 A military dictatorship is established and the monarchy is abolished 1974 Democracy is restored in the republic 1981 Greece becomes a member of the EU 1992 Crisis is prompted by the foundation of the new state of Macedonia â•… to the north (Continued)

626 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece 2002 Leaders of terrorist group November 17 are arrested and tried 2010 Economic crisis as Greece needs billions of euros to finance its ╅ budget deficit; protesters strike against cuts in public spending and ╅ other measures to reduce the deficit

Political System Greece has a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by two parties, one conservative and one social democrat.

Constitution The country has had a sequence of constitutions, of which the first ones were enacted in the course of and right after the independence struggle. Early in the 20th century new versions were enacted, and again after World War II, but under the military dictatorship a nondemocratic constitution was imposed, which put an end to the monarchy. The current constitution dates from 1974; it was amended in 1986, when presidential powers were reduced, and in 2001, with a series of changes in the political system that were aimed at curtailing corruption and strengthening the transparence of the political system by making changes in the electoral system more difficult and forbidding members of parliament to exercise other professions during their term. The constitution does not establish separation between state and church. It states that “The prevailing religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ.” Mount Athos, a small peninsula in the north inhabited only by Orthodox monks, enjoys a special status of self-government. Amendments to the constitution require a three-fifths majority in two parliamentary readings, followed by an absolute majority after elections, or an absolute majority before elections and a three-fifths majority after.

Head of State The president is elected by the legislature for a five-year period, which is renewable once. In the first rounds a two-thirds majority is required, and in a third round only a three-fifths majority. Until the 1986 revision of the constitution, presidential powers were relatively wide, including dissolving the parliament and ousting the government. Since 1986, the presidential tasks are mainly ceremonial. For the presidents of Greece since 1974 see Table GR 2. Konstantinos Karamanlis (1907–1998) was one of the most prominent Greek politicians of the third Hellenic Republic. He was born in Macedonia, which at the time was still under Turkish rule, studied law in Athens, and in 1935 entered



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Table GR 2╇ Presidents of Greece since 1974 President

Ideology

Begin

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Acting president Conservative Conservative Social democrat Conservative Conservative Social democrat

1974 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2005

Michail Stasinopoulos Konstantinos Tsatsos Konstantinos Karamanlis Christos Sartzetakis Konstantinos Karamanlis Konstantinos Stephanopoulos Karolos Papoulias

politics, but during the fascist dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas and World War II he concentrated on his profession as a lawyer. Toward the end of World War II he reentered politics, first as minister, but in 1955 the king appointed him as prime minister, an example of unusual royal intervention in politics. During the military dictatorship Karamanlis was in exile in Paris. After the dictatorship he founded New Democracy and became prime minister (1974–1980); this was followed by two nonconsecutive terms as president. One of the major issues he handled as prime minister was Greece’s relations with Turkey, in particular after the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974.

Legislative Power Greece has a one-chamber parliament (Vouli Ton Ellinon) with 300 members, of whom 17 percent are women. A term lasts four years. The electoral system is a two-tier system of proportional representation, which combines the dominant system of proportional representation with elements of the plurality system, and a three percent threshold. Of the 300 members, 288 are elected in 48 single-member and 8 multimember districts. The remaining 12 seats are for state deputies and are allocated on the basis of the election results nationwide, for which the nation as a whole serves as a multimember constituency. The electoral system has been changed frequently, however, to increase the majority of the government in power. Voting is compulsory until the age of 70, but this obligation is not enforced. The Vouli is dominated by two parties, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) to the left and New Democracy to the right, as Table GR 3 shows.

Executive Power By way of contrast with most continental countries, most Greek governments have consisted of one party only, either PASOK or New Democracy (see Table GR 4). Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou (1919–1996) was the second towering political figure besides Karamanlis in the third Hellenic Republic. He studied

628 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

Table GR 3╇ The Greek Vouli since 2004 Party Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent of Seats Seats Seats Votes 2004 2007 2009 2009

Panhellenic Socialist Social democrat 117 102 160 43.9 â•… Movement (PASOK) New Democracy Conservative 165 152 91 33.5 Communist Party Communist 12 22 21 7.5 Popular Orthodox Nationalist – 10 15 5.6 â•… Rally â•… radical right Coalition of the Radical left 6 14 13 4.6 â•… Radical Left Other – – – 4.9 Total 300 300 300 100

economics at Harvard, acquired American nationality, and fought in the US forces in World War II. After the war he occupied chairs in economics at various US universities but returned to Greece in 1959 and then held various political posts before the 1967 military coup. In 1967, he was imprisoned by the military dictators but was released under US pressure. He then traveled to organize opposition to the dictatorship. He was the main founder of PASOK, which he headed for more than 20 years, and during that period he was prime minister in 1981–1989 and 1993–1995, when he retired due to bad health. During his 1980s term he liberalized legislation on ethical issues and reduced the power of the president, but he failed to carry through cuts in the state budget. In 1988 he was accused of bribery, but acquitted.

Judicial Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Supreme Special Court (Anotato Eidiko Dikastirio), which consists of the presidents of the three Supreme Courts (civil and criminal cases, administrative law, and budget law) and four members each from the Supreme Court for civil and criminal cases and the Supreme Court for administrative cases. It only convenes irregularly, and only with great restraint exercises judicial review. In 2005, two judges from lower courts and an Orthodox archbishop were convicted and imprisoned for a number of bribery cases. In 2007, a new scandal, about certificates to release convicts from prison, involved both the judiciary and the police.



GREECE (Ellada)╇ | 629

Table GR 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Greece since 1974 Governmental Ideology Begin Party

No. of Prime Months Ministers*

1 New Democracy Conservative 1974 87 Konstantinos â•…Karamanlis, â•… Georgios Rallis 2 Panhellenic Socialist Social democrat 1981 94 Andreas â•…Movement (PASOK) â•…Papandreou 3 New Democracy Conservative 1989 3 Tzannis â•…Tzannetakis 4 National coalition – 1989 5 Xenophon Zolotas 5 New Democracy Conservative 1990 42 Konstatinos â•…Mitsotakis 6 PASOK Social democrat 1993 125 Andreas â•…Papandreou, Kostas Simitis 7 New Democracy Conservative 2004 67 Konstantinos â•…Karamanlis 8 PASOK Social democrat October George Papandreou â•… 2009 Total: 8 periods Total: 8 prime â•…ministers * A one-month caretaker government in 1989 is not included.

Referendums In 1946, a referendum approved the continuation of the monarchy, and a 1974 referendum abolished the monarchy after royal involvement in the dictatorship. Since 1974 there have not been any referendums in Greece.

Civil Society Greece is not a secular state; the Greek Orthodox Church occupies a special position, and all priests are paid out of the state budget. Any governmental attempt in the direction of a separation between state and church has met with great resistance from the church. For instance, in 2001, the church protested the abolition of a reference to a citizen’s religion on identity documents, but the resistance failed, as it did when compulsory courses on religion were abolished at school. There are two trade union federations and a number of employer federations; union density amounts to 25 to 30 percent. Collective bargaining is relatively centralized at the sector and intersectoral levels, and there is a high strike rate.

630 |╇ The Other Balkan Countries: Albania, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece

Tripartite contacts take place in the Economic and Social Council (Oikonomiki & Koinoniki Epitropi).

Policies In ethical issues the country is conservative. Abortion was not legalized until 1986, though the country still has a very high abortion rate. Greek economic policies have never been very successful. Cuts in spending are hard to carry through, because PASOK and the trade unions have a large following of public servants. Greece is one of the biggest spenders on defense in Europe, more than three percent of GNP, while most other countries spend less than two percent. The obvious argument in favor of defense spending is Turkey, but the far larger Turkish armed forces are mainly active in eastern Turkey. Relations with Turkey have improved since 1999, when Greece and Greek citizens donated large sums of money to the victims of an earthquake in Turkey, and Turkey did the same later after a minor earthquake in Greece.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Penellinio Sosialistiko Kinima [PASOK]) The party was founded in 1974 by Andreas Papandreou as a radical socialist party to the left of international social democracy. Only in two general elections, 1977 and 2007, did the party gain less than 40 percent of the seats; in all other years it scored more than 40 percent, and it even scored a majority of seats during the 1980s. Between 1993 and 2004 and since 2009, PASOK has competed for first place with New Democracy. PASOK built the cabinet between 1981 and 1989, between 1993 and 2004, and since 2009, in total slightly longer than New Democracy. At first anti-NATO and anti-EU, the party has changed these attitudes and now supports the EU and NATO. It has long defended Keynesian policies as the best way to counter the economic policies of the 1980s, but later it had to face the need for cuts in public spending, a very sensitive point in the party, because a large part of the electorate is employed in the public sector. In ethical issues the party has waged conflicts with the Greek Orthodox Church, for instance regarding secular marriage. The current party leader is George Papandreou, son of Andreas Papandreou. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat S&D.

New Democracy (Nea Demokratie – ND) The party was founded in 1974 by Konstantinos Karamanlis. Its first elections were a great success, as New Democracy obtained a majority in the parliament and repeated the success in the 2000s. The share of seats fluctuates, however; in 1993 and 1996 it was below 40 percent, and in 2009 it was the lowest result since the party’s foundation. The party was in government during the 1970s and from 2004 until the disastrous elections of 2009.



GREECE (Ellada)╇ | 631

The party describes its own course as “radical liberalist,” which in practice amounts to a combination of Christian democracy and (dominant) conservatism. The party embraces free enterprise and privatization and is conservative in ethical issues. In the EU the party has joined the Christian Democrat and conservative EPP. The party leader is Antonis Samaris.

Eastern Europe

Norway

Sweden

Finland Stockholm

Helsinki Tallinn St. Petersburg

Estonia

Riga Latvia Lithuania

Vilnius

Warsaw Poland

Moscow

Russia Kazan

Minsk

Ufa

Samara

Belarus Kyiv (Kiev)

Ukraine

Romania Bucharest Sofia

Kharkiv

Odessa

Dnipropetrovsk

Kazakhstan Volgograd

Crimea Black Sea

Istanbul Turkey

Eastern Europe. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

Georgia

Caspian Sea

11â•…Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

T

raditionally, Russians were divided into three groups: Great Russians, Little Russians (Ukrainians), and White Russians (Belarussian). Together they form a distinct part of Europe—Eastern Europe. Regrettably, that term is often stretched to include Poland and even Czechia, which denies the large cultural and political variations between Central Europe and Eastern Europe as well as the separate position of the three Eastern European countries resulting from centuries of Byzantine influence, Mongol domination, and absolutist and early totalitarian rule. The three Eastern European nations are far more removed from the Western Â�European ideal of democracy than most of Central Europe. All three score very low on indicators of democracy, such as control of the executive, independence of the Â�judiciary, civil rights, and media freedom, and score very high on corruption. The judiciary is subject to influence or control by the executive, and the same applies to the press; in all three countries independent journalists have been assassinated. All three countries are very conservative in ethical issues, though not in abortion, and the constitutions of Belarus and Ukraine now state that marriage is a bond between a man and a woman. The three countries also by far surpass the rest of Europe with respect to the number of people in prison. Whereas the incarceration rate in most European countries is below 200 per 100,000 persons, the Ukrainian incarceration rate is 334; in Belarus it is 384 and in Russia 577, though this is still below the US rate of 743 per 100,000 persons. Ukraine has made the boldest steps in the direction of democracy. Russia has a long tradition of making bold steps, though not always in the same direction, and it can hardly be counted as a democracy. Belarus is still a traditional dictatorship.

RUSSIA (Rossiya) The distance from Russia’s western border to the Urals is longer than the Â�distance from the North Sea or the Atlantic Ocean to the Russian border. The country is relatively empty. There are only a few big cities and European Russia has fewer 633

634 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

inhabitants than the Germanic nations combined. With Ukraine, the � Russian �economy and society have suffered most in the early transition period. The �country is still recovering from the epochal end of the Soviet Union and 70 years of �totalitarian communist rule.

The Land and the People The Land

Russia occupies the eastern part of the European subcontinent and the northern part of Asia. The area of the whole country is 6,601,700 square miles (17,098,000 square kilometers); the area of European Russia is 1,544,400 square miles (4,030,000 square kilometers), about two-fifths of the European subcontinent or the United States. The longest road distances in European Russia are 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers) from north to south and 1,200 miles (1,950 kilometers) from west to east. To the west, European Russia borders Norway (the northernmost, very short border), Finland, the two Baltic States Estonia and Latvia, and Belarus. To the southwest it borders Ukraine, which is the longest border, and on the Caucasian Peninsula it borders Georgia and Azerbaijan. The borders have been stable since the demise of the Soviet Union. Russia has a small enclave on the Baltic Sea coast between Lithuania and Poland that is not connected to the mainland. This enclave, called the Kaliningrad enclave after its only city, has an area of 5,830 square miles (15,100 square kilometers) and can best be reached from Russia through Lithuania. Almost the whole of European Russia consists of a vast, partly hilly plain that continues into the lowlands of Belarus and Poland. The Ural Mountain range, which rises to 6,217 feet (1,895 meters) separates European Russia from Siberia. On the Caucasian Peninsula the far higher Caucasian Mountains form a natural border with Georgia and Azerbaijan. There, Mount Elbrus, at 18,511 feet (5,642 meters), is Europe’s highest mountain, far higher than any summit in the Alps. The country is intersected by a number of large rivers, of which the Volga, which flows into the Caspian Sea, is Europe’s longest. Because the port of Saint Petersburg is often frozen, the main ports are on the Black Sea, but most of that coast belongs to Ukraine. The climate varies from continental in the west and south to polar in the northern part, in which the summers are too short and the winters too cold for agriculture, but the greater part of the plain is arable. The Caucasian coast has a Mediterranean climate and the Caucasian mountains an alpine climate.

The People Russia as a whole has 140 million inhabitants, and the European part has about 110 million people. The population has decreased by more than five million since the fall of communism because of a falling birth rate (due in part to a high



RUSSIA (Rossiya)╇ | 635

abortion rate) and premature deaths related to alcoholism and the deteriorating health care system. Russia houses a great variety of minorities within its borders. The largest group is the Tatars, a group of some 5.5 million, on the Volga shores. The largest cities are Moscow, with more than 10 million inhabitants, and Saint Petersburg with more than 5 million people. Saint Petersburg is the traditional name of the city, though between 1914 and 1924 it was called Petrograd and then Leningrad between 1924 and 1991. Other cities in European Russia with more than one �million inhabitants are Kazan, Samara, Saratov, and Volgograd on the Volga; �Rostov on the Don River; and Ufa, which is close to the southern Urals. The Kaliningrad enclave between Lithuania and Poland has almost a million inhabitants, half of whom live in the city of Kaliningrad.

The Economy Of all former communist countries, Russia probably suffered most from the crash of the communist economies and the transition to a free-market economy. Quite the opposite was true for the agriculture industry, however, which was always a weak point under communism because of the low productivity of state farms and collective farms. Agriculture has steadily grown and allowed for large grain exports instead of imports. Under communism heavy industry enjoyed highest priority, and part of that industry has been dismantled, part has been updated, and consumer-goods industries have greatly expanded. A core asset of the Russian economy is its rich natural resources, including natural gas, oil, and coal, in particular in Siberia; in all three resources it is a leading exporter. Western and Central Europe no longer fear Russian weaponry, but instead fear that Russia will cut off their gas and oil supplies, which reach them by means of long pipelines through Ukraine and Belarus. The export of natural resources is the main source of state revenue and a source of disputes with Ukraine and Belarus.

Culture For many centuries Russian art was under Byzantine influence, which is apparent in architecture (cathedrals in Novgorod and Vladimir) and in painting (icons). In the 14th and 15th centuries national styles developed in icon painting (Andrey Rublyov, 1360s–ca. 1430) and in church architecture (St. Basil’s cathedral in Â�Moscow). Under Czar Peter the Great Western European Baroque influenced the arts, in particular in the new capital, Saint Petersburg. In the 19th century, Russian literature became world famous through Â�Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837) and then produced the most profound novels ever written, some of those by Ukrainian-born Nikolay Gogol (1809–1852), Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883), Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881), and Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Later authors were Boris Pasternak (1890–1960) and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

636 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

(1918–2008). Famous composers were Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881) and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893). The country has also been a leading home of famous piano and violin players, as well as chess players. Important Russian scientists were Dmitry Mendeleyev (1834–1907), who invented the periodic system of elements, and physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936). During the communist era art became ossified in the Socialist Realism style, which glorified workers and Stalin. Some composers (Dmitry Shostakovich [1906–1975]) and film directors (Sergey Eisenstein [1898–1948]) were still able to display their creativity, or they fled to the West, as did ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev (1938–1993), only one of many famous Russian dancers.

History Table RU 1╇ Timeline of Russian History Seventh century AD Slavic tribes settle in Russia â•… 862 Vikings (the Rus) from Sweden invade Russia and found â•…Novgorod; southern Russia is part of the Kyivan Rus, whose capital is Kyiv â•… 988 Christianization of the Kyivan Rus â•… 1111 Rise of Vladimir as the center of the Central Russian duchy â•… 1147 Foundation of Moscow â•… 1223 Invasion of Mongols, who occupy large parts of Russia â•… 1240 Alexander Nevsky from Novgorod, tributary to the Mongols, â•…defeats the Teutonic Order of Knights and the Swedes in the west â•… 1386 Mongols are defeated; rise of the grand duchy of Moscow â•… 1469 Ivan III marries a Byzantine princess; claim of Moscow as â•… the “Third Rome” 1547–1584 Ivan IV (known as Ivan the Terrible) crowned czar; â•… subjugation of the Boyars (feudal lords) â•… 1613 New Romanov dynasty elected to the throne by city â•… representatives after struggle between regional lords 1689–1725 Czar Peter I (known as Peter the Great) expands to the Pacific â•…Ocean and institutes reforms to bring the country to Western European levels in technology and culture â•… 1703 Foundation of Saint Petersburg 1762–1796 Further expansion to the west under Catherine the Great â•… 1812 Failed invasion of Russia by Napoleon â•… 1815 At the Peace Congress Russia gains Finland and Poland â•… 1861 Abolition of serfdom â•… 1905 Russia loses war with Japan; attempted revolution â•… (the 1905 Revolution) â•… 1917 Communist Revolution under Vladimir Lenin (Continued)



RUSSIA (Rossiya)╇ | 637

1919–1921 Civil War between the Red communists and the White rural â•… interests; communists win 1927 Joseph Stalin defeats Leon Trotsky in the struggle to succeed â•…Lenin; beginning of the enormous industrialization drive and collectivization of agriculture; terror regime under Stalin 1936 Beginning of the Great Purges in which millions of people, â•… including old revolutionaries are tortured and executed 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland in cooperation with Nazi Germany 1941 Nazi Germany invades Soviet Russia in the Great â•… Patriotic War 1945 End of World War II; the Soviet Union, one of the victorious â•…Allied Powers, demands a communist-dominated buffer zone to the west; Stalin’s terror regime continues 1948 Almost all of Central Europe is under Soviet control; â•… Cold War 1953 Death of Stalin 1956 New party leader and dictator Nikita Khrushchev begins â•… de-Stalinization campaign 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary; beginning of Peaceful â•…Coexistence between the Free West and the communist Soviet Bloc 1964 Khrushchev deposed; Leonid Brezhnev becomes new party â•… leader and dictator 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia 1985 After the death of Brezhnev and two successors, Mikhail â•… Gorbachev becomes party leader and dictator; he begins â•… reform campaign (perestroika) and democratization â•… campaign (glasnost) 1989 First multicandidate elections 1991 Soviet Union falls apart; demise of communism; Boris Yeltsin â•…is the first democratically elected president; communist coup fails; large-scale economic and political reforms 1993 President Boris Yeltsin sends troops to the parliament and â•… reinforces presidential powers 1994–1996 War against Muslim Chechen separatists on the Caucasian â•…Peninsula 2000 Vladimir Putin is elected president 2002 Chechen terrorist action in Moscow Theatre; 300 hostages and â•… the terrorists are killed 2004 Chechen terrorist action in a school in Beslan (Northern â•…Caucasus); 334 hostages, including 186 children, and the terrorists are killed 2008 Putin becomes prime minister but remains the political leader â•… of the country

638 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

Political System The nature of the Russian political system is not clear. In theory, it is a presidential system in which the president has great powers. In practice, the current prime minister, � Vladimir Putin, who is formally responsible to the president, seems to be the �political leader of the country, pressing the president into a more ceremonial role. The vast prime ministerial powers might even point to a dictatorial system.

Constitution The constitution was enacted after a referendum in 1993, and it succeeded the 1978 communist constitution. Turnout was under 55 percent, and the majority in favor was also under 55 percent. The constitution states that the names “Russia” and “Russian Federation” are equal, and it introduces a presidential political system with a minister president who is responsible mainly to the president. Amendments require different procedures depending on the subject. In a number of cases either a two-thirds majority of the parliament is required or a majority in a referendum. The first substantial amendments were adopted in 2008, including extending the term of the president and the term of the members of the State Duma and giving the president the power to select members of the Constitutional Court.

Head of State The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term (until 2008 it was a four-year term) in two-ballot elections. The president may serve no more than two consecutive terms, but the constitution does not say anything about nonconsecutive terms. Presidential prerogatives are great, including the right to dissolve the State Duma and scheduling referendums. Executive power is shared between the �president and the prime minister, but because the president has a free hand to appoint the �minister president, the major share of power is on the presidential side. The president has the right of veto, but it may be overridden by a two-thirds majority in both houses of the parliament. The country has had three presidents since 1991: Boris Yeltsin until 1999, �Vladimir Putin until 2008, and Dmitry Medvedev since 2008. All three have been formally independent from any political party but strongly linked to the United Russia Party. With the exception of 1996, all elected candidates won with more than 90 percent of the votes in favor, reminiscent of the majorities the Communist Party won in communist times. During their terms Yeltsin and Putin dominated the executive powers and the legislature, and Putin has remained dominant as prime minister under President Medvedev (Putin could not be reelected after his two consecutive terms as president).

Legislative Power The Federal Assembly (Federalnoye Sobraniye) consists of two chambers. The lower house is the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), which has 450 members (14 percent of whom are women), elected for a five-year term (until the 2008



RUSSIA (Rossiya)╇ | 639

Table RU 2╇ Russia’s Duma since 2003 Party Ideology

No. of Seats No. of Seats Percent of Votes 2003 2007 2007

United Russia Populist, nationalist 223 315 64.3 Communist Party Communist 52 57 11.6 Liberal Democratic Radical right, 36 40 8.1 â•…Party â•…nationalist Fair Russia Radical socialist 37 38 7.7 Other 102 0 8.3 Total 450 450 100

constitutional amendment it was four years) by means of proportional representation. The Senate or Federation Council (Soviet Federatsii) is not elected by popular vote but by councils of the regional units; each unit has two mandates, and there are 178 mandates in total. The Duma, whose composition is shown in Table RU 2, is the more powerful of the two. All bills have to pass there first, and the Duma may override objections in the Soviet with a two-thirds majority. The Duma is dominated by prime minister Putin’s party, United Russia, but even without the party the prime minister would dominate the parliament.

Executive Power The prime minister is officially called chairman of the government, but until 2008 the president was the head of the government. The prime minister was no more than a senior assistant, appointed and dismissed at will. Under President Â�Medvedev the relation shifted to one of domination by the prime minister. Table RU 3 lists the prime ministers since 1992. Table RU 3╇ Prime Ministers of Russia since 1992 President

Prime Minister*

Begin

Boris Yeltsin 1 2 3 4 5 Vladimir Putin 6 7 8 Dmitry Medvedev 9 Total: 3 presidents

Viktor Chernomyrdin 1992 Sergey Kiriyenko 1998 Yevgeny Primakov 1998 Sergei Stepashin 1999 Vladimir Putin 1999 Mikhail Kasyanov 2000 Mikhail Fradkov 2004 Viktor Zubkov 2007 Vladimir Putin May 2008 Total: 9 prime ministers

* Prime ministers who served as acting prime ministers for short periods are not included.

No. of Months 63 5 8 3 9 10 42 8

640 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

Judicial Power The judiciary is not independent, in spite of the independence mentioned in the constitution. It complies with suggestions and orders from the executive power. The Constitutional Court (Constitutsionnyi sud) has the right of judicial review but only upon request by the executive or the parliament. The 19 judges are appointed by the president, but the Duma must approve the selections. The court stands apart from the regular courts, of which the Supreme Court (Verkhovnyi sud) is the highest.

Referendums A 1993 constitutional referendum, the only nationwide referendum since the demise of communism, approved the new constitution with a majority of less than 55 percent. This was quite a change from previous communist elections, which always earned a 99 percent majority.

Regions Formally, Russia is a federation, with 83 federal units. All units are represented in the Federation Council, but there are great differences in the degree of autonomy they enjoy. Autonomy is greatest for the 21 republics, all of whom house ethnic minorities; the other 62 units are more regions than real federal units. The six largest � republics are listed in Table RU 4.

Table RU 4╇ The Most Populous Republics of Russia Republic Location Capital

Population in (millions)

1 Bashkortostan North Caucasus Ufa

2 Tatarstan

Volga

Kazan

3 Dagestan

North Caucasus Makhachkala

4 Udmurtia

Volga

Izhevsk

5 Chuvashiya

Volga

Cheboksary

6 Chechnya

North Caucasus Grozny

Major Ethnic Group

4.1 Bashkirs (1.2 â•…million), Tatar (1 million); both are Muslim 3.8 Tatar (2.0 million); â•… most are Muslim 2.6 Avar (0.8 million); â•…Muslim 1.6 Udmurtian â•…language (0.5 million) 1.3 Chuvash language â•… (0.9 million) 1.1 Chechen language â•…(1.0 million); Muslim



BELARUS (Belarus)╇ | 641

Policies All media have been put under strict governmental control since Putin’s rise to power. Since 2000, more than 20 journalists have been killed; the best known was Anna Politkovskaya in 2006. Official investigations, if any, have never solved any of these crimes. Putin has also restricted federalism by banning regional elections. The country has introduced economic reforms, including the privatization of public enterprises, which has resulted in great income disparities between a few oligarchs and the majority of the population. Any attempt by the oligarchs to challenge the current political leaders has been suppressed, however, by the use of the judiciary. In foreign policy the country has always sought a combination of expansion and security from destructive Western European invasions. This approach persisted after World War II, when the Soviet Union became a superpower, in particular after the development of nuclear weapons and with the United States dominating world politics. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Russia has increasingly sought to regain a leading role in world politics, sometimes even in cooperation rather than competition with the United States.

Political Parties In 2006, 35 parties were officially registered at the national level; in 2009 only seven were left. United Russia (Yedinaya Rossiya) is the party that follows the decisions made by Vladimir Putin. Most state officials are party members, but the party by itself does not have any power. The other parties hardly play a role in Russian politics and are concentrated around a few leading individuals. Only the Communist Party, the successor of the once all-powerful Communist Party under communist rule, has sometimes openly criticized state policies.

BELARUS (Belarus) Although Great Russians traditionally made a distinction between themselves and White Russians, White Russia has hardly ever been a separate entity. Under the Soviet Union it was a regional republic with some autonomy, which allowed the country to declare itself independent, in a similar way as the other constituent republics.

The Land and the People The Land

Belarus is a landlocked nation in the shape of a pentagon. It is centrally located in Europe, but in history and culture it is part of Eastern Europe, of which it forms the westernmost region. The country has an area of 80,200 square miles (207,600 square kilometers), smaller than Romania and between Nebraska and Kansas. The

642 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

longest distances are 360 miles (570 kilometers) from west to east and 330 miles (530 kilometers) from north to south. Belarus borders Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in the west; Ukraine in the south; and Russia, with which it shares its Â�longest border, in the east. The borders have been stable since the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Belarus consists of lowlands and has only a few hills, the highest of which is a mere 1,132 feet (345 meters). The climate is continental.

The People Belarus has 9.6 million inhabitants, slightly less than Hungary and slightly more than North Carolina. Eleven percent are Russians, but Russian and Belarussian �(Byelorussian) are both common languages and are highly related and mutually understandable. By far the largest city is the centrally located capital, Minsk, which has more than 1.5 million inhabitants. Gomel, in the southeast, has 500,000 inhabitants.

The Economy After the disintegration of the Soviet Union the country did not embark on a course of privatization, and the main factories and enterprises are still in state hands. A major source of income is the transit of oil and gas from Russia to Western Europe.

Culture For many centuries Belarussian culture was influenced by Byzantine art, both in architecture (Orthodox churches) and painting (icons). The country shared the nationalist Russian movement in church architecture and icon painting that developed in the late Middle Ages. Later it was influenced by Polish culture and shared with Poland a heritage of Jewish culture, but since its incorporation into Russia and later into the Soviet Union it has followed trends in Russian culture.

History Table BY 1╇ Timeline of Belarussian History Seventh century Slavs settle in the region, which is inhabited by Baltic and other tribes Ninth century Vikings (the Rus) from Sweden invade the Russian territory and ╅ found Kyivan Rus, whose capital is Kyiv ╅╅ 978 Christianization of the Kyivan Rus 10th century Rise of the Duchy of Polotsk in Belarus as an autonomous unit 13th century Belarus is under Lithuanian rule ╅╅ 1259 First Mongol invasion ╅╅ 1655 Belarus is under Russian rule, after Russians help Belarus defeat ╅ Cossacks from Ukraine; the western part is invaded by Sweden ╅╅ 1662 Sweden and Russia retreat ╅╅ 1795 Last Polish partition; Belarus is under Russian rule ╅╅ 1812 Invasion by French troops under Napoleon ╅╅ 1863 Nationalist uprising crushed by Russia; Russification campaign (Continued)



BELARUS (Belarus)╇ | 643

â•…â•… 1914 Belarus is occupied by Germany during World War I â•…â•… 1919 Failed effort to proclaim independence; during the Russian Civil â•… War there is a failed invasion by Poland â•…â•… 1930s Polonization campaign in the Polish part of Belarus; thousands of â•… Belarussians in the Soviet part of Belarus die in Stalin’s Great Purge â•…â•… 1939 Soviet Russia occupies all of Belarus â•…â•… 1941 Belarus is occupied by Nazi Germany â•…â•… 1944 German troops are expelled; Belarus is under Soviet Russian â•… rule again â•…â•… 1985 After the death of Brezhnev and two successors, Mikhail Gorbachev â•…becomes party leader and dictator of the Soviet Union; he begins reform campaign (perestroika) and democratization campaign (glasnost) â•…â•… 1991 Independence is proclaimed â•…â•… 1994 Alexander Lukashenko becomes president and dictator

Political System Belarus has a dictatorial presidential political system. It scores by far the lowest of all European countries on rankings of democracy.

Constitution After independence, political strife between communists and noncommunists delayed a new constitution until 1994, when Alexander Lukashenko took power and changed the draft constitution in a dictatorial direction. The new constitution was approved by the parliament in 1994 and by referendum in 1996. The constitution stipulates that Belarussian is the national language but also mentions the use of the Russian language for “interethnic” communication. It states that the country is a democratic republic with separation of powers.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected for a five-year period by popular vote. Originally, the president could only serve two consecutive terms, but a 2004 mock referendum, for which only president Lukashenko himself was allowed to campaign, eliminated that restriction. Since Lukashenko became president in 1994 there have been two presidential elections, in 2001 and 2006, both of which he won. All elections and referendums have had a majority of at least 80 percent, close to the former communist results in the Soviet Union of more than 90 percent.

Legislative Power The parliament, called National Assembly (Natsionalnoye Sobraniye), consists of two chambers. The lower house or House of Representatives (Palata

644 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

Predstaviteley) has 110 members who are elected for a four-year period by means of the majority system in single-member districts. Thirty-two percent are women, a surprisingly high figure. The upper house is called Council of the Republic (Soviet Respubliki); it has 64 members, eight of them appointed by the president and the others elected by meetings of local councillors, eight for each region and eight for the capital, Minsk.

Executive and Judicial Powers The executive power consists of a government headed by the prime minister. In the judiciary, the Constitutional Court has the right of judicial review. The president appoints 6 of the 12 members and the Council of the Republic appoints the other 6; all of them serve for an 11-year period.

Policies Belarus has maintained close relations with Russia, but the country’s dictatorial regime has hampered the development of relations with the EU.

Political Parties There are no independent political parties in Belarus. All parties that are represented in the Palata heartily and spontaneously support the president. The situation differs from the pre-1991 conditions, however, because there is no dominant party. The president mainly exercises personal power over a large number of small political and social clubs and associations, none of which would be able to threaten his power.

UKRAINE (Ukrayina) When still under Soviet rule, the country was mostly called “the” Ukraine. Far more than Belarus, Ukraine has had a traditional identity of its own, separate from Russia, and in the early Middle Ages it strongly influenced Russian culture. Under communism, it was the main agricultural and industrial republic of the Soviet Union, although after World War II many industries were moved to the Urals.

The Land and the People The Land

Ukraine is a country in southeastern Europe to the north of the Black Sea. The total area is 232,800 square miles (603,600 square kilometers). In area it is the �third-largest country in Europe behind Russia and Turkey. It is larger than



UKRAINE (Ukrayina)╇ | 645

France and Belgium combined and as large as New Mexico and Arizona combined. The country is oval-shaped, and the longest road distances are 1,000 miles (1,600 Â�kilometers) from west to east and 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) from north to south. The country borders Belarus in the north; Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova to the west; and Russia, with which it shares the longest border, in the east and northeast. The borders have been stable since the breakup of the Soviet Union. In the south are the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula.

The People Ukraine has 45.7 million inhabitants, more than Spain and as many as Texas and New York combined. The population has decreased by at least 5 million since the end of communism because of emigration and premature deaths from deterioriating health conditions. Almost 80 percent of the people are Ukrainians, and the largest minority is Russian at about 17 percent. The biggest city is the capital, Kiev (today often spelled the Ukrainian way: Kyiv), with more than 3 million inhabitants; other cities of more than one million are Kharkiv in the northeast, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk in the east, and the Black Sea port of Odessa. The Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea is almost totally inhabited by Russians.

The Economy Ukraine has rich farmlands and a large industrial sector, in particular heavy �industry, but economic transformation has been slower than in other countries, and economic growth is hampered by the still extensive state bureaucracy. Moreover, in spite of having coal deposits, Ukraine is totally dependent on Russia for its energy supplies.

Culture For many centuries Ukrainian art was under Byzantine influence in architecture (cathedrals) and in painting (icons). The national poet is Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861), who contributed to the unification of the Ukrainian language before it was banned by Russia. Other Ukrainian or Ukrainian-born authors, all of whom wrote in Russian, are Nikolay Gogol (1809–1852), Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940), and Â� Jewish author Isaak Babel (1891–1939). Other Ukrainian artists were painter Kazimir Malevich (1878–1935), composer Sergey Prokofiev (1891–1953), and film director Aleksandr Dovzhenko (1894–1956). Arguably the most famous Ukrainian is Jewish revolutionary Leon Trotsky (1879–1940), who competed for power with Stalin.

646 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

History Table UA 1╇ Timeline of Ukrainian History Last century BC Scythians from Central Asia inhabit the interior; Greeks settle along â•… the coast Fifth century AD Invasion of Huns and Ostrogoths Seventh century Slavs settle in the country 879 Viking (the Rus) from Sweden invade Russia and Ukraine; Kyiv â•…becomes capital of the Rus kingdom (Kyivan Rus), which includes southern Russia 987 King Vladimir the Great is baptized; spread of Orthodox Christianity 1197 Western Ukraine becomes the central part of the disintegrating â•… Kyivan Rus 1240 Mongols (Tatars) destroy Kyiv and occupy western Ukraine 1349 Poland and Lithuania divide western Ukraine between them and â•… expand to Kyiv 1453 The Ukrainian Black Sea coasts are part of a small Khanate of â•… Crimean Tatars, under nominal Ottoman Turkish rule 15th century Rise of Cossack immigrant communities along the Dnieper in â•…Zaporizhzhya 1569 Cossack expansion into the rest of Ukraine is stopped by Poland 1648 Cossacks mount an uprising against dominant Poland; Russian â•… assistance results in Russian rule over Kyiv and eastern Ukraine 1772 The partition of Poland brings Western Ukraine under Russian rule; â•… Lviv is under Austria 1775 Last Cossack stronghold is destroyed by Russia 1840s Emergence of a nationalist movement 1876 Russification campaign; Ukrainian language is banned 1918 Independence is proclaimed but suppressed; during the Russian Civil â•… War Ukraine becomes part of the communist Soviet Union 1932–1933 The widespread manmade famine generated by the 1927 â•…collectivization of agriculture under soviet dictator Stalin takes five million lives 1941 Nazi German invasion; Russia moves industrial plants from Ukraine â•… to the Urals as part of the scorched-earth policy 1944 Soviet Army retakes the country; all Crimean Tatars are deported; â•…the Russian Nikita Khrushchev becomes the communist leader of the Ukraine under Joseph Stalin 1985 After the death of Brezhnev and two successors, Mikhail Gorbachev â•…becomes party leader and dictator of the Soviet Union; he begins reform campaign (perestroika) and democratization campaign (glasnost) 1986 Disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (Continued)



UKRAINE (Ukrayina)╇ | 647

1990 Demonstrations for Ukrainian independence in Kyiv 1991 Proclamation of independence; referendum results in Russia’s â•… recognizing Ukraine independence 1999 Russia leases the Sevastopol port for its Black Sea Fleet 2004 Orange Revolution of protests against fraudulent presidential â•… elections results in new second round of elections 2006–2010 Disputes with Russia concerning gas deliveries from Russia

Political System Ukraine has a semi-presidential political system, but the nature of the system is not quite clear because of recurrent conflicts between the presidents and the prime ministers. Still, it is the most democratic Eastern European country, offering a real choice between very different candidates for office and some freedom of the media.

Constitution The constitution was adopted in 1996; it replaced the 1978 communist constitution. The state language is Ukrainian, but the free use of Russian is guaranteed. Amendments require a two-thirds majority in the parliament, though amendments to some of the basic principles also require a popular referendum. The main amendment was added in 2004 to solve the political crisis after the controversial second round of the presidential elections that year, and it reduced presidential power.

Head of State The presidents, listed in Table UA 2, are elected for a five-year term by �popular vote in two-ballot elections In 2004, President Leonid Kuchma was accused of Table UA 2╇ Presidents and Prime Ministers of Ukraine since 1992 President

No. of Prime Begin Months Minister

No. of Party Months

Leonid Kravchuk 31 ╛╛╛╛1 Vitold Fokin 1990 23 Independent ╅ (1991) ╛╛╛╛2 Leonid 1992 11 Independent ╛ ╅ Kuchma ╛╛╛╛3 Yukhym 1993 9 Acting prime ╅Zvyahilsky ╅minister Leonid Kuchma 125 ╛╛╛╛4 Vitaly Masol 1994 10 Independent ╅ (1994) ╛╛╛╛5 Yevhen 1995 12 Independent ╅Marchuk ╛╛╛╛6 Pavlo 1996 13 Independent ╅Lazarenko (Continued)

648 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine ╛╛╛╛7 Vasyl 1997 0.5 Independent â•… Durdynets ╛╛╛╛8 Valeriy 1997 29 People’s â•… Pushtovoitenko â•…Democratic Party ╛╛╛╛9 Viktor Yushchenko 1999 17 Independent 10 Anatoliy Kinakh 2001 18 Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs 11 Viktor Yanukovych 2002 25 Party of Regions Viktor Yushchenko 61 12 Yuliya 2005 7 Yuliya â•…(2005) â•…Tymoshenko â•… Tymoshenko Bloc 13 Yuriy Yekhanurov 2005 10 Our Ukraïne 14 Viktor Yanukovych 2006 17 Party of â•…Regions 15 Yuliya 2007 26 Yuliya â•…Tymoshenko â•… Tymoshenko Bloc Viktor Yanukovych 16 Mykola Azarov May 2010 Party of â•…(February 2010) â•…Regions Total: 4 presidents Total: 16 prime â•… ministers Brief interim periods of less than one month are not included.

fraud in the elections, in which Yanukovych was declared winner of the second round. This gave rise to major protests and the Orange Revolution against the Kuchma regime. The Constitutional Court ordered a new runoff election, which was won by Â�Yushchenko. In 2010 Yanukovych won the elections, in which incumbent Â�Yushchenko did not even reach the second round. To some extent, the line of division was one between the more liberal western Ukraine, which has traditional bonds with Poland, supporting Yushchenko, and later Yuliya Tymoshenko, and the stronger communist and conservative east, which, Â�traditionally more oriented to Russia and with large heavy industrial plants, supports Yanukovych. In the semi-presidential political system, the president has formal powers in foreign policy and defense and has a veto over parliamentary decisions, which may be overridden by a two-thirds majority. In particular Kuchma’s term was filled with allegations of bribery and corruption, most of them related to the privatization of state-owned enterprises.



UKRAINE (Ukrayina)╇ | 649

Table UA 3╇ The Ukrainian Rada since 2002 Party Ideology

No. of Seats No. of Seats No. of Seats 2002 2006 2007

Percent of Votes 2007

Party of Regions Conservative 102 186 175 34.4 â•… regionalist Yulia Conservative 21 129 156 30.7 â•… Tymoshenko â•… liberal â•… Bloc Our Ukraine- Conservative 112 81 72 14.2 â•…People’s Self â•…liberal â•… Defense Bloc Communist Party Communist 66 21 27 5.4 Other 149 33 20 15.3 Total 450 450 450 100

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament is the Supreme Council (Verkhovna Rada), with 450  Â�members (only eight percent are women, the second-lowest share of all Europe), who are elected for a four-year period. The country has had various electoral Â�systems. In the 1990 and 1994 elections, a two-ballot majority system was used, and the 450 Â�members were elected in 450 single-member constituencies. In the 1998 and 2002 elections, half of all deputies were elected under a (one-round) majority system and the other half by proportional representation, with a four percent threshold. Since 2006, all seats are allocated on the basis of proportional representation, in which the whole country serves as one constituency, and there is a three percent threshold. Ukraine is by far the largest country with only one constituency and the largest with only one parliamentary chamber. Table UA 3 shows the composition of the Rada since 2002.

Executive Power Until 2006 the president selected the prime minister, who heads the cabinet. Since the constitution was changed, the parliament elects the prime minister, and it can remove the prime minister from office. This marks a change from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary system, although in practice the president still plays an active role in politics. Table UA 2 lists the prime ministers since 1990. During the period when Viktor Yushchenko was president and Yuliya Tymoshenko was prime minister the two had a very hostile relationship. Tymoshenko condemned Yushchenko’s criticism of Russian military interference in Georgia, and Yushchenko condemned

650 |╇ Eastern Europe: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine

any step to further reduce presidential powers. Tymoshenko then decided to run for president. After she failed in the 2010 elections, she first complained about election fraud; and although she withdrew her complaint, her government was forced to step down.

Judiciary Power The judiciary is heavily influenced by the executive power. Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Konstitutsinyi sud), which consists of 18 judges who are appointed for a nine-year, nonrenewable term. The president, the parliament, and the court judges each select six judges. The highest regular court is the Supreme Court (Verkhovny sud).

Referendums In the referendum on independence, more than 90 percent of the votes were in favor. In 2000, President Kuchma launched a new referendum to reduce the number of deputies and introduce a two-chamber parliament. The majority was in favor, but the referendum met with strong international criticism for being undemocratic, and it did not materialize in legislation.

Policies The Crimean Peninsula, totally inhabited by Russians, enjoys a special status in Ukraine and is relatively autonomous. In international orientation, Ukraine has shifted from a pro-EU course to close relations with Russia and vice versa. Policy changes have sometimes been made not on their merits but because of Ukrainian dependence on Russian oil supplies. The country has given Russia the right to use the Sevastopol port for the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.

Major Political Parties

Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc (Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko) This is actually a combination of political parties under Tymoshenko’s leadership. It was founded in 2002 and was one of the initiators of the 2004–2005 Orange Revolution. The party is characterized by populism, and its platform is more or less conservative liberal and oriented toward Western Europe. It mainly draws Â�voters from western and central Ukraine, regions that traditionally had bonds with the countries to the west. In both the 2006 and 2007 elections it was second behind the Party of Regions.

Party of Regions (Partija Regioniv) The party was founded in 1997 and after mergers with other groups adopted the current name in 2001. In 2006 it participated for the first time in elections under its



UKRAINE (Ukrayina)╇ | 651

own name, and since then has gained some 40 percent of the seats. It is particularly strong in the eastern part of the country, most of all in the industrial Donetsk Basin. Related to its electoral base, it is a conservative party that favors good relations with Russia and defends the rights of the Russian speakers. The party leader is Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

Turkey Romania

Black Sea

Georgia Armenia

Istanbul Ankara

Iran

Aegean

Bursa

Turkey Izmir

Adana

Syria

Mediterranean

Iraq

Turkey. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

Caucasian Nations Russia

Black Sea

Georgia

Caspian Sea

Tbilisi

Armenia Yerevan

A z e r b a ij a n

Turkey A z e r b a ij a n

Iraq

Caucasian Nations. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

Iran

Baku

12â•…Southeastern Europe: Turkey, Caucasian Countries (Georgia, Armenia, â•›Azerbaijan)

T

he countries that are discussed under the heading of Southeastern Europe are often excluded from surveys of Europe because they are considered Asian countries, on the other side of the Bosporus and the Caucasian Mountains, but for reasons of their culture and orientation they should be included in a survey of politics in European nations. In politics, the three Caucasian nations and Turkey have in common a problematic and interrupted course toward a democratic political system and the tendency of either the military (in Turkey) or strong presidents (in the Caucasian nations) to leave their mark on national politics. The three Caucasian nations are as far removed from the Western European or EU ideal of democracy as Eastern Europe is. All three score very badly on indicators of democracy, such as control of the executive, independence of the judiciary, civil rights, and media freedom, as well as scoring very high on corruption.

TURKEY (Türkiye) Whether one locates the country in Europe or in Asia, Turkey is a real bridge between Europe and Asia, with either Istanbul or the Eastern plateau as gateway from Europe to the Middle East and central and southern Asia. Turkey is the largest Muslim country in Europe, but there is a very strict separation between state and religion, in line with the French secular state and French laicism. The country has applied for EU membership, but the other members hesitate or are overtly opposed to such a step. Major hurdles to membership are the role of the military in politics and the treatment of minorities in the east, in particular the large Kurdish minority.

653

654 |╇Southeastern Europe

The Land and the People The Land

Turkey consists of a rectangular landmass between the Black Sea in the north and the Mediterranean in the south. The total area is 302,535 square miles (783,562 square kilometers), which makes it the second-largest country in Europe, larger than Norway and Sweden combined, and much larger than Texas. Only a small part, less than three percent of its total area, is situated in Europe as Europe was traditionally defined; the city of Istanbul, on the Bosporus, links the European and the Asian parts of Turkey. The longest road distances are 1,130 miles (1,800 kilometers) from west to east and 450 miles (740 kilometers) from north to south. The interior is a large plateau at about 3,300 feet (1,000 meters) altitude, and in the north and south Turkey is separated from the Black Sea and the Mediterranean by mountains higher than 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). The highest peak is Mount Ararat, on the eastern border, at 17,000 feet (5,156 meters). On the plateau there are also some isolated peaks of more than 6,560 feet (2,000 meters). In the small northwestern part the country borders Bulgaria and Greece. Although the land border with Greece is short, the countries also border in the Aegean Sea, where most islands are Greek, but some are located no more than a few miles off the Turkish west coast. In the east, the country borders Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Iraq, but the longest border is with Syria in the southeast. The borders have been more or less stable since the end of World War II—apart from minor border conflicts with Greece in the Aegean Sea. For its size, Turkey has only short rivers, yet 30 percent of the land is arable. The climate ranges from Mediterranean in the west and south, where there are hardly any freezing temperatures in the winter, to continental on the plateau to mountainous, with very cold winters, in the east.

Population The total population amounts to 77.8 million, fewer than Germany but more than in Great Britain or France, and more than twice the population of California. The largest cities are Istanbul, with 10 million inhabitants; the national capital, Ankara, located on the plateau, which has 3.5 million people; Izmir on the west coast, with 2.5 million people; and Bursa in the west and Adana on the south coast, both with more than 1 million inhabitants. The overwhelming majority of people are Muslim. About three quarters of the total population are Turkish, and 18 percent are Kurdish, who are also Muslims, concentrated in the southeast. Other minorities include Christian Armenians.

The Economy Turkey is a low-income nation with a service-oriented economy, but its gross national product per capita is higher than that of most Balkan nations and the



TURKEY (Türkiye)╇ | 655

Caucasian countries. Turkish agriculture is still very important as a source of employment; the country is a major agricultural exporter of vegetables and fruit. Industry is strong in shipbuilding, in which Turkey ranks first in Europe; in the assembly of cars; and in the production of consumer electronics. Important sources of income are tourism, in particular along the coasts, which has grown at a fast rate over the last decades, and money transfers from the millions of Turks who work in Western Europe, in particular in Germanic Europe, as temporary workers or permanent residents.

Culture There are some remains from the early Hittite culture, but the country has retained Greek buildings (e.g., in Efes and Pergamum) on the coasts, some of them rebuilt or extended by the Romans. The Middle Ages left Byzantine art (Hagia Sophia) and Armenian churches in the east. In the Ottoman Empire, famous synagogues in Edirne and Istanbul were constructed by Sinan (1491–1588) during the golden age of the empire, followed by palaces for the sultan (e.g., Serail in Istanbul). In the 18th century Western European influence imported baroque architecture. Turkish literature has also undergone a process of westernization; a contemporary influential author is Orhan Pamuk (1952–). Traditional music was influenced by musical traditions from the Middle East.

History Table TR 1╇ Timeline of Turkish History Second Hittites live in Anatolia millennium BC 1200–800 BC Urartian tribes settle in the east, Phrygians in the middle, and â•… Greeks (Trojan War) and Lydians in the west 640 BC Persia occupies most of Anatolia 494 BC Greek communities are defeated by the Persians 333 BC Alexander the Great defeats the Persians 133 BC Anatolia becomes a Roman province 330 AD Byzantium becomes the New Rome under Emperor Constantine 675 First Arab invasion; they are defeated but regularly return and â•… without success besiege Byzantium in 717 800 Early Armenian kingdoms established in eastern Anatolia and the â•…Caucasus 1071 A Turkish tribe founds an independent kingdom in the east 1096–1204 During the crusades European knights pass through the country 1258 Mongol invasion and conquest of eastern Anatolia 1300 Under Ottoman sultan Osman I Turkish tribes invade the country â•… from the east (Continued)

656 |╇Southeastern Europe 1361 Under Sultan Murad I there is an enormous expansion of the â•… Ottoman Empire into the Balkan Peninsula 1453 Constantinople (Byzantium) is conquered by the Ottoman Empire; â•… it becomes the Turkish capital Istanbul 1514 Ottoman Empire conquest of Middle East (Persia, Egypt); the â•… sultan also becomes caliph, religious leader of the Muslims 1520↜–1566 Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent expands in Europe and besieges â•… Vienna; golden age of Ottoman Empire 1571 Sea battle of Lepanto; Spain and Venice crush the Turkish fleet 1683 Last Ottoman attempt to take Vienna fails; part of the Balkans is lost 1774 Russia gets free shipping routes to the Mediterranean through Turkish â•…waterways 1826 Massacre among the Janissaries who challenge the power of the sultan 1877–1878 Turkish-Russian war; most of the Balkans are lost 1908 Revolution of Young Turks; reactionary sultan is dethroned 1914–1918 Turkey fights with the Central Powers 1918 Turkey occupied by the Entente Powers; Greek invasion in the west; â•… millions of Armenians are expelled from their homeland (Armenian â•…Massacre) 1921 Greeks are driven back; last sultan dethroned 1923 Turkish Republic proclaimed as a secular state by Mustafa Kemal â•… Pasha Atatürk 1934 Universal voting rights 1945 After neutrality during the early war years Turkey joins the Allied â•…Powers 1950 First democratically elected prime minister Adnan Menderes 1952 Member of NATO 1960 Military coup; military rule until 1961 1971 Military coup; military rule until 1972 1980 Military coup; military rule until 1989 1997 Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan resigns under pressure from â•… the military 2002 Islamic party in power under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an

Political System Turkey has a parliamentary system, but the armed forces see themselves as the watchdog of the secular (non-Islamic) state and at times interfere in politics.

Constitution The first constitution was enacted in 1921, but it retained many elements from the Ottoman Empire, so it was replaced by the new republican constitution in 1924, which remained in force until 1961. The 1961 constitution was approved



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Table TR 2â•… Presidents of Turkey since 1989 President Party

Ideology Begin

Turgut O˝zal Motherland Party Conservative liberal Süleyman Demirel True Path Party Conservative liberal Ahmet Necdet Sezer Independent Abdullah Gül Justice and Development Islamic conservative â•…Party

1989 1993 2000 August 2007

by a referendum under military rule; it introduced human rights and a bicameral parliament. In 1982, once again under military rule, the current constitution was adopted after a referendum. It returns to a unicameral legislature and contains a sizable text on the dissolution of political parties, but there is no reference at all to the role of the military in politics. It provides for a National Security Council under political control. The constitution proclaims Turkish as the national language and establishes laicité, the total separation of state and religion, as one of the bases of the republic. It lists Greeks, Armenians, and Jews as minorities but not the far larger Kurdish minority. Amendments require either a three-fifths majority in the parliament followed by a referendum or a two-thirds majority without referendum.

Head of State

The president is the head of state. Until now the president was elected by the parliament for a seven-year period, but in the next elections in 2012 the president will be elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which is renewable once. The presidential functions are mainly ceremonial. Table TR 2 lists the presidents since the return to elected and nonmilitary presidents in 1989. President Turgut O˝zal died in office. In 2007, Abdullah Gül’s candidacy met with suspicion from the military and was at first blocked by the Constitutional Court, because they viewed his Islamism as a potential threat to the laicité of the nation (he is a devout Muslim and his wife wears a hijab [headscarf]), but they did not interfere.

Legislative Power The unicameral Grand National Assembly (Büyük Millet Meclisi, often abbreviated to Meclis) has 550 members, who until 2007 were elected for a five-year period, but the term has been reduced to four years. The electoral system is proportional representation, with a 10 percent threshold, the highest in Europe. The country is divided into 85 multimember electoral districts, which overlap with the provinces, with extra districts for the three largest cities. Table TR 3 shows the composition of the Meclis since 2002.

658 |╇Southeastern Europe

Table TR 3╇ The Turkish Meclis since 2002 Party Ideology Justice and Development Islamic â•…Party â•…conservative Republican People’s Social democrat â•…Party Nationalist Movement Radical right â•…Party â•…nationalist Other Total

No. of Seats 2002

No. of Percent of Seats 2007 Votes 2007

363

341

46.7

178

112

20.9

–

71

14.3

9 26 18.1 550 550 100

Executive Power The prime minister is the political leader of the nation—until the military steps in. Table TR 4 lists the parties in power, some of them in coalitions, and the prime ministers since the return to civilian rule in 1989. In 1997, prime minister Necmettin Erbakan stepped down under pressure of the military after a scandal involving both the military and organized crime in fighting the Kurdish Separatist Party, and later he was banned from politics by the Constitutional Court because of his Islamism. In 1988, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an spent four months in Table TR 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Turkey since 1989* Prime Minister’s Ideology Begin Party

No. of Months

Prime Ministers

1 Motherland Party Conservative 1989 24 Yildirim Akbulut, â•… Mesut Yilmaz 2 True Path Party Conservative 1991 52 Süleyman Demirel, â•… Tansu Çiller 3 Motherland Party Conservative 1996 4 Mesut Yilmaz 4 Welfare Party Islamic 1996 12 Necmettin Erbakan â•…conservative 5 Motherland Party Conservative 1997 18 Mesut Yilmaz 6 Democratic Left Social democrat 1999 46 Bülent Ecevit â•…Party 7 Justice and Islamic November Abdullah Gül, â•…Development Party â•…conservative â•…2002 â•…Recep Tayyip â•…Erdog˘an Total: 7 periods Total: 8 â•… prime ministers * Very brief interim periods are not included.



TURKEY (Türkiye)╇ | 659

prison because he read a poem in public that, in the court’s view, undermined the Kemalist nature of the Turkish state. He could only reenter politics after a change of law by prime minister Abdullah Gül, who later became president.

Judiciary Power The judiciary is subject to pressure from the military. Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi). It consists of 11 judges, selected by the president from members of other high courts, including two military courts. The court stands apart from the regular courts.

Referendums The country has had a number of constitutional referendums. The latest referendum was in 2007 on direct election of the president and a reduction of the presidential term.

Regions Turkey is a strongly centralized nation. It is divided into 81 provinces, each headed by a governor who is appointed by the national government. The 81 provinces are grouped into seven regions for statistical purposes only. None of the provinces enjoys a special form of autonomy. By far the most populous are the three provinces in which the biggest cities—Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir—are located.

Policies To maintain total secularization of Turkish society, the country underlines religious freedom but bans the hijab in public places, including all educational institutions. Freedom of the media is limited; for example, even mentioning the Kurdish minority in eastern Turkey in a news article can lead to official sanctions. As a result, a number of journalists have served time in jail. Turkey formally opened EU accession negotiations in 2005, but they have been protracted because of EU reluctance and Turkey’s refusal to comply with some EU demands, such as opening Turkish ports for ships from Cyprus, giving rights to the Kurdish minority, and guaranteeing freedom of the media. Regarding ethical issues, abortion was legalized in 1982, but a married woman needs her husband’s consent for an abortion.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Partisi [DSP]) In 1985, while prime minister Bülent Ecevit, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) was in prison after the 1980 military coup, his wife Rahs˛an Ecevit founded this new party, and in 1987 Bülent Ecevit became its leader. When the Democratic Left Party failed to pass the 10 percent threshold in 1987, both left the party. They

660 |╇Southeastern Europe

returned in 1989, and with a brief interruption, Bülent Ecevit remained its leader until 2004. The Democratic Left Party is to the left of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) and closer to social democracy. In 1995, the Democratic Left Party gained 14 percent of the seats, and in 1999, almost one quarter of all seats, which made it the biggest party in parliament. Bülent Ecevit became prime minister again, this time of a coalition cabinet with the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The coalition undertook a number of reforms, some of them to bring the country closer to the EU, and it became a candidate for admission to the EU, but in the 2002 snap elections both coalition parties failed to pass the threshold. In 2007, the Democratic Left Party formed another electoral alliance with the Republican People’s Party, and together they won 20 percent of the seats. The party leader is Masum Türker.

Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi [CHP]) This is Turkey’s oldest political party, founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923 as the main political foundation of the new republic. In 1924 the current name was adopted and the party became the only political party in Turkey, devoted to defending the ideals of Atatürk’s ideology, Kemalism. After Atatürk’s death in 1938, Ismet Inönü became party leader and ruled the country as a dictator. Right after World War II, the Republican People’s Party won the very undemocratic and fraudulent 1946 elections under the one-party system with 85 percent, but in 1950, when more parties were permitted to compete, it only gained 13 percent of the seats, and in 1954 only 6 percent. Since then the electoral performance of the Republican People’s Party has fluctuated from around 40 percent in 1961 and the 1970s, when it was the biggest party in parliament, to about 20 percent in other years, including the 2007 elections. Only once, in 1999, did it not reach the 10 percent threshold. It is now the second party in parliament, but far too small to challenge the Justice and Development Party’s majority. Its strongholds are in the more economically developed regions of the country, along the west and south coasts and in the capital, Ankara. After the 1960 military coup, Ismet Inönü headed the first coalition cabinet in Turkey and remained prime minister until 1965. After the 1971 military coup, Bülent Ecevit, who had opposed the coup, became party leader and shifted the course somewhat to the left. He was prime minister of three short-lived coalition cabinets—1974 (which decided to invade northern Cyprus), 1977, and 1978–1979 (before the 1980 military coup) —changing roles a few times with the conservative liberal leader Süleyman Demirel in the second half of the 1970s. In 1985, Bülent Ecevit founded a new Kemalist party, the Democratic Left Party (see the previous section). The Republican People’s Party then declined, but it made a glorious comeback in 2002, as one of the two largest political parties. Since then the Republican People’s Party has led the opposition or, as in 2002, has been the only opposition party. Since 2000, the party leader has been Deniz Baykal.



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Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) The party was founded in 2001 after the court ban on earlier Islamic parties. Recep Tayyip Erdog˘an, the party’s first leader, is still in charge. Right from the start the party was a great success. In its first elections it scored a two-thirds majority of the seats in parliament, and in 2007 it still earned more than 60 percent. The party draws most of its voters from the interior of the Anatolian Peninsula and is least popular in the tourist-swarmed west and south coasts. The party has kept more distance from political Islam than its forbidden predecessors and is more of a generally conservative party in the Western European style, promoting a freemarket economy and strict norms in ethical issues. The party is also pro-EU. Party leader Erdog˘an does not call his party a faith-based (confessional) party but a conservative centrist party. In 2008, the party was almost banned because it stated that it would lift the ban on female hijabs in public buildings, but the required majority in the Constitutional Court was too small. Instead, the party was punished by a 50 percent reduction of its state subsidies—possibly as a warning not to change the secular nature of the Turkish Republic. A ban would probably not only have created a political crisis in the country, because of the large number of voters who supported the party, but also a breach with the EU because of the party’s pro-EU stance. Yet, tension between the party’s Islamic clericalism and the secularized Turkish state continues to affect the position of the party and its relation with the military.

Democratic Party (Demokrat Party [DP]) The Democratic Party was founded in 1946 as an opposition party to the governing Kemalist Republican People’s Party. The Democratic Party did not differ much from the Republican People’s Party, but it was more moderate in its stance on the secularization of Turkish society. The Democratic Party gloriously won the 1950 elections, the first competitive elections in Turkey, with more than 80 percent of the seats and maintained its majority during the 1950s. Its leader, Adnan Menderes, became prime minister and headed five one-party cabinets, which strengthened Turkey’s bonds with the Free West and made Turkey a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). However, Menderes also grew more and more authoritarian. This sparked a military coup in 1960, after which Menderes was executed and the party was disbanded. In 1961, the party was refounded as Justice Party (Adalet Partisi) by Ragip Gümü↜s¸ pala, a retired general. It won a majority of the seats in 1965 and 1967, and its new leader, Süleyman Demirel, became prime minister of three cabinets until 1971, after winning a vote of no confidence against the Inönü government. He was forced to resign by the 1971 military coup, but he survived and was able to lead three more coalition cabinets between 1975 and 1980, changing roles with the Republican People’s Party leader Bülent Ecevit during these years. In 1980 the military banned the party.

662 |╇Southeastern Europe

In 1983, two new conservative parties were founded as successors to the former Democratic Party and Justice Party. They were the True Path Party (Dog˘ru Yol Partisi), founded by former prime minister Süleyman Demirel, and the Motherland Party (Anavatan Partisi), founded by Turgut Özal. At first the Motherland Party was the leading conservative party, and Özal served as prime minister from 1983 until 1989 and president from 1989 until his death in 1993. The True Path Party was banned by the military, but in 1987 it returned and took over. It won the elections in the first half of the 1990s. Demirel returned as prime minister (1991–1993) and was succeeded by Tansu Çiller, who headed three cabinets between 1993 and 1995. After the 1995 elections the True Path Party failed to pass the 10 percent threshold. In 2009 the two parties merged into the new Democratic Party.

Nationalist Action Party or Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi [MHP]) The Nationalist Action Party was founded in 1969 by Alparslan Türkes¸, an army officer who had participated in the 1960 military coup; he remained party leader until 1997. The party is an extreme rightist party with a strong nationalist and antidemocratic ideology. Its aim is to suppress all ethnic minorities, fight traditional enemies like Greece, oppose or ban institutions (e.g., trade unions and in particular communism) that allegedly undermine Turkish unity. Increasingly, the party has left its anticlerical stance and has come to embrace Islam, and it is evolving into a conservative clerical party. In the 1970s the party’s youth movement, Grey Wolves (Bozkurtlar), was active in terrorist actions within and outside Turkey, killing tradeunion activists and other members of leftist associations. The group is still active in beating up protesters and the like. In the 1980s, after the 1980 army coup, the party was forbidden, but it was later refounded. Probably because of its increasingly pro-Islamic course, the party was successful in the 1999 elections, when it won almost one quarter of the seats and became the second party in the parliament. In 2002, however, it failed to reach the 10 percent threshold. In 2007, it made a modest comeback with 13 percent of the seats. Since 1997, the party leader has been Develt Bahçeli, who has initiated the shift to a more conservative clerical course.

GEORGIA (Sakartvelo) Georgia is an old Christian outpost on the Caucasian Peninsula. It is more oriented toward the rest of Europe than the other Caucasian republics, if only because of its location on the Black Sea.

The Land and the People The Land

Georgia is an oblong-shaped (west to east) country on the western coast of the Caucasian Peninsula. Its total size is 26,911 square miles (69,700 square kilometers),



GEORGIA (Sakartvelo)╇ | 663

slightly larger than Latvia or Lithuania and smaller than South Carolina. The greater part of the country consists of the Caucasian Mountains, which run for the full length of the country in the north, rising to 17,060 feet (5,200 meters) at Mount Shkara, and extending in the south to the somewhat lower Lesser Caucasian mountains, leaving only a small stretch of lowlands between. Because of its mountainous nature, only 10 percent of the country is arable. Georgia borders Russia in the north (by far its longest border), Azerbaijan in the east, and Armenia and Turkey in the south. In the west is the Black Sea coast. The borders have not been stable because of Russian military intervention in 2008 in response to Georgia’s armed attempts to reconquer the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the north. Since that time the two regions have been under Russian control.

The People Georgia has 4.6 million inhabitants (including the two regions under Russian control). The great majority are Georgian and speak Georgian, which has its own alphabet. The largest minorities are Muslim Azeris, about 6.5 percent, and Armenian Catholics, also about six percent. The capital and only big city, Tbilisi, with 1.5 million inhabitants, is not located in the central plain, but in the east, where the two mountain ranges meet.

The Economy Under communism, Georgia was relatively well off because of its subtropical agriculture (fruit, tea, wine) and tourism along the Black Sea coast, which many Russians preferred over the Russian or Ukrainian coasts as a vacation spot. It is now important because of the pipeline from the oil fields in Azerbaijan to the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

Culture The country has medieval Orthodox churches, including a national style that is characterized by tall chimes. In music the national tradition is one of polyphone chants, unaccompanied by musical instruments. The country’s most infamous son is Joseph Stalin, dictator of Soviet Russia between 1925 and 1953.

History Table GE 1╇ Timeline of Georgian History 500 BC Two small states: Colchis on the Black Sea coast and Iberia in the ╅ interior; Greek settlements on the coast 65 BC Colchis conquered by Rome Second Iberia is almost independent under formal Roman rule ╅ century AD 98 Iberia is under Persian rule Sixth century Western Georgia is under Byzantine rule (Continued)

664 |╇Southeastern Europe 645 Persians conquer Tbilisi 1008 Bagrat III unites Georgia, except for Tbilisi 1081 Most of Georgia is under Turkish rule 1122 The Tbilisi part of the kingdom is under King David “the Builder” 1184 Beginning of the golden age under Queen Tamar, expansion to â•… Armenia and Azerbaijan 1220 Mongol invasion 1386 Invasion by Timur (Tamerlane) 15th century Georgia falls apart; western fiefdoms are under Ottoman rule; â•… eastern fiefdoms are under Persian rule 1795 Tbilisi is burned down by Persia 1801 Beginning of Russian annexation 1905 Thousands of Georgians are expelled to Siberia 1918 Independence is proclaimed; German invasion, followed by British â•…invasion 1920 British troops leave; independence is recognized by Soviet Russia 1921 Annexed by Soviet Russia 1936 Separate Soviet Republic, no longer combined with Armenia and â•…Azerbaijan 1956 Georgia protests against de-Stalinization (Stalin was a Georgian) 1972 Eduard Shevardnadze, the Communist Party leader, fights against â•…corruption 1991 Independence 1992–1995 Civil War; separatist movements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia 2003 Rose Revolution; President Shevardnadze removed from office â•… after fraudulent elections 2008 Military invasion in Abkhazia and South Ossetia results in war â•… with Russia, which guarantees the independence of the two regions

Political System Georgia has a semi-presidential political system, but the division of power between the president and the prime minister is unclear, and the political system should possibly be ranked as a mixture of presidential and semi-presidential.

Constitution After the fall of the communist regime, the country abandoned the 1978 communist constitution and returned to the pre-communist 1921 constitution until the current constitution was adopted in 1995. The national language is Georgian, but Abkahzian is also spoken in Abkhazia. Freedom of religion is proclaimed, but there is also a special relation with the Georgian Orthodox Church. Amendments to the constitution require a two-thirds majority in the parliament.



GEORGIA (Sakartvelo)╇ | 665

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year period, which is renewable once. The function is not merely ceremonial, although the division of tasks with the prime minister is unclear. The political system looks like a semi-presidential one with presidential powers in foreign policy. Apart from brief interim periods, the country has had only two presidents since 1992: Eduard Shevardnadze, who came to power during the civil war between the military, paramilitary, and separatists and stayed in office until the Rose Revolution at the end of 2003; and Mikheil Saakashvili, president since early 2004, who won the elections with 95 percent of the votes. The Rose Revolution seems to have been partly financed by American billionaire George Soros, an active funder of democratic movements.

Legislative Power Since 2008, the unicameral Parliament (Sakartvelos parlamenti) has 150 members, only seven percent of whom are women, the lowest share in all of Europe. Half of the members are elected by proportional representation, in which the whole country serves as one constituency, with a five percent threshold; the other half is elected in single-member constituencies, with a runoff if no candidate gains 30 percent of the votes. Table GE 2 shows the composition of the Sakartvelos parlamenti since 2004 (when it still had 235 members).

Executive Power Executive power is shared by the president and the prime minister, but under the semi-presidential system the president is the more powerful of the two and, upon request, has the prerogative of presiding over the council of ministers. The prime minister must have the confidence of the majority in the parliament. The prime ministers since 2004 are listed in Table GE 3, without their political affiliation, which is unclear for some of them.

Judiciary Power The judiciary is subject to pressure from the president. Judicial review of the constitutionality of laws is in the hands of the Constitutional Court. It consists of nine Table GE 2╇ The Georgian Sakartvelos Parlamenti since 2004 Party Ideology United National Movement Conservative The Joint Opposition Conservative liberal Other Total

No. of No. of Percent of Seats 2004 Seats 2008 Votes 2008 135 119 59.2 – 17 17.7 100 14 23.1 235 150 100

666 |╇Southeastern Europe

Table GE 3╇ Prime Ministers of Georgia since 2004*

Prime Minister

Begin

1 2 3 4 5

Zurab Zhvania Zurab Noghaideli Vladimir Gurgenidze Grigol Mgaloblishvili Nicoloz Gilauri

2004 2005 2007 2008 February 2009

No. of Months 12 33 11 15

* A brief interim period in 2005 is omitted.

judges, elected for a 10-year term. Three judges are elected by the president, three by the Supreme Court, and three by the parliament, with a three-fifths majority. The Constitutional Court stands apart from the regular courts.

Referendums Since the 1991 referendum on independence, three referendums were held in 2008, on joining NATO, on reducing the size of the parliament, and on advanced elections. All three were approved.

Major Political Parties

United National Movement (Ertiani Natsionaluri Modzraoba) The party was founded in 2001 by the current president, Mikheil Saakashvili, and it was the core of the protest movement that resulted in the 2003 Rose Revolution. The party has a conservative/conservative liberal platform and now controls most political posts in the country.

ARMENIA (Hayastan) Even more than Georgia, Armenia has been a traditional Christian outpost on the Caucasian Peninsula and formerly also in eastern Turkey. It has made international headlines because of its invasion of Azerbaijan, ostensibly to protect the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and because of Turkey’s refusal to recognize the 1915 Armenian Massacre by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

The Land and the People The Land

Armenia is a landlocked country on the southern Caucasian Peninsula. It is the smallest of the three Caucasian countries. The total area is 11,484 square miles (29,743 square kilometers), less than half the size of neighboring Georgia and slightly larger than Albania and Hawaii. The Lesser Caucasian mountain range



ARMENIA (Hayastan)╇ | 667

and the valleys between occupy most of the country. The highest summit is Mount Aragats at 13,432 feet (4,094 meters). Less than 20 percent of the land is arable. Armenia borders Georgia in the north, Azerbaijan in the east (its longest border), Iran and an Azerbaijan enclave in the south, and Turkey in the west. The borders are disputed. Armenia occupies a stretch of land in Azerbaijan to connect Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, which is mainly inhabited by Armenians.

The People Armenia has 3 million inhabitants, fewer than Albania and as many as Iowa. The overwhelming majority of the population are Armenian and speak Armenian, which has its own alphabet. The traditional religion is the Armenian Catholic Church. There are hardly any substantial minorities. The only city is the centrally located capital, Yerevan, which has one million inhabitants. Many ethnic Armenians were actually born outside the current area of the country, in particular in Turkey and Georgia.

The Economy Armenia is a low-income country, and agriculture plays a more important role than in almost all other European countries; more than 40 percent of the population is employed in the sector. The country has hardly any natural resources and exports industrial products in exchange for oil, in particular from Russia. After the invasion of Azerbaijan, Turkey closed the border with Armenia, which has hampered economic development. An important source of income is the money transfers from Armenians abroad, in particular from the Armenian diaspora in the United States and France, although most Armenians outside the country live in Russia.

Culture The country, and neighboring Turkey, have a number of old Christian Armenian churches.

History Table AM 1╇ Timeline of Armenian History 10th century BC After the Hittites, Urartians conquer Armenia 782 BC Yerevan founded by King Argishti I 512 BC Conquered by Persia 331 BC Independent kingdom after the conquest of Persia by Alexander ╅ the Great 95 BC Expansion into Turkey and Syria 69 BC Roman conquests fail Late first century AD One of the first countries to convert to Christianity (Continued)

668 |╇Southeastern Europe 885 Independence, under formal Arab rule, recognized by Byzantine ╅Empire 961 Capital moved from Kars to Ani (both in present-day Turkey) 1045 Conquered by Byzantine Empire 1071 Conquered by Turkey 1241 Invasion by Mongols, but soon under Turkish rule again 1400 Conquered and destroyed by Timur (Tamerlane) 1520 Conquered by Turkish Ottoman Empire 1605 Persian invasion; under Persian rule; deportations to Persia 1827 Northern part is conquered by Russia; the rest remains under ╅ Turkish rule 1915 Forced deportation of thousands of Armenians within Turkey; ╅ Armenian Genocide 1918 Failed attempt to proclaim independence 1921 Division of Armenia between Turkey and communist Russia 1988 Earthquake near Spitak kills 25,000 people; beginning of the ╅ armed conflict with Azerbaijan concerning the Armenians in ╅ Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan) 1990 Independence is confirmed by referendum and recognized by ╅ Soviet Russia in 1991 1999 Parliament shooting; prime minister and others assassinated 2008 Opposition leaders arrested on charges of a coup after protest ╅ demonstrations against the government; new clashes with ╅ Azerbaijan forces in Nagorno-Karabakh

Political System Armenia has a semi-presidential political system, yet in practice the presidential powers are wide, and some opposition leaders have been assassinated.

Constitution After independence in 1991, the communist constitution dating from 1978 Â�continued to apply until the current 1994 constitution replaced it. The 1994 constitution was adopted after a referendum. A series of amendments were adopted in 2004, also after a referendum. The changes to some extent shifted power from the president to the prime minister. The constitution states that the national Â�language is Armenian. State and church are separate, but the constitution recognizes the “exclusive historical mission” of the Armenian Holy Apostolic Church. Amendments require a majority in the parliament and a referendum.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term, which is renewable once. Armenia has had three presidents: Levon Ter-Petrosian until 1998, Robert Kocharyan until 2008, and Serzh Sarkissian since 2008. Presidential



ARMENIA (Hayastan)╇ | 669

elections have been marred with irregularities, and the 2008 presidential elections were followed by a wave of protest targeting the election fraud. Presidential tasks are not confined to ceremonial functions; under the semi-presidential system the presidential powers extend to foreign and defense policies.

Legislative Power The unicameral General Assembly (Azgayin Zhoghov) has 131 members (Table AM 2). Forty-one seats are allocated on the basis of simple-majority votes in single-member districts; 90 seats are allocated on the basis of proportional representation, in which the whole country counts as one district, with a five percent threshold.

Executive Power Under the semi-presidential system, the prime minister heads the Council of Â�Ministers, but the president may, upon request, take the prime minister’s place. The prime minister’s tasks especially include domestic affairs; in foreign and defense politics the president has more power. Table AM 3 lists the Armenian prime ministers since 1999; the prime ministers before that time only served brief terms. Vazgen Sargsyan was killed in the 1999 parliament shooting, in which five terrorist putschists entered the building of the parliament and started to shoot around (and there were allegations that President Kocharyan was involved). The terrorists were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Prime Minister Sargsian was succeeded by his younger brother Aram Sargsian. Prime Minister Andranik Makaryan died in office. Prime Minister Tigran Sarkissian is not related to President Serzh Sarkissian.

Judicial Power The judiciary is not independent, in spite of the 2004 constitutional changes that increased its powers. Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which Table AM 2╇ The Armenian Azgayin Zhoghov since 2003 Party Ideology Republican Party Conservative Prosperous Armenia Conservative liberal; ╅conservative Armenian Revolutionary Leftist; nationalist ╅Federation Rule of Law Conservative liberal Heritage Social liberal Justice Leftist Other Total

No. of Seats 2003

No. of Percent of Seats 2007 Votes 2007

31 –

64 18

33.9 15.1

11

16

13.2

19 9 7.1 – 7 6.0 14 – – 56 17 24.7 131 131 100

670 |╇Southeastern Europe

Table AM 3╇ Prime Ministers of Armenia since 1999 Prime Minister Party Ideology Begin 1 2 3 4 5

Vazgen Sargsian Aram Sargsian Andranik Makaryan Serzh Sarkissian Tigran Sarkissian

Republican Party Republican Party Republican Party Republican Party Independent

Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative Conservative

1999 1999 2000 2007 April 2008

No. of Months 4 5 82 12

consists of nine judges elected by the president and the parliament. A recent ruling concerned the constitutionality of a settlement with Turkey in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan and the Armenian occupation of western Azerbaijan, which had prompted Turkey to close the border with Armenia.

Referendums The country has only organized referendums on the 1994 constitution and the 2004 constitutional amendments. The second was very controversial and prompted protests by the opposition.

Policies Since 1988 the country has been in conflict with Azerbaijan concerning the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region voted in Azerbaijan, which is mainly inhabited by Armenians. In an illegal referendum, the region voted in favor of joining Armenia. Armenia has occupied the region, as well as a corridor between the Armenian border and the region, thus effectively occupying a western part of Azerbaijan. Cease-fire agreements have put an end to the fighting, but not to the dispute. Relations with Russia are very good, if only because the country is the southern neighbor of Georgia, which has had armed conflicts with Russia.

Major Political Parties The Republican Party of Armenia (Hayastani Hanrapetakan Kusaktsutyun) was founded in 1990 and controls most of the government and public functions of the country; moreover, the oligarchs of the country are also affiliated with it. Its �ideology is conservative with a nationalist religious flavor.

AZERBAIJAN (Az rbaycan, â•›Azarbaycan) The history and culture of Azerbaijan have been strongly influenced by Iran. In history and culture, Azerbaijan is probably the least European of all European countries.



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The Land and the People The Land

Azerbaijan, located on the east coast of the Caucasian Peninsula, is the easternmost European country; only Russia extends further to the east into Asia. Its area is 33.437 square miles (86,600 square kilometers), larger than the area of the two other Caucasian nations Georgia and Armenia combined and slightly larger than South Carolina. It contains a small part of the Caucasian Mountains in the north, where Bazardusu Dagi is the highest peak at 14,715 feet (4,485 meters), and the Lesser Caucasian range in the south, with relatively large lowlands in between. Because of the mountainous nature of part of the country, only about 20 percent is arable. The climate ranges from subtropical in the plain to alpine in the mountains and semiarid in the southern part. Azerbaijan borders Russia in the north, Iran in the south, and Armenia and Georgia in the west; the Caspian Sea is to the east. A small part of the country forms an enclave that is cut off from the rest of the country because it is located on the western side of Armenia, where it also borders on Iran and Turkey, so it can only be reached through Armenia (where the border is closed now) or by a detour through Iran. The borders with Armenia are disputed, because Armenia claims the region Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, which is mainly inhabited by Armenians, and it has occupied that region and a corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The disputed enclave of NagornoKarabakh has an area of 2,085 square miles (5.400 square kilometers).

The People Azerbaijan has 8.3 million inhabitants, which is more than Georgia and Armenia combined and between Virginia and New Jersey. The overwhelming majority are Azerbaijani, who speak the Azeri language, which is now predominantly written in the Latin alphabet. Traditionally, the Azerbaijani are Muslim. There is a small Armenian minority; they speak a special kind of Armenian, and their traditional religion is Armenian Catholic. This group is concentrated in NagornoKarabakh, which had almost 150,000 inhabitants before fighting broke out in 1988 and 141,000 in 2010. The only city is the capital, Baku; it is located on the coast and is the center of oil production. Several million Azeri live in northwest Iran.

The Economy Azerbaijan is an exporter of agricultural produce, especially fruit and, traditionally, cotton and wine. It has an industrial sector, but the country’s economy is mainly oil-based, with offshore oil fields in the Caspian Sea. Oil is exported through pipelines to Georgia and the Black Sea and through Georgia to southern Turkey and the Mediterranean.

Culture Azerbaijan has important examples of Islamic architecture, including palaces, bridges and mausoleums. It is also known for handicrafts, and it has a musical tradition that is close to that of Iran.

672 |╇Southeastern Europe

History Table AZ 1╇ Timeline of Azerbaijan’s History Ninth century BC Scythians invade the country, which is inhabited by Caucasian â•…Albanians 550 BC Achaemenid conquests 330 BC Achaemenids defeated by Alexander the Great 247 BC Under Armenian rule First century BC Kingdom of Caucasian Albanians; later under Persian rule Fourth century Conversion to Christianity 667 Under Muslim Arab rule; Muslimization under Shirvanshah dynasty 1030 Invasion of Turkic tribes from Central Asia 1231 Mongol invasion 1380 Shirvanshah dynasty becomes vassals of Timur (Tamerlane), who â•… conquered the country 1468 Under Turkish rule 1603 Under Persian rule 18th century Conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire 1720s Russians occupy the coastal zone, including Baku 1812 After defeating Iran, Russia expands to all of Azerbaijan 1870s Beginning of oil extraction 1918 After 1917 Revolution in Russia, independence is proclaimed 1920 Azerbaijan’s independence is recognized by the Great Powers, but it â•… is invaded by communist Russia 1969 Heydar Aliyev (later president and dictator of independent â•… Azerbaijan) becomes communist leader of Azerbaijan 1988 Beginning of Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Armenia 1990 Azerbaijan’s proclamation of independence 1992 Nagorno-Karabakh proclaims independence; Armenia occupies the â•… enclave and Azerbaijan goes to war 2008 New clashes with Armenian forces; foreign radio stations are barred 2009 Limit of two consecutive presidential terms lifted

Political System Azerbaijan has a semi-presidential system, but in practice almost all power rests with the dictatorial president.

Constitution The current constitution replaced the 1978 communist constitution; it was enacted in 1995, after a referendum, and amended in 2002. The constitution states that the Azerbaijan language is the national language. According to the constitution, state and religion are separated, and there is no religion with a special status, as in Georgia and Armenia. Amendments require the approval of the Constitutional



AZERBAIJAN (Az rbaycan, ╛Azarbaycan)╇| 673

Court, followed by a referendum. Additions require a majority of 95 votes (out of 125 possible votes) in the parliament in two readings and approval by the president.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a five-year term. Originally the term was renewable only once, but a 2009 mock referendum abolished the terms limit. Election is by means of a two-ballot system. In the first round a two-thirds majority is required, and in the second round a simple majority suffices. The president has exclusive powers in the field of foreign policy and defense. Since 1992 the country has had three presidents: Abulfaz Elchibey for 16 months, until 1993, Heydar Aliyev until 2003, and his son Ilham Aliyev since 2003. Abulfaz Elchibey was a proponent of pan-Turkic cooperation, which strained Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran. His successor, Heydar Aliyev, was the Communist Party leader of Azerbaijan from 1919 until 1987. He selected his son Ilham Aliyev as the only candidate in the 2003 presidential elections, which were heavily criticized by international observers and led to protests in Azerbaijan. Ilham Aliyev also became chairman of the leading party, the New Azerbaijan Party, which was founded by his father.

Legislative Power The unicameral parliament (Milli Majlis) has 125 members, 11 percent of whom are women; interestingly Christian Georgia and Armenia have a lower percentage of women members. The members are elected by means of the majority electoral system, for which the country is divided into 125 single-member districts. (Until the 2007 elections 25 of the 125 members were elected by means of proportional representation.) The presidential party, New Azerbaijan Party, dominates the legislature and all state and public functions. It gained 75 of 125 seats in 2001, and 62 seats in 2005, but it enjoys the full support of independent candidates.

Executive and Judiciary Power Artur Rasizade has been prime minister since 1996. The judiciary is controlled by the president.

Referendums Referendum propositions score 90 percent in favor, including the 2009 referendum to abolish limits to the number of presidential terms and abolish restrictions on media freedom.

Policies The country’s relations with Iran are strained, which resulted in Iranian support for Christian Armenia in its armed conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan.

Political Parties In the latest elections the presidential candidate of the New Azerbaijan Party (Yeni Az rbaycan Partiyasi) got an 80 percent majority.

Other Countries Sicily

Turkey Atlantic Ocean

Mediterranean Lefkosia Gozo

Malta

Cyprus

Reykjavik Valletta

Iceland Mediterranean

Other Countries. (Cartography by Peter Rijkhoff.)

13â•…The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

T

he three islands discussed under this heading have only their nature as islands in common. In politics and society they show great variations, in particular between almost arctic Iceland on the one hand and the two Mediterranean islands Malta and Cyprus on the other.

ICELAND (Ísland) In political culture, Iceland is very close to Scandinavia, in particular to the Â�Norwegian small-scale society.

The Land and the People The Land

Iceland is an island just south of the Arctic Circle, situated closer to North Â�America (Greenland) than to the rest of Europe. The country has an oval form with a big panhandle to the northwest. The panhandle and the north coast are indented by long sea inlets, which makes for an extremely long coastline, even longer than Norway’s. The total area is 39,768 square miles (103,000 square kilometers) or about one and a half times the size of Ireland (the whole island), and almost the size of Kentucky. The largest road distances are some 360 miles (560 kilometers) from north to south and 380 miles (610 kilometers) from west to east. For the greater part Iceland consists of a plateau, intercepted and surrounded by mountains, including a number of volcanoes; vast glaciers, of which Vatnajökull is Europe’s largest glacier; and small lakes. The volcanoes are still active; every 10 years or so there are outbursts of volcanic activity somewhere in Iceland that change the face of the island. The climate is better than one would expect at this latitude, as the island is within reach of the warm North Atlantic Drift. Winter temperatures in

675

676 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

the capital Reykjavik are only slightly below those of northern Germany, but there is a lot more precipitation, and Iceland’s many rivers and creeks, and the polar sea around it, hardly ever freeze over.

The People Iceland is the least populous nation in Europe, with 310,000 inhabitants, threefifths of Wyoming’s. The population density is also the lowest of Europe, 8 people per square mile (3.1 per square kilometer). Two-thirds of the inhabitants live in the capital Reykjavik or within a circle of 30 miles (50 kilometers) around it; in the rest of the country there are only villages and a few small towns. All Icelanders have traditionally been members of the national Lutheran Church, and they speak Icelandic, a North-Germanic language.

The Economy Iceland is a very-high-income country with a service-oriented economy. Other strong points are fishing and the fish-processing industry. The country suffered a heavy blow during the 2009 banking crisis, when its oversized banking sector broke down, affecting savings not only of its own citizens but also overseas.

Culture Iceland’s culture is related to the Scandinavian culture. It has been the home of long medieval epic poems: Edda, an elaborate description of Germanic mythology, and Saga, which provides a detailed history of the island. In the 20th century, novelist Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) rose to international fame.

History Table IS 1╇ Timeline of Icelandic History Ninth century Norwegian Vikings and Britons settle on the island ╅╇ 930 Parliament (Althing) is installed 13th century Iceland is under Norwegian rule and Christianized 14th century Iceland, with Norway, is under Danish rule, but the country enjoys ╅ longstanding autonomy and its own parliament 16th century Reformation introduces Lutheranism ╅ 1799 The nation is under Danish royal absolutism, parliament is closed ╅ 1844 Parliament is reinstalled ╅ 1849 The new Danish constitution abolishes absolutism ╅ 1915 Universal suffrage ╅ 1918 Iceland is not involved in World War I; gains full autonomy under ╅ the Danish crown ╅ 1940 In the course of World War II Iceland is invaded first by British ╅ and later US troops ╅ 1944 Gains independence (Continued)



ICELAND (Ísland)╇ | 677

â•… 1949 Member of NATO â•… 1950s First of a series of Cod Wars with Great Britain on Iceland’s â•… extension of its fishing limits â•… 2006 Last US base is closed

Political System Iceland is a republic with a parliamentary political system. Politics is dominated by Conservatives, Social Liberals, and Social Democrats. On most democracy rankings the country occupies a position in the top five worldwide.

Constitution In 1849, Denmark got a new constitution, which abolished absolutism. This constitution also applied to Iceland. In 1874, it was followed by a new constitution that was tailor-made for Iceland and formed the basis of the current constitution, which was enacted in 1944, the year of independence. The constitution provides for freedom of religion, but the Lutheran Church is the state church, supported and protected by the state. Amendments require a majority in two consecutive sessions of the parliament, with one exception: changes in the status of the Lutheran Church require a referendum. The constitution has been amended a few times, to abolish the upper chamber and change the electoral system.

Head of State The president is the head of state, elected by popular vote for a four-year period. There are no limits to the total number of terms. The presidential tasks are mainly ceremonial. The president does not even play a role in the start of coalition talks between the parties, except when the parties are unable to find a solution, which has happened only twice. There have been five presidents since independence: Sveinn Björnsson until 1952; Ásgeir Ásgeirsson until 1968; Kristján Eldjárn until 1980; Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the world’s first female president, until 1996; and Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson since that year.

Legislative Power Since 1991, the country has a unicameral parliament (Althing), whose 63 members are elected by means of proportional representation for a four-year term. The country is divided into six constituencies, each of which elects nine members. The other mandates are allocated in a second-tier system on the basis of the number of votes nationwide for a party, but only for parties that have passed the five percent threshold. From left to right the political spectrum consists of the Left-Green Movement to Social Democratic Alliance to Progressive Party to Independence Party. Table IS 2 shows the composition of the Althing.

678 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

Table IS 2╇ Iceland’s Althing since 2003 Party Ideology

No. of No. of No. of Percent of Seats 2003 Seats 2007 Seats 2009 Votes 2009

Social Democratic Social 20 18 20 29.8 â•…Alliance â•…democrat Independence Party Conservative 22 25 16 23.7 Left-Green Radical 5 9 14 21.7 â•…Movement â•…left/green Progressive Party Social liberal 12 7 9 14.8 Other 4 4 4 10.0 Total 63 63 63 100

Executive Power The executive power is not formally in the hands of the president but in the hands of the government. Almost all governments since independence have been coalitions of the big parties. Table IS 3 lists the governments and prime ministers since 1944. Table IS 3╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Iceland since 1944 Parties in Government Begin

No. of Prime Ministers* Months

╇ 1 Conservative/ 1944 24 Ólafur Thors (2) â•… Social Democrat + ╇ 2 Conservative/ 1947 32 Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson â•… Social Democrat + ╇ 3 Conservative 1949 2 Ólafur Thors ╇ 4 Social liberal/Conservative 1950 42 Steingrímur Steinþórsson ╇ 5 Conservative/Social Liberal 1953 31 Ólafur Thors ╇ 6 Social Liberal/Radical Left + 1956 29 Hermann Jónasson ╇ 7 Social Democrat 1958 11 Emil Jónnson (2) ╇ 8 Conservative/Social Democrat 1959 142 Ólafur Thors (2), Bjarni â•… Benediktsson (2), â•… Jóhann Hafstein ╇ 9 Social Liberal/Radical Left + 1971 36 Ólafur Jóhannesson 10 Conservative/Social Liberal 1974 47 Geir Hallgrímsson 11 Social Liberal/Radical Left/ 1978 14 Ólafur Jóhannesson â•… Social Democrat 12 Social Democrat 1979 2 Benedikt Gröndal 13 Conservative/Social Liberal/ 1980 39 Gunnar Thoroddsen â•… Radical Left (Continued)



ICELAND (Ísland)╇ | 679

14 Social Liberal/Conservative 1983 48 Steingrímur Hermannsson 15 Conservative/Social Democrat/ 1987 16 Thorstein Pálsson â•… Social Liberal 16 Social Liberal/Radical Left/ 1988 12 Steingrímur Hermannsson â•… Social Democrat 17 Social Liberal/Radical Left/ 1989 20 Steingrímur Hermannsson â•… Social Democrat + 18 Conservative/Social Democrat 1991 48 Davíd Oddsson 19 Conservative/Social Liberal 1995 121 Davíd Oddsson (2), â•… Halldór Ásgrímsson 20 Conservative/Social Democrat 2006 29 Geir Haarde 21 Social Democrat/Radical Left Feb Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir â•…2009 Total: 21 periods Total: 17 prime ministers * The numbers in parentheses refer to the number of cabinets that the prime minister headed. + Indicates at least one other party.

Judiciary Judicial review is in the hands of the highest court, the Supreme Court Â�(Hæstiréttur), which consists of nine judges who are elected for life by the parliament.

Referendums The only referendum since independence was organized in 2010 about repaying banking debts to mainly British and Dutch savers. It was an initiative of the president, who refused to sign a compromise agreement with the two countries; with more than 90 percent in favor of not paying, it was an expression of nationalism rather than a real referendum.

Civil Society The position of the national Lutheran Church is a strong one, because most �Icelanders participate in church services and meetings, and religious education is part of the curriculum of primary schools.

Policies In ethical issues, the country is in line with Scandinavia. The government of Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who openly confirmed that she is a lesbian, legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. Iceland has traditionally been a strong defender of its fishing grounds, and it is now, with Norway, the only European country that continues fishing whales, although claiming it is only for scientific research.

680 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð) When the four leftist parties formed the new Social Democratic Alliance in 1999, a number of dissenters left the new party and formed the Green Party, which is opposed to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and joining the EU. The party’s strength has grown spectacularly from just under 10 percent of the seats in 1999 to 22 percent in 2009, and in that year it joined the Social Democratic Alliance in the Sigurðardóttir government. The party demands that all natural resources shall be public property.

Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) The alliance was formed before the elections of 1999, and it brought together the People’s Alliance. the Social Democratic Party, the Women’s Alliance, and the Â�People’s Movement. The platform is social democratic. For a long time the alliance was opposed to EU membership, but that attitude was reversed under pressure of Iceland’s national banking crisis. In the four elections in which the new alliance participated it gained around 30 percent of the seats, which made it the second-largest party until 2009, when it outran the Independence Party. Since then, party leader Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir has been president of the alliance. Party priorities include public ownership of common resources, and the right to demand a referendum.

Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurin) The biggest rightist party on the island was founded in 1929 out of a merger of a Conservative and a Conservative Liberal Party. Until 2009 the party representation was relatively stable; it always won between a third and 42 percent of the seats, except for the 2009 defeat. All party leaders were prime minister of the country, with the current party leader as the only exception. The party size is because of the party’s general cross-class appeal; the party maintains relations with employers’ associations and trade unions. The party’s platform is conservative regarding ethical issues and social questions. The party is pro-NATO but opposed to EU membership. One of the most prominent leaders was Ólafur Thors, who was party chair from 1934 until 1961 and served seven terms as prime minister beginning in 1944, of which one term was in a one-party cabinet (1949–1950). The party stance in social issues, as stated on its Web site, stresses the free-market economy, “the faith in freedom of the individual and equal opportunity for all to grow and reap the fruits of their talent.”

Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) In 1916 two farmers’ parties merged to form the party. It long remained a farmers’ and fishermen’s party, but gradually reached out to all rural people. Today it is a Social Liberal Party to the left of the Independence Party. Yet the expansion to new groups has not stopped the party’s electoral decline from 30 percent or more in the 1950s and 1960s to 14 percent in 2009. The party participated in 14 of 26 cabinets,



MALTA (Malta)╇ | 681

mostly as a junior partner with the Independence Party. A few party leaders served as prime minister after the war. Like other Social Liberal parties elsewhere the party stresses its absence of a well-defined ideology and its unbiased open-mindedness.

MALTA (Malta) Although Iceland is close to Norway in culture, and Cyprus is close to Greece in culture, Malta is more of a separate entity, long dominated by Arabs and enjoying a location between Europe and North Africa.

The Land and the People The Land

Malta consists of two islands, oval-shaped Malta, which is the main island, and the smaller circle-shaped Gozo, which is south of Sicily in the Mediterranean. It is the smallest European nation (not counting the ministates) at 122 square miles (316 square kilometers), eight times smaller than the next in rank, Luxembourg, and slightly smaller than twice the size of the District of Columbia. The country consists of lowlands and hills and its highest elevation is 830 feet (253 meters).

The People Malta has 0.4 million inhabitants, almost all of them Maltese who speak the �Maltese language, although Italian and English are also widely used. Maltese is a Semitic language of Arab origin, written in the Latin alphabet. There are hardly any ethnic minorities. There are no towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants; the capital, Valletta, has 6,500 inhabitants.

The Economy Malta is a medium-high–income country with a service-oriented economy. Its gross national product per capita is lower than in most of Germanic and Latin Europe, except for Portugal, but higher than most of Central Europe. The small agricultural sector exports citrus and potatoes, but the most important sector is tourism.

Culture The country is full of Renaissance and Baroque Catholic churches. After the 1565 Turkish siege the capital, Valletta, was built, mainly by Italian artists.

History Table MT 1╇ Timeline of Maltese History 1000 BC Phoenicians settle on the island; Carthaginians from North Africa arrive later 218 BC Conquered by Rome AD 60 Christianization by the Apostle Paul, who was shipwrecked on the coast 395 At the division of the Roman Empire, Malta becomes part of the Byzantine ╅Empire (Continued)

682 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus 869 Under Arab rule 1096 During the Crusades, Normans conquer the island 1122 Arab revolt is defeated and all Arabs are expelled 1266 Under the French dynasty of Anjou 1284 Aragon (Spain) conquers the island and unites it with Sicily 1479 Aragon and Castile are united and constitute the core of the Spanish empire, ╅ of which Malta is a part 1530 Spanish king Charles V presents Malta to the Order of St. John (Maltese ╅ Knights), who fortify the island against Turkish attacks; Malta becomes a ╅ center of Catholic culture 1565 A large Turkish attack and siege fail 1798 On his way to Egypt Napoleon conquers the island; Maltese Knights leave ╅ the island for Rome 1800 Conquered by Great Britain 1814 Peace treaties; Malta is assigned to Great Britain and becomes a British ╅ Navy stronghold 1869 Opening of the Suez Canal increases the importance of the island 1940 Bombed by Italy and later by Germany, but the island remains in British ╅hands 1955 Referendum: majority are in favor of joining Great Britain, but Britain ╅ rejects that option as well as independence 1964 Independence under British crown 1974 Malta becomes a republic 1979 The last British troops leave the country 1980 Member of the Movement of Non-aligned Countries 2004 Member of EU 2008 Introduction of euro

Political System Malta is a republic with a parliamentary system. Politics is strongly polarized between two parties, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats.

Constitution The country had a few constitutions under British rule. Of these the 1961 constitution was especially important in introducing some form of autonomy. The current constitution was adopted in 1964 as the Independence Constitution. It has been amended several times, but the most important changes were in 1974, when the country became a republic. Maltese is proclaimed to be the national language, and the second article of the constitution states that the Roman Â�Catholic Church is the state church, and that “Religious teaching shall be provided in all State schools as part of compulsory education.” Amending basic articles requires a two-thirds majority in the parliament. Amending other articles requires a simple majority.



MALTA (Malta)╇ | 683

Table MT 2╇ Presidents of Malta since 1974* President Ideology

Begin

Anthony Mamo Anton Buttig∙â•›ieg∙â•› Agatha Barbara Paul Xuereb (acting) Vincent Tabone Ugo Mifsud Bonnici Guido de Marco Edward Fenech Adami George Abela

1974 1976 1982 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009

Social democrat Social democrat Social democrat Social democrat Christian democrat Christian democrat Christian democrat Christian democrat Social democrat

* A brief interim period in early 1982 is omitted.

Head of State The president is the head of state and is elected by the parliament for a five-year, nonrenewable term. The presidential functions are mainly ceremonial. Table MT 2 lists the presidents since 1974.

Legislative Power The unicameral House of Reprsentatives (Il-Kamra tar-Raprezentanti) has 69 members, only six of whom are women. Members of parliament are elected in 13 multimember districts, each of which has five mandates. The electoral system provides the single transferable vote, comparable to Ireland’s system, which is a variant of proportional representation that allows voters to choose among names of the party lists. Additional members of parliament are elected in case a party has a majority of votes but not of mandates; in that situation the party gets additional mandates to secure a majority. The change was introduced in 1986, after the 1981 elections, when the Nationalists won a majority of votes yet not a majority of mandates. In 2008 the Nationalist Party got four additional seats because it had attained a majority of first-preference votes but not a majority of mandates; see Table MT 3. Table MT 3╇ Malta’s Kamra since 2003 Party Ideology Nationalist Party Christian democrat Malta Labour Party Social democrat Other Total

No. of Seats 2003

No. of Seats 2008

Percent of Votes 2008

35 35 49.3 30 34 48.8 – – 1.9 65 69 100

684 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

Table MT 4╇ Governments and Prime Ministers of Malta since 1974 Party

Begin

Ideology

No. of Months

Prime Minister

Malta Labour Party 1974 Social 152 Dom Mintoff, Karmenu democrat â•… Mifsud Bonnici Nationalist Party 1987 Christian 112 Eddie Fenech-Adami democrat Malta Labour Party 1996 Social 22 Alfred Sant democrat Nationalist Party Sept Christian Eddie Fenech-Adami, 1998 democrat â•… Lawrence Gonzi Total: 4 periods Total: 6 prime ministers

Executive Power The two major parties have alternated in one-party governments (see Table MT 4). The first prime minister after the country became a republic in 1974, Dom Mintoff, had already been prime minister since 1971.

Judiciary Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which consists of three judges who are elected by the government. It stands apart from the regular courts, highest of which is the Court of Appeal.

Referendums The only referendum since independence was on EU membership in 2003; the Nationalist party was in favor, and Labour was against. With a high turnout of 91 percent, only 54 percent of the voters voted yes. The Labour leader did not concede the defeat, but Labour lost the next elections.

Civil Society Civil society is strongly divided between labor-oriented organizations, including the trade unions, and Catholic Church–related organizations.

Policies The country has been very conservative in ethical issues, similar to Ireland. �Abortion is still illegal.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right Malta Labour Party (Partit Laborista)

The party was founded in 1921, and before independence it won the elections in 1947, 1953, 1955, and 1971. Since 1981 it has only attained a majority of seats in one election (1996). Until the 1980s Dom Mintoff, a staunch anticlerical who regularly fought disputes with the all-present Catholic Church, strongly dominated the party.



CYPRUS (Kypros)╇ | 685

Under his leadership the party was a Radical Socialist rather than a Social Democrat Party. In 1962 the Church forbade its believers to vote Labour. On Black Monday in 1979, the Labour government under Mintoff did nothing to prevent his supporters from ransacking a newpaper office and assaulting an opposition politician and his family. No one was ever arrested for these actions. In the 1980s Â�Mintoff rejected the party’s shift from a worker-oriented party, linked with the trade union movement, to a Social Democrat catchall party, and he often voted with the Nationalist Party. In response to his intransigency in the 1990s the party no longer nominated him for any post. Joseph Muscat has been the party leader since 2008. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Social Democrat Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Nationalist Party (Partit Nazzjonalista) The party was founded in 1880, but between World War II and 1987 it only won the 1962 and 1966 elections. Violent competition between the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party intensified in the 1970s and culminated in the 1979 Black Â�Monday actions against leading Nationalists by Labour supporters. After the 1981 elections, in which it attained a majority of votes but not seats, the Â�Nationalist Party boycotted the parliament for three years. Since 1998 the Nationalists have been in power. The party platform is far to the right of most other Christian Â�Democratic Â�parties, the Bavarian Christian Social Union in Germany included. Unlike the Malta Labour Party, the Nationalist Party has not been dominated by a single leader; its notable leader Eddie Fenech-Adami, who was prime minister in 1987–1996 and 1998–2004, was less of a party man then Dom Mintoff. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is the current party leader. In the EU the party is affiliated with the Christian Democrat and conservative European People’s Party (EPP).

CYPRUS (Kypros) The island of Cyprus is divided. This section only covers the Greek part, the Republic of Cyprus. The northern part of the island is under Turkish control.

The Land and the People The Land

Cyprus is an island in the eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey. It has the form of a circle with a panhandle in the northeast. The total area is 3,572 square miles (9,251 square kilometers), smaller than the smallest Balkan states, Kosovo and Montenegro, but more than twice the size of Rhode Island. The island consists of a plain in the middle and mountains to the north (panhandle) and the south, which rise to an elevation of 6,398 feet (1,950 meters). Because of its relief only 10 Â�percent of Cyprus is arable. The climate is Mediterranean.

686 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

The People Cyprus has 1.1 million inhabitants. The great majority are Greek and traditionally are Greek Orthodox. The 18 percent Turkish minority is Muslim. Since 1974 the island has been divided into a Greek part, officially the �Republic of Cyprus, and a Turkish part, protected by Turkey. The republic covers most of the circle; its area is 2,277 square miles (5,896 square kilometers). The Turkish part in the north covers the northern part of the circle and the panhandle; its area is 1,295 square miles (3,355 square kilometers). There are no longer any Turks in the republic, because all of them moved, either voluntarily or by the use of force, to the Turkish part; for the same reasons there are no Greeks in the Turkish part. The capital, Nicosia, with 200,000 inhabitants, which is centrally located on the borderline between the Greek and the Turkish parts, is also physically divided into Greek and Turkish sectors. the second-largest city is Limassol, on the south coast, which has 150,000 inhabitants.

The Economy The republic is a high-income nation, just above the richer Central European countries, and it has a service-oriented economy. Agricultural exports include fruits and important services include shipping and tourism primarily.

Culture In ancient times the island was part of the Greek culture (several Greek myths are related to the island), and it has a number of ruins from those times (theaters, temples). In medieval times the Crusaders and Venice contributed to the rise of Gothic and Renaissance architecture.

History Table CY 1╇ Timeline of Cypriot History 1000 BC Cyprus is an Egyptian vassal state, but the first towns were founded ╅ by Greek settlers 900 BC Phoenicians dominate the island 600 BC Under Persian rule 300 BC Under Egyptian rule 58 BC Under Roman rule AD 45 Christianized by the Apostle Paul 116 Jewish revolt against Roman rule; all Jews are killed or expelled 390 Part of the Byzantine Empire 700 First Muslim Arabic invasions, but the Byzantine Empire continues ╅ its rule 1191 Dominated by English and French crusaders; under the French dynasty ╅ of de Lusignan 1369 Dominated by Genoa, whose rule is challenged by Venice (Continued)



CYPRUS (Kypros)╇ | 687

1426 Arab invasion 1489 Under Venetian rule 1570 Conquered by the Ottoman Empire 1878 At the Congress of Berlin the Great Powers allocate the island to â•… Great Britain 1931 First uprising in favor of joining Greece under the slogan â•… “Union” (enosis) 1959 Cyprus gains independence, but Great Britain retains large â•… military bases 1960 Cyprus becomes a republic; Archbishop Makarios becomes president 1963–1964 Fighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriots 1967 New fighting; the island is de facto divided and United Nations troops â•… are stationed 1974 Military coup, supported by the military junta in Greece, against â•… president Makarios; in response Turkey occupies the northern part â•… of the island 2004 The Republic of Cyprus (i.e., the Greek part) becomes a member â•… of the EU 2008 Introduction of the euro

Political System Cyprus is a republic. It is Europe’s only country with a democratic US-style Â�presidential political system and no prime minister. On several democracy Â�rankings the country occupies a slightly higher position than Greece.

Constitution The constitution was enacted in 1960, right after Cyprus gained independence. It contained rights for the Turkish minority, including a large degree of local selfgovernment, and it could only be amended by a two-thirds majority of both the Greek and the Turkish members of parliament. The first president, Orthodox archbishop Makarios, tried to get these rights out of the constitution as a means of reaching total integration of the two communities. The 1974 coup, supported by Greece, against president Makarios, the resulting civil war, and the division of the island put an end to the constitution, but it was restored for the republic in 1990. The constitution has retained the rights for the Turkish population but its practical meaning is very limited.

Head of State The president is the head of state and head of the government. The president cannot be removed from office by the legislature, but the president cannot dissolve the legislature either. Table CY 2 lists the presidents since 1960. In 1974 Makarios’s term was interrupted by a coup and for an interim period of half a year there was an acting president.

688 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

Table CY 2╇ Presidents of Cyprus since 1960 President

Party

Ideology

1 Archbishop Makarios Independent 2 Spyros Kyprianou Democratic Party Social democrat 3 George Vasiliou United Democrats Conservative liberal 4 Glafkos Klerides Democratic Rally Conservative 5 Tassos Papadopoulos Democratic Party Social democrat 6 Dimitris Christofias Progressive Party Radical socialist â•… of Working People

Begin 1960 1977 1988 1993 2003 February 2008

Legislative Power Originally the unicameral House of Representatives (Vouli ton Antiprosópon) had 50 members: 35 elected by the Greek Cypriots and 15 by the Turkish Â�Cypriots. Since 1964 the Turkish members of parliament have not attended the sessions, and in 1985 the Greek Cypriots, arguing that a parliament of 35 active members was too small, decided to expand the total number to 80: 56 for the Greeks and 24 for the Turks, counting on continued Turkish absence. The electoral system is proportional representation, with six multimember constituencies (the six territorial units). In addition to the 56 elected members (only 7 of whom are women), there are three seats representing religious interests: the Lebanese Catholic Maronites, Catholics, and Armenians. See Table CY 3 for more details about the Vouli.

Judiciary Power Judicial review is in the hands of the Supreme Court (Anotato Dikastirio), the highest regular court of the country, which consists of 13 judges. The judges are selected by the president for lifetime.

Table CY 3╇ The Cypriot Vouli since 2001 Party Ideology

No. of Seats 2001

No. of Seats 2006

Percent of Votes 2006

Progressive Party Radical socialist 20 18 31.1 â•… of Working People Democratic Rally Conservative 19 18 30.3 Democratic Party Social democrat 9 11 17.9 Other 8 9 20.7 Total 56 56 100



CYPRUS (Kypros)╇ | 689

Referendums The only nationwide referendum was held in 2004, in both the Greek and the �Turkish parts of the island. Its subject was the Annan Plan for reunification, which provided for a loose federal structure for the two parts of Cyprus. It was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots but rejected by more than 75 percent of the Greek �Cypriots, in whose view the rights of the Greeks in the northern part were not guaranteed. They also feared that the Turkish government would acquire formal power over the northern part.

Civil Society Civil society is to some extent divided between radical labor-based organizations and church-related organizations. The Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus is independent from its counterpart in Greece. It plays an active role in education and public life. In 2010 the Radical Socialist president, Dimitris Christofias, sparked a conflict with the church when he proposed taxing church property.

Policies The republic has taken more or less a maverick position in international politics, rejecting any kind of compromise with respect to the division of the island. Yet, Turkey does not recognize the republic, and Turkish ports and airports are closed to its ships and airplanes.

Major Political Parties from Left to Right

Progressive Party of ╛╛Working People (Anorthotiko Komma Ergazomenou Laou [AKEL]) Originally, AKEL was a Communist Party; longer than most other communist parties outside the Soviet Bloc, the party remained faithful to orthodox communism until the early 1990s. When members left the party to found a more reformist party, party leader Dimitris Christofias reformed the party, accepted capitalism, and no longer opposed EU membership, in particular after a referendum among party members showed a great majority in favor of joining the EU. Yet, the party has retained the communist subculture among the Cypriot manual workers. At first the party was in favor of leaving the island divided, but it now favors reunification. Since the 1981 elections the party has competed with the Democratic Party for the first place in the parliament, but its score of parliamentary seats has been stable between a quarter and one third of the total seats. In presidential elections the party only had a candidate of its own in the 2008 elections. Their candidate, Dimitris Christofias, won the elections and is the current president of the country. Since 2009 the party leader has been Andros Kyprianou. In the EU the party is a member of the radical socialist European United Left.

690 |╇The Other Countries: Iceland, Malta, Cyprus

Democratic Party (Dimokratiko Komma [DIKO]) The party was founded in 1976 by Spyros Kyprianou. The original platform was one of centrism between the leftist AKEL and the rightist Democratic Rally Party, and it was in favor of social cohesion for all. The party has since shifted to the right, yet it has cooperated with the left more than with the right. The party had its best showing in 1985 when it even outran AKEL, but since 1991 it has always been third, with some 15 percent of the seats. In presidential elections Kyprianou won the 1978 and the 1983 contests with support of AKEL; he dominated the party until he retired as party leader in 2000. In 2003 DIKO leader Tassos Pappadopoulos was elected president, once again with AKEL support, though in 2008 he lost the support of AKEL for a second term, because of his hard line on the question of reunification. Since 2006 Marios Karoyian has been the party leader. In the EU the party is a member of the Social Democrat S&D.

Democratic Rally (Dimokratikos Synagermost [DISY]) The party was founded in 1976 by Glafkos Klerides, who headed the party until 1993, when he became president of Cyprus. In the 1976 elections the party gained more than a quarter of the votes, but under the majority system in place at the time it did not win a single seat. Since 1981 and the introduction of proportional representation, the party has been stable and has occupied about one third of the seats, competing for the first place with AKEL. Klerides was a presidential candidate five times (1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, and 2003), but he only won the 1993 and the 1998 elections, both with very small margins (less than 51 percent). He lost the 1983 elections with only one third of the votes. DISY’s platform is a mixture of conservatism and Christian democracy, stressing the free-market economy and family values. A major internal issue is the attitude toward northern Cyprus, which was at first conciliatory. Later, however, it used stronger words against the Turkish domination of the northern part. Nicos Anastasiades has been the party leader since 1997. In the EU the party is a member of the Christian democrat and conservative EPP.

14â•…The Ministates: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City State

T

he five ministates have not been covered by the discussion of European �politics in Volume 1, but they deserve a brief profile.

Andorra (Andorra) Andorra is a landlocked ministate in the Pyrenean mountains between France and Spain. The area is 180.7 square miles (468 square kilometers), and the population is 84,500. The capital is Andorra la Vella, the language is Catalan, and the traditional religion is Catholicism. The main source of income is tourism. Andorra is a co-principality under two heads of state with a parliamentary Â�system. It has been a relatively independent feudal unit since 1278 and established its first constitution in 1993. The heads of state (co-princes) are the French president and the bishop of Urgell (Catalonia, Spain). Their function is mainly representative; they do not have the right of veto, for instance. Both are represented in Andorra by delegates. The legislative power is the unicameral General Court (Consell general), consisting of 28 members who are elected for a four-year term. Seven districts, which are unequal in size, elect two delegates each, and the other 14 delegates are elected by proportional representation in which the whole state counts as one constituency. Andorra has a multiparty system, but two blocs of parties dominate politics, the leftist bloc of the Social Democratic Party (Partit Socialdemòcrata) and the rightist Reformist Coalition (Coalició Reformista). The legislature elects the head of the government, who has the right to dissolve the Concell but can also be removed from office by the Consell. The Constitutional Court (Tribunal constitucional) has the right of judicial review; it consists of four judges, of whom two are elected by the two co-princes and two by the legislature for an eight-year term.

691

692 |╇The Ministates

Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein) Liechtenstein is a landlocked ministate in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria. The area is 61.8 square miles (160 square kilometers), and population is 35,000. The capital is Vaduz, the language is German, and the traditional religion is Catholicism. Liechtenstein has been an independent principality since 1719, and it serves as a tax haven for banks and other financial institutions. Liechtenstein is a constitutional monarchy (principality) with a semi-monarchical political system. The first constitution dates from 1921, but a new constitution in 2003 left the wide powers of the prince intact, because he threatened to leave the country for Vienna. The head of state is the prince (Fürst); the incumbent since 2003 is Hans Adam II. Except for the Vatican City State this is the least Â�democratic of the Â�ministates. The prince has extensive powers, including a veto right, the right to Â�dissolve the Â�legislature and dismiss the government, and the right to call a Â�referendum. The Â�parliament or National Meeting (Landtag) consists of 25 Â�members, elected for a four-year term by means of proportional representation in two districts—the Â� Â�highlands have 15 members and the lowlands 10. The executive power is headed by the prince, assisted by a National Committee (Landesausschuss) consisting of five members elected by the Landtag. Two parties dominate, the conservative Â�Fatherland Union (Vaterländische Union) and the conservative liberal Progressive Citizens’ Party (Fortschrittliche Bürgerpartei), which compete for power. Until 1997 most governments were coalitions. The highest court is the Supreme Court (Oberster Â�Gerichtshof); its five members are elected by the parliament and have the right of judicial review.

Monaco (Monaco) Monaco is a ministate in southeastern France on the Mediterranean coast. The area is 0.8 square miles (2 square kilometers), and the population is 30,600. The capital is Monaco Ville, the language is French, and the traditional religion is Catholicism. Many inhabitants are economic refugees, as Monaco is both a tax haven and a tourist resort. It has been an independent feudal unit since 1297; its independence was officially recognized by France in 1861. Monaco is a constitutional monarchy (principality) with a semi-monarchical political system. The first constitution was enacted in 1911, and a new one was adopted in 1962. The head of state is the hereditary prince; incumbent since 2005 is Prince Albert II. The prince enjoys ample powers and serves as the head of the government. The legislative power consists of the National Council (Conseil National), which consists of 24 members who are elected for a five-year term. One party, Union pour Monaco, occupies 21 of the 24 seats. The executive power is headed by the prince, and there is also a minister of state, selected by the prince



Vatican City State (Città del Vaticano)╇ | 693

from a list of three persons submitted by the French government. The highest court is the Tribunal Supreme, consisting of French judges.

San Marino (San Marino) San Marino is a landlocked ministate in the Apennine mountains of central Italy. The area is 23.6 square miles (61 square kilometers), and the population is 31,500. The capital is San Marino, the language is Italian, and the traditional religion is Catholicism. It was founded in 301, and claims to be the oldest sovereign state in the world. Its first republican constitution dates from 1600, and the nation also claims that it is the oldest constitution in the world. San Marino is a republic with a parliamentary political system. There are always two heads of state, captains regent (Capitani Regenti), who are elected by the legislature for a period of six months, the fastest rotation of any European country. The legislative power is the Grand and General Council (Consiglio grande e general), which consists of 60 members elected for a five-year term by means of proportional representation from nine voting districts. Politics is dominated by two party alliances, of which the leading parties are the San Marino Christian Democratic Party (Partito Democratico Cristiano Sammarinese) and the Party of Socialists and Democrats (Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici). Each party provides one captain regent. Most governments are coalitions of one of the two blocs. The judicial power is the Council of Twelve (Consiglio dei XII), elected by the legislature for the same term as the parliament.

Vatican City State (Città del Vaticano) Vatican City, the base of the Catholic Church, is located in the heart of Rome, Italy, and is by far the smallest of the ministates. The area is 0.2 square miles (0.4 square kilometers), but a number of cathedrals in Rome outside Vatican City and the pope’s holiday resort in the surroundings also fall under its jurisdiction. The population is about 800. The languages are Latin for official Church use and Italian. The Â�Vatican City State was created in 1929, but a larger Papal State had existed until Italian Â�unification in 1870. The major source of income is tourism and transfers from Â�Catholics the world over. Vatican City State is an absolutist ecclesiastical monarchy under the pope, as the nonhereditary monarch. The head of state is the pope, elected for life by the cardinals of the Church (all of whom were appointed by the pope). Benedict XVI has been pope since 2005. In practice, the pope leaves governance to the seven Â�cardinals of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City; they are selected by the pope for a five-year term.

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Glossary

Words in italics in the text and in this glossary appear as entries in this glossary. Abendland “Evening-land,” a popular German term for Â�Germanic and Latin Europe, considered to be the core of Â�Western civilization; later extended to the whole Â�Western world; the opposite term is Morgenland (“Morning-land”), specifically referring to the Middle East. abortion policy Abortion has been gradually legalized in almost all European countries since the 1960s or 1970s (in some Central European countries under communism it was legalized before that time), with the Â�exception of a few Catholic countries, such as Ireland and Malta. absolutism Political system in which the head of the state has almost total (absolute) power over the subjects, common in a number of empires and kingdoms on the European continent between the 17th and 19th centuries after centuries of feudalism; the archetype of an absolutist monarch was 17th-century French king Louis XIV (Louis Quatorze); for 20th-century absolutism, such as communism and Nazism, the term totalitarianism is used. accountability In democratic political systems refers to the Â�cabinet’s responsibility to the parliament on the governmental policies in which parliament has the ability to remove the cabinet or individual cabinet members from office as the ultimate sanction; it has been applied at least a few times in most European democracies. 695

696 |╇Glossary

acquis communautaire “Communitarian achievements”; French term for the body of all existing EU rules that must be Â�implemented by candidate members as a condition for membership. action directe Means “direct action”; French term for Â�spontaneous protest action against employers, the government, or capitalism as a whole; it refers especially to Â�individual protest that gradually extends to local or even nationwide protest actions; relatively common in practice and as a labor ideal in France. administration The term “administration,” as in “Obama Administration,” is not used for European Â�governments; instead terms such as the “Brown government” or “Brown cabinet” are used. adversarial trial Trial system in which the judge mainly serves to system guarantee that trial procedures are observed in the courts and that there is fair play between the two adversaries in a trial; prevails in the United States, as opposed to the European inquisitorial trial system. affirmative action Specific rights for special groups in order to create more equality, mostly used as a means of economic and social integration after past discrimination or repression. In Europe it is called positive action and is primarily aimed at women and recent immigrants. agenda building Flow of information in which political topics pass through a sequence of stages before they become the subject of decision making; in the barrier model of agenda building the topics have to overcome various barriers between the successive stages; the stages are want, demand, issue, decision, and implementation. agent of Term used by communist courts under Joseph Stalin, international particularly during the Great Purges of the 1930s, to imperialism denounce and convict alleged opponents of the regime. aggregate A number of people who share one or more Â�characteristics but need not have intense mutual contacts, such as French farmers or Turkish Â�television watchers; in practice, the term, which is common in social sciences, is often replaced by the word group in everyday language.



Glossary╇| 697

alcoholism A serious problem in a number of European Â�countries; all European countries heavily tax Â�alcoholic beverages, Scandinavia most of all, to combat alcoholism. alienation Marxist term that denotes the growing distance between industrial workers and the products they make because of the dependence on machines; also used for the growing distance between people and society as a result of capitalist exploitation; the French word alienation was one of the catchwords of the 1968 May revolt in Paris. alignment Long-term or even lifetime commitment to a Â�political party; this used to exist in Europe until the 1960s and 1970s when a process of dealignment set in. Allied Powers The group of countries (Great Britain, United States, and Russia, later joined by liberated France and other countries) that defeated the Axis Â�Powers Â�(Germany, Italy, Japan) in World War II (1939–1945); after the war they founded the United Nations, to Â�guarantee peace, but the Allied Powers soon split into a democratic and a communist camp at the beginning of the Cold War. alphabet Five alphabets are in use in Europe: two are Â�international alphabets: Latin for all Germanic, all Latin, some Slavonic, and almost all other Â�languages, and Cyrillic for the Slavonic Â�languages Belarussian (or Byelorussian), Bulgarian, Â�Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian; in addition there are three national one-language Â�alphabets: Armenian, Georgian, and Greek. Alpine nations The combination of the two small Germanic nations Switzerland and Austria. amendment Change to the constitution or any other law or bill, proposed by the parliament in a democratic political system. American Dream The combination of values, such as freedom, equality, and democracy, that are at the base of US society and American nationhood, have shaped American culture, and have inspired most US immigrants and US citizens; Europeans do not have such national dreams; their countries are based on ethnicity.

698 |╇Glossary

Americanization Increasing prominence of individual personalities rather than political parties in election campaigns and in politics in general; also called personalization; in the media the term points to growing commercialization, in particular of television stations. Ampelkoalition German term for traffic-light coalition of (red) Social Democrats, (yellow) Liberals, and Greens. anarchical politics Making and executing binding rules in which no individual, group, or organization has power over other members of the system; the term especially applies to international politics, in which there is no central authority that exercises power over all countries. anarchism Labor ideology that stresses the need of spontaneous action against capitalism as the beginning of social revolution and the founding of small cooperative communes without central authority under socialism after the revolution. anarcho-syndicalism Anarchist type of trade unions that combine spontaneous strikes with spontaneous protest actions against the government as the possible beginning of a social revolution and the overthrow of capitalism; especially popular in France. Anatolian Peninsula Peninsula in southeastern Europe between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, all of which belongs to Turkey. Ancien Régime French for Old Regime, which refers to the absolutist political system that was swept away by the French Revolution; the term is also used for similar absolutist and autocratic systems in other countries. Anglican Church Formally Church of England; Protestant national church, headed by the British king or queen as Supreme Governor; in practice the archbishop of Canterbury exercises most authority; the church Â�permanently occupies seats in the British upper house, the House of Lords. Annan Plan The 2002 plan of UN secretary general Kofi Annan to reunite the two parts of divided Cyprus into a federal system; it was rejected in a referendum by the Greek Cypriots; 75 percent of the voters were against the plan.



Glossary╇| 699

anti-Americanism Feelings that the United States endangers Â�civilization or world peace, in particular because of its capitalist free market; especially strong during the Vietnam War; but in the 19th century Â�European conservatives already regarded the United States as producing a superficial popular culture that Â�undermined European values of authority and hierarchy. anticlericals People in Catholic countries, who may or may not be Catholic, who oppose the Catholic Church’s interference in politics and favor a strict separation between state and church, or even laicism; Â�especially prevalent among liberals and the labor movement; also active in Turkey as Kemalism against Muslim influence. anti-Semitism Anti-Jewish attitudes and behavior; common throughout European history and culminating in the 20thcentury Russian pogroms and the Nazi Holocaust. aristocracy Large landowners in European history who as a class attempted to gain political power at the cost of royal power; their financial and power base consisted of dependent peasants on their holdings who also had to perform military functions; aristocratic titles include prince, marquis, grand duke, duke, count, viscount, and baron. armament race Competition between the United States and the communist Soviet Union in building up enormous stocks of nuclear and other weapons during the Cold War. Armenian genocide Mass deportation of Armenians under the Â�Turkish Ottoman Empire during World War I, which took hundreds of thousands of lives and is Â�generally regarded as genocide, but the use of the term Â�“genocide” is strongly contested by Turkey. arms race See armament race. Aryan race Originally 19th-century term for the white race, the Nazis used it to denote the superiority of Germanics, and Germans in particular; since that time the term is no longer in use. Assemblée The lower house of the French parliament; its seat is the nationale Palais Bourbon in Paris.

700 |╇Glossary

asymmetrical Federalism in which some of the federal units have more federalism competencies than others; applies in Spain to Â�Catalonia and the Basque Country, for example. asymmetrical Devolution of powers in which some regions enjoy more regional powers autonomy than others, as is the case with Scotland and Wales in Great Britain. Atlanticist Protagonist of strong bonds between Europe and the United States; in Europe Great Britain and the Netherlands are typical Atlanticist nations. at-large election Elections for city councils and the post of mayor in which the whole city serves as one constituency; all local elections in Europe are at-large elections. atomic weapons Nuclear bombs and nuclear battleships and submarines that were part of the armament stock of the United States, the Soviet Union, and a few other countries during the Cold War; since that time other countries have also been developing nuclear bombs. Aufklärung German for the philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment. Auschwitz Nazi Germany Holocaust extermination camp in which more than one million Jews were killed in gas chambers during World War II; symbol of mass destruction and annihilation. Austro-Hungarian New name for the Austrian Empire after Hungary had Empire obtained the status of a junior partner beside Austria in the Empire in 1867. authoritarianism When strict norms in ethical issues are imposed by the state or by a religious organization; especially pronounced among Catholics and Muslims. authority Legitimate power, that is, power that is accepted as right by the individuals who are subject to the power; authority can be based on tradition, personal charisma, or legality, which then serve as power resources; the plural “authorities” denotes the group of rule makers in a society or community. autocracy Nondemocratic political system in which one ruler holds great power; the extreme forms are absolutism and totalitarianism; the only remaining example in Europe is Belarus. Autonomen Radical anti-capitalist groups in Germany, in Â�particular Berlin, that regularly fight with the police.



Glossary╇| 701

autonomous Trade union movement that consciously rejects trade union participation in tripartism and sometimes even rejects nationwide organization; came up in the early 1970s as part of the emergence of the new social movements and had no direct links with the existing trade unions. autonomy Great latitude of decision making for a region or group of people within a country; regional autonomy is greatest under federalism; in some countries separatist groups fight for more regional autonomy. Axis Powers The group of countries (Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and fascist Japan, joined by some smaller nations) that were defeated by the Allied Powers (Great Â�Britain, United States, Russia, and liberated France) in World War II (1939–1945). backbencher Newcomer or otherwise not very prominent Â�member of the British lower house, the House of Â�Commons, so called because they occupy the back rows of benches; nowadays also used for such Â�members of parliament in other democracies. balanced budget Government budget in which taxes and other Â�revenues meet expenditure; only a few countries have a balanced budget in Europe, and most have deficits; since the 2009 credit crisis even Â�European Monetary Union (EMU) members have deficits of more than three percent in spite of EMU rules. Balkan Peninsula The combination of Central European countries south of the Danube region and partly overlapping with it, the peninsula stretches from Slovenia and Romania in the north to Greece in the south. Balkanization The proliferation of small new nations in a region, as it occurred after the split up of Yugoslavia; it is still going on, and Kosovo is the latest new nation. Baltic States The combination of the three small Central Â�European nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Â�Lithuania on the Baltic Sea; although also situated on the Â�Baltic Sea, Poland is not called a Baltic nation. barbarian invasions Invasion of tribes and peoples from Asia in the fifth century AD that forced European tribes and Â�peoples to move westward; the upheaval caused by the

702 |╇Glossary

invasions, in particular by the Huns, put an end to the Roman Empire in the year 476 and gave rise to a large number of small kingdoms and feudal fiefs. bargaining Relationship between individuals, groups, organizations, or countries, in which they either seek Â�compromise on shared goals or values or one of them attempts to impose its own rules on the other(s), for instance in peace treaties that are imposed on a country that has been defeated in a war. bargaining before Policy style in which government policies are to some legislation extent based on existing practice; the system is more adaptive than innovative; typical policy style of Germanic nations. barrier model Model of information flows in which political Â�topics pass through a sequence of stages before they become the subject of decision making and have to overcome various barriers between the successive stages of want, demand, issue, decision, and implementation. benchmarking Following best practice by other individuals, groups, organizations, or countries and imitating that Â�practice in order to improve one’s own practices; nowadays it is an EU term for the introduction of new policies and for spillover of EU policies. Benelux Customs union between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, founded in 1944 and later extended to other fields of cooperation; the term is also used for the combination of the three countries, called the Low Countries Berlin Wall Wall between West and East Berlin, erected by communist East Germany in 1961 to prevent people from fleeing to West Berlin; its demolition in 1989 was one of the major events in the downfall of communism. Beveridgian Social security program with almost universal coverage, social security financed out of payroll tax and providing flat-rate benefits: low benefits in the liberal welfare state, high benefits in the state-oriented welfare state; the other social security program is called Bismarckian. bicameral Parliament that consists of two chambers or houses, an parliament often more powerful directly elected lower house



Glossary╇| 703

and a senate, which is not always directly elected but often reflects regional interests. The great Â�majority of European countries have bicameral Â�parliaments; the opposite is unicameral. Big Ben The clock on the clock tower of the British parliament (strictly speaking the name refers to the bell of the clock); during World War II all radio programs for the occupied parts of Europe started with the sound of its chime, and Big Ben became a symbol of democracy. bill of rights In almost all democracies the liberal rights are an integral part of the constitution; the first bill of rights was introduced in Great Britain in 1688 as part of the Glorious Revolution. bipartisan The term bipartisan is not used in Europe because of the multiparty system; instead, the terms Â�“nonpartisan” or “neutral” are sometimes used. bipolar world Cold War situation in which the United States and the communist Soviet Union were the two superpowers (the two poles of the international political system), shrinking all other former Great Powers to the status of minor actors. bishop High-ranking priest in the Catholic Church and a few Protestant Churches (Anglican Church, Â�Lutheranism); in medieval times they were often large landowners and close to the secular Â�aristocracy in power and status; in the Roman Catholic Church the highest-ranking bishops are called cardinals; between bishops and cardinals are archbishops. Bismarckian Social security program that is differentiated for social security specific groups of employees, paid by employer/ employee contributions, and provides benefits that are related to previous income; typical of the continental welfare state; the other social security program is called Beveridgian. boat refugees People from Africa who attempt to enter the EU Â�illegally by crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Greece, Italy, or Spain for political or economic reasons; not all boat refugees survive their journey because of their very primitive and overpacked boats.

704 |╇Glossary

Bolshevik Term used by communists for the Russian Â�Communist Party and for its members before the Russian Â�Revolution and in the early period of Â�communist rule. The term refers to the fact that at one moment they formed a majority faction in the party, which they then monopolized (the minority group was called Â�Mensheviks; for most of the time they were actually the majority, until suppressed by the Bolsheviks). Bonn Town on the Rhine, south of Cologne, which was the capital of the German Federal Republic Â�during the division of Germany under the Cold War, because Berlin formally remained under control of the Allied Powers; in 1990 the capital was moved to Berlin again, and by 1999 all federal government offices had left Bonn. border dispute Disputes between two adjacent countries on the Â�precise location of the border; in Europe small border disputes are not the exception, in particular between the new independent countries of Central Europe and Southeastern Europe. Bosnia and Formal name of Bosnia, but in everyday conversation Herzegovina almost all Europeans and Bosnians use the name Bosnia instead of the full name. bottom-up Federalism that is based on the units’ agreement to federalism build a federal system, as was the case in the United States and Switzerland; it contrasts with federalism from above. Bourbon Powerful European family whose members once reigned as monarchs in France and southern Italy and still reign as monarchs in Spain. bourgeoisie Term that is especially used by the labor movement to denote the upper class and the (upper) middle class under capitalism. bowling alone Expression used for the trend toward individual activities instead of engaging in group activities and membership in voluntary associations; part of the more general trend of individualization. Bozkurtlar “Grey Wolves,” Turkish name of a terrorist group, the youth organization of an extreme right party that committed political murders of leftist politicians and members of ethnic minorities during the 1970s.



Glossary╇| 705

brainwashing Forcing individuals to change their mind and accept new ideas under the threat or the use of force; used for the involuntary treatment of dissidents and Â�others in prisons and psychiatric clinics under Â�communism, yet also used to describe the mass meetings and permanent political propaganda under communism and Nazism. Brest-Litovsk The 1918 Peace Treaty between Germany and the new Peace Treaty communist leaders in Russia at the end of World War I; the treaty forced Russia to cede territory, and the secession was not undone in the peace treaties that followed in 1919. Bretton Woods Treaty between the United States and democratic Agreement Europe, concluded at the United Nations Â�Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in July 1944. It established a new Â�system of fixed currency exchange rates based on the US dollar. Brezhnev doctrine Policy of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev that the Warsaw Pact had the duty to interfere militarily in any Soviet Bloc country in which socialism was threatened; it was a justification after the fact of the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and offered nothing new since Soviet foreign policy under Stalin. brigati rossi “Red brigades”; terrorist organization of the extreme left in Italy during the 1970s and 1980s, which indiscriminately assassinated political leaders and killed civilians in bomb attacks. British Isles The combination of Great Britain and Ireland. broad coalition Coalition that consists of a number of parties that, taken together, enjoy a very large majority in the Â�parliament or a coalition that contains a greater number of parties than is needed for a majority government. Brussels Shorthand reference for the EU, used because most of the EU offices are located in the Belgian capital Brussels. budget deficit Governmental budget in which expenses exceed revenues; just as common in Europe as in the United States, but limited by European Monetary Union (EMU)

706 |╇Glossary

rules for the EMU members; the opposite is budget surplus; in 2010 the EU had to find a Â�solution for Greece’s large budget deficit of more than 10 Â�percent, which had been covered up by false government statistics and threatened the position of the euro. budget surplus Government budget in which revenues exceed expenses; very uncommon in Europe since the 1980s; the opposite is budget deficit. buffer state Country that is located between two or more larger countries and serves to prevent direct (hostile) contacts between the larger countries; recent buffer states were neutral Finland, Sweden, and Austria between Free West Europe and the Soviet Bloc Â�during the Cold War. Bundesbank German national bank that was the most Â�powerful bank in Europe before the introduction of the Â�European Central Bank (ECB) and the euro because it had a great deal of autonomy as a watchdog against inflation and because of the strong position of the Â�German mark. Bundeskanzler Federal chancellor; prime minister in Germany and in Austria. Bundesrat Nonelected upper house of the German parliament; it is not elected but consists of members of the Â�governments of the federal units (Länder). Bundestag The lower house of the German parliament. Bundesverfassungsgericht Powerful German constitutional court for judicial review. bureaucracy Any large organizational structure, but especially used for the complex of national government Â�ministries and agencies in a country’s capital. burqa Islamic dress of women that covers the whole body, including the eyes, with a veil; it is a political issue in Europe regarding whether the burqa is an expression of religion or an element in the suppression of women and preferably to be banned by the government, at least in public places, as is common already in Turkey. A variant that covers the body but not the eyes is called niqab. business association See employers’ association.



Glossary╇| 707

business unionism American term to denote apolitical trade unionism, by way of contrast with European trade unions, which are or were often closely related to mainly Social Democratic and Communist political parties, up to very close relations in the Scandinavian social democratic complex. butter mountain Large piles of butter produced in the EU during the 1970s and 1980s that could not be sold at the high consumer prices fixed by the EU because of the price guarantees to EU farmers. Byzantine Empire Originally the eastern part of the Roman Empire, after the capital had been moved to Byzantium in AD 423; as a Christian Empire it survived the Roman Empire for a thousand years, only to succumb when Â�Byzantium was conquered by the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1453; by then it had already lost most of its territory on the Balkan Peninsula and on the Â�Anatolian Peninsula. cabinet The top of the executive power, also called the government, but that term can also be used in a wider sense, referring to all governing bodies and all branches of government; the cabinet is the real government in most parliamentary political systems, taking Â�collective decisions on important issues and leaving other Â�decisions to its members, the cabinet ministers Â�individually. In France the term refers to a small group of ministerial staff appointed by the minister. cabinet minister Member of the cabinet who is in charge of a specific field of policy (e.g., agriculture, economic affairs, Â�education, finance, foreign affairs, justice, social affairs, and others) and, with the other members of the cabinet, makes the major decisions on a country’s politics. cabinet turnover The rate at which cabinets are replaced; it was exceptionally high in the French Fourth Republic and in Italy during the second half of the 20th century. Calvinism Protestant religion founded by John Calvin Â�during the Reformation as a counterforce against the Catholic Church; strictest of the Protestant religions; its spread is limited to a few nations and regions (the Netherlands, Switzerland, Scotland); sin and divine

708 |╇Glossary

predestination that cannot be influenced by man are at the heart of its beliefs. canton Swiss federal unit, 26 in total, which enjoy great regional autonomy. capital A nation’s city in which the government has its seat (the Netherlands is an exception, because Amsterdam is the capital but the Hague is the government seat). Also the term for large sums of money, in particular when invested in enterprises, as the basis of capitalism. capital punishment Punishment in the form of execution; abolished in Europe except Belarus; abolition of the death Â�penalty is a precondition for membership in the EU and the European Council. capitalization When old-age pensions are financed by contributions from future recipients; it is also known as a funded pension system, because it builds up capital; the opposite type of system is called unfunded. carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide emissions as a result of the use emissions of fossil fuel (coal, oil); one of the main causes of the warming of the earth; its reduction is an Â�international source of concern and a subject of EU rules. cardinal Highest-ranking bishops in the Catholic Church, nowadays 199 in total, who are appointed by the pope and as a college elect a new pope; most European countries with a sizable Catholic population have one or more cardinals; Italy has always had a large number of cardinals, some of them working in Vatican City. caretaker cabinet A cabinet that governs in the period between two regular cabinets, for instance after the fall of a Â�cabinet until the next elections, or between elections and the formation of a new coalition cabinet; as a rule it should not handle controversial issues. Carnation Revolution The 1974 military coup that put an end to more than 40 years of fascist dictatorship in Portugal and Â�initiated a return to parliamentary democracy. cartel democracy Permanent participation of all major Â�parties in the national government in Switzerland Â�(Kartelldemokratie); although it still exists, one of the participating parties regards itself as being in opposition.



Glossary╇| 709

cartel party Political party that is dependent on its strong links with the government and acts almost like a kind of governmental agency, maintaining only weak links with society and its voters; the term is especially used for modern European parties. cartoon affair Storm of protest among Muslims and among the governments in the Middle East about a 1995 Â�political cartoon in a Danish newspaper that showed the prophet Muhammad’s head under a terrorist bomb; it aroused a debate in Western Europe about the value and limits of free speech. case work Small services offered by members of parliament to voters, for instance assistance in contacts with Â�government agencies, in the expectation that the Â�voters will vote the right way; in a more extended form it may amount to clientelism. catch-all party Political party that no longer caters to a specific group of voters who have a strong and sometimes lifetime commitment to their party (alignment) but, instead, attempts to downplay its ideology to attract as many different groups of voters as possible, resulting in de-alignment; most big European parties became catch-all parties in the 1960s and 1970s. Catholic Church The oldest and most widespread religious organization in Europe, in existence since the days of the Roman Empire; it is headed by the pope in Vatican City (in Rome) and has a hierarchy of cardinals, archbishops, bishops, and lower priests working in parishes, as well as a large number of Catholic religious orders, such as the Jesuits and the Dominicans; the organization is strictly hierarchical and demands total compliance with Church rules. Catholic religious order Since the early Middle Ages, Catholic priests have established religious orders whose members, mostly also priests, often live together in monasteries and observe strict rules on common prayer, behavior, and work; some of them have been very powerful because their members occupied high-ranking posts in society, or because of their networks of educational institutions, for instance the Jesuits and

710 |╇Glossary

Dominicans; there have also been orders of women, though women cannot be priests, mainly engaged in education and health care, but they have been less influential. Catholicism The set of beliefs of the Catholic Church, based on the Bible and papal letters (encyclicals) that Â�interpret the Bible; sin and suffering, but even more, redemption, are at the heart of the religion. Caucasian Peninsula Peninsula in southeastern Europe that forms a bridge with Asia; the northern half is part of Â�Russia, the southern half consists of three countries: Â�Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. caucus Used in the sense of primary election, the term is absent in Europe; only in a few countries and parties are members allowed to compose the party list by means of voting within the party. Also used in the sense of a group of members of parliament Â�interested in the same policy field; it refers to Â�informal contacts, always within the framework of party discipline. celibacy Remaining unmarried and abstaining from sex for reasons of (religious) principle; one of the rules for Â�Catholic priests; nowadays under attack as one of the possible causes of high child abuse in Catholic educational institutions; Protestantism and Orthodox Churches do not have the obligation of clerical celibacy. censorship Forbidding free expression, especially in Â�newspapers, books, and television; even democratic European countries had strict limits to free speech in the media until the 1960s and 1970s, but since that time only a small number of countries in Central Europe, Â�Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe impose some form of censorship. In Russia free expression is not officially curtailed but a number of critical journalists have been assassinated, and there have been no Â�serious investigations of the killings. censure motion In Europe the usual term is vote of no confidence; if it is adopted, the prime minister must resign. census suffrage Limited voting rights, based on income, capital, or level of education; common in 19th-century Europe;



Glossary╇| 711

one of the targets of the reformist labor movement that demanded general suffrage. center Term that is often used for the national capital, as the political center of the nation, or for the most prosperous regions, as the economic centers of a nation; the opposite is periphery. Central Europe All nations that came under communist control after World War II, plus Greece. Central European Transitional type of welfare state that shifts from welfare state basic provisions and full employment under Â�communism to a more liberal welfare state; the other types are continental welfare state and Â�state-oriented welfare state. Central Powers The group of countries (Germany, Austria, Â�Turkey, and minor powers) that were defeated by the Entente Powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, and some minor powers, later joined by the United States) in World War I (1914–1918). centralization Concentration of power at the level of the national government and limiting the regional autonomy of lower-level units; more common than decentralization in Europe, where most countries are relatively centralized. chamber Popularly elected lower house of a parliament; in a bicameral parliament it is often more powerful than the upper house. champagne socialist Pejorative term for a person who supports Â�socialist or social democratic ideals but does not behave likewise in daily life; also used for very rich people who adhere to labor ideologies. chancellor Prime minister (Bundeskanzler) of Germany and Austria. checks and balances Relationship between various branches of the Â�government in which they check each other and operate with a kind of power balance between them. It is mostly used for the relation between the Â�legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Chernobyl Site of a nuclear power station in Ukraine, then still part of the communist Soviet Union, that had a very serious accident in 1986, which caused

712 |╇Glossary

continent-wide nuclear radiation; contributed to the rise of environmentalism and the green movement. chief of staff Head of the White House staff in the United States; most European prime ministers do not have an officially appointed chief of staff; the function is performed by high-ranking civil servants or by one or more political appointees. child allowance In many European countries all parents receive child benefits for all of their children, without any Â�additional conditions. child care Provisions for guarding children during daytime and school-age children before and after class hours; one of the top priorities of the feminist movement; in some European countries child care is publicly funded and run, in others it is privately run but often with state subsidies. Christian democracy Predominantly Catholic ideology that combines overall conservatism with the promotion of social policies; especially prevalent in Germanic countries apart from Scandinavia and often located in the center of the political spectrum between social democracy to the left and conservatism and conservative liberalism to the right. citizens’ jury Form of participatory democracy in which a group of people, selected at random from the population, takes part in governmental decision making on a specific issue; some European local governments are experimenting with citizens’ juries in local politics. citizenship policy Government policy pertaining to the nature and degree of adaptation that is required from immigrants as a precondition of naturalization and full citizenship rights; most European countries have tightened up citizenship rules under the pressure of the rise of extreme rightist anti-immigration parties. City, the Shorthand for the concentration of international banks in London City and their international Â�financial power; one of the reasons why Great Britain chose not to give up the pound sterling as its national currency. city council Elected representative body that governs the local community or supervises and often elects the local



Glossary╇| 713

board and cooperates with the mostly elected mayor to rule the local community. civic republicanism French citizenship policy that does not recognize group rights for immigrants or impose group obligations other than mastering and speaking French; based on the idea of equality under la République. civil code Extensive law books in continental Europe, based on Roman Law, dating from the Roman Republic, and often also on the Napoleonic Code Civil, codified in early-19th-century France. civil law System of law, codified in extensive civil codes that limit the courts’ latitude to interpret laws; it prevails on the European continent, as opposed to common law. civil rights Rights of individual or group expression and activities to the same degree as those of other individuals or groups, and governmental protection from any governmental interference that goes beyond protection against harm due to abuse of the rights. civil service The bureaucracy that is part of the executive power and prepares bills and executes laws and other executive rules; it is mostly required to be nonpartisan, but there is the possibility of a very small number of political appointments under a spoils system. civil society The combination of voluntary groups and organizations that provide services to their members with or without government support; it is an ingredient of democracy and is often suppressed in dictatorships. civil war Open warfare between two large groups in a country in which most of the country is involved; the two major examples in 20th-century Europe were the 1917–1919 Russian Civil War after the Russian Revolution and the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War. class consciousness Sense of belonging to a social class, especially used for the manual working class; it is often accompanied by a feeling of common suffering resulting from exploitation by the capitalists. class identity The sense of belonging to one social class, often accompanied by a feeling of superiority over other social classes or a feeling of common suffering because of oppression or exploitation by other classes; used for all social classes.

714 |╇Glossary

class justice Unequal treatment of different social classes in criminal law or court verdicts, at first used for the 19th-century discrimination against the laboring class in legislation and in court rulings, later extended to other forms of unequal treatment. class struggle In communist and anarchist labor ideologies, the revolutionary struggle of the exploited working class against the exploiting class of capitalists. classless society The ideal of communism, in which the opposition between the exploited working class and the exploiting capitalist class has disappeared because of the expropriation of the capitalists’ assets, property, and wealth. cleavage Relative stable lines of division between groups, for instance based on ethnicity or religion, which create lifetime political allegiances. clericals Catholic people in Catholic countries, who advocate church interference in politics and political guidance by the Catholic Church. clientelism Providing favors, such as a government job or social security benefits, in return for electoral support; it is a more extended form of case work but, in contrast to case work, is considered to be a form of corruption. closed circuit Closed network of government officials, members of parliament, and interest associations, from which competing interest associations are excluded; one of the forms is corporatism. closed shop Trade union action to force an employer to hire only members of the trade union; also known as a union shop; rare on the European continent because of Â�sector bargaining, but it has prevailed in Great Britain and the union sector of the United States. coalition Cabinet or government that consists of at least two political parties, which have promised to support the government and keep it in power for some time; the great majority of governments on the European continent are coalition governments because of their multiparty systems. coalition building The creation of a coalition government after elections; very common process in continental Europe, which may take several weeks or even months.



Glossary╇| 715

coalition government See coalition. co-decision Right of the European Parliament (EP) in certain areas of EU policy making, shared with the Council of Ministers. codetermination in Originally German system of employee the enterprise participation in enterprise decision making in which the employees and sometimes also the trade unions as such have the right to appoint a number of members of the supervisory council in large companies (Mitbestimmung); also adopted in a few other Â�European countries. cohabitation French word for living together; the combination of a rightist president and a leftist prime minister, or the other way around, in France; both combinations have been practiced since the foundation of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Cold War Period of hostility, yet almost without armed Â�conflict, between the Free West and the Russiandominated Soviet Bloc, lasting from the end of World War II until the late 1980s, characterized by an enormous arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, as the two poles in the bipolar world. collective bargaining Negotiations, mostly on an annual basis, between trade unions and individual employers or employers’ associations about labor conditions, in Europe often for an economic branch or sector as a whole (sector bargaining). collectivization The forced abolition of private agriculture in the Soviet Union in 1927 (and later in other communist countries) and the establishment of collective farms; in the Soviet Union it resulted in great famine taking millions of lives. colonialism Subjugation and exploitation of non-European Â�territories by European countries as a sequence of the great discoveries and centuries of international trade under unequal terms of trade; the main Â�European colonial powers were Great Â�Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium. command economy Economic system under communism in which all factories have to reach production targets that have

716 |╇Glossary

been determined in a process of national planning under communist control (planned economy); the system was very inefficient and has been abandoned in all former communist countries. commercial TV Television stations in private hands, and privately financed, mostly by commercials; in Europe such stations were not common or were even illegal until the 1970s; before that time almost all channels were public broadcasting stations. common law System of law in which courts follow judicial precedents rather than interpreting extensive law books, as is the case under civil law; the system prevails in Great Britain and the United States. Common Market Popular Anglo-Saxon name for the European Economic Commission (EEC), created in 1957 as a common market in agricultural produce; in 1992 it was integrated into the European Union (EU). Commonwealth of Very loose and hardly functioning combination Independent States (CIS) of former parts of the communist Soviet Union in Europe and Central Asia, but some of the former parts (the Baltic States) have refused to join. Commonwealth Loose combination of former British colonies, (of Nations) whose leaders still have close bonds with Great Â�Britain and British royalty; prominent members are the former Dominions (Canada, Australia); the United States was never a member. communauté de communes French term for a level of local government that coordinates local government of a number of local communes. communism Labor ideology that stresses the need for a revolutionary struggle of the exploited working class, led by a small group of determined revolutionaries, against the exploiting class of capitalists, followed by a phase of harsh dictatorship of the proletariat aimed at safeguarding the revolution; in practice resulting in totalitarian and very suppressive political systems. community A number of people who share one or more characteristics and maintain mutual direct or indirect contacts; in practice, the term is used for a larger number of people than a group.



Glossary╇| 717

community power studies Scientific research, started in the 1950s, on the distribution of power in local U.S. communities as an indicator of the distribution of power nationwide; among the results were the ideas of agenda building and faces of power. comprehensive school Secondary school for all students in the relevant age group that teaches all learning subjects at differentiated levels; this is a Social Democratic ideal but it has only been realized in a few countries; also called middle school. compromise Mutual adaptation of goals by individuals, groups, or organizations in order to reach one or more common goals; especially prevalent in the smaller Germanic nations. comunidad Regional or federal unit in Spain, 17 in total, whose degree of autonomy varies under a system of �asymmetrical federalism. concentration camp Complex of prison blocks with very harsh living and working conditions for the inmates; both Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia had a large number of such camps; in Germany some of them served as extermination camps for Jews and others. concept Well-defined term used for clear and unambiguous statements about reality. conceptual framework Combination of well-defined scientific terms (concepts) used for clear and unambiguous statements about reality. confederacy Loosely structured form of cooperation between more or less autonomous or independent political units, sometimes with the right of the units to secede from the confederacy; in Europe federal Switzerland comes closest to being a confederacy. conference committee Conference committees consisting of members of both houses of parliament, as they are part of the everyday legislative process in the United States, are not very common in Europe and hardly ever serve the function of adapting two different versions of a bill because bills almost without exception must pass the lower house before being discussed in the upper house; Switzerland has such conference committees.

718 |╇Glossary

conflict Relationship in which one individual, group, or organization seeks to dominate in order to impose one or more values and goals on the other(s). conscription Compulsory military service; common in both Western Europe and Eastern Europe during the Cold War but since the late 1990s abolished in most countries in favor of recruiting volunteers into the armed forces; major exceptions are Germany and Russia, which have retained the draft. French council for judicial review. conseil constitutional consensus Broad agreement on common goals and values by individuals, groups, or organizations in which differences in views and interests are downplayed. consensus political system The term is often explicitly used for the smaller Germanic European countries, but it is also used in a wider sense for any democratic political system characterized by an electoral system of proportional representation, the existence of more than two political parties, and often coalition governments; for such systems the more neutral term continental political system is used instead in this book. conservatism Ideology that stresses the need of traditional �authority as a means to offer security for the �subjects; the ideology prevailed in pre-industrial Europe; nowadays conservatives especially favor authority in ethical issues. conservatism with a Term that is sometimes used for Christian social face democracy, as it combines overall conservatism with the promotion of social policies. conservative As opposed to progressive, the term has two meanings in Europe: being in favor of as little state intervention in the free market as possible and being in favor of extensive state or church rules pertaining to ethical issues. conservative liberalism Liberalism that strongly supports the free-market economy and rejects extensive state intervention in the form of social policies, as opposed to social liberalism, which accepts more state intervention. conservative welfare state See continental welfare state. conspiracy theory Idea that one specific group is the cause of political evil; in Europe often applied to Jews as the source



Glossary╇| 719

of all kinds of political and economic evil, which could be used to justify pogroms and the Holocaust. constituency Voting district in which the voters’ votes are counted together to decide the composition of the constituency’s representation in the parliament; under the majority electoral system each district has one seat in the parliament, but under proportional representation a district may have more than one seat, and these seats are allocated proportionally. constitution Basic law of a nation, on which all other laws are based, often containing civil rights and the basic procedures and institutions of national government; in Europe only Great Britain does not have a formal constitution. constitutional court Court for judicial review, sometimes situated outside the regular court structure. constitutional monarchy Democratic political system with a king, queen, or lower-ranked aristocrat (e.g., duke or grand duke) as the head of state, but the monarch’s powers are strongly limited by the constitution; government is in the hands of the parliament and the cabinet, which is responsible to the parliament; Great Â�Britain, the Low Countries, Denmark, Â�Norway, Â�Sweden, and Spain are still constitutional monarchies. constructive vote of no Motion in the German parliament to force the confidence cabinet to resign (vote of no confidence), which must include the name of the person who is to become the next prime minister (Bundeskanzler), hence the term “constructive.” containment US foreign policy in the beginning of the Cold War to set strict limits to the expansion of communism outside the Soviet Bloc and a few other communist nations (in Europe, Albania and Yugoslavia); also named the Truman Doctrine after US president Harry Truman, who introduced it. content stress A flow of contradictory information that burdens the political system and may hinder its functioning. continental political system Term used in this book for consensus political system, as the system is confined to continental Europe.

720 |╇Glossary

continental welfare state Type of welfare state based on private initiative that was extended by state involvement, most often with Bismarckian social security; the other types are Â�liberal welfare state, state-oriented welfare state, and Central European welfare state. Continuation War The 1941–1944 war between Finland and the Soviet Union in which Finland tried to reconquer the territories it had been forced to cede after the Winter War, but it failed and had to cede even more territory. continuum Range of options or positions between two extremes, for instance, between cooperation and warfare or between extreme left and extreme right ideologies. contributory social program Social insurance that provides benefits to citizens who made contributions to these insurance programs; an example is U.S. social security; in Europe, that term also includes noncontributory programs. conversion Addressing input of a political system by creating output in the form of new rules; the term is also used for the shift of information from one stage of the political agenda to the next one in the barrier model of agenda building. cooperation When individuals, groups, organizations, or countries join hands to reach common goals. Copenhagen criteria Admission criteria for new EU members, Â�established at the Copenhagen session of the European Council in 1993; these include a democratic Â�political system, a well-working system of public administration, no death penalty, and other requirements. cordon sanitaire Explicit isolation of a political group or party when other parties declare they will on no condition enter into a coalition with such a party; examples are the isolation of the Communist parties in Western Europe during the Cold War, and more recently the Flemish Party in Belgium and in 2005 The Left (Die Linke) in Germany. Coreper Abbreviation of the French name for the committee of national Permanent Representatives at the EU.



Glossary╇| 721

corporate tax Tax on company income; form of direct tax, which exists in almost all European countries. corporatism Preferential access to government and even Â�participation in governmental decision making for associations that represent opposing interests; it is mainly used in reference to permanent close contacts among labor unions, business organizations, and the national government; it prevails in the smaller Germanic countries. corporatist welfare state See continental welfare state. corruption Offering government services to individuals, groups, or organizations in exchange for money or other favors to the individual that represents the government; one of the forms may be clientelism; in Europe Scandinavia is least corrupt, Eastern Europe the most corrupt. Cortes The Spanish parliament, formally Cortes Generales. council housing British term used for rental housing benefiting Â�low-income groups, which is provided by local Â�government; a form of social housing. Council of Europe Session of the leaders of the national governments of EU member states to discuss general policy lines; the most important decision-making body in the EU and the apex of intergovernmentalism in the EU. council of ministers Mostly synonymous with the cabinet; in the EU the term is used for the meeting of all ministers of the member states in a specific area of policies (e.g., foreign affairs, finance, agriculture, social affairs); part of intergovernmental EU decision making. council tax Property-based local tax in Great Britain. Counter-Reformation Campaign of the Catholic Church in the 16th Â�century to fight and suppress the Protestant Â�Reformation; in particular, the newly founded Jesuit Order was very actively involved in these efforts. county Term used in Europe for regional units that do not have the status of federal units; if there is more than one level of regional government, counties are often the lower level. coup d’etat French term for the overthrow of the government by force, often executed by people within the Â�government or by the military, without major direct

722 |╇Glossary

changes in society, but sometimes followed by such societal changes; recent examples are the 1967 start of the colonels’ regime in Greece and the 1974 Â�Carnation Revolution in Portugal. credit crisis Economic crisis beginning in 2008–2009 as a banking crisis in the United States and spreading to Europe as a crisis of banking credit. crime Criminality has become a growing concern in all European parties and ideologies since the late 20th century; rightist populist movements relate increases in crime rates to the growth of immigration. crisis Although the term is generally used in Europe for any disaster or recession, it is especially used for the 1929 Great Depression and for the two oil crises (1973–1974 and 1979–1980) and the 2008 financial crisis. cross The Christian cross is an issue in Germany and Italy, where the Christian Democratic or related parties refuse to accept judicial verdicts that the cross, as a religious symbol, must be removed from public schools (and other public buildings); they reject a too strict separation between state and church, as it exists in France, as laicist. crusades Series of military campaigns in the 12th and 13th centuries, organized by the Catholic Church to bring the Holy Land (Palestine) under Christian control again. In particular France and the Â�German Empire were active in the campaigns, some of which were no more than predatory raids. cryptocommunism Ideology that, according to its opponents, is Â�nothing else but communism, but it is defended by its followers as not communist (if only to evade suppression). cultural hegemony Domination of some groups or organizations over others in a society where this domination is accepted by the others because of common values or common beliefs, and for that reason need not be maintained under threat of force. cumul de mandats Means “accumulation of posts” in French representative bodies, in particular seats in local councils and in the national parliament.



Glossary╇| 723

currency exchange rates The relative value of national currencies compared to each other; various efforts have been made to fix the European exchange rates, first based on the US dollar under the Bretton Woods system, later on the German mark in the Snake. Czech Republic Official name of Czechia (the combination of Â�Bohemia and Moravia), but in everyday conversation almost all Europeans use the word Czechia. Czechoslovakia Combination of Czechia and Slovakia between the end of World War I and 1992, when the two countries split. Danube region Combination of countries close to the mid-section of the Danube River, including at least Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, and Hungary. dauphin French for crown prince; also used for the probable successor to the political leader of the nation or to a party leader. Dayton agreement A 1995 agreement between Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia to end the Bosnian war by dividing the country; concluded at the Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, after intensive negotiations with all parties by US diplomat Richard Holbrooke. D-Day June 6, 1944, event when allied troops landed in French Normandy to open the Western Front in World War II; after the Battle of Stalingrad the Â�second and last turning point in the war. de-alignment Loss of lifetime commitment (alignment) to a party, sometimes because of the party’s shift to a catch-all party and sometimes to secularization and Â�postmaterialism; this shift began in the 1960s and 1970s. death penalty Punishment in which the individual is killed; Â�abolished in Europe except Belarus; abolition is precondition for membership in the EU and the European Council. decentralization Shifting governmental powers from the nation to lower (regional or local) levels; the strongest form amounts to federalism from above. decision In politics, the creation of new rules for a group, an organization, or society; the fourth stage in the Â�barrier model of agenda building.

724 |╇Glossary

decision method Trend in community power studies, started in the 1950s, on the distribution of power in local U.S. communities by means of in-depth investigation of a number of political decisions and the stages the issue at hand had gone through before the final Â�decision was made. decolonization The giving up of colonial empires by European colonizing powers between 1947 and the 1970s, sometimes not voluntarily but after a war of liberation by groups of inhabitants. deliberative democracy Active involvement of citizens in political decision making by the decision makers, for instance by promoting various forms of public debate and giving groups of citizens a voice in decision making or by participating in citizens’ juries demand More or less urgent requests for new rules by those subject to the rules; demands form part of the input of a political system and the second stage in the Â�barrier model of agenda building. demand management Influencing consumer demand by means of changing tax levels and other measures as part of Keynesianism. democracy Participation of the people in ruling themselves, with liberal rights and at least some social rights as preconditions for participation. democratic method Method of democratic decision making by means of competitive elections for the people’s vote by candidates or groups of candidates for political office. département French lower-level regional unit, 96 in total apart from some overseas territories; the higher level is called a region. depoliticization Removing contentious or problematic issues from the political agenda by having them handled by interest associations or nonpolitical experts; in Europe, corporatism is regarded as a form of depoliticization. deportation In Europe mostly used for the forced removal of people from their homeland, either within a country or to another country; examples are the Armenian Â�genocide in World War I, the eastbound deportation of large groups of people in the Soviet Union, including



Glossary╇| 725

Germans who lived on the Volga banks, during World War II and the deportation of Germans from Central Europe after World War II; see also ethnic cleansing. deserving poor American term for people who have made contributions to social security or in another way served their country, war veterans for instance, and for that reason deserve social benefits; the term is not used in Europe, because the distinction between deserving and undeserving is of minor importance for social policies. de-Stalinization The end of the most cruel expressions of repression and the closure of a number of concentration camps in the Soviet Union after 1956. détente “Relaxation”; French term, in particular used for the relaxation of international tension at the end of the Cold War. development aid Money transfers by richer countries and funding of projects to improve living conditions and contribute to economic growth in the Third World. devolution of power Shifting powers from the national level of government to lower levels; the term is especially used for the growing autonomy of Scotland and Wales in Great Britain. dictatorship of the In communist ideology the authoritarian or proletariat totalitarian political system immediately after the revolution of the working class; it will last until all traces of capitalism have been erased. diktat German for dictate, in the form of conditions that are imposed on the other party in an agreement or treaty (originally Germany after World War I); the German term is now also used in French and English. direct democracy Democratic decision making by the group of individuals who are subject to the decisions that are made; a popular means in Europe is the national and local referendum, but referendums are more widespread in the United States than in Europe. direct tax Tax on income of capital of which the levy cannot or should not be shifted to other persons; the predominant forms are income tax and corporate tax. directive EU rule that has to be integrated in the national legislation of the member states.

726 |╇Glossary

disarmament The reduction of the American and Russian stocks of nuclear and other arms, including missiles, at the end of the Cold War; also used in a wider sense for any reduction of arms. dispersion of power Spread of power over various branches of government, various levels of government, or various political institutions. It is the opposite of concentration of power or power monopoly. dispute Conflict that has not reached the stage of overt conflict or even hostilities. dissident Person who strongly disagrees with the common opinion of a group, organization, or country; the term is especially used for dissidents under communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, who were often convicted and killed, or later also imprisoned in psychiatric clinics to be brainwashed. divide et impera “Divide and conquer”; Latin expression in the Roman Republic pointing to the practice of causing division among enemies and subjugated people as a means to facilitate Roman rule. divided countries Countries that are de facto divided, but the Â�division is not recognized by other countries; in Europe there are five such countries: Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Cyprus, Georgia, and Moldova. divided government Uncommon in Europe, where the government needs majority support in the lower house of parliament, even if there is a minority government; incidental in case the opposition parties enjoy a majority in the upper house of parliament. Dominican order Catholic religious order, founded in the 13th Â�century and very influential because of its Â�intellectual tradition and network of educational institutions; the order was severely affected by the French Revolution and the emergence of public education; currently the order counts some 5,000 members. double nationality Acquiring or having a second nationality in Â�addition to a previously acquired nationality; topic of debate in some European countries in the case of the naturalization of immigrants, but increasingly accepted by European nations.



Glossary╇| 727

Downing Street, No. 10 Official home of the British prime minister in Â�London; shorthand for the British government. downtown In Europe mostly called the city center; it is much less a combination of office buildings, highway crossings, and parking lots than in the United States because of the intensity and frequency of public transportation in Europe; many towns and cities restored their old centers after World War II; in Â�Central Europe this restoration of city centers occurred mostly after the breakdown of communist rule. German term for the Third Reich. Dritte Reich drugs Major concern in Europe, as it is in the United States; although all European countries are tough on hard drugs, such as heroin, a number of European countries allow the sale and use of small quantities of soft drugs, like marijuana, which is a source of international dispute in Europe. dual monarchy Also called “double monarchy”; name for the Austro-Hungarian Empire after 1867 when both countries were considered to be equal partners in the empire. dual power Division of power between individuals, groups, organizations, or governmental institutions that compete for more power or for a monopoly of power; it often characterizes legislative–executive relations in democratic governments but could also amount to civil war between competing groups. Dutch The inhabitants of the Netherlands and their Â�language, sometimes mistaken for Germans (Deutsch in German); the Pennsylvania Dutch are of German origin, not Dutch. Dutch Revolt The revolt of the Netherlands and Belgium against Spain in the late 16th century; Dutch independence (as “the Republic”) was internationally recognized at the 1648 Westphalia Peace Treaty after the Eighty Years War with Spain, in the course of which it adopted Calvinism; Catholic Belgium remained under Spanish, later Austrian rule. East Europe Central and Eastern Europe under communist Â�control during the Cold War as opposed to Free West Europe.

728 |╇Glossary

Eastern Europe The three countries—Russia, Ukraine, and Â�Belarus—that were under communist control since 1917 or the early 1920s and experienced the longest period of communist rule. French graduate school, one of the Grandes École nationale d’administration (ENA) Écoles; it is especially for candidates for high public sector posts, the so-called énarques. Economic Crisis Common European name for the Great Depression of the 1930s, which affected all European countries. economic issue The issue concerning tax funding of social measures is called a social issue, not an economic issue, in Europe; in Europe the term “economic issue” refers to economic policies, such as promotion of investment and monetary policies Ecosoc Shorthand name for the EU’s Economic and Social Committee, consisting of employers’ and trade union representatives who are consulted by the Â�European Commission. ecu Virtual currency, introduced by a number of continental EU members as the base of a system of fixed exchange rates under the Exchange Rate Mechanism. Egmont Pact The 1977 pact in Belgium between the Â�Christian Democratic and Social Democratic parties in Â�government about the federalization of the country; named after the Egmont Palace in Brussels; the pact was never realized in its original form because the cabinet that negotiated it was ousted from office, but many elements were adopted later. eight hours The eight-hour working day was one of the first common demands of the international labor movement in the late 19th century; it was reached right after the Russian Revolution when many countries introduced it out of fear that revolution would spread throughout Europe. election turnout The share of all voters that vote at elections; in national elections it is generally higher in Europe than in the United States. electoral system System of determining the share of parliamentary seats for each party, based on the share of votes; the two major systems are the majority system and proportional representation.



Glossary╇| 729

electoral threshold Minimum number of seats a party must win in elections in order to be represented in the parliament; in Germany the threshold stands at five percent or three voting districts; some other nations have lower thresholds. elite Group of people in which power is concentrated or which as a group has more power or influence than the rest of society. elitism Idea that even democratic societies are governed by a more or less closed group of people in which power is concentrated and who prevent others from sharing in their power; also used for the idea that such elite government is better than total democracy. Elysée Palace of the French president in Paris, shorthand for presidential decision making in that country. emigration Leaving one’s country in order to immigrate into another country with the aim to settle there for a long period or even a lifetime. emperor Head of an empire; the title was used for a person who formally ruled over kings, as in the Holy Roman Empire, or as a higher status than king. empire Political system ruled by an autocratic emperor; the term is often also used for the country whose head of state is an emperor or empress; since the Middle Ages Austria, Germany, Russia, and Turkey were empires for a long time and France for a shorter period; Great Britain was a kingdom, not an empire, but it had a (colonial) empire; the British king or queen was king or queen of Great Britain but emperor or empress of India and other South Asian colonies. employee participation Forms of employee involvement in company or in enterprise decision plant decision making, often in the form of works making councils or trade union representation in the enterprise; participation is often confined to social items and to receiving information on the general prospects of the firm. employers’ association European term for business associations, especially those associations that engage in collective bargaining with trade unions. employment conference Incidental or one-time-only top-level tripartite meeting on employment concerns and/or other

730 |╇Glossary

social and economic issues; they are most common in countries without a tradition of corporatism. enclave Region or small piece of land that is surrounded by one or two countries but is part of another country; several European countries have small and not contentious enclaves in other nations (Belgium in the Netherlands, Spain in France). Sometimes the small region around Kaliningrad, Russia, is called an enclave because it is surrounded by EU territory and the sea, but it belongs to Russia. Another example is Nagorno-Karabach, which is situated in Azerbaijan but has a predominantly Armenian population and has been occupied by Armenia. encyclical Papal letter to all Catholic believers that expresses the church’s moral position about issues and is binding upon all Catholics. enemy of the working class Derogatory term used by communists for their alleged opponents, especially for social democrats; in communist dictatorships an accusation that resulted in the death penalty. enlightened despot Emperors and kings who were autocratic or Â�absolutist rulers but adhered to some of the values of the Enlightenment or pretended to further its cause through their absolutism. Examples were Frederick the Great in Prussia, Maria Theresa in Austria, and Catherine the Great in Russia. Enlightenment Period in 18th-century European thought, in which human reason was regarded as the ultimate criteria of all human action and all authority; it was the starting point of liberalism. enosis Greek term for the unification of Cyprus with Greece, a goal of Greek Cypriots that led to the armed conflict with Turkish Cypriots. Entente Powers The combination of countries (Great Britain, France, Russia, and some minor powers) joined in 1917 by the United States, which defeated the Axis Powers (Germany, Austria, Turkey, and minor powers) during World War I (1914–1918). environment The complex of natural conditions on earth; Â�especially used in recent policies to protect the



Glossary╇| 731

Â� environment by reducing carbon dioxide emission and other measures that contribute to the preservation of the natural environment, such as fishing quotas and other measures to save almost extinct species. environmentalism Ideology that stresses the need to conserve the earthly natural resources by reducing the use of fossil fuels and all kinds of human consumptive behavior; it has given rise to Green political parties in a number of countries and to Europe-wide concern, expressed by almost all political parties. equality The term has two meanings: (1) equality of Â�opportunities, mostly confined to equality of legal, educational and economic opportunities (liberal equality), prominent in the United States; and (2) equality of outcome (social equality) highlighted by the Â�European labor movement and practiced in the European welfare state. Erststimme First vote; the German term for the first of two votes citizens may cast. In the first vote they choose between party candidates in their constituency; the second vote is called the Zweitstimme. l’État French for “the State” as an institution that comprises all government institutions and government agencies. ethical issues Issues related to nonmaterial values and behavior, such as abortion, crime prevention, drugs, gun control, religion, and in particular sexual attitudes and behavior. ethnic cleansing Forcibly removing or killing members of a different ethnic group from a given territory. The worst example was the Holocaust, the latest example the actions by Bosnian Serbs in the early 1990s to remove Muslim Bosniaks from the regions of Bosnia that the Serbs occupied. ethnic homogeneity Absence of ethnic minorities in a country or region, either as reality or as a goal of ethnic policies. ethnic nationality Nationality based on ethnicity, that is, membership in a specific ethnic group of people; in practice it is often based on speaking the dominant language of the nation. ethnicity Group of people who have strong mutual bonds because of a common language, and sometimes also

732 |╇Glossary

because of a common religion, a common history, and common cultural traditions. EU European Union. EU pillar Combination of EU subjects in related policy areas; three pillars exist between 1993 and 2009: for social and economic policies (first pillar), foreign and security policies (second pillar), and justice (third pillar), but the pillars were abolished by the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, when the EU became one integrated organization. EU treaties Treaties on EU affairs, created by the European council and signed by the member states; the main treaties are Rome 1957, Maastricht 1992, Nice 2001, and Lisbon 2009. Euratom EU agency created in 1957 to supervise nuclear power policies in the member nations. euro International currency of the European Monetary Union (EMU); introduced in 2002 and used by 16 EMU member states and two other countries �(Montenegro and Kosovo), in all of which it replaced the national currency. eurocommunism Partial change of ideology in West European communist political parties in the course of the 1970s, including independence from the Russian �Communist Party and a shift to a democratic course in which new groups could be attracted that were radicalized after the 1968 youth revolt and the rise of the new social movements; its influence did not last for long, as communism collapsed in the late 1980s. Europe Day May 9, the day the Schuman Declaration was �published in 1950. European Central Central bank of the European Monetary Union Bank (ECB) (EMU), which issues the euro; it is comparable to the US Fed (Federal Reserve System), but the national member banks have a greater say in its functioning. European Coal and Steel Supranational agency formed in 1952 to supervise Community (ECSC) and control the growth of the European steel and coal mining industries, especially in �Germany, in order to prevent new warmongering; set up by six founding nations; it was the beginning of the EU.



Glossary╇| 733

European Commission (EC) S upranational executive power of the EU; consists of 27 commissioners, one from each member state. European Community (EC) Combination of three EU agencies, the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and Euratom, into the EU as it was reconstructed in 1992. European Council Quarterly session of the heads of the national governments of EU member states to take major EU decisions in intergovernmental decision making. European Court of Justice EU court that has the right to check EU procedures and the implementation of EU rules in the member states; consists of 27 judges, one from each member state, and has its seat in Luxembourg. European Economic Supranational agency to coordinate agricultural Community (EEC) policies among the member states; set up in 1957 by the founding nations in the Treaty of Rome; it was a follow-up to the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the precursor of the EU. European Monetary Union Supranational agency set up in 1991 by the EU (EMU) member states to coordinate international financial policies and the introduction of the euro. European Parliament (EP) Supranational EU Parliament with some legislative powers shared with the EU council of ministers; consists of 785 members; the committee sessions take place in Brussels, Belgium, the less important plenary sessions in Strasbourg, France. European Union (EU) Supranational organization of 27 European countries that coordinates and to some extent harmonizes governmental policies in a number of policy areas; also used for the combination of the 27 member states; its precursors were the European Â�Economic Â�Community (EEC) or Common Market and Â�European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). European works council Works councils in large and internationally operating companies, made obligatory by the EU; their main task is compiling information, and they have very limited decision-making competencies. eurosclerosis Recurrent lack of initiative and inactivity at the EU level because of opposition by one or more member states; a recurrent phenomenon in the EU.

734 |╇Glossary

eurozone Combination of countries that have introduced the euro as their currency, consisting of sixteen EMUmembers, as well as Montenegro and Kosovo. euthanasia Ending someone’s life for humanitarian reasons; voluntary euthanasia has only been legalized (under strict conditions) in the Low Countries and Switzerland. evangelical In Europe the term refers to Lutheranism; in Â�German: Evangelische Kirche. Exchange Rate Mechanism System of fixed exchange rates among a number of (ERM) continental EU members in the 1980s; it was based on a virtual currency, ecu, whose value was based on the combination of participating currencies, but with varying weight according to economic power. exclusion Barring specific groups from participation in social and/or political life, often targeted at ethnic minorities but also at the working class in 19th-century Europe, for instance by means of census suffrage. excommunication Expelling members from a religious organization or from some of the religious rituals, especially used by the Catholic Church against German emperors and during the Reformation and Counter-Â� Reformation against Protestants and in 1949 against all Catholics that supported communist organizations. executive power Branch of government that executes laws and other rules made by the legislative power, often with some discretion to interpret the law and some latitude of decision making within the framework of the law; in European parliamentary systems the executive is responsible to the legislature and can be ousted from office by the legislature. exile Forced resettlement within a country, or leaving one’s country, whether voluntary or forced; the Â�fascist and communist regimes in Europe caused massive expatriation, but in the 1950s some Â�artists also fled McCarthyism in the United States and Â�settled as exiles in Europe; nowadays the term is also used for exile to tax resorts like Monaco. exit option Leaving a group, organization, or a country in order to evade rules, for instance, opting for exile



Glossary╇| 735

or emigration; the term is also applied to moving capital out of the country to evade tax rules. faces of power Power, as it is used in various stages of the Â�political agenda; the first face in the decision-making stage, the second in the stage of issues, and the third Â�(invisible power) in the stage before the rise of wants faction American term denoting a group with distinct interests; in particular used for groups whose interests run counter to those of society at large; in Europe, the term is used for groups with distinct interests and a distinct profile within political parties. family values Term for the value of forming families consisting of two adults, mostly of opposite sex, and their Â�children; in Europe especially promoted by the Catholic Church. famine Periods in which many people suffer from a shortage of food; the last periods of famine in Europe were caused by totalitarian regimes: under Â�Stalin’s collectivization drive in Ukraine in the late 1920s and 1930s and at the end of World War II in Â�territories, like the Netherlands, occupied by Nazi Germany. fascism Anti-democratic ideology, especially widespread in the 1930s, that stressed nationalism, a strong state, total obedience to a leader, and subordination of the individual to the national cause under the national leader and of women to men; major examples were Benito Mussolini’s Italy and Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. federal unit Regions that make up a federal nation, such as the individual states of the United States, the Swiss Â�cantons, and the German Länder. federalism Political system in which the national level of Â�government in a country has to share power with constituent regional units (federal units) of the country. federalism from above Federal political system that is introduced by the national government rather than by the constituent federal units, for instance in Belgium; the opposite is bottom-up federalism.

736 |╇Glossary

feedback Response of the people to the output of politics or, more generally, any response to the output of a system. feminism Ideology that promotes gender equality in all aspects of political, economic, and social life; especially prominent since the 1960s; most ideologies have adopted its demand of gender equality. feudalism Medieval system of authority and power sharing based on landownership and the handing out of land and land-based authority to lower-ranking landowners; the system existed for hundreds of years but collapsed in the late Middle Ages because of the rise of the towns and the rise of absolutism. Fifth Republic French semi-presidential political system, introduced by President Charles de Gaulle in 1958 to put an end to frequent cabinet turnover under the Fourth Republic. financial crisis Shortage of banking funds and later also of public funds that affected a number of European banks and some governments, in particular the Greek government; to some extent it was solved by the creation of a euro emergency fund for eurozone members that had trouble in lending money. first past the post One of the names given to the majority electoral system, because only one person can win in a voting district; the person who is first past the post wins the seat. flag National symbol; in Europe red, white, and blue are the most common colors, often in stripes; the Danish flag showing a two-color cross is the oldest European flag, and it inspired the other Â�Scandinavian flags; the Dutch (red-white-blue) flag is the Â�oldest tricolor, and it inspired the French and Â�Russian flags. flex work Flexibility of working time in the form of temporary work contracts and part-time work contracts; it has become popular since the 1980s because of employer pressure and women’s demand for Â�part-time work. floating voter Voter who shifts political allegiances and voting behavior from one election to another; this trend has



Glossary╇| 737

become more widespread since the 1960s and 1970s as traditional party allegiance waned. food stamp Voucher with which one can buy foodstuffs; rare in Europe, because welfare is always given in cash to prevent stigmatization. football Soccer; one of the most international European words, only a few languages have a different term for the sport; the most popular European sport and the only one that arouses national sentiments in almost all countries; also the most popular topic of everyday discussions, besides the weather and politics; only Great Britain does not have a national team, because England, Scotland, Wales, and Â�Northern Ireland have their own teams in international competitions; Â�hooliganism of (in particular English) football Â�supporters has become an international problem. force de frappe French stock of nuclear arms, accumulated by Â�President de Gaulle to ensure France’s independence from the United States for its own defense. Fordism Stage of capitalism predominated by mass production and mass consumption; term especially used by radical socialists to describe European (and Â�American) capitalism of the 1960s and 1970s; it refers to carmaker Henry Ford and the assembly line that was first used in his factories. formateur French term for the person who is selected after the elections by the parliament or the head of state to start coalition bargaining for a new cabinet. Fortress Europe Recent term for the strict border control and immigration policies that seal off Europe from North Africa and the Middle East in order to prevent Â�(illegal) immigration. founding nations The six nations that founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952 and the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market in 1957, the precursors to the EU; the six nations were France, Germany, Italy, and the Low Countries. Fourth Republic French parliamentary political system between the end of World War II and 1958, when it was replaced by the Fifth Republic; it was characterized by a

738 |╇Glossary

weak executive power, frequent executive– legislative stalemates, and high cabinet turnover. framing Giving a specific meaning to the contents of information by placing it in a context (e.g., “our nation needs...”) or by using specific metaphors (e.g., using military terms for policies, as in “war on Â�poverty” or “fighting poverty”). La Francophonie Formally Organisation internationale de la Â�Francophonie (International Organization of Frenchspeakers); association of French-speaking nations, nations in which French is a second language, and a few other nations under the leadership of France; the group has some 50 members, most of them former French colonies in Africa. Frankfurt Shorthand for the powerful German Bundesbank and later for the European Central Bank (ECB), both of which have their seat in the German city of Frankfurt. Free Europe Noncommunist Europe, under the leadership of the United States, during the Cold War. free trade Absence of international trade barriers; one of the great and enduring issues in international relations; especially advocated by the United States. Free West The United States and Free (West) Europe, as well as a number of non-European countries (Canada and others) that defended democracy, liberal rights, and the free-market economy against international communism during the Cold War. Free West Europe Also called Free Europe; noncommunist Europe, under the leadership of the United States, during the Cold War. freedom The term has three meanings: (1) freedom from state intervention in one’s personal life (freedom from; liberal freedom); (2) freedom to be able to develop one’s talents with the help of state programs Â�(freedom to, highlighted by the European labor movement); and (3) independence for an ethnic group. freedom of movement EU term for removing all international barriers for EU citizens seeking employment in other member states; it has more or less been introduced in the EU. Freemasonry International fraternity using Masonic symbols with elaborate rituals and a high degree of secrecy that



Glossary╇| 739

is sometimes mentioned in relation with political scandals and for that reason is distrusted by public opinion in Europe. French Revolution Bloody revolution in 1789 that introduced liberalism and human rights on the continent under the motto of liberté, égalité, fraternité; resulted in bloodshed between moderates and radicals and later in the Napoleonic Wars Frente popular Spanish combination of Social Democrats, communists, and anarchists that won the elections and ruled the country in 1936 but was defeated by fascist forces under Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Front populaire French combination of social democrats and communists that governed the country beginning with the elections of 1936 but lost the 1938 elections. frozen party system The combination of old political parties, all of them dating from the 19th century (conservatism, liberalism, social democracy, Christian democracy), that dominated the party systems of European democracies without any new competitors until the rise of the new social movements in the 1970s; in most cases they continue to dominate national politics. full minister Member of the inner circle of government ministers (often about 15 persons) who form the council of ministers of a nation, meet once a week, and collectively take crucial decisions. funded pension system A system in which old-age pensions are financed by contributions from future recipients; it is also known as a capitalization system, because it builds up Â�capital; the opposite type of system is called unfunded. Gastarbeiter “Guest workers”; German term for immigrant workers in Germany, most of whom are originally from Turkey. gatekeeper Individuals and organizations that are able to Â�channel, distort, or stop part of the flow of information in a political system, such as political leaders and the mass media. gay rights Rights of homosexuals and lesbians to openly show their sexual preference without incurring social, political, or economic discrimination and to have a relationship that is officially recognized in the same

740 |╇Glossary

way as a heterosexual relationship, culminating in same-sex marriage; an issue in many European nations. gen technology/genetic Modifying genes of plants to improve and engineering increase agricultural harvests; also applied to animals, for instance in cloning, and in human beings to reduce the risk of certain (inherited) diseases; it has become a contentious political issue in almost all European countries. gender equality Equality between men and women in all kinds of social, political, and economic aspects; goal of the feminist movement and nowadays generally accepted by most ideologies in Europe as a political goal. general suffrage Voting (suffrage) rights for all citizens over a certain age (mostly 21 or 18); also called universal suffrage. genocide Mass slaughter or killing of a people; the most infamous examples in the 20th century were the Armenian genocide by Turkey (which does not recognize it) and the Nazi Holocaust, in which millions of Jews were killed; in several European countries denying the Holocaust (and sometimes also the Armenian genocide) is punishable by law. German mark Until the introduction of the euro, the mark was the leading currency in Europe because of Germany’s economic power and the autonomy of the German Bundesbank that issued it, which prevented inflation. German Model Characterized by employee participation in enterprise decision making through works councils and codetermination aimed at productivity growth without layoffs; this is combined with job flexibility for redundant workers. Germanic Europe All European countries that (in majority) speak a Germanic language, plus Finland; Iceland is set apart in this book; the groups of Germanic countries and the individual countries are Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Germany, and the Alpine Countries. Germanic type of Democratic political system with a relatively limited democracy distance between the leftist and the rightist parts of the political spectrum, which facilitates political bargaining and coalition building; often also



Glossary╇| 741

characterized by pillarization and corporatism; the system mainly exists in the Germanic European countries. gerrymandering Constructing or changing voting districts (constituencies) in ways that facilitate winning a majority by one or more groups or political parties; gerrymandering is typical of majority electoral systems and uncommon in Europe. Gini coefficient or Index that measures income inequality in nations, on Gini index a scale from 0 (total equality) to 100 (total inequality). glasnost Transparency campaign that was introduced in the communist Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s; it aimed at more transparency, less �arbitrariness and greater openness of communist decision making, in combination with perestroika, yet it contributed to the breakdown of communist rule in Eastern and Central Europe. glass ceiling Informal barriers women (and minorities) find on their way toward positions of leadership and influence in democratic society; examples of this lack of gender equality are structural barriers, such as the requirement of full-time employment, or cultural barriers in the form of old boy networks in leading positions. globalization Recent process in which all national economies are becoming dependent on others and are increasingly integrated into one global economy in which they have to compete with the rest of the world instead of just with the neighboring countries; resulted partly because of the internationalization of communication. Glorious Revolution The action of British landowners to force the British king to sign a bill of rights in 1688, which introduced liberal civil rights in Europe one century before the French Revolution. Golden Age Heyday of (national) culture; many European countries refer to past centuries as their Golden Age, for instance the 17th century for Denmark and the Netherlands. Golden Horde The Mongol rulers who controlled Eastern Europe during the late medieval period.

742 |╇Glossary

Golden Sixties Refers to the 1960s, a period of economic boom and welfare-state extension in Free West Europe as well as a relaxation of ethical norms. Good Friday Agreement April 1998 agreement between the British and the Irish governments on the status and government of Northern Ireland, the beginning of peaceful reforms and devolution of power to that region. governance The act of governing, without specifying the Â�institution that governs; the term is used when it is not clear what individuals, groups, or organizations constitute the government and in the case of multi-levels of government (multilevel governance). government Institution that exercises authority and enforces compliance with the binding rules in a nation or a smaller group or community, but mostly reserved for countries. government budget The combination of all financial government obligations and revenues, as well as the bills that contain them and must pass the national parliament in democratic political systems. grammar school High-level secondary school (gymnasium) in which classical languages are taught. grand bargain EU term for compromise-packed package deals made during sessions of the European Council and the Council of Ministers. Grand Coalition Coalition that includes all large parties; the term is especially used for coalitions of the Christian Democratic and the Social Democratic parties in Germany in the 1960s and 2002–2005. grand duchy Country whose head of state is a grand duke (an aristocratic title of a lower rank than a king); the only remaining example is Luxembourg. Grande Guerre French term for World War I (not World War II) as far as it directly affected France (especially its Â�Western Front of trenches in northern France). Grandes Écoles Top-level educational institutes in France, especially catering to future top civil servants, but their influence is declining. grandeur French term for greatness, often used as national grandeur for French aspirations in international politics.



Glossary╇| 743

grass roots Political activities and interest associations at the local level, often of an informal nature; the term is used more in the United States than in Europe because of the prevalence of nationwide political organizations and centralized political power. Great Depression In Europe the Great Depression of the 1930s is mostly called the Economic Crisis. great discoveries The European search for new shipping routes and new territories for trade outside Europe; it was started in the late 15th century by Portuguese and Spanish sailors who looked for new ways to the East, and it resulted in long-distance overseas trade and later in slave trade and colonialism. Great Patriotic War Russian (communist) term for World War II, as far as it directly affected Russia. Great Powers The changing combination of most powerful empires and kingdoms in Europe; in the 19th century the Great Powers were Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia, with Turkey in a more marginal position; World War II meant the end of Great Power politics because of the rise of the two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Great Purges Mock trials of millions of communists, including many who had participated in the Russian Â�Revolution, branded as opponents of Joseph Stalin’s totalitarian communism and as “enemies of the working class”; they were tortured and shot or died in concentration camps. Greek civilization Civilization that culminated in Athens in the fifth century BC; it invented the leading non-Christian values of European culture, including individualism and democracy. Greens Ideology and political movement that stresses environmentalism and the value of natural conditions and fights global warming by the use of fossil fuels, including nuclear energy, and overconsumption of food and material goods; the movement has resulted in widespread attention for green issues and in the rise of Green parties.

744 |╇Glossary

Grey Wolves Turkish terrorist group (Bozkurtlar in Turkish), the youth organization of an extreme right party, which committed political murders of leftist politicians and members of ethnic minorities during the 1970s. gross domestic product Annual total of all domestic production in a country, (GDP) used as a measure of a country’s wealth; it is more or less the same as gross national product. gross national product Annual total of all national production in a country, (GNP) used as a measure of a country’s wealth. Große Koalition German term for a Grand Coalition of the two Â�leading parties, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, in Germany. group Small unit in which people have regular direct mutual contacts; the term is also used in a wider sense for aggregates, that is, a number of people who share one characteristic but need not have mutual contacts, like British farmers or German television watchers. group division Variations in interests between groups, in particular groups based on different ethnicity, religion, or social class, which hinder cooperation or compromise between the groups; almost a permanently constituent element in European politics. guerilla warfare Warfare by very mobile small groups of fighters who attack at different places in order to prevent a massive attack by a more organized but less mobile army; in Europe one of the tactics of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Â�Independence, 1919–1921. Guernica Spanish (Basque) town that was bombed by Nazi German and fascist Italian bombers in the Spanish Civil War; the painting by Spanish painter Pablo Picasso depicting the havoc and suffering has become an icon of anti-war art. guild Closed organization of productive and service trades in medieval towns, offering opportunities of social mobility by stages of learning the trade and finally setting up as a master of the trade. Gulag Archipelago The web of Stalinist concentration camps around the Polar Circle in European Russia and Siberia housing millions of political prisoners.



Glossary╇| 745

Gulf War The 1990–1991 war between the United States, assisted by a number of European countries, and Iraq to put an end to Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait. gun control Setting limits to the purchase and ownership of firearms; gun control is not an issue in Europe because of the general ban on firearms. gymnasium Germanic name of the highest level of secondary education (grammar school), which teaches the Â�classical languages Latin and Greek. Habsburg By far the most powerful family in European Â�history; originally from Switzerland, their home base was Austria, which they ruled for centuries; in the 16th century the family split into the Austrian and the Spanish branches; for centuries the Austrian branch also served as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, and they ruled over Bohemia (Czechia), Hungary, and Portugal; the last throne was lost in 1918, after World War I, when Austria became a republic. head of state Official representative of a country; in Europe the head of state need not be, and seldom is, the political leader of the nation, in contrast to the United States; France and a few other nations are exceptional in this respect. health and safety conditions Complex of labor conditions that could endanger an employee’s health and physical integrity; these conditions have been the subject of national legislation in most European countries and the subject of EU rules. health care program Combination of health care provisions and health care insurance; most European nations have stateprovided or state-controlled universal coverage health care systems in contrast to the United States. Heimat German for homeland or fatherland, but with the emphasis on “home”; very popular and highly valued term in Germany, and at the heart of German culture, with many songs praising the warm feeling it creates, especially since the age of romanticism. hidden unemployment Redundant employees remain on the payroll of the enterprise in which they work; the situation existed especially in the communist command economy, which guaranteed full employment.

746 |╇Glossary

hierarchical politics Making and executing binding rules in which one individual, group, or organization has power over the other rule makers and over the other individuals and organizations; the term especially applies to politics within nations. hierarchy Relations between individuals, groups, organizations, or countries characterized by a ranking of the Â�ruling and the subordinate, or at least the higher and the lower; core idea of conservatism; European culture has always been more hierarchical than American culture because of the influence of conservatism and the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and Islam. holidays Days off during one’s working life; generally more extended in Europe (three to five weeks) than in the United States; in Europe often with double pay (holiday allowance) and its minimum length covered by legislation. Holocaust The systematic extermination of millions of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II; it was done by mass executions and in a number of extermination camps and special extermination camps, of which Auschwitz was the largest; Polish Jews formed the largest group of victims. Holodomor Ukrainian name for the famine in that country in the early 1930s purposely caused by Soviet Russian grain requisitioning. Holy Roman Empire Medieval German Empire that actually consisted of a large number of autonomous (originally feudal) units; it included non-German surrounding peoples from the Low Countries, Czechia, Austria, and northern Italy; it succumbed in the 18th century and was dissolved in the course of the Napoleonic Wars. hooliganism Destructive behavior, in particular by football Â�(soccer) fans before and after a match; hooliganism, in particular by British fans, has become an international source of concern in Europe. house In Europe the term may refer to both the lower house and the upper house of national parliaments; in some countries the national parliament has only one House (unicameral parliament).



Glossary╇| 747

House of Commons Popularly elected lower house of the British parliament. House of Lords Nonelected upper house of the British parliament, which still has seats reserved for large landowners (aristocracy) and bishops of the Anglican Church. Huguenot French Calvinists who were first tolerated but later suppressed and even killed under French absolutism; many of them fled, in particular to the Low Â�Countries; since the 18th century the term is no longer used; instead, the term “French Protestants” is used. humanism Philosophical trend that began in the Renaissance period and was inspired by the Greek civilization; it stressed the value of the individual human being and human thought. Hungarian Revolt The 1956 national revolt in Hungary against communist and Soviet domination; crushed by the Soviet Army; noninterference by the United States marked the beginning of the official recognition of the division of Europe by both sides in the Cold War and of peaceful coexistence. hunger strike Refusal to eat, sometimes used by prisoners as a means to pressure the government to release them, but also by free people; the last wave of hunger strikes in Europe was in Turkey in the 1990s and 2000s by political prisoners and fighters for Kurdish autonomy in particular. Iberian Peninsula Peninsula in southwestern Europe that contains two countries: Portugal and Spain, as well as the British overseas territory Gibraltar. identity politics Seeking representation of the interests of a specific group by members of the group; the term is especially used for ethnic minorities and women, who reject representation of their interests by those other than members of their ethnic group or by male representatives; in Europe it has mainly been promoted by the feminist movement. ideological spectrum The range of all popular ideologies, grouped on the basis of two criteria: the attitude toward the social issue (known as the economic issue in American

748 |╇Glossary

terms) and toward ethical issues (known as social issues in American terms). immigration Leaving one’s country (emigration) and entering another with the aim to settle there for a long period or a lifetime; in Europe only France has traditionally had a sizable number of immigrants—gauged by European not US standards. immigration policy Government policy pertaining to the temporary or permanent admission of foreigners who want to settle for some time or permanently in a country; in Europe this is especially focused on Muslim immigrant workers and political refugees. impeachment Impeachment is rare in Europe; prime ministers and heads of state often step down first and are then tried by a court, yet being branded as corrupt is often thought to be sufficient punishment; court conviction is rare. imperialism Domination or conquest of foreign territories by a country; in particular used for the colonial empires of European countries and expansionism within Europe. implementation Introducing rules in a group or society and enforcing compliance with the rules among the individuals, groups, and organizations that make up the group or society; the fifth stage in the barrier model of agenda building. incarceration rate Share of the population that is in prison; the incarceration rate is far higher in the United States than in any European nation. income tax Tax on personal or family income; it can be a progressive tax (the higher the income, the higher the tax incidence) or the opposite, a regressive tax; in Europe income tax is often a progressive tax. incorporation Incorporation of urban suburbs as autonomous local units does not exist in Europe; any change in local or regional boundaries is subject to national or regional decision making about the merger or the division of existing towns. independence Being able as an individual, group, or country to decide on one’s own fate; national independence (to decide on one’s own religion) was introduced in Western Europe at the 1648 Westphalia Peace



Glossary╇| 749

Treaty, after long-lasting warfare between Catholic and Protestant nations. indirect democracy Democratic decision making by means of competitive elections for the people’s vote by candidates or groups of candidates for political office, as representative of the people; also called representative democracy. indirect tax Tax on commerce and productive labor, which is paid to the government by the producers and salespeople, but whose incidence is shifted to the consumer; an example is value-added tax (VAT); the opposite is direct tax. individual diversity Political and social differences between individuals in a society that are not linked to the existence of various (opposing) collectives or groups, but only to variations between individuals; the idea is more strongly developed in the United States than in Europe because of the division of European society into standing groups. individualization Trend to form one-person households and engage in individual activities instead of engaging in group activities and joining voluntary associations (bowling alone); the trend started in the 1960s and 1970s in Western Europe. Industrial Revolution Beginning of machine-based production; it started in Great Britain in the late 18th century and spread to the United States and the European continent in the 19th century. inflation A rise of prices over a long period, which often results in the loss of value of the currency involved. Germany and Hungary suffered from rampant inflation (up to a billion times the original prices) in the early 1920s; many West European countries suffered from inflation over 10 percent in the late 1970s and 1980s because of the oil crises; reducing inflation became one of the conditions for joining the Â�European Monetary Union (EMU). influence Relationship between two or more actors in which one individual, group, or organization is able to induce another or others to do something the other or others would not otherwise do without using the threat or expectation of severe penalties.

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input Information from those subject to rules to the political system in which the rules are made; input consists of demands and support. inquisitorial trial system Trial system in which the judge is the core actor who actively seeks all information and all evidence needed to make a balanced decision, as opposed to the adversarial trial system; prevails on the Â�European continent. integration Policy aimed at making all citizens of a country, or on a more modest scale, all members of a group, into a unity, either by forcing or encouraging by peaceful means minorities to adopt the majority standards, and by giving all members a sense of community; in Europe national integration has been a long-term goal of most countries, sometimes by means of social integration; the term “integration” is also used for the outcome of such policies. intellectuals Individuals who use their intelligence, knowledge, and insights in their profession and their public appearances; in Europe the term is often confined to people who contribute to public debate on the basis of their intelligence, knowledge, and insight; their role in politics is far greater in Europe than in the United States; especially in France their contribution to political debate is highly valued; sometimes the rather old-fashioned term “intelligentsia” is used for all intellectuals. Interbellum The brief period between the end of World War I (1918) and the beginning of World War II (1939); very unstable period full of tension and suppression of individualism due to totalitarian Stalinism in the Soviet Union and the spread of fascism in other continental European countries. interest Values, material and nonmaterial, that people expect to improve their life; variations in interests are at the base of democratic politics. interest association Group or organization that seeks to promote the interests of the members in contacts with the government; leading interest associations in Â�Western Europe, apart from religious organizations, are employers’ associations and trade unions.



Glossary╇| 751

intergovernmentalism Rule making in a supranational organization by the governing institutions of the member nations, as opposed to decision making by the governing institutions of a supranational organization as such (supranationalism); especially used for decision making in the EU by the governments of the Â�member nations. internalization Integration of rules into a person’s mind as Â�guidelines for his or her thoughts and behaviors, resulting in compliance with the rules without the use of external force. International Also called Workers’ International: Successive forms of international contacts between labor movements, first anarchist and Marxist, later communist and social democratic, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but they split or were abandoned; the “Internationale” is the song of the international labor movement. International Court The judicial arm of the United Nations (UN), seated of Justice in the Hague (the Netherlands) and aimed at Â�solving disputes between countries; the court consists of 15 judges who are elected by the UN General Â�Assembly and serve nine-year terms; the court has no force to impose its rulings. interpellation Parliamentary debate in which the cabinet answers questions posed by the members of parliament and defends government policies; the parliamentary competency to remove the cabinet from office is the ultimate sanction, and it has been applied at least a few times in most European democracies. investigative journalism Media in which journalists dig deep to disclose corruption or other scandals, more developed in the United States than in Europe. Investiture Controversy Medieval conflict (1075–1122) between the pope and the German emperor regarding the right to appoint Catholic bishops, resulting first in the emperor’s defeat, but he then conquered Rome; the final compromise confirmed the exclusive papal right to appoint bishops and the imperial right to give them land and make them into feudal landlords. invisible hand The abstract force that regulates a free-market economy and adapts demand to supply and vice

752 |╇Glossary

versa, according to the first promoter of capitalism, 18th-century Scottish economist Adam Smith. invisible power Power that is an intrinsic part of the national culture, in which the national culture as such imposes dominant and pervasive norms and values that are internalized by large sections of the population; see also internalization. Iraq War International military campaign that began in 2003, led by the United States and Great Britain, to oust the dictatorial regime and to fight terrorism in Iraq; several European countries participated in the war, but it increasingly became unpopular and a source of political friction. Irish Republican Army Underground army of freedom fighters before and (IRA) during the 1919–1921 Irish War of Independence; between the late 1960s and 2005 the IRA acted as a terrorist organization in Northern Ireland, committing bomb attacks against British rule; in 2005 the terrorist actions were abandoned as a condition of peace talks between the Protestant and the Catholic communities in Northern Ireland. Iron Curtain Physical barrier (barbed wire, mine zones) and nonphysical barrier (by limiting contacts) erected by the communist countries, established at the beginning of the Cold War to prevent people from fleeing to Free West Europe or having contacts with the Free West. Islam Minor religion in Europe, based on the Koran, believed to be revealed by God (Allah) to his prophet Muhammad; prevalent in Turkey, Â�Azerbaijan, Albania, and Bosnia, though it does not have a standing central organization; currently expanding in Western Europe because of Muslim immigration from Turkey and the Middle East; a source of political tension in Western Europe because of the alleged suppression of women. Islamization Growing influence of Islam on national or Â�Western European culture, social life, and politics. It has been a political issue since the growth of Â�immigration from Muslim nations in the 1960s. issue A topic that is more or less widely discussed by protagonists and opponents, in which process the mass



Glossary╇| 753

media play a prominent role; it is the third stage of the barrier model of agenda building. issue network Frequent contacts between specific interest Â�associations and members of the legislative and/or the executive power in a specific field of policy making. ius sanguinis Nationality based on family descent; in many European countries it is the traditional base of nationality; the opposite is ius soli. ius soli Nationality based on the country of birth; it is the base of nationality in traditional immigrant nations, like the United States, and in France; some Â�European countries are shifting from ius sanguinis to its opposite, ius soli. Jamaica coalition Coalition in German federal units that consists of (black) Christian democrats, (yellow) liberals, and Greens, so named because of the colors of Jamaica’s national flag. Jesuit order Official name is Society of Jesus, SJ; large order of Catholic priests, founded in 1534 in Spain, particularly active in fighting the Protestant Â�Reformation and later in Catholic education throughout Europe; Jesuits were sometimes powerful advisers to Â�conservative Catholic rulers; at the end of the 18th century the order was expelled from some countries and was then dissolved for some time by the Â�Vatican; Switzerland did not lift the national ban until 1973 by referendum. Jews A people and a religion, concentrated in European urban centers, but after the Middle Ages Jews were suppressed and forced to leave a number of Â�countries; suppression culminated in pogroms in the Russian Empire and in the German extermination of Jews in the Holocaust; observant Jews practice the religion called Judaism. job protection On the European continent it refers to government measures to protect employees from layoffs by Â�making layoffs subject to legal or other procedures; in Great Britain and the United States it refers to legal measures to protect employees from trade unions that enforce a union shop; also known as right-to-work measures.

754 |╇Glossary

Judaism Jewish religion based on the first five books of the biblical Old Testament (Torah); the religion is confined to Jews and is a minor religion in Europe; it dwindled in Europe because of the Holocaust and later mass emigration to Israel. judicial pyramid The hierarchical structure of national, regional and local courts in a country; a constitutional court is not always part of the regular judicial pyramid. judicial review The right of a constitutional court, or any other court, to invalidate laws that are not in accordance with the constitution; originally, the concept was not very widespread in Europe, though it is now common because of EU treaties. judiciary power Branch of government that concerns itself with solving legal issues between the other branches of government, between government and individuals, and between individuals or groups of individuals. jury trial Trial in which a (randomly) selected group of citizens decides the degree of liability in civil cases and guilty/not guilty in criminal cases; far less common in Europe than in the United States. Kartelldemokratie “Cartel democracy”; permanent participation of all major parties in the national government in Switzerland. Katyn Place in Russia where the Soviet Union executed more than 20,000 Polish army officers, intellectuals, and civil servants after it invaded the country in 1940, blaming Nazi Germany for the massacre; it was not until 1990 that Russia confessed guilt, and even then argued that it was a reprisal for some minor Polish mischief. While traveling to the 2010 commemoration by Poland and Russia, the Polish president and many other dignitaries were killed in a plane crash. Kemalism Leading Turkish national ideology introduced by the first Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; three of its basic principles are republicanism (as opposed to the traditional Turkish Empire), nationalism (national integration of all Turkish citizens), and secularism (strict separation between state and Islam, up to the point of laicism).



Glossary╇| 755

Keynesianism Preventing or mitigating economic business cycles by encouraging or restricting consumer demand (demand management) through taxation and other measures, allowing for some inflation; very popular in Europe until the mid-1970s, when stagflation made it less attractive, and supply-side economics took its place. KGB Committee of National Security, name of the communist Soviet secret police and intelligence agency from 1954 (after Stalin’s death) until the end of the Soviet Union; before that time it had several other names; its precursors under Stalin were responsible for the mass killings after the Great Purges and for the concentration camps of the Gulag Archipelago; also active in international espionage. kingdom Country with a hereditary king or queen as the head of state; the more general term for a country with a hereditary head of state is monarchy; there are seven kingdoms left in Europe: Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Klasse an sich Marxist term for the exploited laboring class as such, which has not yet reached awareness of its condition, that is, the stage of Klasse für sich. Klasse für sich Marxist term for the exploited laboring class that is aware of its common exploitation (class identity) and ready to act to end the exploitation; it has overcome the stage of Klasse an sich. Constructive vote of no confidence in Germany. Konstruktives Mißtrauensvotum Korean War The 1950–1953 war between North and South Korea, in which a number of European nations under the United Nations flag and US leadership assisted South Korea; these nations were Great Â�Britain, France, the Low Countries, Greece, and Turkey. Kreml or Kremlin Russian for “citadel”; many Russian towns have a kreml; the Moscow Kreml was the seat of the communist leaders of the Soviet Union, but nowadays it houses the presidential palace; the term is used as a shorthand for the Russian government.

756 |╇Glossary

Kyoto norm International ceilings of carbon dioxide emission per country and norms for its decrease; agreed upon at an international climate conference in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. labor market parties Scandinavian term for trade unions and employers’ associations that engage in collective bargaining; in other Germanic nations the term social partners is used. labor movement Large movement emerging in the second half of the 19th century after the spread of industrialization; it mainly consisted of manual workers but later also attracted office workers. It attempted to give this group more political clout and social rights, either by abolishing capitalism and capitalist-based democracy and imposing a proletariat-based dictatorship, as communists wanted, or by reforming capitalism by democratic means, as social democrats advocated labor union See trade union. laicism Strict separation between state and church, in which all references to religion and religious expressions are banned from the public sector; the term Â�especially applies to France, where laicism was introduced by the French Revolution, and later to Turkey in the form of Kemalism. laissez-faire “let it be”; French term for free-market capitalism without state interference. Federal unit in Germany. Land (pl., Länder) Latin Europe The European nations that speak a Latin language, except for Romania; the countries are France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Latin type of democracy Democratic political system with a relatively large distance between the leftist and rightist parts of the political spectrum, which to some extent blocks political bargaining and coalition building; it Â�prevails in the Latin European countries. law and order Basic values of conservatism, as means to offer security for all people. League of Nations Unsuccessful precursor to the United Nations, set up after World War I and seated in Geneva; it proved ineffectual in major conflicts and succumbed in the 1930s.



Glossary╇| 757

Lebensraum “living space”; German term denoting the German need to expand to the east for its growing population and industrial power; already in use in early 20th century and then used by the Nazis; since then used as a shorthand for attempts to annex other territories. Left, the The left side of the political spectrum, consisting of labor ideologies (communism, radical socialism, social democracy) and nowadays also of the green movement; the term is very common in Europe and used by protagonists and opponents; in the 19th century it was used for liberals. legislative power Branch of government whose approval is needed for all laws and other general rules in a political system; generally it is the parliament. legitimacy The feeling that those who make the rules do so rightfully, that the political system is a rightful one, or that the political community is a rightful one. Leningrad Name given to St. Petersburg after the death of Lenin in 1924 until 1991; the city had been called Petrograd since the beginning of World War I as a form of Russification. Leninism Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s version of Marxism, in the form of very authoritarian communism in which the Communist Party, as the vanguard of the proletariat, imposes strict labor discipline on all workers as a means to reach communism. liberal rights Rights of individual or group expression and activities to the same degree as those of other individuals or groups, and governmental protection from any governmental interference that goes beyond protection against harm due to abuse of the rights. liberal welfare state Type of welfare state with only very limited state provisions in the form of low-benefit Beveridgian social security; prevails in Great Britain and the United States; the other types are continental Â�welfare state, state-oriented welfare state, and Â�Central European welfare state. liberalism Ideology that stresses human liberty and Â�equality under the law; it emerged at the time of the Â�Enlightenment and as a political movement introduced democracy in Europe, though with limited voting rights.

758 |╇Glossary

libertarianism In Europe the term is used only for state abstention or very limited state rules with regard to ethical issues. liberté, égalité, fraternité Motto of the French Revolution: liberty, equality, brotherhood; the introduction of the liberal creed on the European continent. Lisbon Treaty EU Treaty signed in 2007, and in effect since December 2009, which introduced a partial Â�overhaul of EU decision-making structures and integrated the three EU branches in one supranational EU Â�organization; occasioned by the admission of 12 new member states in 2004 and 2007. lobbying In the United States refers to contacts between interest associations and individual members of Congress or of the executive power; in that form not very common in Europe because of the close links between political parties and specific interest Â�associations as well as party discipline. lobbying from outside Attempts to direct party focus to specific interests by members of interest associations who are not members of the party representation in the parliament; the opposite is lobbying from within. lobbying from within Attempts to direct party focus to specific interests by members of interest associations who are also members of the party representation in the parliament; the opposite is lobbying from outside. local autonomy Latitude for local decisions within the general framework of national laws; it varies a lot among the European nations. local financial resources Combination of local taxes and grants from the national or regional governments. local government Institution that exercises authority and enforces compliance with the national and local rules in a community under some form of control by the national government. logrolling Trading votes with other members of parliament in order to win a majority for one’s own proposals or amendments; in Europe logrolling is only common between parties, not between individual members of parliament, because of party discipline.



Glossary╇| 759

Low Countries The combination of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, also called Benelux countries after their customs union dating from 1944. lower house Popularly elected chamber or house of a parliament; in a bicameral parliament it is often more powerful than the upper house and bills are discussed here first and voted upon; if passed, the bill then ascends to the upper house for its consideration; in Â�Switzerland both houses can start their considerations at the same time. loyalty option Compliance with rules, even in case of rejection of the rules; see also want. Lutheranism Protestant religion founded by Martin Luther during the Reformation as a counterforce against the Â�Catholic Church; although he started it as a reformist movement within the church, it spread to northern Germany and Scandinavia, where national Lutheran Churches were established and still exist and form the largest branch of Protestantism; the direct relation between humble man and allpowerful God and very frequent and strict Bible reading are at the heart of its beliefs. Maastricht Treaty EU treaty signed in 1992 that introduced the single market, European Monetary Union (EMU) and the new name “European Union.” Mafia Criminal organization that exercises great power in southern Italy, partly because of close relations with local and regional politicians and the Catholic Church; nowadays the term “Russian Mafia” is also heard, consisting of very rich Russians who conduct (legal) economic activities outside Russia. Mahgreb The western part of North Africa, consisting of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, from where many people have emigrated to Europe; until decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s the territory was under French control. majoritarianism Democratic principle that decisions should be made by the majority rule. majority electoral system System of elections in which a majority of the votes decides the occupation of elective government posts; it actually denotes a system in which an absolute

760 |╇Glossary

majority is decisive, more votes for one option than for all others combined, but it is also used in a less strict sense, for a relative majority or plurality, that is, more votes for one option than for any other option; Great Britain is the only European country that has always applied this system; the opposite is proportional representation. majority government Government that enjoys the support of a Â�majority in the national parliament; very common under European parliamentarism; the opposite is minority government. majority rule System of democratic decision making in which a majority of the votes (either an absolute majority of 50 percent plus one or a relative majority or plurality, consisting of more votes for one option than for any other option) decides the approval of laws or other rules; the opposite is proportionalism. mani pulite “Clean hands”; Italian term for the criminal investigations of corruption in Italian politics in the early 1990s, which profoundly changed the Italian political landscape; as a result, two major parties were dissolved (the Christian Democratic Party and the Socialist Party) and several politicians committed suicide or fled the country; the corruption networks were also referred to as Tangentopoli (Bribeville). Marshall Plan aid Financial assistance by the United States for the reconstruction of Europe after World War II; it became an issue in Central Europe, which under Russian pressure was forced to refuse assistance. Marxism Dominant labor ideology, introduced by German philosopher and social scientist Karl Marx, that stresses the exploitation of the working class by the class of capitalists and the need for organized revolution to put an end to exploitation, as opposed to the anarchist spontaneous revolution; it came up in mid-19th century but around the turn of the 20th century it split into two large movements: revolutionary and dictatorial communism and democratic and reform-oriented social democracy. mass democracy Representative democracy with universal suffrage and ample opportunities for a great number of



Glossary╇| 761

people to participate in public debate and interest associations; developed much later in Europe than in the United States, and it developed particularly under pressure of social democracy. May Day May 1st, a public holiday in many European countries, either as a longstanding tradition or introduced by the labor movement to commemorate the struggle for the eight-hour working day, and in particular the 1886 Haymarket incident in Chicago; labor organizations sometimes still celebrate it with red flags and other manifestations. mayoralty Post and tasks of the local mayor, who is elected in most European nations and sometimes responsible to the city council. McDonaldization Term used for the creation of low-skilled temporary and part-time jobs in the 1970s; no longer used since the firm involved changed its recruitment and human resource management policies. media concentration Concentration of the ownership of mass media, both newspapers and television stations, in a few private hands; the most conspicuous example is Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s power over the commercial Italian TV stations. meritocracy Rule by people who deserve to rule due to a high level of education or experience. Metropolitan France The main territory of France in Europe, without overseas territories. Mezzogiorno Italian for midday; it refers to the less-developed and less democratic southern half of Italy. middle school Secondary school for all students in the relevant age group that teaches all learning subjects at differentiated levels; this is a Social Democratic ideal but has only been realized in a few countries; also called comprehensive school. military dictatorship Dictatorial political system that is controlled by the top of the army; not very common in Â�European Â�history because of the prevalence of absolutism; the latest examples in Europe were the Polish communist dictatorship in 1981 under a general and the Greek military junta under army colonels (1967–1974).

762 |╇Glossary

ministates The five tiny independent European states that are not real nations: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City. minimum wage Lowest wage rate that is paid to an employee per time unit (mostly per hour); in many European countries a sectoral or national minimum wage is fixed by law or by joint employer–trade union agreement. minority government Government that only enjoys the guaranteed support of a minority in the parliament and is forced to seek additional support for each of its bills; relatively common in Sweden. minority language A number of European countries have minority languages; the most spoken minority tongues are Kurdish in Turkey, with some 10 million speakers, and Catalan in Spain, with some 6 million. Mitbestimmung German for codetermination in the enterprise as it exists in Germany (employee representation in the supervisory council of a company). Mitteleuropa German for Central Europe, as it was traditionally defined, with Germany in the middle, setting it apart in between Great Britain and France to the west and Russia to the east. mobilization of bias Appealing to the public, in particular by dominant interests, in order to have political issues removed from the political agenda; such issues then become nondecisions. Molotov cocktail Bottle filled with explosives, first used by the Â�Finnish army against Soviet Russia, and named after the then Russian minister of foreign affairs Vyacheslav Molotov; later used in various Â�uprisings, such as the Hungarian 1956 revolt, but also by Â�terrorist groups. monarchy Country whose head of state is a hereditary king, queen, or lower-ranked aristocrat; there are seven kingdoms left in Europe: Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Â�Sweden; Luxembourg is a grand duchy under a grand duke; two of Europe’s ministates are princedoms: Liechtenstein and Monaco. Monnet Plan Plan proposed by the French businessman Jean Monnet and launched in 1945 regarding the



Glossary╇| 763

Â� monitoring of the German coal and steel Â�industry; precursor to the 1950 Schuman Declaration Â�regarding the foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). monopoly of physical One of the basic characteristics, if not the only one, force to define a state, in the meaning of the institution that exercises authority and enforces compliance with the binding rules in a nation. mortgage payment Tax deductibility of mortgage payment; its extent deduction is a recurrent political issue in some European countries because under progressive income tax systems it favors those with high incomes. motherland Term that is often used as a synonym for fatherland, or one’s country or region of birth or of national allegiance, especially in Russia (Mother Russia); also used under colonialism for the colonial power, as for instance motherland England for South Asia and motherland Spain for Latin America. motion Formal proposal that should be discussed during a meeting; also used for such proposals in national parliaments; motions can support or disapprove governmental policies or propose to oust the government (motion or vote of no confidence). muddling through Seeking pragmatic short-term solutions for Â�political problems without reference to grand theories or visions; especially common in Great Britain; also known as the trial-and-error policy style. multiculturalism Integrating the culture of the people who have lived in a country for centuries with that of new Â�immigrants into a new kind of open culture; a Â�common yet Â�contentious concept in Western Europe since the beginning of mass immigration in the 1960s. multiemployer bargaining The European term for collective bargaining between trade unions and employers’ associations; when it covers a whole economic branch or Â�economic sector it is called sector bargaining. multilevel governance Rule making at various hierarchical levels in which it is not always clear which level (supranational, national, regional, local) is decisive; especially used for the interplay of national and EU policy making.

764 |╇Glossary

multiparty system Political system in which more than two Â�political parties compete for parliamentary seats and in which one party only sometimes wins an Â�absolute majority of all seats; it prevails in continental Europe and often requires the formation of coalition cabinets. multiple voting rights Suffrage rights with more than one vote for a limited group of people, based on income, capital, or level of education; it existed in some European countries (e.g., Prussia, Sweden) in the 19th century. multipolar world The international situation in Europe before World War II, when a number of Great Powers dominated European politics; it was succeeded by the bipolar world of the Cold War. Munich Massacre Killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Munich Treaty The 1938 treaty in which Great Britain and France allowed Germany to invade and occupy parts of Czechoslovakia that were mainly inhabited by Â�Germans and integrate them into the Nazi Third Reich. Napoleonic Wars Wars in the early 19th century between France, which sought to spread liberalism and French rule under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and the rest of Europe. France was defeated in 1815, but not before spreading the influence of French liberalism in Europe. narrow coalition Coalition government that has just enough parties to form a majority, or is supported by a small majority in the national parliament. nation Country or other territorially defined unit in which all inhabitants are bound by common rules and most of the inhabitants feel like forming one (national) society and community; the term is often used as a synonym for “country,” as in United Nations. national anthem/ Official song of a nation, played at national (and national hymn international sports) events; the oldest is the Dutch “Wilhelmus,” dating from the Dutch revolt against Spain in the mid-16th century; the most famous European national anthem is “la Â�Marseillaise,” Â�written and adopted right after the French Revolution. national health service Government-supervised or controlled system of national health care insurance and health care



Glossary╇| 765

Â� provisions, which exists in a number of European countries; the British National Health Service is the most prominent example. national identity The combination of values that is common to a country; under the influence of Muslim immigration a number of European countries are now (desperately) attempting to define their national identity; since 2009, France has organized a nationwide debate on the topic. National Interest Hungarian tripartite council, in existence since 1988 Reconciliation Council and at times active in solving labor conflicts. national sovereignty International recognition of a country’s power to decide about its own affairs within the national boundaries; first applied in the 1648 Westphalia Peace Treaty. nationalism The feeling of belonging to one’s country as a national community, based on a common ethnicity, often in combination with a sense of superiority over other countries. nationalization Changing private enterprises into state-owned public enterprises; applied to public transport and other utilities (gas, water, electricity) until the EU-Â�instigated privatization wave that began in the 1980s. nationhood Founding a nation, sharing a sense of national community, or granting national citizen rights; in Europe it is often based on one national language but nationhood can also be based on values (e.g., the American Dream), on descent, or on a certain period of stay in a country after immigration. naturalization Acquiring a new nationality, either instead of or in addition to one’s original nationality, in which case the person enjoys a double nationality; a political issue in Western Europe because of the large influx of immigrants and political refugees. Nazism Totalitarian ideology that stresses total Â�subordination to the leader and international conquest, Â�justified by racial superiority over other peoples; the Nazi movement came to power in Germany in 1933, started World War II. and conducted the Holocaust; it was an extreme form of fascism.

766 |╇Glossary

nepotism Promoting friends or relatives to high posts or assisting them in other ways not open to others; common under the European dictatorships but also found in democracies; recently, sons and daughters of the French and Romanian presidents were catapulted to high posts. networking Frequent contacts between interest associations and members of parliament and/or the executive power; in Europe often formalized and involving some kind of selection by the national government; sometimes taking the form of tripartism or corporatism. Neuilly Peace Treaty The 1919 peace treaty after World War I between the Entente Powers and Bulgaria, which had to cede territory to Romania and Greece. neutrality Abstention from any interference in international conflicts; see also nonalignment; in World War I a number of European nations remained neutral, in World War II only a few, and in the Cold War also very few. New Europe Central European nations that recently joined the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and prefer strong US leadership in international contacts and a hard line in contacts with �Russia in order to guarantee European security after 40 years of communist domination; as opposed to Old Europe. New Labour Term used for the changes the British Labour Party and labor ideology underwent under the leadership of Tony Blair in the 1990s in the direction of less state intervention in the free-market economy and more focus on family values and individual responsibility. new social movement Loosely organized (grassroot) interest movements, mainly led by young people, that came up �outside the established political parties and interest �associations in Western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s; the movements focused especially on issues like peace and the environment or catered to groups that felt unrepresented, such as the feminist movement. Nice Treaty EU treaty signed in 2001 introducing a new EU structure in advance of the admission of new



Glossary╇| 767

member states; partly changed by the 2007 Lisbon Treaty. niqab Islamic dress that covers a woman’s whole body except for the eyes; the political issue in Europe is whether it is an expression of religion or part of female suppression; possibly to be banned by some Western European nations; an even stricter variant is the burqa. nobility Large landowners in European history who as a class attempted to gain political power at the cost of royal power; their financial and power base consisted of dependent peasants on their holdings who also had to perform military functions; includes the aristocracy and lower-ranked landowners. nomenklatura Russian for “list of names”; list of high posts in the communist Soviet Union for which candidates were strictly scrutinized by the Communist Party; the incumbents enjoyed material and other advantages. nonalignment Term used for countries that do not belong to any of the major power blocs in the world; the term was used especially for countries that remained neutral during the Cold War, often in combination with an active role in international politics; applied especially to Third World countries, but communist Yugoslavia was one of the initiators. noncontributory social Social policies that provide benefits to citizens who program did not make contributions to these policies; an example is U.S. welfare; in Europe these programs are also covered by the term social security, as are contributory social programs. nondecision Political issue that is removed from the political agenda before it can reach the stage of decision making, especially used when dominant interests are able to remove it from the agenda by the Â�mobilization of bias. nongovernmental Organization that is often subsidized by national organization (NGO) government but functions relatively autonomous from the government and may also function as an interest association. nonproliferation Term that was especially used during the Cold War for the limitation of nuclear weapons to the

768 |╇Glossary

few countries that already possessed them (United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, China), in order to reduce the risks of their use by national rulers in regional conflicts, especially in the Middle East and South Asia. nonunion sector Economic sectors in the United States in which labor unions do not play a role in collective bargaining; the term is not common in Europe because of the prevailing system of nationwide and sector-level collective bargaining. Nordic Council International council that has promoted free trade and other forms of cooperation between the Â�Scandinavian countries and Iceland since 1953; has become less active since Denmark, Sweden, and Finland joined the EU. Nordic countries The group of Scandinavian countries—Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, plus Iceland; they have formed the Nordic Council. North Atlantic Drift Stream of warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to the European Atlantic Coast, where it causes higher winter temperatures and a more moderate maritime climate generally than in similar latitudes in the United States; Eastern Scandinavia, the Â�Baltic nations, and Russia are too far off to enjoy its effects. North Atlantic Treaty Organization of mutual defense against attacks Organization (NATO) by communist countries; founded in 1949 under American leadership; it actually amounted to a US guarantee of Free Europe’s defense; since the demise of the Soviet Union NATO was extended to other countries and became active outside Europe and in fields other than international security. nuclear energy Energy based on fossil fuel in the form of uranium; major problems are safety due to enormous deadly radiation and problems of waste disposal, since radiation continues for thousands of years; for these reasons a number of European countries have abandoned nuclear energy; in Western Europe France is the major producer. nuclear missile Rocket carrying nuclear bombs, used as a means of deterrence, especially during the Cold War, in the



Glossary╇| 769

form of long-range intercontinental missiles and short-range cruise missiles. nuclear weapons Nuclear bombs carried by missiles and air bombers; five countries openly brandish such weapons: the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, and China; during the Cold War several international agreements tried to reduce the stock of nuclear arms; in spite of all efforts of nonproliferation other non-European countries are currently developing such weapons. occupation zone After World War II, Germany (and for some time also Austria) was divided into four occupation zones: American in the south, Russian in the east, British in the northwest, and a small French zone in the west; the division was ended when the three western Allies integrated their zones into the Â�Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the Â�Russian zone became the German Democratic Republic (communist East Germany) in 1948–1949; only the division of Berlin in Allied sectors was maintained. October Revolution Other name for the 1917 Russian Revolution, also named the November Revolution because Russia had a different calendar at that time. oil crisis Economic recessions in 1974 and 1979–1980 due to the large increase of the price of crude oil by the oilproducing countries, in particular the Arab countries in the Middle East. old-age pension See pension system. Old Europe The countries that belonged to Free Europe during the Cold War and prefer compromise in international relations, most of all with Russia, in order not to endanger European security and trade relations, in particular with regard to oil and gas imports. Old World Term used for Europe, Africa, and Asia, which were known to Europeans before the 1492 discovery of America; the Americas then became the New World; in practice the term Old World is mainly used for Europe and New World for North America; later the term “Third World” was introduced, referring to the developing nations in the Old and the New World.

770 |╇Glossary

oligarch Originally a member of an oligarchy; nowadays the term is mainly used for Russian businesspeople who became extremely rich in the course of the Â�Russian transition from communism to capitalism, for instance by buying underpriced state enterprises and by means of corruption. oligarchy A closely knit group of autocratic rulers, also used to refer to the top of not very democratic political parties in Europe; first applied to the German Social Democratic Party by a critic. Olympic Games A number of Olympic Games became international political issues: the 1936 Games in Berlin were used, in vain, by the Nazis to show the superiority of the Aryan race; the Netherlands, Spain, and Â�Switzerland boycotted the 1956 games in Â�Melbourne because of the Soviet invasion in Â�Hungary and some Middle East countries did so because of the Suez Crisis; the 1972 games in Munich were interrupted by the killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists; most of the Free World boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan; as a reprisal, the communist countries boycotted the 1984 games in Los Angeles. ombudsman Independent state official who handles citizens’ complaints against the government or private enterprise; originated in the Scandinavian countries but imitated in a number of other countries, with ombudsmen for such categories of people as children, women, homosexuals, and ethnic minorities. The idea or ideal that all speakers of a language One Language → One Nation should be united in one country; the idea especially spread in the 19th century, to some extent as a reaction to efforts of imperial rulers to impose their imperial language. The idea or ideal that all citizens in a nation One Nation → One Language should speak the same language; idea that was popular among imperial rulers in the 19th century as a form of suppression, but also in Revolutionary France, where local languages (patois) were suppressed as an expression of equality and the denial of specific group interests.



Glossary╇| 771

one-party government Government that consists of one party only; oneparty governments prevail in Great Britain but are also common in the Scandinavian countries. one-party system Political system in which one party is dominant over all others and often wins a majority of all parliamentary seats; it is almost always nondemocratic and can exist only by banning representation by other political parties; the system operated in communist and fascist dictatorships. open frontier Space for immigration within a country, such as the American West in the 19th century; European countries did not have an internal open frontier, and migration mainly consisted of people settling in colonies outside Europe or emigrating to the United States. open market of influence All individuals, groups, and organizations have equal opportunities, though not necessarily equal resources, of putting forward their demands to the government; a typical American idea, not very popular in Europe because of the probable prevalence of business in such an open market and the spread of corporatism and tripartism, which allegedly provide more equal opportunities for influence for business and labor. opposition party Political party that does not participate in the government or support the government. opting out Choosing not to join others in engaging in a common activity or initiating a common policy without giving up membership in that group. Opus Dei Latin for “work of God”; a Catholic organization, mainly consisting of laypeople under the leadership of Catholic bishops, that preaches Catholic faith; especially active in Spain, where it was founded in 1928. Orange Revolution Wave of protest marches in the Ukrainian capital Kiev against fraud in the November 2004 presidential elections; it resulted in new elections with a different outcome. organic analogy Comparing society with the human body, with “higher” organs, in particular the head, giving orders to the “lower” organs; especially popular among European conservatives.

772 |╇Glossary

Organisation de l’Armée “Organization of the Secret Army”; French sécrète (OAS) resistance movement against the independence of Algeria; after the 1962 independence the Â�organization continued for some time as a terrorist organization in France. Organization for Economic Organization for mutual economic consultation Cooperation and and coordination, founded in 1961 and seated in Development (OECD) Paris; membership is confined to developed democracies. Organization for Security Organization that was founded in 1975, during and Cooperation (OSCE) the Cold War, to improve Free West Europe and communist East Europe relations and promote international cultural exchange; its modest role declined after the Cold War. orthodox In combination with communist or other nondemocratic ideologies refers to being very strict and dogmatic in belief. Orthodox Church Christian Church in Central Europe and parts of Central Europe that split off from the Catholic Church in 1054 and has been divided into national Orthodox Churches; they have retained the rituals and symbols of Catholicism; one of the differences with the Catholic Church is the right of Orthodox priests to marry. Ossies People in East Germany, until 1989 under Â�communist Russian control; the term is often used pejoratively, especially by people in the western part of Germany (Wessies) when Ossies complain about their lower standards of living, while receiving Â�billions of financial support from the western part. Ottoman Empire Turkish Empire that was founded in the Â�Middle Ages and conquered the Balkan Peninsula, where it retreated in the course of the modern era; it Â�succumbed at the end of World War I and was Â�succeeded in 1922 by the Turkish Republic. outlaw Person who is declared to be a danger to her or his own government or any other government and may be killed without legal sanctions by these governments; the most famous outlaw in European history was Martin Luther after his excommunication by the Catholic Church; recently, European artists have



Glossary╇| 773

been declared outlaws by Muslim Arab governments as alleged threats to Islam. output The decisions about rules that are the result of politics; sometimes but not always output is a response to input by those subject to the binding rules. overload A too large flow of information (volume stress) or contradictory information (content stress) that burdens the political system and may hinder its functioning. overseas territories Remaining parts of colonial empires or other nations outside the nation’s European mainland that continue to be part of the nation, up to being fully integrated in the nation; applies especially to Denmark, France, Portugal, and Spain. overt conflict Conflict that is publicly recognized as such by the contestants; it need not be limited to violence but may characterize any relation, for instance, between the United States and the European Union about import tariffs. pacification Voluntary agreement not to discuss contentious issues in order to be able to reach agreement on other issues, for instance, the pacification of Â�religious differences in religiously split societies. Padania Italian term for the Po Valley, recently popularized by the Italian party Lega Nord (Northern League), which aims at autonomy for the region. Papal State Independent state in central Italy ruled by the Â�Catholic pope; it disappeared in 1870 when Italy was united; the Vatican State is a remnant of the Papal State. papism Strict compliance with the rules of the Catholic Church, even stronger than clericalism; the term is mainly used by anticlerical opponents to denounce Catholicism. Paris Treaty the 1815 Peace Treaty after Napoleon’s defeat by Great Britain, Prussia, and other countries at the Battle of Waterloo; the treaty definitely ended the Napoleonic Wars. Paritätische Kommission Austrian Council for national contacts between trade unions and employers’ associations and for tripartism; one of the icons of corporatism.

774 |╇Glossary

parliament Elected representative body that decides about laws and other rules for a country as the legislative power; in almost all European countries it is the supreme power of the country. parliamentarism Democratic political system in which the executive power is responsible to the parliament and may be removed from office by the parliament; it is common to almost all European democracies; the Â�opposite is presidentialism. parliamentary committee Small group of members of parliament, often party specialists in a policy field, who discuss bills with or without the responsible minister in order to prepare the bills for the consideration at the meeting of the full house. parliamentary monarchy Democratic political system in which the head of state is a hereditary monarch who may enjoy some executive power, but whose power is limited by parliamentarism; royal actions need consent by the executive power, which is then responsible for them to the parliament. parliamentary republic Democratic political system in which the head of state is a directly or indirectly elected president who may enjoy some executive power, but whose power is limited by parliamentarism; presidential actions need consent by the executive power, which is then responsible for them to the parliament. participatory democracy Form of representative democracy with more Â�formal opportunities for citizen influence than voting Â�representatives into office, for instance, in the form of a referendum or a citizens’ jury. party allegiance first Party views and interests prevail over the views of interest associations; a common principle in Â�European politics. party alliance Combination of political parties that cooperate in election campaigns or on a more permanent basis; especially popular in Central Europe, where electoral legislation grants special rights to such alliances. party delegate Member of parliament who complies with party discipline and votes in line with the party’s position on political issues and legislation.



Glossary╇| 775

party discipline Obligation for a party’s members of parliament to vote according to the line set by the party’s members of parliament or the party leadership. party functions Activities political parties perform in democratic political system, such as aggregating interests, selecting office holders, and more generally, building a link between the people and the government. party funding Providing funds for the activities of political parties. In Europe, the national government often finances part of the parties’ activities. party list List of candidates for political office provided by political parties; in Europe most voters vote for the first person on a party list, and the chances to be elected for the other people on the list depend on the total share of votes for the party; the American term is party ticket. party organization The structure of a political party, with a role for the party leadership and meetings of party members; most European parties have a standing organization, which not only is active during election campaigns but also conducts activities between elections. party platform The program of a political party that contains all its promises to the voters; in Europe the term is hardly used, and the terms party program or party ideology are used instead. party press Press that is closely linked to a political party and subordinate to party decisions; it is found primarily in Europe, especially in Catholic, communist, and social democratic parties, but it has almost disappeared. party ticket In Europe, the party ticket is mostly called party list. path dependency Powerful constraints posed by the existing institutions and provisions for any attempt to change Â�existing political or social conditions; especially used for changes in welfare-state regimes. patois French regional languages or dialects that have been suppressed since the French Revolution as a means to promote equality under la République, without special group interests. patriarch Leading bishop in national Orthodox Churches; also high-ranking bishop in the Catholic Church; the

776 |╇Glossary

term is used more generally for any elderly autocratic male leader. patriarchy Family in which the father exercises authority over his wife and children; also used for a society that is dominated by men in powerful positions and by a male-oriented culture; major target of feminism. patriotism The feeling of belonging to one’s country as a national community, based on democratic values, as is the case in the United States, by way of contrast with Europe’s ethnically based nationalism. Le patronat; les patrons French name for employers and the combination of employers’ associations; suggests more distance in relations with the trade unions than the term “employers.” pay as you go Term used for unfunded pension system. Les Pays Bas “The Low Countries”; but in contrast to the English term Low Countries the French word only applies to the Netherlands, not to the combination of the Netherlands and Belgium (and Luxembourg) peace movement New social movement that came up in Western Europe as a reaction to the nuclear arms race of the Cold War and to the Vietnam War; also used in a wide sense for any antiwar movement; the movement subsided at the end of the Cold War. peaceful coexistence Term for the Cold War relationship between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, after the Soviet invasion in Hungary in 1956, in which US noninterference reflected the recognition by the United States of the factual division of Europe in Free West Europe and communist East Europe. penal code Criminal law, as codified in legal codes under civil law; introduced by the French Revolution and codified under Napoleon, it spread to other Â�European nations. pension gap Loss of some pension benefits because of a change of employer, economic sector, or country of residence; seriously blocks the freedom of movement for employees in the EU and affects international mobility as well.



Glossary╇| 777

pension system Benefits for elderly citizens, either Â�contribution based (funded pension system) or tax based (unfunded pension system). People’s Commissar Term used for government ministers in the Soviet Union between the Russian Revolution and the end of World War II; many of them were killed during the Great Purges of the 1930s. People’s Republic Official term for the Central European countries under communism; not used by the Soviet Union, which officially was a Socialist Republic. perestroika Campaign to reconstruct communist structures in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev, in combination with glasnost, leading unintentionally to the breakdown of communist rule in Eastern and Central Europe in the late 1980s. periphery Regions in a country that are less developed than the leading regions or get less attention from the national government; the term is mostly used for far-off rural regions; the opposite is center. permanent representative Official national representative at the EU who Â�carries on intergovernmental negotiations between sessions of the Council of Ministers. permanent revolution Idea promoted by Russian communist Leon Â�Trotsky that the development of communism in Russia should wait until the revolution in other countries, which would be militantly promoted everywhere; denounced by Joseph Stalin in his idea of revolution from above, which would result in socialism in one country. personality cult Cult of total admiration for and obedience to a national leader, in particular refers to Stalin worship in the Soviet Union; denounced by his successor in 1956 as part of de-Stalinization; Romania under Â�communism also had a strong personality cult. personalization Increasing prominence of individual Â�personalities rather than political parties in election campaigns and in politics generally; also called Americanization. petrograd Russified name for St. Petersburg between 1914 (beginning of World War I) and 1924 when the city

778 |╇Glossary

was renamed Leningrad after Lenin who had died in that year. pied noir “Black foot,” name for French settlers in colonial Algeria; the term became internationally known after Algerian independence in 1962, when hundreds of thousands of them returned to France, where they had problems integrating. pillar (1) Group or bloc in a society which has its own political and social organizations; see pillarization. (2) Between 1992 and 2007, the EU term for combinations of EU policy fields. pillarization Segmentation of society into various groups or blocs, each with its own political and social organizations, and sometimes even its own institutions, that execute policies for the group or bloc; it was typical of Germanic Europe but has declined. pipeline Oil and gas pipelines, in particular from oil- and gas-producing regions in Russia and the Caucasus to Western Europe; disputes about the division of benefits between oil-producing and oil-transmitting countries have caused international conflicts in Europe, for instance between Russia and Ukraine. planned economy Communist name for a communist economy in which all production was centrally planned and all factories had to observe minimum production Â�quotas; also called command economy. pluralism Open market for influencing the government for all individuals, groups, and organizations without any restrictions imposed by the government; Europeans are more skeptical about the possibilities of such an open market than Americans; the opposite is corporatism. plurality (1) Relative, not absolute majority of the votes that decides the occupation of elective government posts; see plurality electoral system. (2) Term for a variety of social and political groups and organizations in democratic society, as a feature of democratic civil society and democratic politics. plurality electoral system System of elections in which a relative majority of the votes decides the occupation of elective



Glossary╇| 779

government posts, that is, more votes for one candidate than for any other option. plutocracy Rule by the rich; European critics use the term for the American democracy, where power allegedly is in the hands of the rich. pogrom Originally mainly used for outbursts of anti-Jewish terror in Russia around 1900, but since then used in a wider sense for all anti-minority acts of terrorism. polarization Stressing divergence with respect to a number of important values and goals among individuals, groups, or organizations that still need to have contact about one or more other values or goals; the term is especially used for a large political distance and wide variations in interests between the leftist and the rightist part of the political spectrum and their organizations, but it is also used in a wider sense for any great differences in interests between political groups or organizations. Polder Model Dutch combination of relatively smooth corporatism aimed at improving national competitiveness and high labor standards; it enjoyed some popularity in the 1990s. policy Complex of decisions and rules on one specific area of national concern. policy style Combination of the way in which policy is �constructed and the contents of that policy. polis Ancient Greek term for the local or regional community; origin of the word politics, meaning ruling the community. politburo Top decision-making body in communist regimes, consisting of a small group of people under the secretary-general of the party. political action Committee that distributes some funding for committee (PAC) elections in the United States; PACs are not found in Europe because of the absence of restrictions on private funding of election campaigns. political agenda In a wider sense the term refers to flow of �information, in which political topics pass through a sequence of stages before they become the subject of decision making and have to overcome various barriers between all stages (the stages are want,

780 |╇Glossary

demand, issue, decision, and implementation); in a narrower sense the term refers to the stages of issues and decisions when topics are debated in public. political assassination Killing of a political leader out of discontent with her or his policies; one of the most prominent political murders in Europe was the killing of Sweden’s prime minister Olof Palme in 1986; terrorists also engaged in political murders in Europe, Â�killing indiscriminately political leaders and ordinary people. political community A number of people who share the feeling that they belong together and should be bound by one set of rules. political investiture Appointment of top civil servants on the basis of their political affiliation, for instance in proportion to the strength of the political parties in the parliament or as part of a spoils system. political opportunity A political system’s openness and responsiveness structures to demands that are pressed by groups outside established political organizations; especially used for loosely organized new social movements. political prisoner Individual who is detained for criticizing the ruling regime; in Europe the communist and Nazi regimes had large numbers of political prisoners, but many of them were killed with or without (sometimes mock) due process; other fascists also had political prisoners; nowadays there are only political prisoners in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. political socialization Imbuing children or adult citizens with the elements (e.g., ethnicity or values) that form the base of the nation and with the nation’s political Â�ideals; in Europe this is less explicit than in the United States, as many nations are language-based. political spectrum The array of all political ideologies that serve as the base of political groupings, distinguished on the basis of two criteria: the attitude toward the social issue (known as the economic issue in American terms) and toward ethical issues (known as social issues in American terms). political strike Strike against the national or local government aimed at changing government policies or bringing



Glossary╇| 781

down the government; relatively common in Latin Europe. political system Politics regarded as a cycle of information, consisting of input to the decision makers, conversion of input into output by the decision makers, and feedback about the output by the people who are subject to the decisions. politicization When individuals, groups, or organizations that are unable or unwilling to solve the issue by mutual agreement put contentious or problematic issues on the political agenda, for instance, when labor unions seek legislation in case business does not want to compromise. politics The making and execution of binding decisions for a group or society; it often evokes disputes and conflict because of opposing interests of individuals and groups. poll tax Flat-rate individual tax not dependent on income or wealth; popular tax until the introduction of income tax. pope Head of the Catholic Church and head of state of the Vatican State in Rome; serves a lifetime term and is elected by the cardinals, the highest level of bishops of the Catholic Church. popular will Common will of all members in a community, highlighted by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau; influential in the French Revolution and later abused by fascism and Nazism as the dictatorial expression of the popular will by the dictator. populism Unlike the United States, where populism was a rural and small-town protest movement, in Europe it is a political ideology that stresses the unity of a nation and the need to follow a leader in order to remove the powerful elite and restore unity; prevails especially in extreme right movements. populist party Political party with a populist ideology and in which the party leader dominates the party organization and the views it expresses; the term is mostly used for extreme right parties that promote one single issue. pork barrel Securing tangible benefits for one’s own constituency by members of parliament; not very common

782 |╇Glossary

in Europe because of party discipline and the electoral system of proportional representation. positive action European term for affirmative action, denoting �specific rights for special groups in order to create more equality, mostly as a compensation for past suffering or repression. postcommmunist Term denotes either elements of Central and Eastern European society and politics after the demise of communism or movements that claim to be the successors of communist organizations but have often adopted democratic ideologies. postmaterialism Shift from economic and social concerns to nonmaterial ethical issues in the postwar generations in the United States and Western Europe; this was particularly apparent in the 1960s. potential conflict Conflict that is not yet publicly recognized as such by the contestants, but in which the views are so divergent that it will probably result in overt conflict. pound sterling National currency of Great Britain, one of the bases of the functioning of the London City as international banking center. poverty trap Living under longstanding poverty conditions that increase social isolation because of the inability to make ends meet over time and the need to cut all nonfood expenses. power Relationship between two or more actors in which one individual, group, or organization is able to induce another or others to do something the other(s) would not otherwise do based on the threat or expectation of extremely severe penalties; it is a stronger form of influence. power balance Relation between two or more individuals, groups, organizations, or countries that have more or less equal power, which prevents domination by one of them; in some democracies this was characteristic of the relation between the legislative and the executive power; also characteristic of power politics, the 19th-century international politics in Europe between the Great Powers.



Glossary╇| 783

power degree The rate of compliance with power; the power degree of governments with respect to taxation rules is often lower than the one over traffic rules, for example. power extent The number of people to which power applies, for instance all citizens in a country or all citizens in a part of a country in the case of a separatist movement. power monopoly Concentration of almost all power in one person, group, organization, or government branch. power politics The interplay of the European Great Powers until their demise in World War II and the rise of the two superpowers; main aim of power politics was to maintain or extend national power in international politics, often resulting in some kind of power balance. power resource Material or nonmaterial value, such as money, knowledge, sexual appeal, and the threat of physical violence, that helps an individual or organization to exercise power over others. power scope The range of activities to which power applies, for instance employee behavior during work hours. power span Another term for power scope or power extent. Prague Spring Popular movement in Prague, the capital of communist Czechoslovakia, in 1968; it was supported or perhaps initiated by the Communist Party but was soon crushed by military interference of the communist Warsaw Pact countries. préfect State supervisor of a département in France; until 1982 it referred to the head of the département. premier “The first”; French term; in some other European countries (not in France) shorthand for prime minister. president Nonhereditary head of state, elected either by the parliament or by the people; in Europe often not very powerful because power is concentrated in the prime minister. presidente In Spain term used for the prime minister (presidente del gobierno), while the king is the head of state. presidential republic Political system in which the head of state is Â�nonhereditary and elected by the parliament or

784 |╇Glossary

the people, and in which the president is also the Â�political leader of the country, as is the case in the United States. presidentialism Political system in which the president, as the executive power, is not responsible to the parliament and cannot be removed by it; the opposite is parliamentarism. pressure group Popular term for interest association. primary Nominating election within the political party of the party nominee for political office, who will compete with candidates from other parties in general elections; only in a few European countries and parties are party members allowed to compose the party list by means of a system of voting within the party. prime minister Leader of the executive power though never head of state; in almost all European countries the prime minister is the most powerful person of the nation, because most heads of state have mainly ceremonial functions, except in presidential democratic systems. private education Schools that are privately financed; not very important in Europe, except in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. private sphere The organizations and relations between individuals and organizations that are to some extent beyond the scope of binding rules. privatization Changing state-owned public enterprises into private companies; in Central and Eastern Europe this was a major economic and political development after the breakdown of communism; in the EU it applied to public transport and other utilities (gas, water, electricity) under the EU-instigated privatization wave that began in the 1980s. pro-choice groups Political groups that defend the woman’s right to opt for abortion; the term is uncommon in Europe, because there are hardly any such single-issue groups in Europe; the feminist movement and leftist parties, including social democracy, are involved. progressive As opposed to conservative, the term has two meanings in Europe: being in favor of extensive social state intervention in the free market and being in

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Glossary╇| 785

favor of very limited state or church rules pertaining to ethical issues. progressive tax Tax plan under which the higher the income, the higher the tax rate; the opposite is a regressive tax; in Europe income tax is often progressive. prohibition Ban on the sale of (typically strong) alcoholic beverages; in the United States it occurred between 1920 and 1933; in Europe it was in place for some time in Scandinavian countries and Iceland, but all attempts to impose a ban on liquor have been given up in Europe. proletariat The working class, in particular the manual working class; the term was especially used by labor ideologies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. pro-life groups Political groups that demand a ban on abortion; the term is uncommon in Europe, because there are hardly any such single-issue groups in Europe; the Catholic Church and other religious groups are involved. proliferation Spread from small numbers into large numbers; the term is especially used for the spread of nuclear weapons; attempts have been made to prevent profliferation by means of international nonproliferation agreements. proportional representation Electoral system in which the number of parliamentary seats that the parties win in elections is roughly proportional to the number of votes they got; it contrasts with the majority and plurality electoral systems; proportional representation prevails on the European continent. proportionalism Democratic principle that elections should be based on the electoral system of proportional representation and political decisions should take into account proportionality. proportionality Allocation or distribution of any values or goods to a group of people on the basis of the number of people in the group or the numbers of votes for the group; common on the European continent. prostitution Paid sexual services, more accepted in Europe, where in some countries it is legal, than in the United States; partly concentrated in red-light �districts of big cities.

786 |╇Glossary

protectionism Protection of national production by means of subventions or by imposing trade barriers on foreign imports. Protestantism Christian religions that stress the value of Bible reading; founded in the 16th century; there are three major variants: Lutheranism, Calvinism, and the Anglican Church; all of them are national churches and they prevail in Great Britain and the northern part of Germanic Europe. province Common name in Europe for regional, yet not federal units; when there are two levels of regional government, provinces are often the lower level. provincialism Stressing the interests of regional units; also used for a narrow world view, confined to mostly rural or small-town interests. provisional government Mostly used for a government established between the fall of a dictatorship or the end of war and the first democratic elections; in that sense used in almost all European nations at the end of World War II or the end of fascist or communist dictatorship. Prussia Largest of the German states, one of the Great Powers in European politics during the 18th and 19th centuries; core of the German Empire that was founded in 1871; Prussia was abolished by the Nazis and later by the Allied Powers at the end of World War II. psychiatric clinic Under post-Stalinist communism, dissidents were no longer tortured and killed but were often imprisoned or sent to psychiatric clinics to be brainwashed, a practice that has survived the demise of communism in Russia. public broadcasting Television station in public hands and financed by station public means that may or may not be under strict government control; Great Britain’s BBC is an example of a relatively independent public broadcasting station. public debt The total debt of all governments (national, regional, and local) in a country; often expressed as a percentage of gross national product (GNP); in most Â�European countries public debt is less than 60 percent of GNP, which is also the limit for Â�European Monetary Union (EMU) members.



Glossary╇| 787

public education Schools that are funded and controlled by local, regional. or national government. public interest Common interest of a society, which most political movements and parties claim to serve. public-interest group Interest association that promotes the democratization of political life in the United States; some of them explicitly promote a reduction of the influence of big business; rare in Europe, where opposition parties perform the function of calling for more democracy. public sphere The organizations and relations among individuals, groups, and organizations that are more or less directly and completely covered by binding rules. puppet regime Regime that is totally dependent on the regime of another country (as was the case with communist Central Europe) or on a powerful group or organization within the country, for instance the army. purchasing power parity A form of gross domestic product that takes into (PPP) account the value of the national currency and the cost of living in a country; used as a measure of the average inhabitant’s wealth. purple coalition Coalition dominated by (red) social democrats and (blue) conservative liberals in the Netherlands, 1994–2002; it was unusual in that it didn’t include the Christian democrats. putsch Other term for a coup d’etat, mostly used for a Â�military coup d’etat. Quai d’Orsay Amongst others the seat of the French ministry of foreign affairs; shorthand for French foreign policy. qualified majority Other term for supermajority: larger majority than 50 percent plus one; for instance, a two-thirds majority, in democracies sometimes necessary for constitutional amendments; see also qualified majority vote (QMV). qualified majority vote EU term for the intricate system of voting in (QMV)  intergovernmental EU bodies to guarantee some kind of power balance between the larger and smaller member states. Quatorze Juillet Fourteenth of July, French national holiday to commemorate the storming of the Bastille, the beginning of the French Revolution.

788 |╇Glossary

question hour Weekly or daily meeting of parliament with one or more cabinet ministers in which all kinds of questions can be asked and topics can be raised. Quirinale One of the hills on which Rome is situated and the site of the palace of the Italian president; short term for presidential politics in Italy. racial gerrymandering Constructing or changing voting districts (constituencies) in the United States (gerrymandering) in ways that facilitate nonwhites, and blacks in particular, to win a majority in one or more constituencies in order to compensate for past racist gerrymandering; very uncommon in Europe because of the electoral system of proportional representation. racism Ideology that claims superiority of one race over others; one of the ingredients of Nazism; in the form of ethnic superiority also a part of recent rightist extremism. racist gerrymandering Constructing or changing voting districts (constituencies) in the United States (gerrymandering) in ways that prevented nonwhites, and blacks in particular, from winning a majority in one or more constituencies, later to some extent compensated for by racial gerrymandering; very uncommon in Europe because of the electoral system of proportional representation. rapprochement “bringing together again”; French term denoting, in particular, the closer and more cooperative contacts between France and Germany after World War II, the last of three wars in 70 years. recall elections Recall elections to remove elected officials before the end of their term do not exist in Europe; elections before the term has ended take place in the form of snap elections. Reconquista Spanish term for the reconquest of Spain from Muslim rulers during the Middle Ages by the Reyes Católicos; it was completed in 1492 when the last Muslim stronghold, Granada, was taken. Red Army The armed forces of communist Russia, set up by Leon Trotsky in the Civil War right after the Russian Revolution; the term was no longer used after World War II and was replaced by Soviet Army.



Glossary╇| 789

redistricting Changing the size of constituencies or district border; not a very contentious issue because almost all districts on the continent are multimember districts, whose number of seats in parliament can be adapted to changes in population size without changing the district borders; in Great Britain, changes are proposed by a nonpartisan commission. red-light district Urban quarter where prostitution is concentrated, often with women sitting in windows under red lights; common in a number of cities of Germanic Europe. Reds Term used for communists or in a broader meaning for all labor ideologies and movements because of their red flags and banners; the opposite “blue” is hardly ever used. referendum Popular vote on a specific issue in which the outcome influences or may even be binding for the decision makers; in Europe national referendums are common only in Italy and Switzerland, though they are increasing in other countries for EU affairs. Reformation The emergence of protest movements within the Catholic Church against church policies in the early 16th century, resulting in separate Protestant Christian Churches, in particular Lutheranism and Calvinism. reformism Variant of Marxism, developed by Frenchman Jean Jaurès and others, that seeks a more egalitarian society through social reforms by democratic means, not by revolution; one of the sources of inspiration of social democracy. regime The nature of the political system and the constitutional rules that pose constraints on the nature of decision makers and the content of the decisions, for instance, in a democratic regime; more popularly, the term is also used for the leader or the group of leaders in a dictatorship, for instance the Belarus regime. region Term in France (region) and Italy (regione) for regional units, common in all European countries, and sometimes expressed in regional political parties. regional government Institution that exercises authority and enforces compliance with the national and regional rules in

790 |╇Glossary

a region under some form of control by the national government; the latitude of decision making varies a lot among the European nations, especially between federal and unitary nations. regionalism Promoting regional interests, strongly developed in many European countries, even the smaller ones, and sometimes culminating in federalism. regressive tax Tax to which applies the principle that the higher the income, the lower the tax; indirect tax, in particular on foodstuffs, is often regressive. Reichstag Seat of the German parliament in Berlin, burned by the Nazis but recently restored and now one of Berlin’s landmarks. religion The three Christian religions (Catholicism, Â�Protestantism, and the Orthodox Churches) have been the dominant religions in Europe; Islam and Judaism (the Jewish faith) have been minor religions. religious right Conservative Protestant movement in the United States based on references to the Bible; it is almost unknown in Europe, where Catholicism is more to the right than Protestantism; the only examples are small Christian Democratic movements in Â�Scandinavia and the Netherlands. Renaissance Period of great change in culture and the arts, originating in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, as a rebirth (in French: renaissance) of classical ideals in culture and the arts; focused more than before on human individuality, scientific progress, and discoveries. representative democracy Democratic decision making by means of competitive elections for the people’s vote by candidates or groups of candidates for political office, as representative of the people. republic Political system in which the head of state is nonhereditary, is elected by the parliament or the people, but need not be the head of the government; most European nations are republics, as is the United States; in the 17th and 18th centuries “the Republic” was the name for the Netherlands after it officially gained its independence from Spain in 1648 and became a republic (without a president).



Glossary╇| 791

La République The “Republic”; French term for their republic, which contains the French Revolution notions of liberté, égalité, fraternité, and for that reason rejects special rights for religious or language groups. reputational method Trend in community power studies, started in the 1950s, on the distribution of power in local U.S. communities as measured by means of questionnaires and interviews of local experts; the outcome of that research was the reputation of power, that is, the power people believed a leader had, which could be at variance with the actual power of political leaders and others. residual welfare state Welfare state of last resort; see liberal welfare state. reunification Ending the division of Germany into democratic West Germany and communist East Germany in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. revanchism Idea and behavior to take revenge in the form of dealing a blow or undoing a war loss; especially used for German ideas after World War I, reinforced and executed by the Nazis by invading France and later also Russia. revisionism Variant of Marxism, developed by German Eduard Bernstein and others, that gives up the ideal of a revolution and sees opportunities of a more egalitarian society through social reforms by democratic means; a major source of inspiration of social democracy; closely related to reformism. revolution Fast process of total societal upheaval and change (French Revolution, Russian Revolution), also used in a more limited sense for times of important changes in political structure and civil rights Â�(Glorious Revolution, Velvet Revolution, Carnation Revolution), and nowadays even used for the ousting of fraudulent political leaders under pressure of protest waves (Orange Revolution, Rose Revolution). revolution from above Term introduced by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s for the social upheaval in the communist Soviet Union that would bring about socialism in one country, the change to a communist society, and was controlled by the Communist Party.

792 |╇Glossary

los Reyes Católicos “The Catholic kings”; Spanish term for the Â�Catholic kings and queens of Spain who reconquered the country from Muslim rulers in the course of the Middle Ages. Rhineland The regions in Germany on both sides of the Rhine; sometimes also used to refer to all regions that are close to the Rhine, including parts of Switzerland, France, and the Low Countries. Right, the Free-market apologists, in particular conservatives and conservative liberals, as opposed to the Left; in 19th-century Europe the term was used for royalists and conservatives against the liberal Left. right to work On the European continent it refers to government measures to protect employees from layoffs by Â�making layoffs subject to legal or other procedures; in Great Britain and the United States it refers to legal measures to protect employees from trade unions that enforce a union shop; also known as job protection measures. la rigueur Austerity measures taken by French president Â�François Mitterand in the early 1980s, when Â�Keynesianism failed. Roman Empire Successor to the Roman Republic, 27 bc–ad 476; important source of Western European culture and in its last stages also of Christian culture. Roman Republic Republic that originated in Rome and expanded in southern Europe in the last centuries bc until it became the Roman Empire; important source of Western European culture. romanticism Artistic and intellectual current in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that glorified nature, tradition, and simple life as a reaction to industrialization and the rationalism of the Enlightenment; it was a Â�powerful contribution to the rise of language-based nation states and the German longing for unity (one Heimat). Rome, Treaty of Treaty in 1957 between the six founding nations to set up the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market, a precursor to the EU. Rose Revolution The 1993 change of power in Georgia after Â�fraudulent elections and large protest marches against the president, who then resigned.



Glossary╇| 793

Rote Armee Fraktion Organization of radical anti-capitalist terrorists in (RAF) Germany; active during the 1970s in killing politicians and businesspeople. royal question Political issue in Belgium right after World War II about whether King Leopold III should be allowed to return to the country and to the throne; the question was solved when the king abdicated after a strike against his return. royalism Conservative ideology that demands a powerful king, queen, or emperor as head of state, in particular as a guarantee of national unity. Ruhr Area Circle of industrial cities (Oberhausen, Duisburg, Essen, Bochum, Dortmund, and others) in western Germany, together forming one large metropolitan area. ruling class A closed elite with a high power scope and power extent, based on an accumulation of power resources; especially used for pre–20th-century European politics. runoff US term for second ballots in US primaries; in Europe the term second ballot is used. running mate In the US the candidate for vice president is the presidential candidate’s running mate; such a function is absent in Europe; all candidates run on a party list or, more exceptionally, as an individual candidate; if the parties of a governing coalition campaign together, the leader of the junior partner in the coalition bears some similarity to a running mate of the leader of the larger coalition party. rural culture The traditional culture in rural parts of a country, as set apart from the culture in more urbanized regions. Often it contains some notion of superiority over the perceived modern culture in urban centers and opposes any change toward urban culture. The term refers especially to centuries-old traditions, closely linked to the lower degree of anonymity, and lower spatial and social mobility in the countryside. Russian Civil War Open warfare between the proponents of Â�communism (the Reds) and their mainly rural

794 |╇Glossary

opponents (the Whites) after the Russian Revolution, which the Reds won. Russian Revolution Overthrow of the Russian political system by Â�communists under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin in 1917, followed by the Russian Civil War, and starting a complete overhaul of Russian society in the communist Soviet Union. sabotage Undermining the functioning of an organization or country, in particular as part of warfare but also as a terrorist act. Saint Germain The 1919 Peace Treaty between the Entente Â�Powers Peace Treaty and Austria, which forced the new Â�Austrian state to give up most of the territory of the Austro-Â� Hungarian Empire to neighboring countries and newly created states. Salic law of succession Old law that restricts succession to a throne to male successors and their descendants; in mitigated forms (male successors first) it still exists in Great Britain, Luxembourg, and Spain. The other kingdoms have abolished it since the 1980s. same-sex marriage Marriage between two persons of the same sex; recent phenomenon and already legalized in a few European countries. sansculotte “Without half-pants”; French term for the radical revolutionaries during the French Revolution, socalled because they wore full-length pants instead of the fashionable half-pants. satellite states The Central European countries that were under communist Russian control during the Cold War and had to comply with Russian decisions in international politics; for the countries under communist control the term East Europe was often used. Scandinavia The combination of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland (although Finland is not always included in the grouping); in combination with Iceland they form the Nordic Countries. scapegoat Individual or group blamed for the mistakes of others; the Nazis made Jews the scapegoat for Germany’s position in Europe and for the economic crisis; fascists made the labor movement the Â�scapegoat for their countries’ lack of unity, and nowadays



Glossary╇| 795

immigrants have become scapegoats for all kinds of economic and political malaise. Schengen Treaty 1985 treaty among a few EU members to abolish visa requirements and border checks; it was later expanded to almost all EU members and a few other countries. school board Local and regional single-purpose government over schools in a locality; common in the United States and Great Britain. school conflict/ The issue, in particular in Catholic nations, about the school issue opportunities to set up Catholic schools and about their funding. Mostly this was a late-19th-century issue, at a time of increasing national integration, between Catholic clericals and anticlericals. In some countries it came up again in the 20th century. Schuman Declaration Declaration on May 9, 1950, by the French minister of foreign affairs Robert Schuman containing a proposal for a supranational organization to monitor the steel industry and coal mining in Western Europe; it was the start of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the EU. scorched earth Burning or destroying one’s own territory in order to prevent or hinder the military campaign of an enemy; used by the Soviet Union to stop the Â�German invasion in 1941. score card List of individual voting behavior by members of the legislative or executive power; not common in Europe because of party discipline. scrutin de ballotage French term for the system of second ballot in that country; elections in two rounds. second ballot System of voting in which there are two rounds; if no candidate gets an absolute majority in the first round, the two or three candidates with the largest number of votes in the first round are allowed to compete in the second round; the system is used for parliamentary and presidential elections in France (scrutin de ballotage); in US primaries the system is called a runoff. second face of power Idea that research on power should not be confined to the decision-making stage but should extend to the agenda-building stage in which issues may be removed from the political agenda and not reach

796 |╇Glossary

the stage of decision making, but instead become nondecisions. secret police Police department that operates in secret to look for people who allegedly undermine the security of the state; especially active under communist and fascist regimes; the most infamous were the Russian KGB, the Romanian Securitate. and the East German Stasi. secretary of state In European countries the post is called minister of foreign affairs. sector bargaining European term for multiemployer bargaining between trade unions and employers’ associations for all enterprises within an economic branch or sector. sector of occupation After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones and Berlin into four sectors; the division of Berlin was continued after the foundation of the two German countries in 1948–1949, but in practice the American, British, and French zones became part of West Germany and the Russian sector part of communist East Germany. secularization In Western Europe, it refers to the waning of church influence, in particular the Catholic Church but also the Orthodox and Protestant churches, on social and political life; it was prompted in particular by the French Revolution and the rise of the labor movement in the late 19th century, but even more so by the youth revolt in the late 1960s; in Turkey the reduction of the influence of Islam on politics was an explicit government policy initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the ideology of Kemalism; see also laicism. Securitate Secret police in communist Romania; its network of informants was very dense and its methods very cruel. segregation Separating one group (or aggregate) from the rest of the population, almost without exception with fewer and worse public provisions and policies for the segregated group; in Europe it is not so much racial as ethnic. Sejm Polish term for its parliament.



Glossary╇| 797

self-management System of enterprise decision making in communist Yugoslavia, in which the enterprise workforce was involved in decision making and had the right to appoint the managers; it enjoyed great popularity in the early 1970s but was gradually given up under pressure of the oil crises and the demise of communism. semi-presidential system Political system in which the head of state is nonhereditary and elected by the parliament or by the people, and in which the president is also the political leader of the country, as is the case in the United States; the national government, under the president’s supervision, is also responsible to the parliament and can be removed from office by the parliament. The system has operated in France since the foundation of the Fifth Republic in 1958. Senat German term for the executive power of the three cities that constitute federal units (Länder) in Â�Germany: Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. senate  Upper house of a parliament; in most countries its members are elected; in a bicameral parliament the upper house is often less powerful than the lower house, and bills are not discussed here until they have been approved by the lower house; Great Â�Britain’s House of Lords is an example of a nonelected upper house, as is the German Bundesrat (for which the term “senate” is never used). seniority rule In parliamentary committees of European nations the presidency is often allocated to the parties in proportion to the number of their seats, not on a seniority base. separation between state The formal rejection of any direct Church and church interference in politics; religious values may permeate political ideologies and government as long as they do not imply a privileged position for one or more religions or formal submission of politicians to religious leaders; the strongest form is France’s and Turkey’s laicism; in Turkey part of Kemalism. separation of powers Relationship between various branches of the government that check each other and for that reason operate relatively independent from each other; the

798 |╇Glossary

incumbents of one branch cannot be removed from office by the other branches (or only in exceptional cases like impeachment); it applies to the relation between the legislature, the executive, and the Â�judiciary; it exists in the United States but is uncommon in European democracies. separatism Attempts to make one part of a country autonomous or independent; it has been successful in the five divided countries of Europe: Azerbaijan, Â�Bosnia, Cyprus, Georgia, and Moldova but also exists elsewhere, for instance in Russia (Chechnya), Spain (Basque Country), and France (Corsica). Sèvres Peace Treaty The 1920 peace treaty between the Entente Powers and the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which was forced to cede most of its territory outside Turkey to neighboring nations and to newly created nations; the Ottoman Empire was soon succeeded by the Turkish Republic. sexual harassment Intimidation or coercion of a sexual nature, predominantly by men and targeted at women; subject of national legislation and EU rules in Europe. sexual morals Habits and ethics with respect to sexuality, more tolerant in most of Europe than in the United States. sexual revolution Relaxation of sexual morals in the 1960s because of the introduction of the contraceptive pill and the rise of feminism and postmaterialism. sin tax Tax on goods and services that are unhealthy, in particular cigarettes and alcoholic beverages; the term is uncommon in Europe but all countries heavily tax alcohol and tobacco. single-issue group Interest associations in the United States that focus on one issue only, such as gun control or abortion; relatively rare in Europe, where more encompassing interest associations operate, such as churches and trade unions, that focus on a range of issues. single market EU term for the opening up of the internal borders for all products and services from other member states; introduced by the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. slave trade The shipment of millions of people as slaves from black Africa to the Americas between the



Glossary╇| 799

16th century and the early 19th century by the Â�leading seafaring European countries of the time. smoking Smoking cigars and cigarettes is increasingly banned from public places, restaurants, and bars in European countries, with the exception of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. snake System of currency exchange rates in which currencies were only allowed to change value within small margins; in Europe various forms of a snake existed in the 1970s and 1980s, until the introduction of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM); the term “snake” referred to the movements of the currencies. snap elections Elections that are held before the scheduled time; this mostly occurs when a cabinet is ousted, a situation fairly common in most European democracies, except for Great Britain. soccer See football. social capital Another term for civil society, specifically, an asset of democracy that supports democratic decision making; in Europe it is characterized less by local initiative and voluntarism and more by nationwide associations and political activities than in the United States. social citizenship National integration of a country’s population by means of social policies; an early example was Bismarck’s introduction of (Bismarckian) social security for German manual workers in the 1880s; since World War II it has been a general concern of most European governments. social class Category of people that share a similar position in the labor market and in economic life. Often a distinction is made in the following classes: farmers, those active in agriculture, either as tenant farmers or independent farmers; the working class, including manual wage earners and lower-echelon office workers; the middle class, including higher-echelon office workers, professionals, and people with a small capital, such as shopkeepers; the upper class, such as managers of big enterprises and (other) capital-owning people. social contract Fictitious contract between male persons in which they create a community and institute an authority,

800 |╇Glossary

as envisioned by liberal philosophers in the 18th and 19th centuries. social democracy Labor ideology that started as revolutionary �Marxism but gave up the ideal of revolution at the turn of the 20th century, and since then has stressed social reforms by democratic means; the most widespread of all European ideologies; the more radical variant is called socialism, but many social democrats, in particular in Latin Europe, also call themselves socialists. social democratic complex Combination, confined to Scandinavia, of a strong social democratic party that cooperates with a very strong social democratic trade union organization; this close cooperation has been responsible for almost all social policies. social dumping Shift of international investment to countries with less-developed social policies; also used for the influx of workers who could undermine social and labor standards from these countries to the more developed welfare states; it is a major issue within the EU when social policies are discussed. social equality Equality as the result of social policies, also called equality of outcome; common meaning of the term equality in Europe, even when the term �equality of opportunities is used, because that often implies equality of starting conditions, not just legal opportunities. social exclusion Social isolation because of the poverty trap or as a deliberate government policy targeting certain groups, such as women and ethnic minorities; very common throughout European history, though nowadays limited by legislation and EU rules. social housing Mostly cheap and government-subsidized rental housing projects, and sometimes cheap and government-subsidized house mortgages, for low-income groups. social issue In Europe refers to the issue of state intervention in the free-market economy in order to offer social protection to the working class; in the United States the issue is called the economic issue, because the focus is more on the tax funding of social measures.



Glossary╇| 801

social liberalism Liberalism that has come close to social democracy in advocating some state intervention in the freemarket economy as a means of social protection of the working class, as opposed to conservative liberalism; social liberal parties are small in Europe and less common than conservative liberal parties. social partners Term in Germanic Europe for trade unions and employers’ associations that engage in collective bargaining, and possibly also engage in tripartism. social rights Compulsory government-provided social provisions for those who live below a generally accepted line of poverty, either in the form of income or provisions in kind; in Europe this is mostly provided through income in kind in order to prevent stigmatization of the poor. social security Social policies that provide citizens with an Â�(additional) income, independent of previous Â�contributions to those policies; in Europe it also covers noncontributory social benefits in the form of welfare. socialism (1) Another name for social democracy; (2) a more radical version of social democracy; (3) according to communists the stage between the communist revolution and the final stage of communism; most Â�communist countries called themselves socialist countries because they had not yet reached the final stage. socialism in one country Term introduced by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s for the social upheaval in the communist Soviet Union that would bring about the change to a Â�communist society under control of the Communist Party, as opposed to Leon Trotsky’s idea of permanent revolution. socialist realism Style in the arts in which real-life situations of workers and farmers are depicted in a positive and glorifying way; developed after the Russian Revolution and the only art style allowed under communism. society All individuals and organizations in a territorially defined unit that are bound by common rules and maintain mutual relations; in practice, the term is often reserved for nationwide societies.

802 |╇Glossary

Sonderweg “Special course”; German term for the presumed special course of Germany toward democracy, setting the country apart from Great Britain and France, which had followed a “normal” course to democracy. Southeastern Europe In this book used for Turkey and the three Â�Caucasian countries; the term is often used for the Balkan Peninsula, but that use would imply that Turkey and the Caucasus are not considered part of Europe. sovereignty The ultimate right to decide independently about oneself as an individual, a group, or a country (national sovereignty). soviet Basic unit of government in communist Russia; after the Russian Revolution there were also some abortive local and regional soviets in Western Europe. Soviet Bloc The combination of communist Russia (the Soviet Union) and the Central European countries that were dominated by it during the Cold War. Soviet invasion Invasion of Hungary (1956) and Afghanistan (1979) by Soviet military forces; also used for the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact countries under Soviet leadership in 1968. Soviet Union Popular term for the USSR, the official name of communist Russia. Soziale Marktwirtschaft Term for the German variation that combines a market economy (Marktwirtschaft) and extensive social policies as part of the welfare state. Spanish Civil War Civil War in 1936–1939 between the Spanish Republic, in particular the labor movement, and the fascists led by Francisco Franco; Franco won the civil war, which took a million lives. Sperrklausel “Threshold”; German term for the minimum share of votes a party must win in order to win seats in the parliament; in Germany it stands at a total score of at least five percent or a win in three districts. sphere of influence The term is especially used for Russia’s postwar wish expressed at the Yalta Conference to have Â�western neighbors that would be under its influence as a buffer against Germany, which in practice meant the countries had to accept communist rule and domination by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.



Glossary╇| 803

spillover  EU term for the extension of EU policies from one area to another, especially because of the need to conclude grand bargains during meetings of the European Council. split-ticket voting Possible in a few European countries only, for instance in Germany, with its electoral system of two votes; in most nations voters have the choice from a number of party lists and can only choose one. spoils Right of new incumbents to the executive power to appoint a number of top civil servants in the bureaucracy who will leave office with that incumbent; less common in Europe than in the United States. stagflation Combination of economic stagnation and inflation in the 1970s, which could not be cured by Keynesianism because of the danger of even higher inflation; in the 1980s it led to the abandonment of Keynesianism and the introduction of supply-side economics. Stalingrad Russian city on the Volga, site of the largest battle of World War II between August 1942 and February 1943, where Nazi Germany and communist Russia both lost hundreds of thousands of people; first and decisive turning point on the Eastern Front as the Germans were forced to retreat; the original name of the city was Tsaritsyn; under the de-Stalinization campaign it was renamed Volgograd. Stalinism An extremely cruel and suppressive and totalitarian version of Leninism, under the strict guidance of the party leader Joseph Stalin, hailed as a hero of the working class. Stasi Secret police of communist East Germany; it had an extremely elaborate network of spies; after the demise of communism and with German reunification thousands had to confess that they had spied on close relatives or neighbors. state In continental Europe it is the institution that exercises authority and enforces compliance with the binding rules in a nation. The term is also used for the nation by itself, that is, the Russian state may mean both the Russian governmental institutions

804 |╇Glossary

and Russia as a country. The use of the term for Â�federal units, as for the 50 states of the United States, is not common in Europe. state-oriented Type of welfare state with extensive state provisions welfare state aimed at reemployment of redundant employees in more productive firms, combined with highbenefit Beveridgian social security; the other types of Â�welfare state are the liberal welfare state, the continental welfare state, and the Central European welfare state. state reform Change of state structures in Belgium from a Â�centralized unitary state to a federal nation; the change has been going on since the 1970s. stigmatization To openly characterize persons or groups as bad or inferior; one of the objections in Europe to US food stamps is that it stigmatizes the users; worst example of stigmatization was the compulsory wearing of the badges in the form of the Jewish star by Jews before and during the Holocaust. stop-go cycle Radical shifts in British economic policies after each change of government, from public retrenchments and savings to public investment as a means to stimulate economic growth. strike  Work stoppage, mostly done collectively, in order to get better labor conditions; in Germanic Europe almost exclusively organized by trade unions, elsewhere also as spontaneous actions; when targeted at the national government they are often called Â�political strikes. strike rate Number of strike days as a proportion of labor days; very low in the Alpine nations; high in the Latin nations. subsidiarity Originally a Catholic term for leaving state activities to lower-level or civil society initiatives, in particular to employer–trade union corporatism; in the EU the term is used for leaving such activities to the member states. Suez Crisis Abortive 1956 British/French armed intervention in Egypt in order to undo the nationalization of the Suez Canal by the Egyptian government.



Glossary╇| 805

suffragettes Early feminists, especially those demanding female suffrage rights around the turn of 20th century. sunbelt Region that enjoys a better climate, and more sunshine in particular, than the rest of a nation or continent and has recently experienced an influx of people and businesses; in the United States the term refers to the lower tier of the southern states and the Southwest; in Europe, Spain in particular serves as a European sunbelt, though without permanent mass immigration and economic shifts from countries to the north; several European countries have their own national sunbelts. supermajority In Europe the term qualified majority is more common. superpower The United States and the communist Soviet Union during the Cold War; they dwarfed all other nations in military power, including the former European Great Powers. supply-side economics Successor to Keynesianism in the 1980s; it stressed reducing the costs of production (the supply side of the economy) as a means of promoting economic growth, for instance by reducing labor costs and tax rates. support Demonstration to decision makers of contentment with the current rules and the decision makers, the nature of the political system (regime), or the existence of one political community. supranationalism Rule making by the governing institutions of a supranational organization as opposed to decision making by the governing institutions of the member nations (intergovernmentalism); especially used for decision making by EU institutions. Swedish Model A model featuring national wage bargaining �resulting in high wages as a means to promote productivity, combined with high investment in retraining of redundant employees; it enjoyed wide popularity in the 1960s. symmetrical federalism Federalism in which all federal units have the same competencies, as in the United States, Germany, and Switzerland. tabloid press Press that mainly focuses on human-interest features, sex, sports, and crime, also known as the yellow press; such papers, so called because of their

806 |╇Glossary

tabloid format, are especially widespread in Great Britain and Germany. Tangentopoli “Bribeville”; Italian term for the networks of Â�corruption that were uncovered during the big Â�criminal investigations of the early 1990s under the name of mani pulite (clean hands), which fundamentally changed the Italian political landscape. tariff Tax on import or export of products as a means to protect national products. tariff war Mostly nonviolent international conflict about import tariffs that protect national producers against the world market; there have been some tariff wars between the EU and the United States, and on a global scale, there have been tariff conflicts between industrialized and developing nations. Tatar yoke Harsh Mongol rule by the Golden Horde in Eastern (or Tartar yoke) Europe during the Middle Ages. tax Compulsory contribution to government, either in the form of direct tax or indirect tax. tax bracket Income levels with different tax rates; often as a form of progressive taxation, with higher tax rates for higher incomes; a number of countries have reduced the number of tax brackets to simplify the tax system and reduce the tax on high incomes, but no country has gone as far as the United States in the level of tax relief for very high income groups. tax haven Country that attracts immigrants and businesses because of its low tax levels; in Europe in particular the two ministates Liechtenstein and Monaco serve as tax havens. tax relief Reducing the tax level on incomes; in contrast with the United States, in Europe it is not especially provided for high-income groups. terror Terror regimes were a particular stage of the French Revolution, Soviet communism under Joseph Stalin, and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler. terrorism Violent forms of political protest in which people are killed, either specific political leaders or civilians indiscriminately; nowadays often by means of bomb attacks, for instance by the Basque separatist



Glossary╇| 807

movement in Spain and Muslim extremists throughout Europe. Teutonic Order of Knights Catholic Order of landlords that dominated or even ruled parts of Poland and the Baltic nations in the late Middle Ages thaw (1) The limited relaxation of communist control of public life and the arts during the period of de-Stalinization in the Soviet Bloc; (2) occasional warming of East–West relations in the Cold War. theory Combination of statements about reality; often with the use of a conceptual framework. Third Reich Reich is German for empire; ideal of the Nazis for Germany, as the ultimate and final successor to the medieval Holy Roman Empire and the Â�(second) German Empire, which lasted from 1871 until 1918. Third Rome Moscow, in the Russian czar’s view, was heir to Rome and Constantinople (the second Rome) and the main defender of Christianity against Islam. Third Way A political position between traditional social democracy and conservative liberalism; proposed by a number of politicians; the most famous use was the Third Way redefinition of Social Democratic priorities by British prime minister Tony Blair and German chancellor Gerhard Schröder in 1999. threshold The minimum share of votes a party must win in order to win seats in the parliament; in Germany it stands at five percent of the nationwide votes or the winning of three districts; various countries have thresholds, ranging from 2 percent to 10 percent in Turkey. Tories The British Conservative Party or the members of the party. totalitarianism Political system in which one leader or organization exercises total control over society without allowing for individual or group autonomy, as was the case under Nazism and communism. town rights Medieval rights that were bestowed on towns by kings or other high-ranking feudal rulers to grant them autonomy from lower-ranking regional feudal rulers, implying the right to make their own rules and collect their own taxes.

808 |╇Glossary

trade barriers Tax on imports and/or exports of commerce (tariffs) in order to protect national production. trade union European term for labor union; interest association of employees that acts as a political-interest association and engages in collective bargaining with employers’ associations; they have a prominent role in European politics and social life. trade union representation Employees who are recognized by an employer as in the enterprise representatives of the trade unions and obtain some facilities (a small office, time off) for social and trade union work among employees. traffic-light coalition Coalition in German federal units that consists of (red) social democrats, (yellow) liberals, and Greens; in German it is called Ampelkoalition. Transcaucasian Republics Name for the Caucasian countries Georgia, Â�Armenia, and Azerbaijan when they were still part of the Soviet Union because to the Russians they were located on the other side (“trans-”) of the Â�Caucasian Mountains. transfer of rights Giving up individual rights to the community as a means of guaranteeing equality without any exception; introduced by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau before the French Revolution; in the 20th century misused by communist and fascist dictators to leave the population without any protection from their arbitrary rules. transfer system Social security, including old-age pensions, that is financed by taxing those still at work; it implies a redistribution from one group or generation (the employed) to another group or generation (the unemployed, the elderly). transmission belt unionism Communist idea of trade unions as totally Â�subordinate to the communist party and serving as transmitters of complaints from workers to the party and party orders from the party to the workers; existed under communism, but in practice mainly served the second aim. treaty Forced or voluntary agreement between two or more countries; the most important 20th century treaties in Europe have been the peace treaties at the end of World War 1 and the EU treaties.

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Glossary╇| 809

Treaty of Rome See Rome, Treaty of. trial and error A policy style of seeking pragmatic short-term Â�solutions for political problems; especially common in Great Britain (and the United States); also known as the muddling-through style. Trianon Peace Treaty The 1919 peace treaty between the Entente Powers and Hungary, which was forced to cede most of its territory to neighboring nations and to newly created nations. trias politica Division of government into three branches, legislative, executive, and judicial, each with its own sphere of action; it may have either an independent executive power or parliamentary supremacy, but it always has an independent judicial power. tripartism Regular top-level contacts between employers’ associations, trade unions, and the national government on social and economic issues; when such contacts are essentially permanent, the term corporatism is used. Trotskyism Communist ideology introduced by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky that stressed the need to prepare a worldwide revolution (permanent Â�revolution) under very strict leadership by the Communist Party. Truman Doctrine Common name for US president Harry Truman’s policy of containment of international communism. trustee Member of parliament who is free to vote as he or she likes, without any obligation to vote according to a party line or in accordance with the voters’ preferences. turnout The share of all voters that show up at elections; generally higher in Europe than in the United States. two-ballot elections See second ballot. two-party system Political system in which two or more political parties compete for parliamentary seats, but with one party mostly winning an absolute majority of all seats; prevails in Great Britain (and the United States); some continental countries, for instance Greece and Spain, come close to it. ultramontanism Latin for “on the other side of the mountains”; since the Reformation a term, especially in France and Germany, for the idea that Catholics should comply with church rules first of all in social and political

810 |╇Glossary

life and in case of conflict between state rules and church rules should obey the church. undeserving poor American term for the long-term unemployed in the United States who are caught in the poverty trap and unable to join or rejoin the labor market; they are considered undeserving because they have not made substantial contributions to the social security system; the term is not used in Europe because the distinction between deserving and undeserving is of minor importance for social policies. unfunded pension system A system in which old-age pensions are financed by taxing the generation that is still at work at the time the pensions are paid; it is also known as a pay-as you-go system, or a transfer system, because it involves a transfer from one generation to another; the opposite type of system is called funded. unicameral parliament Parliament that consists of a lower house only; common in Scandinavia and Central Europe. Union of Socialist Soviet Official name of the Soviet Union during the Republics (USSR) communist era. union sector Economic sectors in the United States in which labor unions play a role in collective bargaining; the term is uncommon in Europe because of the prevailing system of nationwide and sector-level bargaining. union shop Trade-union action to force an employer to hire only members of the trade union; also known as a closed shop; rare on the European continent because of �sector bargaining, but it has prevailed in Great Britain and the union sector of the United States. unionization rate Share of all wage-dependent employees that are members of trade unions; in Europe the unionization rate is highest in Germanic Europe and lowest in France. unipolar world International system of nations in which one country dwarfs all others in economic and military power, as has been the case with the United States since the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union; as opposed to the bipolar world under the Cold War. unitarism Concentration of power at the national level in a country and subordination of regional units to the national government, as opposed to federalism.



Glossary╇| 811

unitary nation Country in which almost all government power is concentrated at the national level, and in which the regional units are subordinate to the national government, as opposed to a federal nation. United Kingdom The official name of Great Britain (England/Â� Scotland/Wales), which also includes Northern Ireland, but even the term United Kingdom (UK) is not totally correct as it leaves out a few autonomous British territories: the Island of Man, between Â�England and Ireland, and the Channel Islands, off the French coast; in everyday conversation most people in and outside the UK use the term Great Britain, or very colloquially, but widely, England. United Nations (UN) International Organization established right after World War II, in particular to maintain peace; in 2002 Switzerland was the last European nation to join the United Nations. universal suffrage Voting (suffrage) rights for all citizens over a certain age (mostly 21 or 18); also called general suffrage. upper house Second house or senate of a parliament; in most countries its members are elected; in a bicameral parliament the upper house is often less powerful than the lower house, and bills are not discussed here until they have been approved by the lower house; Great Britain’s House of Lords and the Â�German Bundesrat are examples of a nonelected upper house. urban culture The culture in towns and big cities, set apart from rural culture in less urbanized parts of a country; it often contains some notion of modernity and superiority over the age-old traditions of the countryside. Some of the differences are rooted in the greater anonymity and the spatial and social mobility in urban centers. urban sprawl The tendency of cities to grow far beyond their original boundaries; in Europe, more than in the United States, urban sprawl is often coordinated by regional and national governments, which decide on land use and incorporation. USSR See Union of Socialist Soviet Republics.

812 |╇Glossary

value All material goods and nonmaterial ideas that are considered to be important by individuals, groups, or organizations. value-added tax (VAT) A prominent form of indirect tax. value-based nationhood Founding a nation, sharing a sense of national community, or granting citizen rights based on shared values, especially prevalent in the United States as opposed to European language-based nationhood. vanguard of the proletariat Communist sobriquet for the Communist Party, in particular in the Soviet Union; the term was invented by Lenin. Vatican II Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), consisting of all Catholic bishops, and summoned by Pope John XXIII to introduce reforms in the Catholic Church; it had a great impact on the Catholic Church. Vatican City (Vatican State) Small independent part of Rome; seat of the pope, the head of the Catholic Church. Velvet Revolution The 1989 change, without bloodshed, in Â�Czechoslovakia from communist dictatorship to democracy; it occurred at the same time as the overthrow of communism in other Central European countries. Verhandlungsdemokratie German for negotiating democracy, referring to the recurrent need for German governments to negotiate with the opposition parties, either because the federal units have competencies with respect to the issue at hand or because the opposition parties have a majority in the upper house (Bundesrat). Versailles Peace Treaty The 1919 peace treaty between the Entente Powers and Germany, which had to cede territory to neighboring states and pay enormous war reparations. veto player Individuals, groups, or organizations that are able to veto governmental policies, either formally or informally. veto point See veto player. Victorian morals Very strict formal sexual morals, named after the 19th-century British queen Victoria, the archetypical puritanical queen with respect to ethical issues. Vietnam War The 1965–1975 warfare between North Vietnam on the one hand and South Vietnam, which was assisted by large US combat units, on the other; the war became a catalyst of anti-American and



Glossary╇| 813

anti-Â�capitalist protests in Western Europe and Â�contributed to the rise of the new social movements. Viking Warriors from Scandinavia who terrorized the Â�British coasts and the Atlantic coasts of continental Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, and later settled along those coasts. voice option Expressing dissatisfaction with rules in public in order to have the rules changed; see also demand. Nazi German term for popular will, as expressed by Volkswille  the totalitarian Nazi leader (Führer) Adolf Hitler. Volonté générale French term for popular will that rules a community if all members participate in common decisions under condition of some equality of wealth, according to French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau; the notion was abused under communism and Nazism. volume stress A too large flow of information that burdens the political system and may hinder its functioning. voluntarism Stressing rank-and-file initiative in interest associations instead of peak-level contacts and tripartism, or even sector bargaining; especially popular in Great Britain and the United States. vote of no confidence Motion in parliament to force the government to resign; also called censure motion. voting district For election purposes, almost all nations are divided into districts that may return one or party candidates to the parliament; the district votes are counted together to decide the composition of the voting district’s representation in the parliament. voucher capitalism Transition from a communist command economy to a free-market economy in which company employees receive vouchers, as a kind of stock in their company, which makes them partial company owners. want Feeling shared by some people that their group or society is in need of new rules; it is the first stage in the barrier model of agenda building. ward elections Rare or nonexistent in Europe; all elections for the city council and the post of mayor are at-large elections. Warsaw Pact Organization of mutual defense of the Soviet Bloc, founded in 1949 as a reaction to the North

814 |╇Glossary

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); invaded Â�Czechoslovakia in 1968 to end the Prague Spring. Weimar Republic Short-lived democratic republic in Germany (1919– 1933) that succeeded the German Empire right after World War I and ended with the Nazis coming to power; it was named after the town where the constitution was framed. welfare US term to denote noncontributory social programs; in Europe the term is a positive one; it denotes a high level of economic prosperity and social spending, contributory as well as noncontributory. welfare state Nation with a high level of economic prosperity and social spending, both contributory and noncontributory; see welfare-state regime for the various types. welfare-state regime Internally cohesive combination of welfare state provisions based on a specific ideology; distinctions are made among liberal welfare state, continental welfare state, state-oriented welfare state, and Â�Central European welfare state. welfare trap American term denoting the continued dependence on welfare (in European terms, social security) benefits and how the benefits remove the incentive to seek employment. Wessies People in West Germany; the term is often used pejoratively, especially by people in the eastern part of Germany (Ossies), who lived under Russiandominated communism until 1989; it expresses the feeling of superiority of the Wessies, based on their higher standards of living and their easy access to the better jobs in the postcommunist East. West Europe Also known as Free West and Free Europe; noncommunist Europe, under the leadership of the United States, during the Cold War. Western European Union International defense organization against (WEU) communism, founded in 1954 by European nations so they could become more autonomous from US defense policies; it was never very active because of the influence of the North Atlantic Treaty Â�Organization (NATO), and dissolved in 2009. Westminster The borough of London where the British parliament and the government are located.



Glossary╇| 815

Westminster political Democratic political system characterized by a system majority electoral system in which one party mostly wins an absolute majority of all seats and is able to govern by itself without forming a coalition; it prevails in Great Britain; the opposite is called consensus political system or (in this book) continental political system. Westphalia Peace Treaty 1648 Peace Treaty that ended the Thirty Years’ War between the Great Powers and the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the Netherlands; it introduced the modern system of national sovereignty of independent states. Whigs British liberals; the term is especially used for the liberals in the 19th century when they opposed the conservative Tories. Whites Opponents of the communist Reds in the Â�Russian Civil War, including many landowning Â�farmers, larger landowners, and Finns fighting for independence. wildcat strike Mostly spontaneous strike without trade union approval; least common in Germanic Europe because of sector bargaining with labor contracts that have a fixed term; wildcat strikers are liable for dismissal. wine lake Large quantities of wine produced in the EU that cannot be sold at the high minimum consumer prices fixed by the EU because of the price guarantees to EU farmers. winner takes all One of the names given to the majority electoral system, because only one person can win in a Â�voting district and become a member of parliament. Â�Candidates with fewer votes have to try again in the next elections. Winter War War between Finland and the Soviet Union from November 1939 until March 1940 after the Soviet invasion of Finland. The Soviet Union failed in its aim to conquer the country; Finland had to cede only a small part of its land, which it tried to reconquer in the Continuation War. Wirtschaftswunder “Economic miracle”: German term for the very fast process of economic recovery in West Germany after World War II.

816 |╇Glossary

work stoppage Mostly collective refusal to work for some time in order to press the employer to improve labor conditions. worker control Employee election and control of enterprise management in communist Yugoslavia; succumbed with communism but enjoyed some popularity in democratic Western Europe in the early 1970s as a possible alternative to unbridled capitalism. workers’ council The term is specifically used for employee councils in Central Europe under communism, in particular in Hungary after 1956 and Poland; they were established to serve as a valve for social and political protest; only the Yugoslav workers’ councils had real influence in the enterprise; see worker control. working languages The three languages—English, French, and Â�German—in which all EU working documents are translated and committee debates are held. works council Form of employee participation in enterprise decision making consisting of a formal representative council elected by company or plant employees; these councils have a say in the company’s social policies, but in some countries they have to leave collective bargaining to the trade unions. World War I European War (1914–1918) between the Central Powers and the Entente Powers, joined by the United States, which won the war and divided the empires that had formed the Central Powers to Â�create a number of new nations; the war took more than 10 million lives. World War II Worldwide war (1939–1945) between the Axis Â�Powers and the Allied Powers, which took more than 50 million lives. Yalta Conference 1945 Summit Conference of the United States, Russia, and Great Britain on postwar Europe, which divided Europe into spheres of influence. yellow press Press that mainly focuses on human-interest features, sex, sports, and crime, also known as the Â�tabloid press, and especially widespread in Â�Germany and Great Britain. youth revolt The archetypical youth revolt in Europe was the May 1968 student revolt in Paris, which unleashed a



Glossary╇| 817

whole series of youth revolts and protests elsewhere in Europe and contributed to the rise of the new social movements Yugoslavia Country that existed on the Balkan Peninsula (1919–1990) and included Bosnia and Â�Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Â�Slovenia; very multinational nation that dissolved in the late 1980s in spite of military action by Serbia to keep the country together. Yugoslavia Tribunal Official name is the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, a United Nations court; it is a temporary tribunal, seated in the Hague and consisting of 16 judges; it was established in 1993 to try war criminals from the dissolution of Â�Yugoslavia and the division of Bosnia; its most famous case was Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic, who died during his trial. zionism Jewish ideology about founding a Jewish state in Palestine; it developed in 19th-century Europe as a reaction against discrimination all over Europe and pogroms in Eastern Europe, comparable to the rise of the ideal of ethnic and one-language nations in Europe; after the Holocaust most Western European countries supported the Jewish claim of a Jewish state on Palestinian territory. Zweitstimme The second vote in German elections, which is given to a party, in addition to the less important first vote (Erststimme) for a regional candidate.

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Sources and Further Reading

Internet (including the sources that have been used for Volume 2) The two best starting points for research on European politics are the Wikipedia Web site, searching on Politics and government in...(followed by the name of a country), and the CIA World Factbook. Wikipedia contains a wealth of information and links to other Web sites. For each nation it not only has a Web page on politics and government but also a timeline of history, a Web page with lists of heads of state, lists of prime ministers, and lists of referendums, and Web pages about recent elections, all of them with links to other relevant Web sites. The Wikipedia lists are complete, though more specific information should be checked against other sources. The different Wikipedia Web sites are easy to find and for that reason they are not listed here. The Wikipedia Web pages on politics and government are the best starting points to link to Web sites on specific subjects. US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; www.cia.gov) This Web site, and in particular the CIA World Factbook (www.cia.gov/library/ publications/the-world-factbook) contains brief country profiles of all nations and detailed data on their political system and the national leaders. It is a fine source to start any research on European nations; this source was used for the introductions (the Land, the People, the Economy) of the country surveys in Volume 2. Many national governments have a Web site under the country’s name, followed by .gov, with links to the national parliament and other state agencies. Look for: www...gov

General Internet Sources on European Nations Ethnologue: Languages of the World (www.ethnologue.com/) This reference work catalogs data on regional languages.

819

820 |╇ Sources and Further Reading

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (www.fra.europa.eu) This independent body of the EU serves as a source on discrimination and racism. Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the EU (http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu) offers all kinds of statistics for the European countries, including non-EU members. HistoryTeacher.net (http://www.historyteacher.net) This site offers links to all kinds of historical data; geared to history teachers. Migration Information Source (www.migrationinformation.org) This group gathers data on national immigration and immigration policies. SocioSite (www.sociosite.net/topics/) The Social Science Information Systems, based at the University of Amsterdam, provides a large number of links to all kinds of Web sites on all kinds of sociology subjects, US Department of State (www.state.gov/) This resource provides all kinds of economic, social, and political information on all European countries. The World Bank (http://worldbank.org/) This site provides economic and social statistics for all nations.

Democracy in Europe Democracy Ranking (www.democracyranking.org/) The Democracy Ranking Association produces annual rankings of nations based on degree of democracy. Freedom House (http://www.freedomhouse.org/) This watchdog organization provides rankings of nations based on democracy and civil liberties. Transparency International (www.transparency.org/) The organization ranks nations based on corruption.

Political System Council of Europe (www.coe.int/) Current developments in local government in European countries are described here. Concourts. net (www.concourts.net) This Web site compares the constitutional review process in many nations. Constitution Finder (http://confinder.richmond.edu/) The full text of constitutions and charters can be found here.



Sources and Further Reading╇ | 821

Electoral Geography 2.0 (http://www.electoralgeography.com/new/en/) This site provides election results, often with electoral maps, of all nations. The European Parliament (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/groups/) The Groups page on the Web site provides information about all the political groups in the European parliament and links to all national member parties. Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe (www.iri-europe.org) This transnational think tank promotes referendums in Europe. Inter-parliamentary Union (http://www.ipu.org/) The international organization of parliaments provides data on national parliaments and the share of women members, governments, electoral systems, and parliamentary elections. Parties and Elections in Europe (http://www.parties-and-elections.de/) This is a database on elections and political parties in all European nations. Rulers (www.rulers.org) This Web site provides chronological lists of political leaders of all nations and brief biographies of many.

Civil Society Business Europe (www.businesseurope.eu) This organization focuses on European business organizations at the EU level and provides links to national federations. Concordat Watch (www.concordatwatch.eu) This online resource provides translations of concordats, which are international treaties with the Vatican; these highlight the relation between state and the predominant religious organization in many countries. European Trade Union Confederation (www.etuc.org) The Web site provides information on European trade unions and links to �national trade unions. Eurochambres (www.eurochambres.be) The Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry provides links to national chambers. Eurofoundation (www.eurofound.europa.eu) The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working �Conditions is a tripartite organization that offers extensive information on employment relations.

822 |╇ Sources and Further Reading

Freedom House (www.freedomhouse.org/) This watchdog organization provides rankings of press freedom in different countries. Ketupa.net (www.ketupa.net) The Web site offers an overview of media companies in a number of nations. Press Reference (www.pressreference.com) The site describes the media landscape in all nations. Reporters Sans Frontières (http://en.rsf.org/) Reporters Without Borders provides information on freedom of the press in Â�various nations. The SocioSite Project (www.sociosite.net/topics/) Links are provided to all kinds of interest associations by subject.

European Union Europa (http://europa.eu/) This site is the “gateway to the European Union.” The Bruges Group (http://brugesgroup.com) This independent think tank offers a euroskeptic view on EU politics. Court of Justice of the European Union (http://curia.europa.eu) This is the official Web site of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Europa (www.ec.europa.eu/external_relations/gac) This page is for the European Commission’s General Affairs and External R Â� elations Council, which is an EU source on EU’s external relations. European Commission (http://ec.europa.eu/) This is the official Web site of the European Commission. European Movement (http://www.europeanmovement.org/) This international organization takes a pro-EU view on EU politics. European Parliament (www.europarl.europa.eu) This is the official Web site of the European Parliament.

Policies European Nuclear Society (www.euronuclear.org/) The society’s Web site offers information on nuclear energy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (http://www.oecd.org) The OECD Web site has detailed information about national economic conditions and policies.



Sources and Further Reading╇ | 823

Transparency International (http://transparency.org/) This organization publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index of all nations.

Books Handbooks on Recent Developments and Current Affairs Banks, Arthur S., Thomas C. Muller, William R. Overstreet, and Judith F. Isacoff, eds. Political Handbook of the World. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009. Brief surveys of political developments and political parties in all nations. Europa Regional Surveys of the World. See the volumes on Western Europe 2010; Central and South-Eastern Europe 2010, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia 2010. London: Routledge, 2009. Surveys of political and economic developments in European nations. The Statesman’s Yearbook 2009. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Very brief country entries of all nations.

General Introductions to European Politics Almond, Gabriel A., G. Bingham Powell Jr., Kaare Strøm, and Russell J. Dalton, eds. Comparative Politics Today: A World View. New York: Longman, 2003. Very broad introduction to the main political institutions and political processes worldwide. Bale, Tim. European Politics: A Comparative Introduction. New York: Palgrave Â�Macmillan, 2008. Extensive introduction for political science students, with the best list of suggestions for further reading. Crepaz, Markuz, and Jurg Steiner. European Democracies. London: Longman, 2008. Dense introduction for political science students, which contains comparisons with Â�American politics. Curtis, Michael,Giuseppe Ammenadola, Jean Blondel, Ken Gladish, Thomas D. Lancaster, James A. McAdams, and Donald Kommers. Western European Government and Politics. London: Longman, 2002. Survey of politics in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland, and the EU. Gallagher, Michael, Michael Laver, and Peter Mair. Representative Government in Modern Europe. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2006. Extensive comparative introduction for political science students. Hancock, M. Donald, Christopher J. Carman, Marjorie Castle, David P. Conradt, Â�Raffaella Y. Nanetti, B. Guy Peters, William Suffran, and Stephen White. Politics in Europe: An Introduction to the Politics of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Â�Russia, Poland and the European Union. London: Sage, 2007. Extensive introduction to the political systems of the countries listed in the subtitle. Hayward, Jack, and Anand Menon, eds. Governing Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Extensive advanced-level survey of all aspects of politics in European nations.

824 |╇ Sources and Further Reading Keman, Hans, ed. Comparative Democratic Politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002. Comparative survey of political institutions and political processes in democratic political systems.

Basic Concepts of Politics Ball, A., and B. Guy Peters. Modern Politics and Government. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. A first introduction to political science, focusing especially on democratic political structures. Dahl, Robert, A. Modern Political Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991. A classic and very brief first introduction to political science by a leading authority. Garner, Robert, Peter Ferdinand, and Stephanie Lawson. Introduction to Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Extensive and well-structured introduction to political science and comparative politics. Heywood, Andrew. Politics. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Extensive and rather encyclopedic introduction to political science, which serves well as a work of reference. Lukes, S. Power: A Radical View. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Updated edition of the classic on invisible power and discussion of the multiple faces of power. Tansey, Stephen D. Politics: The Basics. New York: Routledge, 2007. Fine nonacademic primer covering all political science concepts.

Democracy Dahl, Robert A. Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press 1989. A definition of the democratic ideal and an extensive evaluation of existing democracies. Dahl, Robert A. A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2006. A classic discussion of the majority rule versus government by minorities. Fishkin, James S. The Voice of the People: Public Opinion & Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. Discussion of democratic practice in democracies and a plea for deliberative democracy. Held, David. Models of Democracy. Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2006. Relatively theoretical but authoritative history of varieties of democratic thought, including recent developments.

Europe Checkel, Jeffrey T., and Peter J. Katzenstein, eds. European Identity. Oxford: Oxford �University Press, 2009. Series of papers on the relations between shared European identities and the European Union. Outhwaite, William. European Society. Bognor Regis, UK: Polity, 2009. Discussion of common features of the European nations. Rietbergen, Peter. Europe: A Cultural History. New York: Routledge, 2006.

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Sources and Further Reading╇ | 825

History of European culture that stresses what Europeans have had in common. Rumford, Chris, ed. The Sage Handbook of European Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2009. Compilation of contributions on various aspects of European society and politics. Samwa, Richard, and Anne Stevens, eds. Contemporary Europe. Basingstoke, UK: �Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Introductory reader that covers a number of political, social, and economic aspects of �European society. Wintle, Michael J., ed. Culture and Identity in Europe: Perceptions of Divergence and Unity in Past and Present. Alderhsot, UK: Avebury, 1996. Series of mainly historical contributions on European identity.

The Nature of European Nations and the Design of European Democracy Goetz, Klaus H., Peter Mair, and Gordon Smith, eds. European Politics: Pasts, Presents, Futures. New York: Routledge, 2009. Contributions by leading experts on various aspects of European politics. Lijphart, Arend. Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984. Classic work on the distinction between the British and the continental political systems. Lijphart, Arend. Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in ThirtySix Countries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999. Very influential comparison of democratic forms of government. Martinelli, Alberto, ed. Transatlantic Divide: Comparing American and European Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Comparison of social and political developments in Europe and the United States, with a strong focus on the EU. Pecora, Vincent, ed. Nations and Identities: Classic Readings. Oxford: Blackwell, 2001. Large number of brief classic and more recent texts on nations and nationalism.

Ideologies Eatwell, Roger, and Anthony Wright, eds. Contemporary Political Ideologies. New York: Pointer, 1999. Discussion of the major ideologies. Festenstein, Matthew, and Michael Kenny, eds. Political Ideologies. Oxford: Oxford � University Press, 2005. A large number of brief excerpts from classical and more recent texts of all major ideologies, preceded by very brief introductions. Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave, 2007. Extensive introduction to all major ideologies and the variations within these ideologies, which makes it a bit encyclopedic but also useful as a work of reference. Vincent, Andrew. Modern Political Ideologies. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008.

826 |╇ Sources and Further Reading Dense introduction to the major ideologies, especially focusing on their philosophical theories.

Elections, Political Parties Bartle, John, and Paolo Bellucci, eds. Political Parties and Partisanship, Social Identity and Individual Attitudes. New York: Routledge, 2008. On party alignment and de-alignment in democratic political systems. Dalton, Russell D. Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies. London: Sage, 2009. Comparative analysis of electoral behavior, partisanship, and party support. Farrell, David M. Electoral Systems: A Comparative Introduction. New York: Palgrave, 2001. Primer to the different electoral systems. Franklin, M. N. Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies Since 1945. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Discusses and explains differences in voter turnout in democratic elections. Gallagher, Michael, and Paul Mitchell, eds. The Politics of Electoral Systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Detailed survey of electoral systems and their consequences for the political system. Katz, Richard S., and Peter Mair, eds. How Parties Organize: Change and Adapation in Party Organizations in Western Democracies. London: Sage, 1994. Comparative discussion of changes in the nature of political parties and their role in national politics. Strøm, Kaare, Wolfgang C. Müller, and Torbjörn Bergman, eds. Cabinets and Coalition Bargaining: The Democratic Life Cycle in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Survey of coalition building and coalition politics in Western Europe.

Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Powers and Referendums Poguntke, Thomas, and Paul Webb, eds. The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Comparative survey of the trends to concentrate power in the leader of the national government. Rasch, Bjorn Erik, and George Tsebelis, eds. The Role of Governments in Legislative Agenda Setting. New York: Routledge, 2009. On government–parliament relations in a large number of European democracies. Setälä, Maijä, and Theo Schiller, eds. Referendums and Representative Democracy. New York: Routledge, 2009. Survey of referendums in democracies and the consequences for representative democracy. Strøm, Kaare, Wolfgang C. Müller, and Torbjörn Bergman, eds. Delegation and Accountability in Parliamentary Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. Comparative and nation-by-nation survey of parliament–government and government– bureaucracy relations in all long-standing European democracies.

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Sources and Further Reading╇ | 827

Civil Society Almond, Gabriel A., and Sidney Verba. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989. Classic analysis of political participation and political apathy and its causes in Great Â�Britain, Germany, Italy, the United States, and Mexico. Berger, Stefan, and Hugh Compston, eds. Policy Concertation and Social Partnership in Western Europe: Lessons for the 21th Century. New York: Berghahn, 2002. Survey of corporatist and noncorporatist policy making, and their national history, in a number of long-standing European democracies. Katzenstein, Peter. Small States and World Markets. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985. Influential comparison of corporatism and its roots in some of the smaller European democracies. Putnam, Robert. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994. In-depth study of Italian political culture that introduced the notion of social capital in political science. Schmitter, Philippe C., and Gerhard Lehmbruch, eds. Trends Towards Corporatist Intermediation. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1979. A number of classical contributions that introduced the term “corporatism” in political science. Slomp, Hans. Between Bargaining and Politics: An Introduction to European Labor Â�Relations. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. Brief introduction to business–labor relations that stresses the relation with politics.

Regional and Local Government Burgess, Michael. Comparative Federalism: Theory and Practice. New York: Routledge, 2006. Extensive comparison of federalism in European nations and US federalism. Denters, Bas, and Lawrence E. Rose, eds. Comparing Local Governance: Trends and Developments. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Survey of local government in a number of European nations and the United States. Heinelt, Hunert, David Sweeting, and Panagotis Getimis, eds. Legitimacy and Urban �Governance: A Cross-National Comparative Study. New York: Routledge, 2006. A number of case studies on the functioning of local government. John, Peter. Local Governance in Western Europe. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001. Comparative survey of local government and local democracy in the long-standing democracies of Western Europe.

Public Policy Arza, Camila, and Martin Kohli, eds. Pension Reform in Europe: Politics, Policies and Outcomes. New York: Routledge, 2008. Comparative survey of the efforts of European nations to restructure their old-age pension systems. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.

828 |╇ Sources and Further Reading The classic work on the welfare state that introduces the distinction into three types of welfare state. Esping-Andersen, Gøsta, Duncan Gallie, Anton C. Kemerijck, and John Myles. Why We Need a New Welfare State. Oxford: Oxford Univrsity Press, 2002. Introduction to welfare state literature and critical assessment of welfare state policies. Pierson, Christopher, and Francis G. Castles, eds. The Welfare State Reader. Bognor Regis, UK: Polity, 2006. Compilation of classic and more recent texts on the welfare state. Streeck, Wolfgang, and Kathleen A. Thelen, eds. Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Discussions by leading experts of welfare-state developments in a more theoretical perspective.

European Union Fabbrini, Sergio. Compound Democracies: Why the United States and Europe Are Â�Becoming Similar. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Comparison of US–EU politics. Gowland, David, Richard Dumphy, and C. Lythe. The European Mosaic. London: Â�Longman, 2006. Extensive survey of the EU, European politics, and some individual member states. McCormick, John. Understanding the European Union: A Concise Introduction. Â�Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Introduction to all aspects of the EU, including EU policies. Menon, Anand, and Martin Schain, eds. Comparative Federalism: The European Union and the United States in Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. A comparative survey of various aspects of EU and US politics and policies. Zeff, Eleanor E., and Ellen B. Piro, eds. The European Union and the Member States. Boulder, CO: Lynne Riemer, 2006. Survey of the role of the member states in the EU and the EU impact on the member states.

International Politics Adamski, Janet, Mary Troy Johnson, and Christina M. Schweiss, eds. Old Europe, New Security: Evolution for a Complex World. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2006. Discussion of EU foreign policy in search of security. Ash, Timothy J. The United States and Europe. New York: Foreign Affairs, 2002. Brief survey of the transatlantic relationship. Telò, Mario, ed. The European Union and New Regionalism: Regional Actors and Global Governance in a Post-hegemonic Era. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2006. On the EU and the regionalization of the international economy, including the North Â�American Free Trade Agreement. Young, John W., and John Kent. International Relations Since 1945. Oxford: Oxford Â�University Press, 2004. Extensive survey of postwar international relations, including decolonization and the Cold War.

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APPENDIX A

List of European Nations and the United States

Country Inter- Capital Area Area Rank Population Rank in Language(s) Religions† net (in 1,000 (in 1,000 in Area (in Population and country square square millions) Language code miles) kilometers) minorities (>5% of the population) United us Washington, 3,794.1 9,826.7 307.2 American â•… States â•…DC â•…English

P/C

Western ╅Europe British ╅ Isles 1 Ireland ie Dublin ╅ 27.1 ╅╛╛ 70.3 23 ╅4.4 32 2 Great gb London ╅ 94.1 243.6 12 61.3 ╇ 5 ╅Britain

English English

C P

Germanic â•… Europe Scandinavia 3 Denmark dk Copenhagen â•… 16.6 â•… 43.1 32 â•… 5.5 24 Danish 4 Norway no Oslo 125.0 323.8 9 â•… 4.8 27 Norwegian 5 Sweden se Stockholm 173.9 450.3 6 â•… 9.1 18 Swedish 6 Finland fi Helsinki 130.6 338.1 8 â•… 5.3 26 Finnish, â•… Swedish â•… (6 %) Low â•… Countries 7 The nl Amsterdam â•… 16.0 â•… 41.5 33 16.7 11 Dutch â•…Netherlands 8 Belgium be Brussels â•… 11.8 â•… 30.5 36 10.4 14 Dutch, â•… French â•… (40 %) 9 Luxembourg lu Luxembourg â•… 1.0 â•… 2.6 44 â•… 0.5 43 German/ â•… French

P P P P

P/C C

C

(Continued)

829

830 |╇ Appendix A: List of European Nations and the United States German- ╅ speaking ╅ 10-12 10 Germany de Berlin 137.8 357.0 ╇7 82.3 ╇2 German Alpine Nations 11 Switzerland ch Bern ╇15.9 ╇41.3 34 ╇7.6 21 German, ╅ French (18%), ╅ Italian (10%) 12 Austria at Vienna ╇32.4 ╇83.9 21 ╇8.2 20 German

P/C C/P

C

Latin Europe 13 France fr Paris 212.9 551.5 ╇4 62.2 ╇4 French 14 Portugal* pt Lisbon ╇35.6 ╇92.1 19 10.7 13 Portuguese 15 Spain* es Madrid 195.1 505.4 ╇ 5 45.8 8 Spanish, ╅ Catalan (17%), ╅ Galician (7%) 16 Italy it Rome 116.3 301.3 11 58.1 ╇ 6 Italian

C C C

C

Central â•… Europe Baltic Nations 17 Estonia ee Tallinn ╇17.5 ╇45.2 31 ╇1.3 40 Estonian, â•… Russian (26%) 18 Latvia lv Riga ╇24.9 ╇64.6 27 ╇2.2 36 Latvian, â•… Russian (30%) 19 Lithuania lt Vilnius ╇25.2 ╇65.3 26 ╇3.6 33 Lithuanian, â•… Polish (7%), â•… Russian (6%) Mid-Central â•… Europe 20 Poland pl Warsaw 120.7 312.7 10 38.5 ╇ 9 Polish 21 Czechia cz Prague ╇30.5 ╇78.9 22 10.2 15 Czech 22 Slovakia sk Bratislava ╇18.9 ╇49.0 30 ╇5.5 25 Slovak, â•… Hungarian â•… (10%) 23 Hungary hu Budapest ╇35.9 ╇93.0 18 10.0 16 Hungarian Balkan â•… Peninsula 24 Slovenia si Ljubljana â•… 7.8 ╇20.3 40 ╇2.0 38 Slovenian 25 Croatia hr Zagreb ╇21.6 ╇56.6 28 ╇4.5 30 Croatian 26 Bosnia ba Sarajevo ╇19.8 ╇51.2 29 ╇4.6 29 Bosniak â•…(divided) â•…(48%), â•… Serb (37%), â•… Croat (14%) 27 Serbia rs Belgrade ╇25.7 ╇77.5 25 ╇7.4 22 Serb 28 Montenegro me Podgorica â•… 5.3 ╇13.8 41 ╇0.7 42 Serb 29 Kosovo ks Pristina â•… 4.2 ╇10.9 42 ╇1.8 39 Albanian, â•… Serb (7%) 30 Macedonia mk Skopje â•… 9.9 ╇25.7 39 ╇2.1 37 Macedonian, â•… Albanian (25%) 31 Albania al Tiranë ╇11.1 ╇28.7 38 ╇3.7 34 Albanian 32 Greece gr Athens ╇50.9 ╇132.0 15 10.8 12 Greek 33 Romania ro Bucharest ╇91.7 ╇238.4 13 21.5 10 Romanian, â•… Hungarian (7%) 34 Bulgaria bg Sofia ╇42.8 110.9 16 ╇7.2 23 Bulgarian, â•… Turkish (9%)

P/O P/O C

C C C

C

C C M/O/C

O O M O/M M O O O/M

(Continued)

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Appendix A: List of European Nations and the United States╇ | 831

35 Moldova md Chis̹inău ╇13.1 ╇33.9 35 ╇4.3 31 Romanian, O â•…(divided) â•…Ukrainian (8%), â•… Russian (6%) Eastern Europe 36 Belarus by Minsk ╇80.2 207.6 14 ╇9.6 17 Belarussian, O â•… Russian (11%) 37 Ukraine ua Kiev ╇ 232.8 603.6 â•… 3 45.7 7 Ukrainian, O ╇ Russian (17%) Russia (total) ru Moscow 6,601.7 17,098.2 140.0 Russian O 38 Russia ru Moscow 1,544.4 4,030.0 â•… 1 110.0 1 Russian O â•…(European) Southeastern â•… Europe 39 Turkey tr Ankara ╇ 302.5 783.6 â•… 2 77.8 3 Turkish, â•… Kurdish (18%) 40 Georgia ge Tbilisi â•… 26.9 69.7 ╇ 24 4.6 28 Georgian â•…(divided) 41 Armenia am Yerevan â•… 11.5 29.7 ╇ 37 3.0 35 Armenian 42 Azerbaijan az Baku â•… 33.4 86.6 ╇ 20 8.3 19 â•… Azeri â•…(divided)

M O O M

Other 43 Iceland is Reykjavik â•… 39.8 103.0 ╇ 17 0.3 45 Icelandic P 44 Malta mt Valetta ╅╇ 0.1 0.3 ╇ 45 0.4 44 Maltese/ C â•… English 45 Cyprus cy Nicosia ╅╇ 3.5 9.2 ╇ 43 1.1 41 Greek, O/M â•… (divided) ╇ Turkish (18%) Ministates (in (in (in â•… square) â•… square â•…1,000s) â•… miles) â•… kilometers) Andorra ad Andorra ╇ 180.7 468 ╇ 84.5 Catalan Liechtenstein li Vaduz â•… 61.8 160 ╇ 35.0 German Monaco mc – ╅╇ 0.8 â•… 2 ╇ 30.6 French San Marino sm San Marino â•… 23.6 ╇ 61 ╇ 31.5 Italian Vatican City va – ╅╇ 0.2 0.4 ╇ 0.8 Italian

C C C C C

Dependencies (in (in ╇ (in â•… 1,000 â•… 1,000 â•… 1,000s) â•… square â•… square â•… miles) â•… kilo â•… meters) Faeroe fo Torshavn ╇ 386.1 1,393 ╇ 49.1 Danish P â•…Islands Gibraltar gi – ╅╇ 2.5 6.5 ╇ 28.9 Spanish, C/P â•… English Jan Mayen – ╇ 145.6 377 ╇ – â•…Island Svalbard sj Longyear- 23,938.3 62,045 ╇ 2.1 Norwegian, P/O ╇w(Spitsbergen) â•…byen â•…Russian Source: CIA World Fact Book 2010 (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook) and Eurostat (http:epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu). * Area and population include non-European overseas territories. † Religion: Only religions of more than 20 percent of the population are listed, in order of their share of the population. C indicates Roman Catholic; M, Muslim; O, Orthodox; P, Protestant.

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Index

Aboltina, Solvita, 532 abortion, 218–219 Austria and, 497 Belgium and, 469 Catholic Church and, 218 Czechia and, 554 Denmark and, 418 Finland and, 445 France and, 390 Greece and, 630 Ireland and, 330, 334, 335, 337 Malta and, 684 Poland and, 548 Portugal and, 506, 507, 509 Romania and, 617 Sweden and, 435 Switzerland and, 489 Turkey and, 659 absolutism, 104 Adams, Gerry, 336 Adenauer, Konrad, 365–366 adversarial judiciary system, 157 affirmative action, 100 agenda building, barrier model of, 11–13 age/old age, 84 agriculture, 232–233, 260 Albania (Shqipëria), 601–605 constitution of, 603 culture of, 602 Democratic Party of Albania (Partia Demokratike e Shqipërisë [PD]), 605

economy of, 602 executive power in, 604–605 governments and prime ministers since 1991, 604 head of state, 603 judicial power in, 605 the Kuvendi since 2005, 604 (table) land and people of, 601–602 language(s), 602 legislative power in, 604 major political parties from Left to Right, 605 political system of, 603 presidents since 1992, 603 (table) referendums in, 605 religion(s), 602 Socialist Party of Albania (Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë [PS]), 605 timeline of Albanian history, 602–603 (table) Aliyev, Heydar, 673 Aliyev, Ilham, 673 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, 247 Alpine nations, 279–280 See also specific nations Alpine nations, what they have in common in politics, 481 (table) American and European political spectrum, comparison of, 124 (table) American exceptionalism, 66 833

834 |╇Index

Americanization of elections, 124 Americanization of European politics, 123–124, 150 Amsterdam Treaty, 242, 269 anarchism, 108 Anastasiades, Nicos, 690 Andorra, 292, 691 Andreotti, Giulio, 403, 409 Anglican Church, 55, 113, 151, 348 Ansip, Andrus, 526 Antonescu, Crin, 617 Armenia (Hayastan), 290, 666–670 the Azgayin Zhoghov since 2003, 669–670 constitution of, 668 culture of, 667 economy of, 667 executive power in, 669 head of state, 668–669 judicial power in, 669–670 land and people of, 666–667 language(s), 667 legislative power in, 669 major political party, 670 policies of, 670 political system of, 668 prime ministers since 1999, 670 (table) referendums in, 670 religion(s), 667 timeline of Armenian history, 667–668 (table) Armenian genocide, 268, 290, 291 arms race, 258 Ashton, Catherine, 240 asymmetrical federalism, 191 Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal, 660 Attlee, Clement, 344 Austria (Österreich), 279, 280, 490–499 Alliance for the Future (Bündnis Zukunft Östereich [BZÖ]), 499 Austrian People’s Party (Österreichische Volkspartei [ÖVP]), 498–499 Bundesrat since 2005, 495 (table) civil society in, 497

constitution of, 493 culture of, 491–492 economy of, 491 executive power in, 495–496 federalism and, 497 Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Östereichs [FPÖ]), 499 government and prime ministers since 1945, 496 (table) head of state, 493–494 judicial power in, 496–497 land and people of, 491 language(s), 491 legislative power in, 494–495 major political parties from Left to Right, 498–499 Nationalrat since 2002, 495 (table) policies of, 497 political system of, 493 presidents since 1945, 494 (table) referendums in, 497 religion(s), 491 Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs [SPÖ]), 498 time line of Austrian history, 492–493 (table) authoritarianism, 102 autonomous trade unions, 175 Azarov, Mykola, 651 Azerbaijan (Azrbaycan, Azarbaycan), 290–291, 670–673 constitution of, 672–673 culture of, 671 economy of, 671 executive and judiciary power in, 673 head of state, 673 land and people of, 671 language(s), 671 legislative power in, 673 policies of, 673 political parties in, 673 political system of, 672 referendums in, 673



religion(s), 671 timeline of Azerbaijan’s history, 672 (table) Aznar, José María, 518 Bachrach, Peter, 15, 296 Bahçeli, Develt, 662 Bakunin, Mikhail, 108 Balkan Peninsula, 284–288 map of, 568 Baltic nations, 281–282, 410 (map) 521 See also specific countries Baratz, Morton, 15, 296 barrier model of agenda building, 11–13 Barroso, José Manuel, 508 Basescu, Traian, 617 Baykal, Deniz, 660 Bebel, August, 373 Belarus, 289, 641–644 constitution of, 643 culture of, 642 economy of, 642 executive and judicial powers in, 644 head of state, 643 land and people of, 641–642 language(s), 642 legislative power in, 643–644 policies of, 644 political parties in, 644 political system of, 643 timeline of Belarussian history, 642–643 Belgium (België/la Belgique), 277, 278, 460–474 Belgian governments under Wilfried Martens (1980s), 125, 126 (table) Belgian Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste Belge [PS] / Belgische Socialistische Partij [SP]), 473 Christian Democratic and Flemish (Christendemocratisch en Vlaams [CD&V]), 470–471 Christian Democrats, 473 civil society in, 468 Conservative Liberals, 474

Index╇| 835

constitution of, 463 culture of, 461 defunct national parties, 473–474 Different Socialist Party (Socialistische Partij Anders [SP.A]), 470 economy of, 461 executive power and, 465–467 federalism and, 468–469 Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang [VB]), 472–473 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 466–467 (table) head of state, 463–464 Humanist Democratic Center (Centre démocrate humaniste [CdH]), 471 judicial power in, 467 Kamer/Chambre since 2003, 465 (table) land and people of, 460–461 language(s), 460, 461, 463 legislative power in, 464 major political parties from Left to Right, 470–472 New Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie [N-VA]), 472 Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten [Open VLD]), 471–472 policies of, 469 political system of, 463 politics of, 125, 138, 213 referendums in, 467 Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur [MR]), 472 regions and communities of, 469 (table) religion(s), 461 Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste [PS]), 470 timeline of Belgian history, 462 (table) benchmarking, 235 Benelux cooperation, 264, 277 Berisha, Sali, 605 Berlusconi, Silvio, 79, 163, 181, 401, 404, 407 Bernstein, Eduard, 109, 373 Bersani, Pier Luigi, 407

836 |╇Index

Bertrand, Xavier, 394 Berzinš, Andris, 532 Beveridge, William, 199, 202 bicameral parliaments, 150 binding rules, scope of, 2–3 Birkavs, Valdis, 532 Bismarck, Otto von, 199 Björklund, Jan, 438 Blair, Tony, 112, 132, 179, 347, 351 Blair/Schröder Manifesto: Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte, 112, 307–318, 351 Blocher, Christoph, 490 Boc, Emil, 617 Borisov, Boyko, 623 Bosnia (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Bosna i Hercegovina), 286, 579–585 Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata), 584 constitution of, 581–582 culture of, 580 division of, 580 economy of, 580 executive power in, 583 head of state, 582 judiciary power in, 584 land and people of, 579–580 language(s), 580 legislative power in, 583 major political parties from Left to Right, 584–585 Party for Bosnia and Hercegovina (Stranka za Bosnu i Hercegovinu [SbiH]), 584–585 Party of Democratic Action (Stranka Demokratske Akcije [SDA]), 584 policies of, 584 political system of, 581 Predstabnièki Dom since 2002, 583 (table) presidents since 2002, 582 (table) referendums in, 584 religion(s), 580

Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Socijaldemokratska Partija Bosne i Hercegovine [SDP]), 584 timeline of Bosnian history, 581 (table) bourgeoisie, 81 bowling alone (term), 25 Brandt, Willy, 366–367 Brecht, Bertolt quoted, 22 Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty, 59 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 180 the British Isles, 271–272, 327–328 British pound sterling, 227 Brown, Gordon, 348, 351–352 Brundtland, Gro Harlem, 428 Bucher, Josef, 499 Buffet, Marie-George, 391 Bulgaria, 287, 618–623 Bulgarian Socialist Party (Bulgarska sotsialisticheska partiya [BSP]), 623 Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (Grazhdani za evropeysko razvitie na Balgariya [GERB]), 623 civil society in, 622 constitution of, 620 culture of, 619 executive power in, 621–622 governments and prime ministers since 1991, 621 (table) head of state, 620 judicial power in, 622 land and people of, 618 language(s), 618 legislative power in, 621 major political parties from Left to Right, 623 Movement for Rights and Freedom (Dvizhenie za prava i svobodi; Hak ve Özgürlükler Hareketi [DPS]), 623 the Narodno Sabranie since 2005, 620–621 (table) policies of, 622 political system of, 620



presidents since 1990, 620 (table) referendums in, 622 religion(s), 618, 622 timeline of Bulgarian history, 619 (table) Bulgarian Orthodox Church, 622 Bundesrat, 150–151, 191, 364 bureaucracy, 158–159 business unionism, 171 business/labor/government tripartism, 170–174 beginning of nationwide labor agreements and tripartism, 171 (table) corporatism, 170–172, 174 employment conferences, 172–173 impact of, 174 recent tripartite employment conferences and agreements, 173 (table) tripartite consultation, 174 Butkevic´â•›ius, Algirdas, 538 Buzek, Jerzy, 546 Callaghan, James, 346 Calvin, John, 55 Calvinism, 113 Cameron, David, 348 carbon dioxide emissions, 210 caretaker cabinet, 148 cartel democracy, 138 cartel parties, 137 catch-all parties, 133 Catholic Church abortion and, 218 Austria and, 497 Belgium and, 468 Christian democracy and, 112–114 clerical/anticlerical strife, 77–78, 175 Czechia and, 554 education and, 175, 212 France and, 274 history of, 51–52 Ireland and, 272, 328, 330, 334 Italy and, 275, 405, 406 Luxembourg and, 479 Malta and, 682, 685

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Index╇| 837

pillarization and, 97–98 Poland and, 177, 547 popes since 1945, 114 (table) social capital and, 168 Catholicism, 76 Caucasian nations, map of, 652 center/periphery issue, political relevancy of, 78–81, 84 Central European welfare states, 200–201 “Charter of the European Greens,” 248 checks and balances, 92 Chirac, Jacques, 162, 384 Christian democracy/Christian Democrats, 112–114 in Austria, 493, 495 basic principles or demands, 246 in Belgium, 463, 464, 470, 473 the Catholic Church and, 112, 113–114 corporatism and, 112 development of, 112 differentiation and, 216 European Parliament and, 245 in Germany and other Germanic countries, 121, 140, 365 gradual reform and, 197 in Hungary, 563 ideological decline and, 133 importance of, 78 in Italian politics, 162 in Lithuania, 538 in Luxembourg, 476, 477 in Malta, 682 in the Netherlands, 453, 455 in Poland, 541 in Portugal, 504 position in the political spectrum, 114 the Protestant and Orthodox churches and, 113 religion and, 78 in Slovakia, 557 Christofias, Demetris, 689 Churchill, Winston, 344–345 Çiller, Tansu, 662 citizen’s jury, 28

22/08/11 9:03 PM

838 |╇Index

citizenship policy, 214 civil law, 156–157 civil rights, 21 civil rights and ethical issues, comparison of Europe and the US, 220 (table) civil society business associations, 168 communist trade unions, 177–178 comparison of European and American civil society and media, 181–182 (table) corporatism and, 25 corruption and, 198 democracy and, 24–25 European style, 167–170 labor unions, 168–169 lobbying, 169 political action committees (PACs), 169 political strikes, 176–177 regional variations in, 176–178 social capital, 25, 167–168 unionization rates, 168, 169 (table) Claes, Willy, 136 clientelism, 163 closed shop, 206 coalition governments and party systems, 138–139 cohabitation, 161 Cohen, Job, 458 the Cold War, 61, 257–259 command economy, 111 common law, 157 the Common Market, 229 Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 262 Commonwealth of Nations (British Commonwealth), 260 Communism, 25, 97, 110–112 communist trade unions, 177–178 community, definition of, 3 community power studies, 14–15 comprehensive schools, 213 confederations, 98 Conseil Constitutionel, 156

consensus, definition of term, 18 consensus political system, 94 conservatism, 102, 103, 104–105 Conservative Liberals in Belgium, 463, 465 budget cutting and, 217 in Czechia, 551 definition of, 102 in Denmark, 414 on homosexuality, 218 in Luxembourg, 474 in the Netherlands, 452 in Norway, 424 political right and, 121 preference of, 216 state abstinence and, 107 Conservatives, 105, 111, 121, 122 basic principles or demands, 246 budget cutting and, 217 in Croatia, 577 in Denmark, 414 funding and, 136 in Hungary, 563 in Iceland, 677 in Macedonia, 597 in Montenegro, 591 in Norway, 424 preference of, 216 in Slovenia, 571 in Spain, 512 state activism and, 200 in Sweden, 432 constituencies, 94 constitution and judiciary, 154–158 adversarial judiciary system, 157 chronology of types of constitutions, 155 (table) civil law and, 156–157 common law, 157 comparison of European and American judiciary systems, 157–158 comparison of the judiciary in European democracies and the US, 158 (table)



European Union (EU) and judicial review, 156 impeachment and, 156 inquisitorial judiciary system, 157 judicial review, 155–156 jury trial, 157–158 overview of constitutions, 154–155 US Bill of Rights, 155 constitutional monarchs, 92 See also head of state constructive vote of no confidence, 162 continental democracy versus Westminster democracy, 93–96 comparison of American, Westminster, and continental European political systems, 95 (table) core ingredient of Westminster system, 94 multiparty systems, 94–95 proportionality and, 93–94 two-party systems and, 96 Westminster system compared to American system, 95 continental political system, 94–95, 99 continental welfare state, 200 Continental Western Europe, 272–275 cooperation and conflict, 17–19 Copenhagen criteria, 230–231 corporatism business/labor/government tripartism and, 170–172, 174 changes to, 99–100 Christian Democrats and, 112 civil society and, 25 Germanic democracy and Latin democracy, 97 health care and, 175 corruption, 198 Council of Europe, 265–266 country, explanation of the term, 3–4 Cowen, Brian, 337 Croatia (Hrvatska), 574–579 constitution of, 577

Slomp_Vol2_Index_833-870.indd 839

Index╇| 839

Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska demokratska zajednica [HDZ]), 578–579 culture of, 575 economy of, 575 executive power in, 578 governments and prime ministers since 1991, 578 (table) head of state, 577 judicial power in, 578 land and people of, 574–575 language(s), 575 legislative power in, 577 major political parties from Left to Right, 578–579 policies of, 578 political system of, 577 referendums in, 578 religion(s), 575 the Sabor since 2003, 577 (table) Social Democratic Party of Croatia (Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske [SDP]), 579 timeline of Croatian history, 576 (table) Croo, Alexander De, 472 Crvenkovski, Branko, 599 cultural hegemony, 15 Cunhal, Álvaro, 507 Cyprus (Kypros), 292, 685–690 civil society in, 689 constitution of, 687 culture of, 686 Democratic Party (Dimokratiko Komma [DIKO]), 690 Democratic Rally (Dimokratikos Synagermost [DISY]), 690 economy of, 686 head of state, 687 judiciary power in, 688 land and people of, 685–686 legislative power in, 688 major political parties from Left to Right, 689–690 map of, 674

22/08/11 9:03 PM

840 |╇Index

policies of, 689 political system of, 687 presidents since 1960, 688 (table) Progressive Party of Working People (Anorthotiko Komma Ergazomenou Laou [AKEL]), 689 referendums in, 689 religion(s), 686, 689 timeline of Cypriot history, 686–687 (table) the Vouli since 2001, 688 (table) Czechia (Cˇâ†œesko), 283, 549–555 Civic Democratic Party (Obcanská demokratická strana [ODS]), 555 civil society in, 554 constitution of, 551 culture of, 550 Czech Social Democratic Party (Ceská strana sociálnì demokratická [ÈSSD]), 554 economy of, 550 executive power in, 552–553 governments and prime ministers since 1993, 553 (table) head of state, 551–552 judicial power in, 553 land and people of, 549–550 language(s), 550 legislative power in, 552 major political parties from Left to Right, 554–555 policies of, 554 political system of, 551 Poslanecká since 2002 and Senát since 2008, 553 (table) referendums in, 554 religion(s), 550 timeline of Czech history, 550–551 (table) Dahl, Robert, 4, 5, 14–15, 17, 26, 96, 296 Daily Mirror, 179 Darbellay, Christophe, 489 Dayton agreement, 260 de Gaulle, Charles, 161, 229, 274, 378, 382–383, 393

Slomp_Vol2_Index_833-870.indd 840

De ’l’Esprit des Lois (Montesquieu), 106 de-alignment, 133 death penalty, 221 decision method of study of power, 14 decolonization, 62 deliberative democracy, 29 Delors, Jacques, 229, 232 Demirel, Süleyman, 661 democracy challenging representative, 163–166 civil society and, 24–25 definition of, 22 deliberative democracy, 29 direct democracy, 22–23, 24, 28, 164, 252 from Greece to the labor movement, 21–24 Greek culture and, 50 indirect democracy, 22 multilevel governance and, 29 original meaning of term, 21 participatory, 28 representative democracy, 22, 23, 25–30 representative democracy versus direct democracy, 22–24 Denmark (Danmark), 276, 277, 412–420 civil society of, 418 Conservative People’s Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti), 420 constitution of, 414 culture of, 413 Danish Folketing since 2005, 415 Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), 421 economy of, 413 executive power in, 416 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 416–417 (table) head of state, 414 judicial power in, 416 land and people of, 412–413 language(s), 413 legislative power in, 415 Liberal Party of Denmark (Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti), 420

22/08/11 9:03 PM



major political parties from Left to Right, 418–421 political spectrum of, 416 political system of, 414 public policies of, 418 Radical Left (Det Radikale Venstre), 419–420 referendums in, 417 religion(s), 413 Social Democratic Party (Socialdemokraterne), 419 Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti), 418–419 timeline of Danish history, 413–414 (table) depoliticization, 18 devolution, 99 division (traditional), sources of, 83–84 division versus diversity in democracy, 89–91 basic ideas behind national politics, 91 (table) centralization of, 90 dispersion of power, 90 in Europe, 91 individual competition, 90 individual diversity, 89, 90 inequalities between groups, 89–90 majority rule, 90–91 proportionality of power, 91 in US, 89, 90–91 Dodik, Milorad, 584 Dogan, Ahmed, 623 Dombrovskis, Valdis, 532 double nationality, 214 Douglas-Home, Alec, 346 drug policies, 220 Ðukanovic´, Milo, 591, 592 Dutch, 449, 455 See also Netherlands (Nederland/ Holland) Dutch (Polder) Model of public policy, 195, 457 Dzurinda, Mikuláš, 560

Index╇| 841

earmarks, 184 East Germany, 274 Eastern European nations, 288–290 map of, 632 Easton, David, 2, 8, 9, 11, 20, 296 Ecevit, Bülent, 659, 660, 661 Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), 223 economic policies, 207–210 Ecosoc, 251 Eden, Anthony, 345 education, 211–213 corporatism and, 175 gender equality in, 213 immigration and, 213 private education, 212 school boards, 212 social class and, 212–213 state financing of, 212 El Pais, 179 Elchibey, Abulfaz, 673 elections, 125–132 district voting, 127 in Eastern and South Eastern Europe, 127 gerrymandering, 129 impact of electoral systems: share of votes, parliamentary seats, and cabinet posts, 130–131 (table) majority/plurality system of, 127–128, 130, 141 multiparty systems and, 130 parliamentary politics and, 125–127 proportional representation, 128, 129, 130 snap elections, 126 types of electoral systems, 127 in Western Europe, 130 elections, parties, and government: regional variations in, 139–142 in Central Europe, 141–142 in Germanic countries, 140 in Great Britain, 139–140 in Scandinavia, 140

842 |╇Index

elitism, 14 employment conferences, 172 Encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (Leo XIII), 112 Enlightenment, 22, 56, 106 environmental policies, 210 environmentalism, 117 Erdogˆâ•›an, Recep Tayyip, 661 Erhard, Ludwig, 366 Erlander, Tage Fritiof, 125, 433 Esping-Andersen, Gøsta, 30, 200, 296 Estonia (Eesti), 521–526 civil society in, 525 constitution of, 523 culture of, 522 economy of, 522 Estonian Centre Party (Eesti Keskerakond [EK]), 526 Estonian Reform Party (Eesti Reformierakond [RE]), 526 executive power in, 524–525 head of state, 523–524 judicial power in, 525 land and people of, 521–522 language(s), 522 legislative power in, 524 major political parties from Left to Right, 526 policies of, 525–526 political system of, 523 prime ministers since 1991, 525 (table) referendums in, 525 Riigikogu since 2003, 524 (table) timeline of Estonian history, 522–523 (table) Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica (Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit [IRL]), 526 ethical issues, 102 ethnic cleansing, 19, 82–83 ethnicity, 70 euro, the, 225–226 Europe comparison of American and European nationhood and society, 87 (table)

comparison of some geographical features with the U.S., 34 (map) definition of, 36–37 division of, 40 (table) division versus diversity in democracy, 89–91 economies of, 42–45 epochal changes in (latest), 223 Europe from 1949 to 1988, 39 (map) Europe in 1900, 39 (map) Europe in 2010, 38 (map) European and American economic policies, comparison of, 211 (table) European countries grouped by population size, 35 (table) geographical note on, 32–36 grouped by GDP per capita, 45 (table) human development index ranking of European nations, 47 (table) major languages and religions of, 42 (table) population size, European nations in proportion to, 41 (map) population size, U.S. states in proportion to, 41 (map) regions of western Europe, 37 (table) service employment and, 43, 44 social and political life in, 45–48 social citizenship, 47 unemployment and, 42, 43 and US: social class and race— convergence or divergence? 294–296 (table) Europe: The Third Way / Die Neue Mitte (Blair and Schröder), 112, 307–318, 351 European Central Bank (ECB), 226–227 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), 228 European Commission, 241–245 European Community (EC), 230 European Court of Justice, 156, 241, 251 European governments, 143–146 cabinet ministers, 144 layers in, 143–144



political leaders in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France (1980–2010), 145–146 (table) prime ministers, 144–145 votes of no confidence/censure motions, 145 European history 19th century, 57–58 20th century, 58–64 20th century Europe, epochal developments in, 58 (table) 20th century, table of Europe in the, 63–64 ancient culture (1200 BC–AD 500), 50–51 comparison of US and European historical developments, 65–66 core elements in European history, 49 (table) language and nationhood, 70–75 major differences between European and US history, 65 (table) Middle Ages (500–1500), 51–54 New Era (1500–1789), 54–56 religion in, 75–77 European identity, 66–68 European ideological spectrum, 102, 103 European integration, 228–231 Charles de Gaulle and, 229 the Common Market (European Economic Community [EEC]), 229 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), 228, 229 European Community (EC), 230 European Union (EU) and, 228 Jacques Delors and, 229, 232 Jean Monnet and, 228, 231 Maastricht Treaty, 230, 235, 269, 299–306 Margaret Thatcher, 229 Robert Schuman and, 228, 232 Treaty of Rome (1957), 229 European liberals, 107 European ministates, 292

Index╇| 843

European Parliament, 241, 245–250 European Union (EU) agriculture and, 232–233, 260 Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper), 241 Copenhagen criteria, 230–231 core activity of, 232–233 Council of Ministers, 240 countries refusing medication, 230 diversity of language problem, 252 economic conditions for joining, 227 environmental regulations, 237 establishment and extension of, 63 EU member states, their population ranking, numeric representation, and currencies, 224–225 (table) the euro and, 225–226 European Central Bank (ECB), 226–227 European integration and, 228 European works councils, 237 eurozone countries, 227 federalism and, 193 foreign policy of, 269–270 gender equality and, 237 government deficit and, 227 health and safety and, 236 impact of, 223–224, 228 importance of, 31–32 important European Council meetings, 234 (table) integration of policies into national legislation, 237–238 intergovernmental decision making, 238–241 intergovernmental/supranational approaches to decision making, 29 international mergers of companies, 235 judicial review and, 156 labor mobility/freedom of movement, 235–236 Lisbon Treaty (2007), 230, 240, 242 multilevel governance and, 29 neoconservatism and, 119

844 |╇Index

number of member nations, 230 objectives of regional policies, 236 policies of, 232–238 public debt and, 227 qualified majority vote (QMV), 240–241 Schengen Treaty (1985), 236 single-market policy in industry and services, 235 social policies and, 236, 237 social security and, 236, 237 structure of, 238 Switzerland and, 267 Turkey and, 231 unemployment rate of, 43 European Union (EU), the supranational structures, 241–252 comparison of the political structures of the EU and the US, 253 (table) confrontation between Parliament and Commission, 250 the European Commission, 241–244 the European Commission presidency, 241–242 European commissioners since 2010, 243–244 (table) European Council presidency, 242 the European Court of Justice, 251 the European Parliament, 244–251 identity of, 241 male domination of, 251 networking and, 251–252 party representation per member state since 2009, 249 (table) political groups represented in the European Parliament, 245 (table) presidents of the European Commission since 1958, 242 (table) principals/demands of groups, 246–248 eurosclerosis, 252–253 euthanasia, 458, 469 Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), 226 exclusion versus integration, 82–83

executive power in European democracies and the US, comparison of, 153–154 (table) exit, definition of, 19 Fascism, 115–116 federalism, 90, 98–99, 189–193 American federalism, 190–191 asymmetrical federalism, 191 Austria and, 497 Belgium and, 193, 469 comparison of European and American federalism, 192–193 (table) differences between US and European federalism, 190–191 European Union (EU) and, 193 federalized nations in Europe, 189 Germany, 369–371 Länder, 189–190, 191 regional autonomy and, 191–192 Russia and, 191–192 Spain and, 192, 516 Switzerland and, 488 symmetrical federalism, 191 veto points/veto players and, 27 feminism, 116–117 feminist identity politics, 163 Fenech-Adami, Eddie, 685 feudalism, 52, 81, 90, 104 Fico, Robert, 560 the Fifth Republic, 161 Fini, Gianfranco, 407 Finland (Suomi/Finland), 276, 277, 438–447 Centre Party of Finland (Keskustapuolue/Centerpartiet), 446 constitution of, 441 culture of, 440 economy of, 440 executive power in, 443–444 the Finnish Eduskunta since 2003, 443 (table) governments and prime ministers since 1945, 444 (table) head of state, 441–442



judicial power in, 445 land and people of, 439–440 language(s), 440 legislative power in, 442–443 major political parties from Left to Right, 445–447 National Coalition Party (Kansallinen Kokoomus/Nationella Samlingspartiet), 446–447 policies of, 445 political system of, 441 presidents since 1946, 442 (table) referendums in, 445 religion(s), 440 Social Democratic Party of Finland (Suomen Sosiaalidemokraattinen Puolue/Finlands Socialdemokratiska Parti), 445–446 timeline of Finnish history, 440–441 (table) Fischer, Joschka, 373 Fishkin, James, 28, 296 flex work, 206 floating voters, 133 formateur/informateur, 453 Fortuyn, Pim, 460 France, 273, 274, 377–395 Assemblée Nationale since 2002, 385 (table) civil society in, 388–389 constitution of, 381–382 culture of, 379 defunct parties, 395 Democratic Movement (Mouvement démocrate [MoDem]) and New Centre (Nouveau Centre), 392–393 economy of, 379 executive power in, 386–388 French Communist Party (Parti communiste français [PCF]), 390–391 gay rights, 390 head of state, 382 judicial power in, 388 land and people of, 378–379 language(s), 379

Index╇| 845

legislative power in, 384–386 major political parties from Left to Right, 390–395 map of, 356 National Front (Front national [FN]), 118, 394–395 policies of, 389–390 political system of, 381 Popular Republican Movement (Mouvement républicain popularize [MRP]), 395 presidents of France, 382–384 (table) presidents of the French Fifth Republic, 382 (table) prime ministers of the French Fifth Republic, 387 (table) prime ministers of the French Fourth Republic, 386 (table) Radical Party (Parti Radical), 395 referendums in, 388 regions of, 389 religion(s), 379 Sénat since 2004, 385 (table) Socialist Party (Parti socialiste [SP]), 391–392 timeline of French history, 380–381 (table) Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un Mouvement populaire [UMP]), 393–394 freedom of movement, 235 Frère-Orban, Walthère, 474 Front populaire, 111 frozen party system, 120 Gabriel, Sigmar, 374 Gailis, Maris, 532 Gauck, Joachim, 362 gay rights, 390, 508 gender equality, 396, 432, 516 general suffrage, 59, 109, 116 genocide, 268, 290, 291 Genscher, Hans Dietrich, 377 Georgia (Sakartvelo), 290, 662–666 constitution of, 664

846 |╇Index

culture of, 663 economy of, 663 executive power in, 665 head of state, 665 judiciary power in, 665–666 land and people of, 662–663 language(s), 663 legislative power in, 665 major political party, 666 political system of, 664 prime ministers since 2004, 666 (table) referendums in, 666 religion(s), 663 the Sakartvelos Parlamenti since 2004, 665 (table) timeline of Georgian history, 663–664 (table) United National Movement (Ertiani Natsionaluri Modzraoba), 666 Gerhardsen, Einar Henry, 428 German constitutional court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), 156 German mark, 223, 225–226 German Model of public policy, 195 Germanic democracy and Latin democracy, 96–98 the Catholic Church and, 97–98 corporatism, 97 pillarization, 96–97 polarization and, 98 proportionality and, 96 Social Democrats and, 97 table outlining, 98 Germanic nations, 37–38 See also specific countries Germany (Deutschland), 273, 274–275, 357–377 Alliance ’90/The Greens (Bündnis ’90/ die Grünen) political party, 372–373 and the Alpine nations, map of, 480 Christian Democratic Union (Christlich Demokratische Union [CDU]) and its Bavarian Sister Party (Schwesterpartei) Christian Social

Slomp_Vol2_Index_833-870.indd 846

Union (Christlich-Soziale Union [CSU]), 375–377 civil society in, 369 constitution of, 361–362 contributions to German political stability, 358 (table) culture of, 359–360 economy of, 359 executive power in, 364–365 federal units in (Länder), 370 (table) federalism in, 369–371 governments and chancellors of Germany since 1949, 365–366 (table) head of state, 362 judicial power in, 368 land and people of, 358–359 Länder, 189–190, 191, 362, 364, 368 language(s), 359 the Left (Die Linke) political party, 371–372 legislative power in, 362–364 major political parties from Left to Right, 371–377 policies and, 371 political system of, 361 presidents since 1940, 362 (table) referendums in, 369 religion(s), 359 Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands [SPD]), 373–375 structure of German democracy, 97 timeline of German history, 360–361 (table) what Germany, France, and Italy have in common, 357 (table) gerrymandering, 129 Gilmore, Eamon, 336 Gini index, 47 Giscard d’Estaing, Valéry, 383 glass ceiling concept, 26 Glawischnig, Eva, 498 Gligorov, Kiro, 597 Glistrup, Mogens, 421

22/08/11 9:03 PM



Glorious Revolution, 56, 106, 271 Godesberg Program, 133, 374 Goffman, Erving, 13, 296 González, Felipe, 517, 518 Gonzi, Lawrence, 685 Good Friday Agreement (1998), 76, 349 Gorbachev, Mikhail, 62 governance, 8 Grandes Ecoles, 159 Gray Wolves (Bozkurtlar), a youth movement, 662 Great Britain (Great Britain/United Kingdom), 338–355 British House of Commons since 2002, 343 (table) civil society of, 348–349 Conservative Party, 353–354 constitution of, 341 culture of, 339–340 Democratic Unionist Party, 354–355 devolution and, 349–350 economy of, 339 executive power in, 344 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 345 (table) head of state, 341–342 judicial power in, 348 Labour Party, 351–352 land and people of, 338–339 language(s), 339 legislative power in, 342–344 Liberal Democrats, 352–353 major differences between British and Continental politics and society, 338 (table) major political parties from Left to Right, 351–352 Northern Ireland, 349 policies of, 350–351 political system of, 341 prime ministers of, 344–348 Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 350

Index╇| 847

referendums in, 348 regional units of, 350 (table) religion(s), 339 Scotland, 349 Scottish National Party (Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba), 355 timeline of British history, 340–341 (table) United Kingdom Independence Party, 355 Wales, 349 Great Depression, 60 Greece (Ellada), 287–288, 623–631 civil society in, 629–630 constitution of, 626 culture of, 624–625 economy of, 624 executive power in, 627–628 governments and prime ministers since 1974, 629 (table) head of state, 626–627 judicial power in, 628 land and people of, 623–624 language(s), 624 legislative power in, 627, 628 major political parties from Left to Right, 630–631 New Democracy (Nea Demokratie – ND), 630–631 Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Penellinio Sosialistiko Kinima [PASOK]), 630 policies of, 630 political system of, 626 presidents since 1974, 627 (table) referendums in, 629 religion(s), 624, 629 timeline of Greek history, 625–626 (table) the Vouli since 2004, 628 (table) Greek Orthodox Church, 629 Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, 689 Gross, Stanislav, 552 group rights, 100

848 |╇Index

Gruevski, Nikola, 599 Guardian (newspaper), 179 Gül, Abdullah, 657 Gümüs¸â†œpala, Ragip, 661 guns, 168 Gyurcsány, Ferenc, 564 Hägglund, Göran, 437 Haider, Jörg, 499 Hamburg program, 374–375 Havel, Václav, 283, 552 head of state, 152–154 comparison of the executive power in European democracies and the US, 153–154 (table) constitutional monarchs, 92 dethroned and remaining royal dynasties, 152–153 (table) monarchies, 152–153 power of monarchs, 153 health care and corporatism, 175 health care and housing, 205–206 health service system (national), 205 Heath, Edward, 346 hegemony, 15 Heimat, 376 Henri, 476 Heuss, Theodor, 377 hidden unemployment, 44, 201 Hirschman, Alfred O., 19 Holland, see the Netherlands Holocaust, 61 Holy Roman Empire, 52, 273 homosexuality, 218, 219, 548 Howe, Geoffrey, 353 Hoxha, Enver, 286 Hue, Robert, 391 Human Development Index (HDI), 47 Hume, John, 75 Hungary, 284 Hungary (Magyarország), 561–567 civil society in, 565–566 constitution of, 563 culture of, 562

economy of, 562 executive power in, 564–565 Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union (Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség), 566 head of state, 563–564 Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista Párt [MSZP]), 566 Jobbik – the Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom), 567 judicial power in, 565 land and people of, 561–562 language(s), 561 legislative power in, 564 major political parties from Left to Right, 566–567 Országgyûlés since 2002, 564 (table) policies of, 566 political system of, 563 presidents since 1990, 563 (table) prime ministers since 1989, 565 (table) religion(s), 561–562 timeline of Hungarian history, 562–563 (table) Hunter, Floyd, 14, 296 Hus, Jan, 54 Iberian Peninsula, 280–281 map of, 500 politics since the 1970s, 501 (table) See also specific countries Iceland (Ísland), 291, 675–681 the Althing since 2003, 678 (table) civil society in, 679 constitution of, 677 culture of, 676 economy of, 676 executive power in, 678 governments and prime ministers since 1944, 678–679 (table) head of state, 677 Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurin), 680



judiciary in, 679 land and people of, 675–676 language(s), 676 Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð), 680 legislative power in, 677 major political parties from Left to Right, 680–681 map of, 674 policies of, 679 political system of, 677 Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), 680–681 referendums in, 679 religion(s), 676, 679 Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), 680 timeline of Icelandic history, 676–677 (table) identity politics, 27, 28, 119, 163 ideological division, regional variations in coping with, 120–123 in Central Europe, 122–123 in Eastern Europe, 123 in Germany/small Germanic nations, 121 in Great Britain, 120 in Latin Europe, 121–122 in Scandinavia, 121 ideological spectrum (European), 102, 103 immigration, 84–88 comparison of American and European nationhood and society, 87–88 (table) foreign nationals (immigrants and refugees), 86 (table) integration of foreign migrants, 87 Islam and, 77, 84–85 social and political integration of the second generation, 85 immigration and citizenship policies, 213–216 blood-based rights to citizenship, 214 citizenship policy, 214 civic republicanism, 215

Index╇| 849

countries at the top of the EU member ranking for promoting integration, 215 (table) degree and kind of adoption required, 215 double nationality, 214 ethnic segregation, 215 Great Britain and, 216 health care costs and, 205 immigration policy, 214 Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), 214–215 new nationalism and, 118 soil-based rights to citizenship, 214 impeachment, 156 indirect democracy, 22 individual competition, 90 individual diversity, 89–90, 93 individualization, 168 Industrial Revolution, 57 influence, 5 influence, power, and authority, 4–7 information flow, 10–11 inquisitorial judiciary system, 157 integration versus exclusion, 82–83 interests, definition of, 3, 16 intergovernmentalism, 238 internalized rules, 6 International Court of Justice, 69 international organizations with predominantly European members (except EU and Commonwealth of Independent States), 266 (table) international politics, 255–270 Benelux cooperation, 264 biggest defense spenders as a percentage of gross domestic product, 259 (table) bipolar world during the Cold War, 257–259 Central Europe and, 263 colonial ties of Europe, 260–262 colonies and overseas territories, 261 (table)

850 |╇Index

Council of Europe, 265–266 definition of, 4 disputes between neighboring countries, 267–269 encompassing organizations, 264–267 Europe in the new unipolar world, 260–264 European relations with the US, 260 European Union (EU) foreign policy, 269–270 foreign aid, 263–264 France and, 263 Germany and, 263 Great Britain and, 263 international organizations with predominantly European members (except EU and Commonwealth of Independent States), 266 (table) Middle East and, 262 Muslim fundamentalism, 262 Nordic Council, 264 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 258, 259, 264–265 Official Development Assistance (ODA): leading donor countries, 264 (table) Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 266–267 Russia and, 262–263 territories in multipolar Europe, 256–257 Third World dependency, 262 the United Nations, 258 US dominance of, 255 Warsaw Pact, 258 investigative journalism, 180 Investiture Controversy, 52 invisible power, 15, 16 Ireland (Éire/Ireland), 272, 327–337 civil society of, 334–335 constitution of, 330 culture of, 329 Dáil and Seanad since 2002, 332 (table) division of, 327–328 economy of, 329

elements of British and Irish politics and society compared with the Continent, 327 (table) executive power in, 333–334 Fianna Fáil, 336–337 Finne Gael, 337 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 333–334 (table) head of state, 330–331 judicial power in, 334 Labour Party (Páirti an Lucht Oibre), 336 land and people of, 328 language(s), 328 legislative power in, 331–333 major political differences with Great Britain, 328 major political parties from Left to Right, 336–337 Northern Ireland, 75–76, 349 policies of, 335–336 political system of, 330 presidents since 1945, 331 (table) referendums in, 334 referendums on constitutional amendments regarding abortion, 335 (table) religion(s), 328 Sinn Féin, 336 timeline of Irish history, 329 (table) Iron Curtain, 62 Islam, 76, 77, 78, 84–85, 231 Italy (Italia), 272–273, 275, 395–409 autonomous regions of, 406 (table) Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana [DC]), 409 civil society and, 405 Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista Italiano [PCI]), 408 constitution of, 399 culture of, 397 defunct parties of, 408–409 Democratic Party (Partito Democratico [PD]), 406–407 devolution and, 405–406



economy of, 397 executive power in, 402–404 gender equality, 396 Go Italy party, 407 head of state, 400 Italian Social Movement – National Right, 407 Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano [PSI]), 408–409 judicial power in, 404 land and people of, 396–397 language(s), 396–397 legislative power in, 400–402 major political parties from Left to Right, 406–408 map of, 356 Northern League for the Independence of Padania (Lega Nord per l’Independenzia della Padania [LN]), 78–79, 407–408 People of Freedom (Popolo della Libertà [PdL]), 407 political system of, 399 referendums in, 404–405 timeline of Italian history, 398–399 (table) ius sanguinis, 214, 232 ius soli, 214, 232 Janša, Janez, 574 Jaurès, Jean, 109, 391 job protection, 206 John XXIII (pope), 113 Judaism, 76–77 judicial review, 155–156 judiciary in European democracies and the US, comparison of, 158 (table) jury trial, 157 Kaczyn´ski, Jaroslaw, 549 Kaczyn´ski, Lech, 545, 549 Kalvitis, Aigars, 532 Karadžiæ, Radovan, 588

Index╇| 851

Karamanlis, Konstantinos, 626–627, 630 Karoyian, Marios, 690 Katainen, Jyrki Tapani, 447 Kekkonen, Urho, 441–442 Kenny, Enda, 337 Keynes, John Maynard, 199 Keynesian economic policies, 209, 210 Keynesianism, 199, 209 Kiesinger, Kurt Georg, 366 Kjærsgaard, Pia, 421 Klaus, Václav, 552, 555 Klerides, Glafkos, 690 Kocharyan, Robert, 668 Kohl, Helmut, 125, 136, 367–368 Köhler, Horst, 362 Kosovo (Kosovë), 69–70, 286, 592–595 constitution of, 594 culture of, 593 Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës [LDK]), 595 Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës [PDK]), 595 economy of, 593 executive power in, 595 head of state, 594 judicial power in, 595 the Kuvendi since 2007, 594 (table) land and people of, 592–593 language(s), 593 legislative power in, 594 major political parties from Left to Right, 595 political system of, 594 referendums in, 595 religion(s), 593 timeline of Kosovo's history, 593–594 (table) Koštunica, Vojislav, 588 Krag, Jens Otto, 419 Kreisky, Bruno, 496, 498 Krištopans, Vilis, 532 Kuchma, Leonid, 647 Kyprianou, Spyros, 690

852 |╇Index

Laar, Mart, 526 labor conditions, 206–207 labor ideologies, 108–112 anarchism, 108 Communism, 110–111, 112 Marxism, 108–109 Social Democrats, 109–110, 111–112 labor market parties, 170 labor mobility, 235 labor movements, 66, 81–82, 168 labor unions, 168–169 See also trade unions Lagumdžija, Zlatko, 584 language and nationhood, 70–75 divided countries and, 74 (table) importance of language, 71–72 language groups, languages, and alphabets, 71 (table) major language minorities (except Russian speakers in Belarus and Ukraine), 74 (table) nationalism and, 75 One Language → One Nation principle, 72 One Nation → One Language principle, 72–73 at-large elections, 187 Latin European nations, 37–38 See also specific countries Latvia (Latvija), 527–532 civil society in, 531 constitution of, 528 culture of, 527 defunct parties, 532 economy of, 527 executive power in, 530 Harmony Centre (Saskanas Centrs [SC]), 531 head of state, 528–529 For Human Rights in United Latvia, 531–532 judicial power in, 530 land and people of, 527 language(s), 527

Latvian Way (Latvijas Cel¸š [LC]), 532 legislative power in, 529–530 major political parties from Left to Right, 531–532 New Era (Jaunais Laiks [JL]), 532 People’s Party (Tautas Partija [TP]), 532 policies of, 531 political system of, 528 presidents since 1990, 529 (table) prime ministers since 1990, 530 (table) referendums in, 531 Saeima since 2002, 529 (table) timeline of Latvian history, 528 (table) Union of Greens and Farmers, 532 Le Monde, 179 Le Pen, Jean-Marie, 118, 394 League of Nations, 258–259 Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, 110 Lentvai, Ildikó, 566 Leo XIII (pope), 112 Leopold III, 463–464 Levrat, Christian, 489 liberal rights, 21 liberal welfare state, 200 liberalism, 56, 105–108, 272 libertarianism, 102 On Liberty (Mill), 106 Liebknecht, Karl, 373 Liechtenstein, 292, 692 Lijphart, Arend, 94, 96, 297 Lisbon Treaty (2007), 230, 240, 242, 269 Lithuania (Lietuva), 533–539 civil society in, 538 constitution of, 534–535 culture of, 533 economy of, 533 executive power in, 536 governments and prime ministers since 1991, 537 (table) head of state, 535 Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (Teÿvyneÿs sajunga – Lietuvos krikšèionys demokratai – TS), 538–539



judicial power in, 536–537 land and people of, 533 language(s), 533 legislative power in, 535–536 major political parties from Left to Right, 538–539 National Resurrection Party (Tautos Prisikelimo Partija – TPP), 539 Order and Justice (Tvarka ir teisingumas TT), 539 policies of, 538 political system of, 534 presidents since 1980, 535 (table) referendums in, 537 religion(s), 533 Seimas since 2004, 536 (table) Social Democratic Party of Lithuania (Lietuvos Social Demokratu Partija – LSDP), 538 timeline of Lithuanian history, 534 (table) lobbying, 169–170 local and regional politics, 183–189 characteristics of regional and local units, 186–187 (table) community size and local politics, 187–188 competition between suburbs and city centers, 185 decentralization and, 185 earmarks, 184 functions of regional units, 185–187 incorporation, 185 at-large elections and, 187 local autonomy, 184 local financial resources, 184 local government areas of responsibility, 184–185 school districts and other special singlepurpose districts, 188 Locke, John, 22, 91–92, 106 the Low Countries, 277–279 common political features of, 449 (table) map of, 448 See also specific countries

Index╇| 853

loyalty, 19, 20 Lukashenko, Alexander, 643 Lukes, Stephen, 15, 297 Luther, Martin, 55 Lutheran Church Denmark and, 414, 418 Finland and, 445 Iceland and, 677, 679 Norway and, 424, 426, 427 in the Scandinavian countries, 113 Sweden and, 435 Luxembourg (Lëtzebuerg/Luxembourg), 277, 279, 474–479 Christian Social People’s Party (Chrëschtlech Sozial Vollekspartei [CSV]), 479 civil society in, 478 constitution of, 476 culture of, 475 Democratic Party (Demokratesch Partei [DP]), 479 economy of, 475 executive power, 477–478 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 477–478 (table) head of state, 476 judicial power in, 478 land and people of, 474–475 language(s), 474 legislative power, 476–477 Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Arbechterspartei [LSAP]), 478–479 Luxembourg’s Châmber since 2003, 477 (table) major political parties from Left to Right, 478–479 policies of, 478 political system of, 476 referendums in, 478 religion(s), 475 timeline of Luxembourg history, 475–476 (table) Luxemburg, Rosa, 373

854 |╇Index

Maastricht Treaty, 230, 232, 235, 269, 299–306 Macedonia (Makedonija), 286, 595–599 constitution of, 597 economy of, 596 governments and prime ministers since 1991, 599 (table) head of state, 597 Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (Vnatrešna makedonska revolucionerna organizacija – Demokratska partija za makedonsko nacionalno edinstvo), 599 judicial power in, 598 land and people of, 595–596 language(s), 596 legislative power in, 598 major political parties from Left to Right, 599 political system of, 597 presidents since 1991, 597 (table) referendums in, 598 religion(s), 596 the Sobranie since 2002, 598 (table) Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija), 599 timeline of Macedonian history, 596–597 (table) Macmillan, Harold, 345–346 Madison, James, 22–23, 90, 297 Major, John, 347, 354 majoritarianism, 90 majority rule, 90–91, 98, 99 majority/plurality electoral system, 94, 95, 127–128, 129, 130, 141 Makarios, Archbishop, 687 Makaryan, Andranik, 669 Malta, 292, 681–685 civil society in, 684 constitution of, 682

culture of, 681 economy of, 681 executive power in, 684 governments and prime ministers since 1974, 684 (table) head of state, 683 judiciary power in, 684 the Kamra since 2003, 683 (table) land and people of, 681 language(s), 681 legislative power in, 683 major political parties from Left to Right, 684–685 Malta Labour Party (Partit Laborista), 684 map of, 674 Nationalist Party (Partit Nazzjonalista), 685 policies of, 684 political system of, 682 presidents since 1974, 683 (table) referendums in, 684 timeline of Maltese history, 681–682 (table) Marchais, Georges, 391 Marcinkiewicz, Kazimierz, 549 Martens, Wilfried, 125, 126 (table) Marx, Karl, 16, 108 Marxism, 108, 109, 112 Marxist theory, 108–109 mass media, 178–182 commercial TV, 180 comparison of European and American civil society and media, 181–182 (table) concentration of media ownership, 180–181 free press, importance of, 180 government monopoly of, 181 independence and professionalism, 179–180 investigative journalism, 180 public broadcasting stations, 180 scandal and, 178–179 supervision of, 180



Mecˇâ•›iar, Vladimír, 558 Meisch, Claude, 479 Menderes, Adnan, 661 Merkel, Angela, 368 Mid-Central European nations, 282–284, 541 map of, 540 See also specific nations Milanovic´â•›, Zoran, 579 Milic´â•›, Srðan, 592 Mill, John Stuart, 106, 107 Millerand, Alexandre, 391 Milquet, Joëlle, 471 Mintoff, Dom, 684, 685 Mitterand, François, 162, 383–384, 391 Mladic´â•›, Ratko, 588 mobilization of bias, 15 Moldavian Orthodox Church, 610 Moldova, 287, 605–610 Alliance for European Integration (Alianta pentra Integrare Europeana), 610 constitution of, 607 culture of, 606 economy of, 606 executive power and, 609 governments and prime ministers since 1990, 609 (table) head of state, 607–608 judicial power in, 609 land and people of, 605–606 language(s), 606 legislative power in, 608–609 major political parties from Left to Right, 610 Parlamentul since 2005, 608 (table) Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova (Partidul Comunistilor din Republica Moldova - PCRM), 610 policies of, 610 political system of, 607 presidents since 1990, 608 (table) referendums in, 609–610 religion(s), 606 timeline of Moldovan history, 606–607 (table)

Index╇| 855

Monaco, 292, 692–693 monarchy, 92–93, 152–153, 276 Monnet, Jean, 228, 231 Montenegro (Crna Gora), 286, 589–592 Coalition for a European Montenegro (Koalicija za Evropsku Crnu Goru), 592 constitution of, 591 economy of, 590 executive power in, 591 head of state, 591 judicial power in, 592 land and people of, 589 language(s), 589 legislative power in, 591 major political parties from Left to Right, 592 political system of, 591 referendums in, 592 religion(s), 589 the Skupština since 2009, 591 Socialist People’s Party of Montenegro (Socijalistiæka narodna partija Crne Gore), 592 timeline of Montenegrin history, 590 (table) Montesquieu, 92, 106 multilevel governance, 29 multiparty systems, 94–95, 130 Munich Treaty, 60 Muscat, Joseph, 685 Mussolini, Benito, 59, 115, 408 Nano, Fatos, 605 nation, definition of, 3–4 national health service system, 205 National Interest Reconciliation Council, 178 national parliaments in European democracies and the US Congress, comparison of, 151 (table) national politics, basic ideas behind, 91 (table) National Rifle Association, 168 national sovereignty, 55, 98, 197, 224

856 |╇Index

nationalism, 75 nationwide bargaining and corporatism, 170–171 nationwide labor agreements and tripartism, beginning of, 171 (table) Nazism, 60–61, 115, 116 Necˇâ•›â†œas, Peter, 555 neoconservatism, 118–119 Neoconservatives, 119 Netherlands (Nederland/Holland), 277, 278, 449–460 Christian Democratic Appeal (Christen Democratisch Appèl [CDA]), 458–459 civil society in, 457 constitution of, 453 culture of, 451 Dutch (Polder) Model of public policy, 195, 457 economy of, 451 Eerste Kamer since 2003, 454 (table) executive power in, 455–456 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 455–456 (table) head of state, 453 judicial review in, 457 Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid [PvdA]), 458 land and people of, 450–451 language(s), 450 List Pim Fortuyn (LPF), 460 major political parties from Left to Right, 458–460 Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid [PVV]), 459 People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie [VVD]), 459 policies of, 457–458 political system of, 452–453 referendums in, 457 religion(s), 450 timeline of Dutch history, 451–452 (table) Tweede Kamer since 2003, 454 (table)

networking, 174–175 new nationalism, 117–118 Nordic Council, 264, 276 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 69, 258, 259, 264–265, 269 Northern Ireland, 76, 349 See also Ireland (Éire/Ireland) Norway (Norge), 276, 277, 421–429 civil society and, 427 Conservative Party (Høyre), 428–429 constitution of, 424 culture of, 423 economy of, 422–423 executive power in, 425–426 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 426 (table) head of state, 424 judicial power in, 427 land and people of, 421–422 language(s), 422 legislative power in, 424–425 major political parties from Left to Right, 428–429 Norwegian Labour Party (Det Norske Arbeidersparti), 428 the Norwegian Storting since 2005, 425 (table) policies of, 427 political system of, 424 Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet), 429 referendums in, 427 religion(s), 422 timeline of Norwegian history, 423–424 (table) nuclear energy, 210 nuclear energy, leaders in, 211 (table) Official Development Assistance (ODA): leading donor countries, 264 (table) Ollenhauer, Erich, 374 Olofsson, Maud, 437 one-party governments, 94 Orbán, Viktor, 566



Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 266–267 Orthodox Church, 51, 52 Özal, Turgut, 662 Paasikivi, Juho Kusi, 447 pacification of issues, 18 Pahor, Borut, 574 Palme, Olof, 434 Papandreou, Andreas, 627, 630 Papandreou, George, 630 Pappadopoulos, Tassos, 690 parliamentarism versus presidentialism, 91–93 Charles-Louis de Secondat on, 92 constitutional monarchs, 92 European parliamentarism, 92, 93 John Locke on, 91–92 monarchy and, 92–93 Montesquieu on, 92 parliamentary monarchies, 92 parliamentary republics, 92 semi-presidential system, 93 trias politica, 92 US presidentialism, 92 parliamentariy and governmental power, regional variations in, 159–160 parliaments in Europe, 147–151 amendments and, 147–148 barriers in US Congress, 147–148 (fig.) bicameral parliaments, 150 budgets and, 148 challenging representative democracy, 163–166 comparison of national parliaments in European democracies and the US Congress, 151 (table) distinct activities of, 147–148 dual power concept, 149 German Bundesrat exception, 150 government initiatives, 149 law making and, 147 lower house of, 150 question hour in, 148–149

Index╇| 857

regional variations in parliamentary and governmental power and gpvernmental power, 159–160 semi-presidential system, 93, 160–163 share of parliamentary seats occupied by women, 150 (table) unicameral parliaments, 151 upper house/senate of, 150–151 participatory democracy, 28 Parts, Juhan, 526 party delegates, 135 party discipline, 134–135 party dominance, 133–134 party functions, 133 party lists (tickets), 129, 133–134, 136 party platform (ideology), 133 Parvanov, Georgi, 623 path dependency, 30 patriotism, 75 Pawlak, Waldemar, 548 peaceful coexistence, 258 Pelli, Fulvio, 490 pensions, 204 periphery divergence versus center, 78–81, 84 periphery versus center divergence, 78–81, 84 personal charisma, 7 pillarization, 96–97, 99, 123, 278 pluralism, 24 Poland (Polska), 282–283, 541–549 Catholic Church and, 547–548 Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska [PO]), 549 civil society of, 547–548 constitution of, 544 culture of, 542–543 economy of, 542 executive power and, 546–547 head of state, 544–545 judicial power in, 547 land and people of, 541–542 Law and Justice (Prawo I Sprawiedliwoœæ [PiS]), 549

858 |╇Index

legislative power in, 545–546 major political parties from Left to Right, 548–549 policies of, 548 Polish People’s Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe [PSL]), 548 political system of, 548 presidents since 1990, 545 (table) prime ministers of since 1989, 546–547 (table) referendums in, 547 Sejm since 2001 and Senat since 2005, 545–546 (table) timeline of Polish history, 543–544 (table) polarization, 18–19, 100 policy styles, 196–198 in Central Europe, 198 in Germany, 197 in Great Britain, 196 in Latin Europe, 197 in small Gernamic nations, 196–197 political action committees (PACs), 169 political community, definition of, 9 political de-alignment, 133 political leaders in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and France (1980–2010), 145–146 (table) political opportunity structure, 26–27 political parties, 132–138 before and after the emergence of Social Democracy, 135 (table) cartel parties, 137 European politics and, 133–134 floating voters and, 133 funding of, 136 ideological decline and, 132–133 importance of, 134 influence of ordinary party members, 135–136 party delegates, 135 party discipline and, 134–135 party dominance, 133–134 party functions, 133

party lists (tickets), 129, 133–134, 136 party platform (ideology), 133 political de-alignment and, 133 populist parties, 137–138 ranking the candidates, 137 political relevancy of the center/periphery issue, 78–81, 84 political socialization, 75 political spectrum, 101–104 Christian democracy, 112–114 compared to US, 102–104 conservatism, 104–105 ethical issues, 102 the European ideological spectrum, 103 (fig.) Fascism and Nazism, 115–116 labor ideologies, 108–112 liberalism, 105–108 lines of division in, 102 new ideologies, 116–119 qualifications of progressive and conservative, 102 ranking of ideologies in, 101–102 regional variations in coping with ideological division, 120–123 the social issue in, 101 political spectrum: variations between the left and right, 216–221 comparison of Europe and the US on civil rights and ethical issues, 220 (table) death penalty, 221 drug policies, 220 positions on same-sex marriage, 219 (table) rules on security, 220–221 sexual morals, 218–219 political strikes, 176–177 politicization, 19 politics, definitions of, 2, 4–5 politics in and among nations, 1–11 anarchical politics, 4 community and, 3



country, explanation of the term, 3–4 hierarchical politics, 4 influence, power, and authority, 4–7 information flow, 10–11 interests and, 3 political community, definition of, 9 the political system, 8–11 the political system, basic version of, 9 (fig. 1.1) politics within nations, 4 scope of binding rules, 2–3 society and nation and, 3–4 state and government and, 7–8 Politkovskaya, Anna, 641 Pompidou, Georges, 383 populism, 118 pornography, 219 Portas, Paulo, 509 Portugal, 280–281, 501–509 Assembleia since 2002, 505 (table) civil society in, 507 constitution of, 504 culture of, 503 Democratic and Social Centre – People’s Party (Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular), 509 Democratic Unity Coalition (Coligação Democrática Unitária [CDU]), 507–508 economy of, 502 executive power in, 505–506 governments and prime ministers since 1974, 506 (table) head of state, 504–505 judicial power in, 506 land and people of, 502 language(s), 502 Left Bloc (Bloco do Esquerda), 508 major political parties from Left to Right, 507–509 policies of, 507 political system of, 504 presidents since 1974, 505 (table) referendums in, 506–507

Index╇| 859

religion(s), 502, 507 Social Democratic Party (Partido Social Democrata), 508 Socialist Party (Partido Socialista), 508 timeline of Portuguese history, 503–504 (table) positive action, 100 postcommunists, 122 postmaterialism, 123 poverty trap, 204 power agenda building chart, 12 (fig. 1.2) agenda building, stages and barriers of, 12–13 agenda of politics and, 11–13 authority, 6 centralization of, 90, 91 community power studies, 14–15 cooperation and conflict, 17–19 decision method of study of, 14 dispersion of, 90 elitism, 14 faces of, 13–17 influence and, 5 invisible power, 5 legality and, 7 legitimacy, 6 personal charisma, 7 pluralism, 14 proportionality of, 91 reputational method of study of, 14 resources of, 5 scope of, 6 types of response to the exercise of, 19–20 “Prague Declaration” (March 2009), 248 The Prerequisites for Socialism and the Tasks of Social Democracy (Bernstein), 109 presidentialism, 92 privatization, 209–210 Prodi, Romano, 407 progressive, qualifications of, 102, 103 progressive tax, 207

860 |╇Index

Pröll, Josef, 499 proportional representation European senates and, 150 explanation of, 94, 128 in Germany, 128–129 gerrymandering and, 129–130 Italy and, 141 local interests and, 130 regional spending and, 191 small political parties and, 129 social policies and, 200 proportionalism, 91, 96, 100 proportionality, 93–94, 96, 98, 99–100 prostitution, 219 Protestantism, 55, 76, 78, 105, 113, 278 Proudhon, Joseph, 108 public broadcasting stations, 180 public debt, 209, 227 purchasing power parity (PPP), 44 purple coalition, 140, 277 Putin, Vladimir, 163, 641 Putnam, Robert, 25, 297 qualified majority vote (QMV), 240 racial gerrymandering, 100 Rajoy, Mariano, 518 Rama, Edi, 605 Rasizade, Artur, 673 Rasmussen, Lars Løkke, 420 referendum, 28 referendum, early examples of, 164–166 Reformation, the, 54–55 reformism, 109 regime definition of, 9, 30 support for, 10 welfare state regime, 29–30 regional variations in coping with ideological division, 120–123 in Central Europe, 122–123 in Eastern Europe, 123 in Germany/small Germanic nations, 121 in Great Britain, 120

in Latin Europe, 121–122 in Scandinavia, 121 regional variations in elections, parties, and government, 139–142 in Central Europe, 141–142 in Germanic countries, 140 in Great Britain, 139–140 in Italy, 141 in Latin Europe, 140–141 in Scandinavia, 140 religion, 75–78 Catholicism, 76, 77, 78 Christian democracy and, 78 Islam, 76, 77, 78 Judaism, 76–77 main type of friction caused by, 77 political relevance of in Europe, 77–78 school conflict and, 78 separation of church and state, 77, 78 sources of division and, 83–84 the US and, 78 religious tolerance, 19 Renaissance, 53–54 representative democracy, 22, 107 representative democracy challenged, 25–30 from input to output, 29–30 from national to multilevel governance, 29 representation under attack, 27–29 rise of social movements, 26–27 representative democracy versus direct democracy, 22–24 republic, 24 reputational method of study of power, 14 revisionism, 109 Reynders, Didier, 472 right to work, 206 Robinson, Mary, 336, 337 Romania, 287 Romania (România), 610–617 Camera and Senat since 2004, 614–615 (table) civil society in, 616 constitution of, 613



culture of, 611–612 Democratic Liberal Party (Partidul Democrat-Liberal [PD-L]), 617 economy of, 611 executive power in, 615 head of state, 613 judicial power in, 615 land and people of, 611 language(s), 611 legislative power in, 614 major political parties from Left to Right, 617 National Liberal Party (Partidul National Liberal [PNL]), 617 policies of, 617 political system of, 613 presidents since 1989, 614 (table) prime ministers since 1989, 616 (table) referendums in, 616 religion(s), 611 Social Democratic Party (Partidul Social Democrat [PSD]), 617 timeline of Romanian history, 612–613 (table) Romanian Orthodox Church, 616 Rome, Treaty of (1957), 229 Rompuy, Herman Van, 239 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 23 royal dynasties, dethroned and remaining, 152–153 (table) Rupo, Elio Di, 470 Russia (Rossiya), 288–289, 633–641 constitution of, 638 culture of, 635–636 the Duma since 2003, 639 (table) economy of, 635 executive power in, 639 head of state, 638 judicial power in, 640 land and people of, 634–635 legislative power in, 638–639 most populous republics of, 640 (table) policies of, 641 political parties, 641

Index╇| 861

political system of, 638 prime ministers since 1992, 639 (table) referendums in, 640 regions of, 640 timeline of Russian history, 636–637 (table) Rutte, Marc, 459 Saakashvili, Mikheil, 665, 666 Sahlin, Mona, 437 Samaris, Antonis, 631 same-sex marriage, 218, 219 (table) Austria and, 497 Belgium and, 469 Croatia and, 574 Czechia and, 554 Denmark and, 418 Finland and, 445 Germany and, 372, 375 Hungary and, 561 Iceland and, 679 Luxembourg and, 478 Netherlands and, 458 Norway and, 427 Poland and, 548 Portugal and, 507, 508 Spain and, 516 Sweden and, 435 Switzerland and, 489 San Marino, 292, 693 Santer, Jacques, 479 Sargsian, Aram, 669 Sargsyan, Vazgen, 669 Sarkissian, Serzh, 668 Sarkozy, Nicolas, 384 Savisaar, Edgar, 526 Scandinavia, 276–277, 411 (table) See also specific countries Scandinavia and Baltic states, map of, 410 Schengen Treaty (1985), 236 Schlütter, Poul, 420 Schmidt, Helmut, 367 Schmitter, Philippe, 25, 297

862 |╇Index

school issue/school conflict, 78 Schröder, Gerhard, 112, 132, 368 Schumacher, Kurt, 374 Schuman, Robert, 228, 232 Schuman Declaration, 228, 231, 232 Schumpeter, Joseph, 22, 23, 297 Scotland, 339, 348, 349, 355 Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), 113 Secondat, Charles-Louis de, 92 secularization, 168 Seehofer, Horst, 376 Sejdiu, Fatmir, 595 semi-presidential system, 93, 160–163 separation of church and state, 77–78 in Bulgaria, 620 in France, 388 in Greece (Ellada), 626, 629 in Portugal, 507 in Romania (România), 616 in Switzerland (die Schweiz/Suisse), 488 separation of powers, 92 Serbia, 285–286 Serbia (Srbija), 585–589 constitution of, 587 Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka), 588 economy of, 585–586 executive power in, 588 head of state, 587 judicial power in, 588 land and people of, 585 language(s), 585 legislative power in, 587 major political parties from Left to Right, 588–589 policies of, 588 political system of, 587 referendums in, 588 religion(s), 585 Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka), 589 Skupština since 2008, 588 timeline of Serbian history, 586–587 Šešelj, Vojislav, 589

Shevardnadze, Eduard, 665 Sigurðardóttir, Jóhanna, 679, 680 Silajdžiæ, Haris, 585 Silva, Aníbal Cavaco, 508 Single Transferable Vote system, 129 Sinn Féin, 336, 349 Šk¸eˉâ•›le, Andris, 532 slave trade, 56 Slovakia (Slovensko), 283–284, 555–561 civil society in, 559–560 constitution of, 557 culture of, 556 Direction – Social Democracy (Smer – sociálna demokracia), 560 economy of, 556 executive power in, 558 Freedom and Solidarity (Sloboda a Solodarita [SaS]), 561 head of state, 557 judicial power in, 559 land and people of, 555–556 language(s), 555 legislative power in, 557–558 major political parties from Left to Right, 560–561 Národná Rada since 2002, 558 (table) policies of, 560 political system of, 557 presidents since 1993, 557 (table) prime ministers since 1993, 559 referendums in, 559 religion(s), 555 Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party (Slovenská demokratická a kresťanská únia – Demokratická strana [SDKÚ-DS]), 560 timeline of Slovakian history, 556–557 (table) Slovenia (Slovenija), 569–574 civil society of, 573–574 constitution of, 571 culture of, 570, 575 economy of, 570, 575 executive power in, 573



governments and prime ministers since 1990, 573 (table) head of state, 571 judicial power in, 573 land and people of, 570, 574–575 language(s), 570, 575 legislative power in, 572 major political parties from Left to Right, 574, 578–579 policies of, 574 political system of, 571 referendums in, 573 religion(s), 570, 575 Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka [SDS]), 574 the Slovenian Zbor since 2004, 572 (table) Social Democrats (Socialni demokrati [SD]), 574 timeline of Slovenian history, 570–571 (table) Smith, Adam, 107 snap elections, 126 Soares, Mário, 508 social capital, 25, 167–168 social characteristics and ideologies, 119–120 social characteristics and voting behavior, 120 (table) social citizenship, 47, 198 social class, 81–82 social class in continental Europe versus race in the US, 293–294 (table) social contract, 106 social democracy, 57, 68, 82, 109–110, 111–112 social democratic complex, 121 Social Democratic priorities, 112 Social Democrats in Austria, 493, 498 in Belgium, 463, 465 Blair/Schröder Manifesto and, 307–318 Christian democracy and, 112–113, 114 civil rights and, 57

Index╇| 863

corporatism and, 171 in Croatia, 577 in Czechia, 551, 552 in Denmark, 414, 419 direct taxation, 207 education and, 213 European Parliament and, 245 in Finland, 441 free-market economy and, 110, 119 in Hungary, 563 in Iceland, 677 ideological decline, 132–133, 274 labor ideologies and, 109–110, 111–112 in Lithuania, 538 in Macedonia, 597 in Malta, 682 in Montenegro, 591 moral issues and, 218–219 in the Netherlands, 452 in Norway, 424, 428 notable Social Democratic leaders, 111 parliamentary democracy and, 109 in Portugal, 504 postmaterialism and, 123 priority of, 216 relationship with Communists, 111 Scandinavia and, 140, 277 in Slovakia, 557 in Slovenia, 571, 574 smaller Germanic nations and, 97 social policies expansion, 62 socialists name, 109, 112 in Spain, 512 state budget cuts and, 217 in Sweden, 429, 432, 433 Sweden and, 59 in Switzerland, 489 “Top priorities for Europe: 12 key demands,” 246–247 women in parliament, 150 working-class interests and, 168 social dumping, 237 social exclusion, 204

864 |╇Index

social issue in Europe, 101 social liberals, 107 social market economy (Soziale Martkwirtschaft), 203 social movements, 175–176 social partners, 170 social rights, 22, 108 social security, 201–204 Beveridgian type, 202 Bismarckian type, 202, 203 comparison of Bismarckian and Beveridgian social security programs, 202 (table) costs of, 203 European Union (EU) and, 236, 237 Otto von Bismarck and, 199, 202 pensions and, 204 as a proportion of average income, 201 reforms, 310, 313, 317 two types of, 201 welfare state and, 26, 29, 46–47, 62, 184, 198 William Beveridge on, 199, 202 socialism, 108, 110 socialists, 109, 112 society, definition of, 3 Solana, Javier, 242, 269 Solberg, Erna, 429 Solidarnošcˇ (Solidarity), 177, 283 Soros, George, 665 sources of division (traditional), 83–84 Sousa, Jerónomo de, 507–508 Southeastern European nations, 290–291 See also specific countries Soviet Union, collapse of, 259 Soziale Martkwirtschaft (social market economy), 203, 518 Spain (España), 281, 509–519 Basque National Party (Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea [EAJ]; in Spanish: Partido Nacionalista Vasco [PNV]), 519 civil society in, 515–516 Congreso since 2000, 513 constitution of, 512–513

Convergence and Union (Convergència I Unió [CiU]), 518–519 culture of, 510–511 economy of, 510 executive power in, 514–515 federalism and, 516 gender equality, 516 governments and prime ministers since 1976, 515 (table) head of state, 513 judicial power in, 515 land and people of, 509–510 language(s), 510 legislative power in, 513–514 major political parties from Left to Right, 517–519 national parties, 517–518 policies of, 516 political system of, 512 referendums in, 515 regional parties, 518–519 religion(s), 510 Senado since 2000, 514 Spanish Autonomous Communities (Comunidades), 517 (table) timeline of Spanish history, 511–512 (table) spillover, 229 Spitaels, Guy, 470 split-ticket voting, 129 Stalin, Joseph, 59–60 Stanishev, Sergei, 622, 623 state and church separation, 77–78, 376, 388, 488, 507, 616, 620, 626, 629 state and government, distinction between, 8 state intervention in free-market economy, 101 state-oriented welfare state, 200, 202, 205 Stoltenberg, Jens, 428 Strache, Heinz-Christian, 499 strike rates, 207 subsidiarity, 235 suffrage (general), 59, 109, 116



Sulik, Richard, 561 Sun (newspaper), 179 supply-side economics, 209 Svetkoviæ, Mirko, 588 Sweden (Sverige), 276, 277, 429–438 Centre Party (Centerpartiet), 437 Christian Democratic Party (Kristdemokraterna), 437 civil society of, 435 constitution of, 432 culture of, 431 economy of, 430 executive power in, 433–435 gender equality, 432 governments and prime ministers since 1945, 434 (table) head of state, 432 judicial power in, 434–435 land and people of, 430 language(s), 430 legislative power in, 432–433 Liberal People’s Party (Folkpartiet Liberalerna), 437–438 major political parties from Left to Right, 436–438 Moderate Party (Moderaterna), 438 policies of, 435–436 political system of, 432 referendums in, 435 religion(s), 430 the Swedish Riksdag since 2002, 433 (table) Swedish Social Democratic Workers’ Party (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Arbetarepartiet [SAP]), 436–437 timeline of Swedish history, 431 (table) Swedish Model of public policy, 195 Switzerland (die Schweiz/Suisse), 267, 279, 280, 481–490 Christian Democratic People’s Party of Switzerland (Christlich Demokratische Volkspartei [CVP]/Parti démocratique chrétien [PDC]), 489

Index╇| 865

civil society in, 488 constitution of, 483–484 culture of, 483 economy of, 483 executive power in, 486–487 federalism and, 488 Free Democratic Party of Switzerland (Die Liberalen [FDP]/les Libéraux Radicaux [PLR]), 489–490 governments of Switzerland since 1945, 487 (table) head of state, 484–485 history of, 483–484 judicial power in, 487 land and people of, 482–483 language(s), 482–483 legislative power in, 485–486 major political parties from Left to Right, 489–490 Nationalrat/Conseil National since 2003, 485 (table) policies of, 488–489 political system of, 483 referendums in, 487–488 religion(s), 483 Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz [SPS]/Parti socialiste Suisse [PS]), 489 Ständerat/Conseil des États since 2003, 486 (table) Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei [SVP]/Union démocratique du centre [UDC]), 490 timeline of Swiss history, 484 (table) symmetrical federalism, 191 systems approach to politics, 8–11 taxation, 207–209 Ter-Petrosian, Levon, 668 Thaçi, Hashim, 595 Thatcher, Margaret, 205, 229, 347, 353 Third Way. See Blair/Schröder Manifesto: Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue Mitte

866 |╇Index

Thorez, Maurice, 390 Thorning-Schmidt, Helle, 419 Thyssen, Marianne, 471 Tihiæ, Sulejman, 584 Times (newspaper), 179 Todoroviæ, Dragan, 589 Togliatti, Palmiro, 408 Topolánek, Mirek, 552, 555 trade barriers, 233, 235 trade unions, 168, 171, 204 in Austria, 497 in Belgium, 468 in Bulgaria, 622 communist trade unions, 177–178 in Czechia, 554 in Denmark, 277, 418 in Estonia, 525 in Finland, 445 flex work and, 206 in France, 389 in Germany, 216, 369 in Great Britain, 109, 348–349, 351 in Greece, 629–630 in Hungary, 565–566 immigration and, 235 in Ireland, 334–335, 336 in Italy, 405 in Latvia, 531 in Lithuania, 538 in Malta, 684 in the Netherlands, 457 new trade unions, 177–178 in Norway, 427 in Poland, 548 in Portugal, 507 in Romania, 616 in Slovakia, 559 in Slovenia, 572, 573 in Spain, 515 in Sweden, 435 in Switzerland, 277, 488 See also business/labor/government tripartism; unionization rate in Europe traffic-light coalition, 140

Trajkovski, Boris, 597 trias politica, 92 Trimble, David, 75 tripartism, 170–174, 251 Trotsky, Leon, 110 Tuðman, Franjo, 578 Türkes, Alparslan, 662 Turkey (Türkiye), 291, 653–662 constitution of, 656–657 culture of, 655 Democratic Left Party (Demokratik Sol Partisi [DSP]), 659–660 Democratic Party (Demokrat Party [DP]), 661 economy of, 654–655 executive power in, 658–659 governments and prime ministers since 1989, 658 (table) head of state, 657 judiciary power in, 659 Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi), 661 land of, 654 legislative power in, 657–658 major political parties from Left to Right, 659–662 map of, 652 the Meclis since 2002, 658 Nationalist Action Party or Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi [MHP]), 662 policies of, 659 political system of, 656 population of, 654 presidents since 1989, 657 referendums in, 659 regions of, 659 religion(s), 654 Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi [CHP]), 660 timeline of Turkish history, 655–656 (table) Tusk, Donald, 549 “Two Faces of Power” (Bachrach and Baratz), 15



Two Treatises on Government (Locke), 106 two-ballot elections, 162 two-party system, 94 Tymoshenko, Yuliya, 648, 649–650 Ukraine (Ukrayina), 289–290, 644–651 constitution of, 647 culture of, 645 economy of, 645 executive power in, 649–650 head of state, 647–648 judiciary power in, 650 land and people of, 644–645 legislative power in, 649 major political parties, 650–651 Party of Regions (Partija Regioniv), 651–652 policies of, 650 political system of, 647 presidents and prime ministers since 1992, 647–648 (table) the Rada since 2002, 649 (table) referendums in, 650 timeline of Ukrainian history, 646–647 Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc (Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko), 650–651 unicameral parliament, 151 union shop, 206 unionization rate in Europe, 168, 169 (table) unitarism versus federalism, 98–99 confederations and, 98 sovereignty and, 98 Switzerland and, 99 table outlining, 99 United Kingdom, see Great Britain United Nations, 258 United States American exceptionalism, 66 American federalism, 190–191 barriers in US Congress, 147–148 (fig.) Bill of Rights, 155 comparison of American and European nationhood and society, 87 (table)

Index╇| 867

comparison of American, Westminster, and continental European political systems, 95 (table) comparison of Europe and the US on civil rights and ethical issues, 220 (table) comparison of European and American civil society and media, 181–182 (table) comparison of European and American judiciary systems, 157–158 comparison of European and US welfare states, 208 (table) comparison of European historical developments, 65–66 comparison of some geographical features with the U.S., 34 (map) comparison of the executive power in European democracies and the US, 153–154 (table) division versus diversity, 89–91 Europe and US: social class and raceconvergence or divergence? 294–296 group rights in, 100 major differences between European and US history, 65 (table) national parliaments in European democracies and the US Congress, comparison of, 151 (table) political spectrum compared to US, 102–104 role of religion in, 78 states in proportion to population size, 41 (map) the US and religion, 78 US presidentialism, 92 Ušakovs, Nils, 531 Valera, Éamon de, 331, 336 value-added tax (VAT), 207 Van Rompuy, Herman, 242 Vanhanen, Matti Taneli, 446 Vanoudenhove, Omer, 474 Vatican City State (Città del Vaticano), 292, 693

868 |╇Index

Vejonis, Raimonds, 532 Veltroni, Walter, 401 Velvet Revolution, 283 Versailles Treaty (1918), 72 Vestager, Margrethe, 420 veto points/veto players, 27 Videnov, Zhan, 622, 623 voluntarism, 176 Vona, Gábor, 567 Voronin, Vladimir, 610 votes of no confidence/censure motions, 145 Vujanovic´â•›, Filip, 591 Wales, 339, 348, 349 Warsaw Pact, 258, 259 The Wealth of Nations (Smith), 107 Weber, Max, 6, 7, 297 welfare state, 198–211 Austria, 497 Belgium, 469 Central European welfare states, 200–201 comparison of Bismarckian and Beveridgian social security programs, 202 (table) comparison of European and US welfare states, 208 (table) Continental welfare state, 200 continental welfare state, 203 contributory provisions, 29 Czechia, 554 defined, 29 Denmark, 418 France, 390 Great Britain/United Kingdom, 350 health care and housing, 205–206 historical note on, 199–200

Ireland, 335 Italy, 406 labor conditions, 206–207 liberal welfare state, 200 Netherlands, 457 noncontributory programs, 29 pensions, 204 Poland, 548 reforming of, 203–204 representative democracy and, 26 Scandinavia, 277 social security, 29, 46–47, 62, 198, 201–204 state-oriented welfare state, 200 the state-oriented welfare state, 202–203 Sweden, 435 taxation and economic policies and, 207–211 types of, 201 (table) value-added tax (VAT) and, 207 welfare state regime, 29–30 Western European Union (WEU), 265 Westerwelle, Guido, 377 Westminster political system, 94, 129, 138 See also continental democracy versus Westminster democracy Westphalia Peace Treaty, 55 Wever, Bart De, 472 Wiegel, Hans, 459 Wilson, Harold, 346, 351 Wilson, Woodrow, 257 Wolter, Michel, 479 working class, 81 World War I, 58–59, 72 World War II, 61 Yanukovych, Viktor, 648 Yugoslavia, 285–286