The End of Pragmatism? The Coalition Parties in the Early 1990s

Abstract

This paper is set in the context of various debates about the nature of contemporary party systems. In particular it has been widely argued that within the West at least the traditional parties are everywhere in decline. Some have argued that class style parties have been transformed into ‘catch-all’ style parties. These, in turn, have lost touch with their traditional bases and, almost inevitably, lost their direction. Social movements and alternative parties are said to have moved into the vacuum. These debates are of intrinsic interest. Surprisingly there have been few attempts to assess their relevance for the Australian case. This paper uses the author's recent research on elites within the coalition parties in order to explore the issue of whether indeed these Australian parties have become ‘catch-all’ parties or are in some kind of post ‘catch-all’ phase. The paper concludes that unlike the ‘catch-all’ approach ‘ideology’ is still of major significance for the party elites. If we explore the data, ...