The Changing Cleavage Politics of Western Europe

How are the contours of Western European politics shifting? To what
extent do these shifts reflect changes in the underlying social and economic
structure of European polities? In this article, we reflect on insights from the
classic literature on how cleavages structure party systems and consider how
the emergence and persistence of new parties and new ideological conflicts
are leading to both shifts of dividing lines of party competition and the fragmentation of party systems.While increasing attention has been given to the
so-called second dimension of European electoral politics, we highlight the
relatively limited focus on structural changes that are helping to drive this
transformation. We identify some socio-demographic developments that
are potentially generating new cleavages in Western European democracies:
the expansion of higher education; mass migration and the growing ethnic
diversity of electorates; the aging of societies and sharpening of generational
divides; and increased geographical segregation of populations between
prospering, globalized major cities and declining hinterlands