Parties' responses to globalization: What is left for the left and right for the right? A quantitative analysis and the cases of Austria and Germany

How does the international economy influence parties' ideological positions on economic policies? Do social democratic parties face a crisis in light of neoliberal pressures, as suggested by the globalization literature? How do right-wing parties respond to economic openness? Does economic openness entail policy convergence between the left and the right? To answer these questions, the dissertation examines the impact of economic internationalization on the policy programs of Europe's left-wing and right-wing political parties both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative analysis of parties' platforms, which employs data published by the Comparative Manifesto Project, and the qualitative study of Germany's and Austria's mainstream parties reveal that parties indeed systematically adjust their policy positions in response to changes in the degree of economic openness. However, the findings refute arguments of economic policy convergence of left-wing and right-wing parties' positions. Recent developments of Austria's and Germany's parties---some of which are not yet captured by the CMP data---even suggest polarization.The dissertation concludes that policy divergence is in part due to left-wing parties' relative ideological inflexibility and right-wing parties' inclination to embrace market-oriented reforms in response to neoliberal pressures. However, the presence of both centripetal and centrifugal forces within parties, in particular within Germany's parties, indicates that these polarizing trends may yet reverse. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that parties are more likely to shift rightwards when in government. In this context, it is concluded that the advent of globalization has rendered the tradeoffs between policy and votes more difficult.The dissertation also examines the influence of neoliberal ideology and finds it to be significant. Thus, despite diverging policy positions, policy regimes have shifted to the right. Furthermore, the ascent of neoliberalism has resulted in a rise of intraparty conflict, especially in the case of left-wing parties. Lastly, both quantitative and qualitative analyses confirm that the relative strength of organized labor critically shapes left-wing parties' responses to globalization.