◦ Dominant Social Democratic
parties
◦ Centralized states
◦ Corporatist interest groups
◦ Universal, generous, serviceintensive welfare states that
promote equality
◦Weak, non-existent working
class parties
◦Pluralist interest groups
◦Relatively small state sectors
◦Welfare programs
◦ fewer programs, cover fewer
people, offer less generous
benefits
◦ Religious and class divisions
(competitive Social/Christian
Democratic parties)
◦ Corporatist interest groups
◦ High welfare spending along
occupational lines, which
mitigates but reinforces
inequalities
◦ Long history of Social Democratic Party
(SAP) success; high union membership
◦ Working class positioned to promote
interests
◦ First in “Lower-class power” among
advanced capitalist democracies
◦ Reformist agenda
◦ Not socialize production, socialize
distribution
◦ Form broad coalitions

Democratic Socialist Party (SAP)
success
 generous, universal, service-oriented
welfare state displaces market principles
(health and child care) and replaces
market incomes (pensions, sick pay,
unemployment)

Capitalist system
 Full employment
 Centralized wage bargaining
 Wage solidarity

Consensual democracy
◦ Power sharing (coalition) governments
◦ Inclusive policy-making process
◦ Proportional representation (PR) electoral system

Parliamentary democracy
◦ Unicameral legislature
◦ Riksdag (post-1971): 349 members; low voter-
member ratio (1/25,000); multimember districts
◦
◦
◦
Head of state (ceremonial), King; head of
government (real power), PM and cabinet
Executive branch dominant in policy
Unitary system
◦ Weakest lower-class in all advanced capitalist
democracies
◦ 1930s New Deal coalition
◦ Rise of Republicans
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South defects over civil rights
Business community rolls-back government regulations
Christian right organizes on moral issues
Conservative white males threatened by dismantling of
racial and gender hierarchies
◦ Democratic base=black, low-income, female,
liberal, unmarried voters
◦ Republican base=white male, conservative,
Southern, high-income voters


Class matters little in how people vote and a
lot in who votes
Gap in participation and power reflected in
policy
◦ Extreme market capitalism
 Businesses enjoy more autonomy
◦ Small public sector; markets rule

Results of extreme market capitalism mixed
◦ Competitive, prosperous economy
◦ High levels of income/wealth inequality and poverty
 Fragmented - Federalism, separation of powers
(checks and balances)
 President
 Congress
 House – 435 members, district elections, two-year terms;
white, male, wealthy; high incumbency rates (>90%)
 Senate – 100 members, returned by states, six-year
terms; wealthier, even less diverse, representative; more
competitive elections (around 75%)
 Courts
 Policymaking process = Veto-points (places where
policy can fail)
 Maintain status quo, obstacles in way of disadvantaged
who depend on public policies to offset lack of market
power
◦
◦
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Unification (1870s); rapid industrialization
Defeat in WWI, Weimar Republic, first democracy
Occupation produced German Democratic
Republic (East Germany, Soviet-controlled) and
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
 GDR: one-party state dictatorship
 Reunification in 1990 (with end of Cold War)
◦
West Germany Post-WWII politics marked by class
and religious cleavages
 Christian Democratic Union (CDU) (broad support)
 Social Democratic Party (SPD) (industrial workers)
 Ongoing competition for governance between these
parties in coalition with others



Post-WWII revival under CDU remarkable
State intent on letting markets rule, only “as
much state intervention as necessary”
Social market economy
◦ Markets allocate resources; state makes sure it does
so in socially responsible way
◦ German Model faltered in 1980s
 Growth, jobs declined
 Consensus, patience, coordination, incremental change
regarded as source of poor performance
 Labor market increasingly divided between insiders and
outsiders
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Federal
Significant authority to EU
Federal Constitutional Court
Powerful, encompassing interest groups
Bicameralism
President (ceremonial), selects party leader to
form government
Head of government is chancellor (majority in
lower house)
Stable political and party system, consensual
decision-making, incremental policy changes