Centrism

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In politics, centrism or the centre is a political outlook or specific position that involves acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy; while opposing political changes which would result in a significant shift of society either strongly to the left or the right.^[1] Centre-left and centre-right politics both involve a general association with centrism combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the spectrum.

Various political ideologies, such as Christian Democracy, can be classified as centrist.^[2]

Definitions

It has been suggested that individuals vote for 'centrist' parties for purely statistical reasons.^[3]

Centrists usually support a degree of equal opportunity and economic freedom. They can generally lean conservative on economic issues and lean liberal on social issues, and sometimes vice versa. However, centrism itself is location-dependent and exact policies can vary depending on geographical and socioeconomic factors.

Usage by political parties by country

India

Indian National Congress was centrist in its ideology. It was formed in 1885. It is one of the oldest parties in the world. Under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru the party sought to build a modern secular democratic republic in India. Its support has had different ups and downs from the late 1990s. People change their support base to other political parties but choose it again after period of 5 years. It acts as an opposition party, presently, in Indian Parliament.

Australia

There have been centrists in both sides of politics, who serve alongside the various factions within the Liberal and Labor parties.

In addition, there are a number of smaller groups that have formed in response to the bipartisan system who uphold centrist ideals. South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon had launched his own centrist political party called the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) in 2014. The Palmer United Party has been suggested as being a centrist party as well; however, the party itself does not make such formal claims of being politically centrist.^[4]

The Australian Sex Party is also a centrist political party. They have held just one seat within the Victorian Legislative Council since 2014.

Belgium

The utmost centrist party of Flanders has been the Volksunie, which not only embraced social liberalism but also displayed the national sentiment of the Dutch speaking Belgians who felt culturally suppressed by Francophones. The New Flemish Alliance is the largest, and since 2009, the only successor of that party.

Among French speaking Belgians the Humanist Democratic Centre is a centre-right or centre party as it is considerably less conservative than its Flemish counterpart, Christian Democratic & Flemish. Another party in the centre of the political spectrum is the liberal Reformist Movement.

Canada

Liberal Party of Canada is the dominant centrist party, they have traditionally positioned themselves as being more moderate and centrist than the Conservative Party of Canada or New Democratic Party, putting them somewhere between the centre and centre-left. The Liberals are currently the largest party in Canada's House of Commons.

Czech Republic

Czech Republic has two main centrist political parties which are currently in the government: liberal ANO (Yes) and Christian democratic Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party.

Estonia

France

France has a tradition of parties that call themselves centriste. The most notable centrist party, often also called liberal, was the Union for French Democracy, created in 1978. Among its successors belongs the small Centrist Alliance, the most successful of them is the Democratic Movement of François Bayrou, founded in 2007. However, the centrist parties often oppose to the left-wing parties such as Socialists and Left Front. It often support the centre-right Gaullist parties and join several coalitions governed by Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. Most recently, Emmanuel Macron's "En Marche!" centrist populist party qualified for - and won - the runoff round of the 2017 French presidential election.

Germany

Joachim Gauck, the former German president is a centrist politician and activist without party affiliation. In 1990 he took part in the Alliance 90, having become an independent after its merger with The Greens.

Zentrismus is a term only known to experts, as it is easily confused with Zentralismus ("centralism", the opposite to decentralisation/federalism); so the usual term in German for the political centre/centrism is politische Mitte (literally "political middle", or "political centre"). Historically, the German party with the most purely centrist nature among German parties to have had current or historical parliamentary representations was most likely the social-liberal German Democratic Party of the Weimar Republic (1918–1933).

There existed during the Weimar Republic (and again after the Nazi period) a Zentrum, a party of German Catholics founded in 1870. It was called Centre Party not for being a proper centrist party, but because it united left-wing and right-wing Catholics, because it was the first German party to be a Volkspartei (catch-all party), and because his elected representatives sat between the liberals (the left of the time) and the conservatives (the right of the time). It was, though, distinctly right-wing conservative in that it was not neutral on religious issues (such as on secular education), being markedly against more liberal and modernist positions. The main successor of Zentrum after the return of democracy to West Germany in 1945, the Christian Democratic Union, has throughout its history alternated between describing itself as right-wing or centrist, and sitting on the right-wing (with the Free Democratic Party in its social liberal moments sitting at its left, in the centre, and themselves sitting at the centre, with the FDP in its classical liberal moments sitting at its right, in the right-wing). The representatives of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, although they have, since the 1990s, many times referred to themselves as "the new middle" (under influence of the Third way of the time), feel less at ease in describing their party as centrist due to their history and socialist identity.

Alliance '90/The Greens was founded in 1993 as a merger from the East German Alliance 90, a group of centrist/transversalist civil rights activists, and the (West) German Greens. The latter was a coalition of various unorthodox-left politicians and more liberal "realists". This Bundestag party also hesitates in using the term centre, although it does distance itself as well from the tag of left (which identifies it, for the moment, as a transversalist party). The transversalist moderation of the party and its position in the Bundestag between the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats (while the FDP has its seats at the right of the Christian Democrats) also points somewhat to The Greens being a more or less centrist party.

In the state parliaments of specific German states there are other specifically regional parties which could be identified as centrist. The South Schleswig Voter Federation, of the Danish and Frisian minorities in the state of Schleswig-Holstein has currently a centrist political position, although in the past the party usually leaned to the left. In the German presidential elections of 2009, 2010 and 2012, it supported the candidates of the Social Democrats and the Greens. In Bavaria, the Free Voters party present at the state parliament may also be seen as a centrist party.

Greece

In Greece centrism has its roots to centrist politician and founder of Agricultural and Labour Party, Alexandros Papanastasiou. In 1961 Georgios Papandreou created along with other political leaders the coalition party of Centre Union. Five parties were merged: Liberal Party, Progressive Agricultural Democratic Union, National Progressive Center Union, Popular Social Party into one, with strong centrist agenda opposed equally to right wing party of National Radical Union and left wing party of United Democratic Left. The Centre Union Party was the last Venizelist party to hold power in Greece. The party nominally continued to exist until 1977 (after the Junta it was known as the Center Union - New Forces), when its successor Union of the Democratic Centre (EDIK) party was created.

Union of Centrists was created by Vassilis Leventis in 1992 under the title "Union of Centrists and Ecologists". The name was changed shortly after. The Union of Centrists claims to be the ideological continuation of the old party Center Union. The party strives to become "the political continuance of the centrist expression in Greece". Leventis aimed to become part of the Venizelist legacy of some great politicians of the past, such as Eleftherios Venizelos and George Papandreou Sr. However, the party's total influence had been marginal until 2015, with 1.79% of the total votes (in the Greek legislative election, January 2015) being its highest achievement before finally making its way to the Greek Parliament in September 2015 with 3.43% of the total votes and 9 members elected.

Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, the two main political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, both claim the political centre ground, but seem to lean to the centre-right and be mostly made up of centre-right members.^[5][5][6] The two parties have shared broadly similar policies in the past, with their primary division being perceived as being steeped in Irish Civil War politics. Fine Gael is aligned to Christian democratic parties in Europe via its membership of the European People's Party, and is described internationally as centre-right by the likes of Reuters.^[7] The consensus in analysis seems to be that Fianna Fáil is mostly centrist, expanding to the centre-right space, and that Fine Gael is mostly centre-rightist, expanding also to the centre space.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, four parties have, more than once, sent members into the cabinet. From them, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) tends to be centre-right and the Democrats 66 (D66) centrist.^[8]

Livable Netherlands was originally a centrist political movement of local grass-root parties with an anti-establishment touch similar to early D66. However, the party entered in 2002 national parliament with a right-wing populist programme based on security and immigration as the major issues.

The Protestant ChristianUnion has a transversalist position that can be confused with a certain kind of centrist position, in so far it is left-leaning on issues such as immigration and environment, but right-leaning on social issues, drugs issues and euthanasia.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, there are two main current centrist parties. The largest one is New Zealand First, which was founded by Winston Peters after he resigned from the New Zealand National Party. New Zealand First has a focus on unitary, economic nationalism. Its principles include the reduction of government while at the same time increasing the number of state-owned enterprises. New Zealand First is currently in opposition with 12 seats, in the 121-seat House of Representatives.

The other one is the United Future party, founded by a fusion of a previous centrist social liberal party and a previous Christian conservative party. United Future currently has one seat in the New Zealand parliament, supporting the current government led by the National Party alongside ACT and the Maori Party.

Nordic countries

Campaign for the Norwegian Centre Party at Nærbø. Like its Finnish and Swedish counterparts, the party has a strong focus on decentralisation, rural and agrarian issues.

In most of the Nordic countries, there are Nordic agrarian parties. These share in addition to the centrist position on the socio-economic left-right scale a clear, separate ideology. This position is centred on decentralisation, a commitment to small business and environmental protection. Centrists have aligned themselves with the Liberal International and European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. Historically, all of these parties were farmers' parties committed to maintaining rural life. In the 1960s, these parties broadened their scope to include non-farmer-related issues and renamed themselves Centre Party.

Neither the Centre Democrats (a now defunct centrist political party) nor the Liberal Alliance (a political party founded as a centrist social liberal party but that now is a classical liberal party), both of Denmark, are rooted in centrist agrarianism.

Pakistan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founded by Imran Khan, claims to be a centrist political party.^[9] PTI emerged as the second-largest political party in Pakistan, following the general election of 2013, by number of votes.^[10]

Palestinian Authority

The Third Way is a small centrist Palestinian political party active in Palestinian politics. Founded on 16 December 2005, the party is led by Salam Fayyad and Hanan Ashrawi. In the January 2006 PLC elections it received 2.41% of the popular vote and won two of the Council's 132 seats. The party presents itself as an alternative to the two-party system of Hamas and Fatah.

Poland

Civic Platform (PO), ruling in 2007–2015, began in 2001 as a rightist party, but later, under the leadership of Donald Tusk, turned into typical centrist. Depending on the context, it is described as either Christian Democratic (since it is a member of European People's Party), conservative, liberal, or social. Its pragmatism, technocracy and lack of ideology have been nevertheless criticized and currently, under the new leader Grzegorz Schetyna, it is returning to the right. Other political groups like Polish People's Party (PSL) may be described as centrist too (in Poland, national-moral right-wing is usually at the same time economical left, and vice versa).

South Korea

There are 'People's Party'^[11] and 'Evergreen Korea Party'^[12] in the centrist political parties, advocating centrism in Korea.

The Bareun Party insists on "Centrist conservatism",^[13] It is close to liberal conservatism.

Together Democratic Party does not have the insist centrism ideology. It implies an ideology similar to the Social liberalism that the US Democratic Party is proposing.

Spain

The only national party that defends itself as a centrist party is Citizens; its program tends to go both left and right ways. This party, however, is seen as a left party by conservatives and as a right party by socialists voters. In Catalonia, where the party was born, many people even consider it as an extreme right-wing party, considering its fierce opposition to nationalism. Not even the media agree on its place; several newspapers from different ideologies manifest that Citizens is either left or right, depending on their political line. Regardless of subjective opinions, the truth is that Ciudadanos has always tried to reach agreements^[14] with the national party which, according to several opinion polls, Spanish voters most traditionally considered to be the closest to the centre: Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD). This popular perception was pointed out by UPyD, which positions itself simultaneously on the political centre and cross-sectionalism, thus embracing ideas across the political spectrum.^[15][16] UPyD has lost a great deal of its voters to Ciudadanos,^[17] the latter counting with 40 representatives in the Spanish Congress in the last election. Electors also consider as centrists the Convergence and Union coalition from Catalonia and the Basque Nationalist Party from the Spanish Basque Country, although these two usually consider themselves as right-centrist parties.^[18]

United Kingdom

In the late 1990s, the traditionally socialist Labour Party, under the leadership of Tony Blair, began to move towards a centrist Third Way policy platform, creating the New Labour movement.

Traditionally, however, the party commonly seen as holding the centre ground is the Liberal Democrats (and its predecessor the Liberal Party), which is placed between the centre left and the radical centre. In March 2011, Nick Clegg, the-then leader of the Liberal Democrats and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stated that he believed that his party belonged to the radical centre, mentioning John Maynard Keynes, William Beveridge, Jo Grimond, David Lloyd George and John Stuart Mill as examples of the radical centre that preceded the Liberal Democrats' establishment in 1988. He pointed to liberalism as an ideology of people, and described the political spectrum and his party's position as follows: "For the left, an obsession with the state. For the right, a worship of the market. But as liberals, we place our faith in people. People with power and opportunity in their hands. Our opponents try to divide us with their outdated labels of left and right. But we are not on the left and we are not on the right. We have our own label: Liberal. We are liberals and we own the freehold to the centre ground of British politics. Our politics is the politics of the radical centre."

In the 2000s, David Cameron also moved the Conservative Party towards the centre, allowing his party to be elected in 2010 in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. In the 2015 election the Conservatives gained a majority and the Liberal Democrats lost most of their seats.

United States

Ross Perot, former United States presidential candidate in the 1992 and 1996 elections

Independent candidate H. Ross Perot garnered nearly 19% of the popular vote in the 1992 presidential election. His "get under the hood" campaign focusing on balancing the budget has been one of the most successful centrist efforts in U.S. history,^[19] but he did not carry a single state in the Electoral College. He went on to form the Reform Party and run a second time in the 1996 presidential election with less success.

A late-2011 Gallup poll of Americans' attitudes towards government reported that 17% expressed conservative views, 22% expressed libertarian views, 20% expressed communitarian views, 17% expressed centrist views, and 24% expressed liberal views.^[20]

Americans Elect, a coalition of American centrists funded by wealthy donors such as business magnate Michael Bloomberg, former junk-bond trader Peter Ackerman, and hedge fund manager John H. Burbank III, launched an effort in mid-2011 to create a national 'virtual primary' that would challenge the current two-party system. The group aims to nominate a presidential ticket of centrists with names that would be on ballots in all 50 states. The group banks on broad cultural dissatisfaction with the partisan gridlock in Washington, D.C. The Christian Science Monitor has stated that "the political climate couldn't be riper for a serious third-party alternative" such as their effort, but the "hurdles Americans Elect faces are daunting" to get on ballots.^[19]

Journalist and political commentator E. J. Dionne wrote in his book Why Americans Hate Politics, published on the eve of the 1992 presidential election, that he believes American voters are looking for a "New Political Center" that intermixes "liberal instincts" and "conservative values". He labelled people in this centre position as "tolerant traditionalists". He described them as believers in conventional social morals that ensure family stability, as tolerant within reason to those who challenge those morals, and as pragmatically supportive of government intervention in spheres such as education, child care, and health care, as long as budgets are balanced.^[21]

Washington political journalist Linda Killian wrote in her 2012 book The Swing Vote that Americans are frustrated with Congress and its dysfunction and inability to do its job. A growing number of Americans are not satisfied with the political process because a number of factors such as influx of money into politics and the influence of special interests and lobbyists. The book classifies four types of independent voters including "NPR Republicans", "America First Democrats", "The Facebook Generation" and "Starbucks Moms and Dads" who will be big determinates of swing votes in the 2012 presidential election.^[22]

Centrists in the two major US political parties are often found in the New Democrat Coalition^[23] and the Blue Dog Coalition of the Democratic Party and the Republican Main Street Partnership of the Republican Party. Outside of the two major parties, some centrists inhabit the Libertarian Party^[24] and independent candidacy movements, such as The Centrist Project co-founded by Charles Wheelan.

See also

References

External links

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