This paper discusses Western European and English political parties, based on the assumptions of Rokkan's and Lipset's freezing hypothesis.
Written in 2004; 900 words; 5 sources; MLA; $ 31.95
Paper Summary:
This paper explains that Lipset and Rokkan based their freezing hypothesis on the assumption that if men were given equal right to vote, then a level of social freezing would take place, limiting the emergence of oppositional parties. The author believes that, although much interpretation of mass politics in Western Europe is derived from Rokkan's and Lipset's freezing hypothesis, this approach suffers from two problems: it pays little attention to the underlying values, as opposed to issues, which inform class and religious, and treats the relationship between social divisions and party politics as too deterministic, leaving little room for the human element in political movements, political leadership. The paper stresses the proof the freeze hypothesis needs to be reconsidered can be found in the success of alternative parties in Western Europe and England, such as the Green party.
From the Paper:
"For the radical right party , or of Germany, this means appropriating the dominant concept that they are the true measure of the nation and nationhood. The parties which develop a "radical right" position market themselves as nationalist, those who stand for the true values and priorities of the nation. The alternative parties, such as the Green party in England, tend to cast themselves as the respresenters of interests which are being ignored by the tradidional parties. By the efforts of these radical interest parties, minority interests have been able to move from the being perceived as a radical poitical fringe group to a party which is accepted in the mainstream. Because of the radical right's claim to represent ordinary people against an allegedly corrupt political class, their nationalistic counter-discourse cannot be too far from traditional concepts of nationhood that are available as cultural symbols to large segments of the public. As a result, the radical right dramatizes the vulnerability of the nation in times of a real or presumed crisis. During a time when traditional nationalism is at a low ebb, the alternative parties are able to make large in roads into the public consciousness."
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