Europe's blurred ideologies

Europe's blurred ideologies

"Is Socialism Dying?" asked the headline in the International Herald Tribune last week.

Well, not according to the Greeks. Yesterday the opposition PASOK party - the Socialists -  were returned to power with a comfortable majority. As soon as the election results were announced, thousands of supporters celebrated on the streets of Athens and several other Greek cities.

The premise of the article, which originally appeared  in the NY Times,  has been put forward by many other European observers in recent months; across the continent, the political Left has failed to benefit from the great financial crisis, but has instead suffered a series of electoral defeats.

It seems paradoxical.  Across Europe, the economic crisis has been blamed on greedy bankers and excessive deregulation; in other words, capitalism run riot. You'd expect the Left to benefit. But in the European elections in June, it was centre-right parties that made gains in most countries. In Germany, Italy and France, left-wing parties are in opposition, and struggling badly. In Britain, the Labour Party clings to power, but its days in office seem numbered, and a humbling electoral defeat is thought to be inevitable.

But, I'm not convinced by the theory that the economic crisis has hurt left-wing parties in particular. There are so many countries in Europe- and so many  elections being held on this continent in any one year- that it's possible to compile a rival list where the left has recently emerged victorious. Add Greece to Portugal and Norway.  

Rather, I think that different countries are simply at different stages of their electoral cycles. Just as America "turned left" last year after 8 years of a Republican presidency, Britain will surely "turn right" in 2010, after 13 years of Labour rule. Governments go stale, and people get tired of them; that's what happens in democracies.

There's another reason why I'm sceptical. The ideological differences between mainstream conservative and social-democratic parties in Europe are now so obscure as to be almost invisible. As the New York Times points out, many centre-right parties have thrived by embracing originally leftist ideas, like generous welfare spending, and the environment.  For example,  part of Angela Merkel's popularity lies in her resolute defence of the protective powers of the state, in the face of the excesses of "Anglo-Saxon capitalism".

So, with ideological distinctions blurred, Europeans are voting on the basis of perceptions of competence and integrity.  And these are qualities which neither the right nor left has a monopoly over, despite what anyone tries to tell you.