Middle left
The term center-left refers to the political positioning of political content or political actors (alliances, parties, individuals, groups). This positioning is based on the assumption that the political actors can be classified in a left-right spectrum.
The term center-left can on the one hand denote the positioning of an individual actor in this spectrum. On the other hand, center-left can also refer to an alliance of actors who are assigned to different positions in the spectrum. In the second case center-left is the abbreviation for political cooperation between two or more parliamentary parties from the “ center ” and the “ left ” part of the party spectrum .
"Middle-left" as a name for alliances
In most cases the cooperation takes place for the purpose of forming a government , but with small parties it can also be an electoral alliance to improve the electoral chances.
As a rule, there is at least one social-democratic or socialist- oriented group among the left-wing parties .
Whether a red-green coalition is to be seen as a “center-left” or a pure “left” government depends on the dominant party (s). If a so-called people 's party (such as the SPD ) is among them, a part of the political center is probably included. But a strong left wing can shift the government program to be negotiated more out of the middle than the big party would do for itself.
An example of a center-left alliance at municipal level in Germany is the election initiative Together for Dresden for the Dresden mayoral election in 2015, which was supported by both the party Die Linke and the more center- oriented parties SPD , Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen and the pirate party is supported.
Well-known center-left alliances in Italy
Italy is one of the countries with frequent center-left alliances (but also some center-right groups) . A number of collaborations and coalitions have been recorded here over the past few decades, which have arisen with a total of around a dozen smaller parties and in varying compositions. Furthermore, since the 1990s, alliances with largely identical partners have operated under different names:
L'Ulivo (1996-2001)
The center-left alliance L'Ulivo (Italian for olive tree ) won the parliamentary elections in 1996 and then ruled until 2001. During this time, the Ulivo provided three prime ministers: Romano Prodi until his vote of confidence in October 1998, then Massimo D'Alema and finally Giuliano Amato . After 2001, the party alliance was in opposition to the center-right government of Silvio Berlusconi .
The olive tree united the following parties:
- Democratici di Sinistra (DS, Left Democrats)
- La Margherita - Democrazia è Libertà (Margherita)
- Federazione dei Verdi (Federation of the Greens)
- Socialisti Democratici Italiani (SDI)
- Popolari-Unione Democratici per l'Europa (Popolari-UDEUR)
- Partito dei Comunisti Italiani (PdCI)
- and three smaller groupings.
They ran for the 2001 parliamentary election under the Paese Nuovo (New Country) bogus list .
L'Unione (2005-2008)
The center-left alliance expanded to include the communists - the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista ("Rifondazione") - for 13 regional elections in early April 2005 - and was now called L'Unione . This alliance was successful, so that it ran against Berlusconi in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Former Prime Minister Romano Prodi was chosen as the top candidate in primary elections and won the elections by a wafer-thin margin with a 0.06 percent lead. Without common electoral lists this would probably not have succeeded.
On October 14, 2007, the Democratici di Sinistra and La Margherita merged to form the Democratic Party ( Partito Democratico ), which is also assigned to the center-left spectrum.
The electoral alliance L'Unione was dissolved in view of the early parliamentary elections in 2008.
Former center-left alliances in Italy
For decades Italy was ruled by a center-left coalition led by the Democrazia Cristiana (DC). However, it was repeatedly threatened by collapse and unplanned new elections , because the dominance of the Christian Democrats was too strong, especially for the socialists (for example under Bettino Craxi ).
The Democrazia Cristiana entered into alternating coalitions of up to five parties and, depending on the coalition partners and the prevailing DC wings, tended slightly to the left or right. The four coalition partners of the DC were the Socialists (PSI), the Social Democrats (PSDI), the Republicans (PRI) and the Liberals (PLI). In the 1980s, this five-man coalition was known as the Pentapartito .
When the Milan public prosecutor's office proved in 1992 that several top politicians from the DC and PSI were involved in corruption cases (see Mani Pulite ), the DC got into a serious crisis and the spectrum of parties was completely reorganized. The DC was renamed Partito Popolare Italiano (PPI) again in 1994 - as when it was founded in 1942 - and two larger groups split off from it:
- The more conservative camp was the CCD ( Centro Cristiano Democratico ),
- a left wing of the PPI founded the CS ( Cristiano Sociali ), which was absorbed into the Alliance of Left Democrats ( Democratici di Sinistra ).
- From the PPI and other moderate groups, La Margherita emerged, which in itself represented a kind of center-left group: it has merged into the Partito Democratico .
The main legacy of the Christian Democratic tradition is now the UDC ( Unione di Centro ).
Social liberal electoral alliance in Austria
For the 2006 National Council election , the SPÖ and the LiF formed an electoral alliance. The LiF boss received a permanent place on the SPÖ list, but prominent LiF members (including Karin Resetarits and Heide Schmidt ) campaigned for the election of the SPÖ. Within the party, however, this was partially rejected. Nevertheless, the 2006 election turned out to be very positive for both parties, as the official final result shows that they are the winners.
“Center-left” as a term used to locate individual political actors
In the media coverage of the political process in other countries in particular, the term center-left is used to make it easier for readers to classify the political parties. The term is used in particular to describe party systems in which the agenda of several relevant parties is seen as left-wing . Analogous to the use in German, formulations such as center gauche (French) and center-left (English) exist in other European countries . When describing the German party system in French or English-speaking media, these terms are often used to classify the SPD politically.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/westerwelles-warnung-tunesien-darf-nicht-zu-zweitem-aeggypt-haben-2051129.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/germany-spd-coalition
- ↑ http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2013/09/09/a-15-jours-du-vote-cdu-et-spd-traquent-les-indecis_3473225_3214.html