New politics and changing parties : a comparative perspective

This article illustrates a new style of politics, the New Political Culture (NPC), which began in many countries in the 1970s. It has become dominant in some locations. It defines new rules of the game for politics, challenging two older traditions: class politics and clientelism. Advocates of the New Political Culture include Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Francois Mitterrand. They revolutionized the politics of their countries by embracing NPC issues. These include citizen democracy, environmentalism, gay rights, and abortion—generally consumption and lifestyle issues, with less emphasis on workplace and jobs than in the past. Leadership comes less from parties, unions, and ethnic groups in coalitions of rich versus poor, or high- versus low-status persons. Rather, leadership shifts from issue to issue; leaders on abortion are distinct from leaders on environmental issues. Issue-specific leaders are thus more active, as are citizens and the media. This NPC emerges more fully and forcefully in cities and countries with more highly educated citizens, higher incomes, and high-tech service occupations. Political parties critically constrain elected officials who take positions and act. We present here the most comprehensive synthesis to date of past research on local party structures around the world including Japan, US, Canada, France, Finland, Norway, Australia, and Israel. We documents major differences in party penetration of government: minimal in Australia and Canada, deep in France and Italy. Parties also substantially vary in their openness to citizens and organized groups—of business labor, and others, as well as to new social movements concerning ecology and women. Parties founded on traditional class cleavages and unions, or clientelism and patronage by padrone, resist NPC developments—which can drive citizens to alienation, to protest, or to embrace new parties or organized groups