Pasokification

The decline of PASOK's popularity in the 2010s led to the creation of the term Pasokification.

Pasokification is the decline of centre-left, social-democratic political parties in European and other Western countries during the 2010s, often accompanied by the rise of nationalist, left-wing and right-wing populist alternatives.[1][2] In Europe, the share of votes for centre-left parties was at its 70-year lowest in 2015.[3]

The term originates from the Greek party PASOK, which saw a declining share of the vote in national elections — from 43.9% in 2009 to 13.2% in May 2012, to 12.3% in June 2012 and 4.7% in 2015 — due to its poor handling of the Greek government-debt crisis and implementation of harsh austerity measures.[4][5] Simultaneously, the left-wing anti-austerity Syriza party saw a growth in vote share and influence.[6] Since PASOK's decline, the term has been applied to similar declines for other social-democratic and Third Way parties.

In the early 2020s, the Social Democratic Party of Germany won the 2021 German federal election, and the Labour Party, and PASOK-KINAL performed well in the polls for the 2024 United Kingdom and 2023 Greek elections respectively, leading to discussions about the possibility of "de-Pasokification",[7] "reverse Pasokification", "Kinalification."[8]

  1. ^ "Why Labour is obsessed with Greek politics". The Economist. 30 June 2018.
  2. ^ Henley, Jon. "2017 and the curious demise of Europe's centre-left". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  3. ^ "Rose thou art sick". The Economist. 2016-04-02. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  4. ^ Gary Younge (22 May 2017). "Jeremy Corbyn has defied his critics to become Labour's best hope of survival". The Guardian.
  5. ^ Mark Lowen (5 April 2013). "How Greece's once-mighty Pasok party fell from grace". BBC News. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Rose thou art sick". The Economist. 2 April 2016.
  7. ^ Karakullukcu, Deniz (3 February 2023). "Depasokifikasyon: Yunanistan'da sosyal demokratlar geri mi dönüyor?". Independent Türkçe. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  8. ^ Karampelas, Polychronis (10 January 2022). "Is Kinalification a Thing? The Hope of a Post-Pasokification Comeback". Europe Elects. Retrieved 21 January 2023.