Perspectives on the European economic and social model: distributional and institutional conflicts

Abstract

Where are the fields of consensus and divergence in the positions of social democratic parties in Europe concerning the European Economic and Social Model (EESM)? Building on the findings of a Europe-wide survey, this article analyses patterns of social and economic policy preferences along country-group specific clusters. While consensus among centre-left parties concerning the general problem perception is rather strong, there is very little common ground on the level of actual problem-solving policies. This divergence can be explained by the dominance of 'national' interests over the general party-political agenda. These national interests are shaped, on the one hand, by interstate distributional conflicts, and, on the other hand, by the degree of approximation of one's own welfare state model to the model of the 'core European states' – the implicit blueprint of the EESM.