A victim of its own ideological failings? The case of the Social Democratic Party of Germany:Third Way, Neue Mitte and the downfall of the SPD: an analysis of the Agenda 2010 and its repercussion on the SPD and its present crisis

• Autor(a) principal: Eckardt, Daniel
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/19014
• topic: Social democracy; Political parties; Party research; Social Democratic Party of Germany; Agenda 2010; Third Way; Neue Mitte; Democracia social; Partidos políticos; Pesquisa partidária; Partido Social-Democrata da Alemanha

These days are witnessing tremendous changes within politics. Observers speak about the end of an era and refer to vast, tectonic shifts, within political systems. The case of the Social Democratic Party of Germany is a prime example of this. Between the years 1998 and 2017, the party has halved its vote share, respectively from 40.9 to 20.5 percent. Accordingly, this Masters Degree thesis aims to analyse the downfall of the SPD on the basis of the Agenda 2010 set of reforms. Correspondingly, the research question asks whether the party has become a victim of its own ideological failings by embarking on the reforms mentioned and the resulting neoliberal politics and policies. The methodology is of a hermeneutical manner within social sciences. The thesis concludes that, by embarking on the Agenda 2010, the SPD became a de facto victim of its own ideological failings. Consequently, the reforms resulted in a crisis of credibility as well as in a loss of confidence for the party but especially its members and supporters. Caused by the fact that large portions of the party perceived the reforms as neoliberal and hence as provocation and as a clear challenge to traditional social democratic values. Resulting in a major divide between the party, its members and supporters, which subsequently emerged in the latest electoral results. By implementing the Agenda 2010, the SPD transformed from a traditional social democratic party towards a more market-oriented party, revealing a subsequent alienation between the party and its supporters.