European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook最新文献

In 2023, Austria continued to experience low levels of democratic satisfaction. This was particularly beneficial for the populist right-wing Freedom Party of Austria/Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ) in regional elections and opinion polls, as well as for parties not previously represented in the federal Parliament. After the regional elections in Lower Austria and Salzburg, the FPÖ assumed government responsibility and entered a coalition with the Austrian People's Party/Österreichische Volkspartei in both states. Approval ratings for the governing parties remained low. The Social Democratic Party of Austria/Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs concluded its long-standing internal directional debate with a change in leadership, albeit accompanied by mishaps. In terms of domestic policy, parties were able to reach a consensus, particularly on the abolition of official secrecy.

Freiburghaus, R. (2023). Switzerland: Political Developments and Data in 2022. Addressing Crisis Upon Crisis Through Swiss-Style “Muddling-Through”. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook, 62(1), 498–519. https://doi.org/10.1111/2047-8852.12398

There is a mistake in the abstract of the article where the sentence “While the country has managed to phase out most COVID-19 protective measures already in the year's early weeks, the 202 Russian invasion of Ukraine internationally discredited neutrality—that is, one of the traditional pillars of Swiss identity.” should read as “While the country has managed to phase out most COVID-19 protective measures already in the year's early weeks, the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine internationally discredited neutrality—that is, one of the traditional pillars of Swiss identity.”

We apologize for this error.

Two interim cabinets extended the legitimacy crisis that began in December 2022, after the Heger II Cabinet lost a no-confidence vote. The early parliamentary election in September 2023 underscored public dissatisfaction with the coalition's management of domestic and global challenges, propelling Robert Fico's Direction-Social Democracy (SMER–Sociálna demokracia) back into power for the fourth time.

Parliamentary elections in March 2023 brought a stronger than ever mandate for the ruling Reform Party, which formed a new all-liberal coalition with the Social Democratic Party and Estonia 200. However, the deteriorating public image of the Prime Minister and her party, the fact that Estonia 200 lost its new party image, and the political decisions made by the new government brought government approval and support drastically down by the end of the year. Struggling to tackle a growing budget deficit and to invigorate an economy in recession, it was a politically tough year for Estonia. And the fact that all viable coalitions until the next parliamentary elections in 2027 must include the Reform Party was likely to keep politics rigid, on the one hand, and tense on the other.

After a focus on global challenges, in the year 2023, domestic politics took centre stage in Germany. Notably, there was a rise in internal tensions within the ‘traffic light coalition’, especially regarding fiscal policy issues: The Free Democrats’/Freie Demokratische Partei (FDP) austerity clashed with the Social Democrats’/Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland (SPD) and the Alliance 90/Greens'/Bündnis 90/Die Grünen willingness to take on more debt for economic challenges. A key event was the Federal Constitutional Court's ruling that prohibited the reallocation of COVID-19 relief funds to the Climate and Transformation Fund, exposing budgetary constraints and repercussions on economic policy more broadly. The so-called Heating Act and debates on Child Basic Security were also important. The Alternative for Germany/Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) achieved notable electoral victories, while the Left Party's/Die Linke future is more uncertain than ever, having lost its parliamentary group status in the Bundestag due to a split. Regional elections were held in Berlin, Bremen, Bavaria and Hesse, contributing to this year's political dynamics.

Both material and symbolic issues were on the national political agenda in 2023. While education, the economy and health care were the most contested policy areas, the Fidesz government continued its campaigns against LGBTQ rights, migration and liberal values. Crucially, the government and its left-liberal opposition vehemently criticised each other for their uncritical pro-Eastern and pro-Western stance, respectively. Fidesz maintained its massive lead in polls, the share of undecided voters rapidly increased, while three new parties appeared in the political arena. The Hungarian government reached an agreement with the European Commission to release the largest part of the funds (€10 billion) blocked due to rule of law concerns. Additionally, the government successfully blocked the Finnish and Swedish NATO membership for the better part of the year, inviting fierce international criticism. New local election rules further accentuated the major weakness of the Hungarian opposition ahead of the 2024 local elections—fragmentation.

In 2023, the NATO Vilnius Summit was the major political event in Lithuania that attracted significant global media attention. In addition, Lithuania underwent local elections and faced a municipal expenses scandal that nearly brought down the government. Nevertheless, the Cabinet remained stable with only one minister being replaced.

After several years of turbulence and instability, the political year of 2023 was comparatively quiet. The three-party right-of-centre government, relying on support from the Sweden Democrats through the Tidö Agreement, stayed in office and its ministerial composition remained completely unchanged. Sweden chaired the presidency of the EU council for the first half of the year, without controversy or notable events. The process for membership of NATO proved more difficult than expected and was not completed at the end of the year due to resistance from Turkey and Hungary. The economy slowed down but showed signs of recovery towards the end of the year.

In 2023, we saw increasing instability in Icelandic politics and economy. Increasing tensions could be observed between the three government coalition parties, the Left Greens, the Progressive Party and the Independence Party. While the coalition has been in power since 2017, it includes both the parliamentary party furthest to the left, the left-socialist Left Greens, and the party furthest to the right, the conservative Independence Party. The government had been united when successfully fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and was re-elected in the Althingi elections 2021—a unique success since the bank crash of 2008. But when politics got back to ‘normal’, ideological differences between the coalition parties re-emerged. High inflation and high interest rates did not help the government. It continued to lose support in the monthly Gallup polls. At the end of the year, only 32 per cent claimed to be government supporters. All government parties lost support. The government losses mainly benefited one of the opposition parties, the Social Democratic Alliance.

After a lengthy and intense electoral campaign, which culminated in two opposition-led mass protest marches in Warsaw in June and October, Polish citizens cast their votes in a parliamentary election on 15 October. The ruling Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) party faced in the election a broad alliance of the so-called democratic opposition parties. The latter contested the election in three blocs, the liberal Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska), the moderately conservative Third Way, composed of the Polish Peasant Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe) and Poland 2050, and the New Left coalition. The parties of this alliance won together a majority of seats in both chambers of the legislature and formed a coalition government. This seemingly ended the process of democratic backsliding that had been progressing over the eight-year-long period of the PiS rule. However, the controversies regarding control over the public broadcasting media that erupted in December exposed the difficulties in reversing past departures from the rule of law.