Agrarian and Centre Parties

Prepared by: Melissa P. Lindayag

ILO’s

Identify the different political parties In Europe.

Discuss their political platforms.

Agrarian and Centre Parties

• Originally set up to defend and promote the interests of farmers, especially in Scandinavia.

• Agrarian parties have repositioned. (They renamed themselves as Centre Parties.)

• Target middle-class, often small-town, and voters looking for a party that will moderate both the left and right.

Agrarian and Centre Parties

• Private enterprise and traditional morality is important, as well as generous welfare and agricultural support.

• In some cases they also advocate environmental conservatism.

Finnish Keskusta (KESK)

• Centre Party of Finland.• Currently the most successful centre

party. (garnered up to a quarter of national vote)

• Founded in 1906 as the Agrarian League.• Represented rural communities and

supported decentralization of political power from Helsinki.

• After World War II, the party settled as one of the 4 major political parties in Finland.

Finnish Keskusta (KESK)

• Ideology- Centrism, Agrarianism and LiberalismCentrism – opposing political changes

which would result in a significant shift of society either strongly to the left or right.

Agrarianism – values rural society as superior to urban society.

Swedish Centerpartiet

• Founded as the Farmers’ Federation.• Functioned essentially as a

parliamentary pressure group, and in the 1930’s, it worked closely with Social Democratic Party. (SAP)

• In 1956, it had polled under 10%, but by the end of the 1960s, the Centerpartiet could claim to be the biggest non-socialist party in the country.

Swedish Centerpartiet

• In 1976, it took almost 25% of the vote and its leader became the prime minister. (in 40 years)

• However, there were problems with world economy and the party became distracted by its strong opposition to nuclear power.

• In 1991, it became the smallest party. (It scored only 8.5% of the vote in a four-way non-socialist coalition.)

• It helped keep the minority SAP government in power. (between 1995 and 1998)

Swedish Centerpartiet

• At the 2002 election, it took just 6.2% of the vote.

• In 2006, it raised its vote-share to 7.9% then it became a partner win the ensuing government despite losing a few seats in 2010.

• In 2011, it elected a young leader – Annie Loof.

Annie Lööf

Self-Defence (Samoobrona)

• Started at early 1990s as Polish farmers’ union.

• Then, it turned into a political party under charismatic populist Andrezj Lepper.

• In 2001, it overtook Polish Peasants’ Party (PSL) with 10% of vote.

• Called for greater government intervention in economy.

• Called to get tough on crime and corruption.

Andrzej Lepper

Self-Defence (Samoobrona)

• After the 2005 election, Self-Defence switched its support to Law and Justice. (Lepper was appointed Prime Minister in the coalition government.)

• At the early elections of 2007, Samoobrona’s vote collapsed from 11.4% to just 1.5%.

• It never recovered and in 2011, Lepper was found dead in his office.

Sources

• Bale, Tim (2013). European Politics, A Comparative Approach. Palgrave Macmillan

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Party_(Finland)

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