This comparative analysis of Scandinavian social democracies argues that the fate of socialist parties is decided, to a significant degree, by their own policies and reforms_not solely by the changes in social structure emphasized in previous studies. Combining quantitative analysis and historical case studies to demonstrate the electoral effects of party policy, Gosta Esping-Andersen formulates a theory that is applicable not only to Scandinavia but to Western Europe as a whole. In addition, he explains why the support basis of social democracy has deteriorated so much more in Denmark than in Sweden and Norway.

Originally published in 1985.

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