ABSTRACT
Social democratic governments operate within an economic and institutional context which can enable or constrain the enactment of their policy goals. In addition to structural factors, interaction between political and social actors also infl uences the governments’ actions. Hence, any policy analysis must consider both structures and agents. Following the “actor-centered institutionalism” approach (Mayntz and Scharpf 1995; Scharpf 2000c), this chapter introduces the most important national institutions, structures, and actors that infl uence the actions of social democratic governments. In particular, these are:
the social democratic parties and their internal organization; party competition; political institutions; the role of trade unions and collective bargaining; the structure of the political economy; and the political legacy.
