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Abstract:
This paper seeks to develop a comprehensive analytical framework for studying the politics of economic growth by engaging with three literatures in comparative political economy: the literature on producer-group coalitions, the literature on electoral politics and constrained partisanship and, finally, the literature on the role of ideas. Drawing on Gramsci, we argue that “social blocs” should be conceived as enduring constellations of sectoral and class interests that are organized in hierarchical manner, with certain components of the social bloc being privileged relative to others. We argue further that mainstream political parties compete with each other based, in part, on claims to competence as managers of the social bloc and that economic voting explains the political influence of economic sectors that are critical to the particular growth models that different countries have adopted. Finally, we emphasize that social blocs have an important ideological dimension. We illustrate these claims through stylized case studies of the politics of economic growth in Germany and Sweden since the early 1990s.
