Centrism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigation Jump to search
For the Marxist categorisation, see Centrist Marxism. For the post-World War II political
alliance in Italy, see Centrism (Italy).
"Political centre" redirects here. For the Russian movement (1919–20), see Political (Russia).
Part of the Politics series
Party politics
Political spectrum
Platform
Types
Organization
Party discipline
Party system
Coalition
Lists
 Politics portal
 v
 t
 e

Centrism is a political outlook or position that involves acceptance and/or support of a balance
of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy, while opposing political changes which would
result in a significant shift of society strongly to either the left or the right.[1]

Both centre-left and centre-right politics involve a general association with centrism that is
combined with leaning somewhat to their respective sides of the left–right political spectrum.
Various political ideologies, such as Christian democracy and certain forms of social and
classical liberalism, can be classified as centrist ones,[2] as can the Third Way, a modern political
movement that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating for a
synthesis of centre-right economic platforms with some centre-left social policies.[3][4]

Contents
 1 Usage by political parties by country
o 1.1 Australia
o 1.2 Belgium
o 1.3 Brazil
 o 1.4 Canada
o 1.5 Croatia
o 1.6 Czech Republic
o 1.7 Estonia
o 1.8 France
o 1.9 Germany
o 1.10 Greece
o 1.11 India
o 1.12 Ireland
o 1.13 Israel
o 1.14 Netherlands
o 1.15 Nordic countries
o 1.16 Pakistan
o 1.17 Palestine
o 1.18 Poland
o 1.19 Spain
o 1.20 Switzerland
o 1.21 United Kingdom
o 1.22 United States
 2 See also
 3 Notes
 4 References
 5 Further reading
 6 External links

Usage by political parties by country

Australia

There have been centrists in both sides of politics, who serve alongside the various factions
within the Liberal and Labor parties. Centrism is represented by the moderates in the Liberal
Party and Labor Right in the Labor Party.

The Australian Democrats is the most prominent centrist party in Australian History. The party
had representation in the senate from 1977 through to 2007, frequently holding the balance of
power in that time. Formed by Don Chipp, on a promise to "Keep the Bastards Honest", it was
known to have represented the "middle ground". The party regained registration in 2019.

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, renamed Centre
Alliance in 2018.

Belgium
The traditional centrist party of Flanders was the People's Union which embraced social
liberalism and aimed to represent Dutch-speaking Belgians who felt culturally suppressed by
Francophones. The New Flemish Alliance is the largest and since 2009 the only extant successor
of that party. It is, however, primarily composed of the right wing of the former People's Union,
and has adopted a more liberal conservative ideology in recent years.

Among French speaking Belgians the Humanist Democratic Centre is a centre party as it is
considerably less conservative than its Flemish counterpart, Christian Democratic and Flemish.

Other parties in the centre of the political spectrum are the liberal Reformist Movement and the
French-speaking minority party DéFI.

Brazil

There are several centrist parties in Brazil, such as the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB),
which is a catch-all party, one of the largest political parties in Brazil.

The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) is also another example of a centrist party in
Brazilian politics.

Other centrist parties include Social Democratic Party (Brazil, 2011) (PSD), Green Party (Brazil)
(PV), Citizenship (Brazil) (CID), PODEMOS (PODE) and Republican Party of the Social Order
(PROS)

Canada

Further information: Politics of Canada § Political culture

Throughout modern history, Canadian governments at the federal level have governed from a
moderate, centrist political position,[5] practicing "brokerage politics".[note 1][8][9][10] Both the Liberal
Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada (or its predecessors) rely on attracting
supports from a broad spectrum of voters.[11][12][13] The historically predominant Liberals position
themselves at the centre of the Canadian political scale being more moderate and centrist than
the center-right Conservative.[14][10][15] In the late 1970s, Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau
claimed that his Liberal Party of Canada adhered to the "radical center".[16][17] Far-right and far-
left politics have never been a prominent force in Canadian society.[18][19][6][20]

Croatia

Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats and People's Party - Reformists may be considered
as centrist parties. Agrarian Croatian Peasant Party became moderate and centrist during its last
years, having been centre-right in the past.

Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has a number of prominent centrist parties, including the syncretic populist
movement ANO 2011 (currently in government), the civil libertarian Czech Pirate Party, the
long-standing Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People's Party and the localist
party Mayors and Independents.

Estonia

Main article: Centrism in Estonia

France

France has a tradition of parties that call themselves "centriste", though the actual parties vary
over time: when a new political issue emerges and a new political party breaks into the
mainstream, the old centre-left party may be de facto pushed rightwards, but unable to consider
itself a party of the right, it will embrace being the new centre: this process occurred with the
Orléanism, Moderate Républicanism, Radical Republicanism and Radical-Socialism.

Currently the most notable centrist party is La République en marche !, founded by Emmanuel
Macron, who was elected as President of France in May 2017. Another party is the Democratic
Movement of François Bayrou, founded in 2007, which was the successor of the Christian
democratic Union for French Democracy.

Germany

In 1990, Joachim Gauck (who is a former German President, centrist politician and activist
without party affiliation) 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).

During the Weimar Republic (and again after the Nazi period), there existed 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). However, it was
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 referred to themselves as "the new
middle" many times since the 1990s (under influence of the Third way of the time), however,
they 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 modern Greek politics, the roots of centrism can be traced to centrist politician and founder of
the 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", though 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 January 2015 Greek legislative election) 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.

India

The National People's Party is a national-level political party in India, though its influence is
mostly concentrated in the state of Meghalaya. The party was founded by P A Sangma after his
expulsion from the NCP in July 2012.[21] It was accorded national party status on 7 June 2019.[22]
It is the first political party from Northeastern India to have attained this status.

Actor turned politician Kamal Haasan has launched a party named Makkal Needhi Maiam
meaning People's Centre for Justice.[23]

Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, both two main political parties (Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael) claim the
political centre ground, but seem to lean to the centre-right and be mostly made up of centre-
right members.[24][25] 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.[26] 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.

Israel

In Israel, centrism is represented by the Yesh Atid Party led by Yair Lapid. The party was
founded in 2013 and has remained a major player on the political scene. It served in government
between 2013 and 2015 with Lapid serving as Israel's Finance Minister and a member of the
Security Cabinet. In 2020, after a year of political turmoil in Israel, Yair Lapid became the
Leader of the Opposition to the fifth government of Benjamin Netanyahu, and in 2021 he was
sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Naftali Bennett.

Yair Lapid published a long political essay entitled Only the center can hold: Democracy and
the battle of ideas [27] in which he laid out his vision of political centrism in Israel. The essay was
originally published in Hebrew in Haaretz under the title "Not, just not Bibi. In this battle of
ideas the center has solutions"[28]

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, four moderate centrist to centre-right parties have sent members into the
Third Rutte cabinet since 2017. From them, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) tend to be centre-right whilst the social
liberal Democrats 66 (D66) are more centrist.[29] The Protestant Christian Union is a small
Christian Democratic party that has transversalist positions less typical in European centrist
parties. Whilst it is left-leaning on issues such as immigration, welfare and the environment, it is
more conservative on social issues, such as drugs and euthanasia. They have participated in
several coalitions due to their moderate centrist politics.

Another centrist party is the populist Pensioners' interests party 50PLUS which combines social
democratic, social liberal and social conservative positions.

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.[citation needed]

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were two self-described "centre" parties, the Centre Party and the
Centre Democrats who at some point were represented in Dutch parliament. However these
parties were considered as far right (in the case of the Centre Democrats) or even extreme right
(in the case of the Centre Party) in their opinion about foreign immigration.[30] Both parties
denied being racist or extremist in character. The party slogan of the Center Party was "niet
rechts, niet links" ("Neither rightist nor leftist"), and in some respect could be seen as a centrist
(or more correctly Third Position) party since it borrowed ideas from the political (far) right (a
tough stand on immigration combined with typical racial prejudice) and the political left (mixed
economy, green politics). However both of these two parties didn't really have a coherent
ideology; they were basically one-issue parties focussed on what they perceived as mass
immigration from non-European countries.

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
Main article: Nordic agrarian parties
See also: Centrism in Finland, Centrism in Iceland, and Centrism in Sweden

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.[31]
Following the general election of 2013, PTI emerged as the second-largest political party in
Pakistan by number of votes.[32] In July 2018 it won the general elections of Pakistan and Imran
Khan, its chairman, became Prime Minister.[33]

Palestine

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding
citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
(April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding
citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
(April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Civic Platform (PO), ruling in 2007–2015, began in 2001 as a liberal conservative party, but later
under the leadership of Donald Tusk turned into typical centrist in order to attract left-leading
liberal voters. Depending on the context, it is described as either Christian Democratic (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 leader Grzegorz
Schetyna announced that it is returning to the right, but with new leader Borys Budka and as a
part of Civic Coalition it turns to progressivism again, as seen by policies proposed by their
candidate, Rafał Trzaskowski, in 2020 presidential elections. Other political groups like Polish
People's Party (PSL) may be described as centrist too (in Poland, national-moral right-wing Law
and Justice is social conservative, usually at the same time economical left and favor
protectionism policies). Newest political party present in Polish Parliament, Poland 2050 led by
Szymon Hołownia, has been described as ideological centre with strong pragmatic influences.

Spain

The only national party that defends itself as a centrist party is Citizens, whose platform is
increasingly perceived as right-wing by the Spanish citizens as the Centro de Investigaciones
Sociológicas surveys show. In April 2018 Ciudadanos obtained a 6,77, when ranging political
parties from 1 to 10, where 1 was farthest left and 10 its equivalent in the right.[34] It first entered
the Cortes Generales in 2015.

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
and 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[35] with Union, Progress and Democracy (UPyD), which
Spanish voters most traditionally consider to be the closest to the centre according to several
opinion polls. 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.[36][37]

UPyD has lost a great deal of its voters to Ciudadanos,[38] the latter counting with 10
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.[39]

Switzerland

In Switzerland the political centre (in German: die Mitte; in French: le Centre; Italian: il Centro)
is traditionally occupied by the so-called "bourgeois" parties: FDP.The Liberals[40] (centre-right),
[41]
the Christian Democratic People's Party[42][43] (centre[44] to centre-right) and the much smaller
Evangelical People's Party[45][46] (centre to centre-left).[47]

Recently, some new parties were founded who claimed to be part of the political centre: the
Conservative Democratic Party (centre to centre-right), a split from the right-wing populist Swiss
People's Party and a self-styled centre party[48][49] and the Green Liberal Party (centre),[50] a split
from the leftist Green Party.
The Social Democratic Party is considered to be more to the left than to the centre.[51]

In Switzerland, the centrist parties tend to co-operate closely in Canton parliaments and
municipal councils.

United Kingdom

In the 1970s, the traditionally socialist Labour Party moved further to the left, causing discomfort
to MPs who saw themselves as belonging to the party's social democratic tendency. On 25
January 1981, leading figures from the Labour Party (Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley
Williams and Bill Rodgers, known collectively as the "Gang of Four") launched the Council for
Social Democracy, which later became the Social Democratic Party in March, after outlining
their policies in what became known as the Limehouse Declaration. The "Gang of Four" were
centrists, who had defected from the Labour Party due to what they perceived to be the influence
of the Militant tendency and the "hard left" within the party.[52][53] After waning electoral success,
the SDP merged with the Liberal Party in 1988 to create the centrist Liberal Democrats.

In the mid to late 1990s, Labour under the leadership of Tony Blair began to move towards a
centrist Third Way policy platform, adopting the campaign name New Labour. The New Labour
era ended when Blair's successor Gordon Brown lost the 2010 election to the Conservatives.
Brown's successor as leader, Ed Miliband, moved the party slightly to the left of the New Labour
era position. Miliband set out his stall to "redefine the political centre", with pundits declaring
New Labour "dead".[54] The Blue Labour movement, launched in 2009, attempted to cultivate a
new path for Labour centrism that would appeal to socially conservative working class periods,
and was a mild influence on Labour during Miliband's tenure. The party later moved decisively
to the left when the socialist Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015, as a result of the
introduction of a one member one vote system under Miliband.

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 mid to late 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.
They regained a small number of seats in the 2017 election. Cameron's successor Theresa May
used left-wing rhetoric on her appointment as Prime Minister, stating her wish to tackle social
inequality, and adopted some of Ed Miliband's policies; for example, on regulating energy
companies. However, the party's 2017 manifesto was seen as sharp break from the centre ground,
appealing to traditionally Tory heartland issues in the aftermath of the UK's Brexit referendum.

Following the Brexit referendum, politics in the UK was seen as having reverted to traditionally
polarised "left and right" politics. For the 2017 election, the group More United was set up in the
vein of the US Super PAC model to support candidates from multiple parties who meet its
values; it gave support primarily to Labour and Lib Dem MPs, as well as one Conservative. In
April 2018, The Observer newspaper reported that a group setup by Simon Franks had amassed
£50 million to start a new centrist political party in the UK to field candidates at the next general
election.[55] It has reportedly been named United for Change.

In early 2019, difficulties and party clashes regarding Brexit caused a number of Labour and
Conservative MPs to leave their parties, forming a pro-European group named The Independent
Group for Change. They later announced their intention to register as a formal party named
Change UK. The party has been identified as centrist by most sources, with Change UK MP
Chris Leslie describing the party as "offering a home to those on the centre-left." Former Change
UK MP Chuka Umunna joined the Liberal Democrats shortly after the formation of the party
after disappointing results in the 2019 European Parliament election. He gave the reason there is
"no room for two in the centre ground".[56] After losing all their MPs in the 2019 General
Election, the party was disbanded.[57]

United States

After World War II, centrism was a dominant political philosophy in the United States but lacked
its own party in the traditionally two-party country. For example, historian Arthur Schlesinger
Jr., characterized political moderation as a vigorous “Third Force” in his 1949 book, The Vital
Center.[58] The book defended liberal democracy and a state-regulated market economy against
the totalitarianism of communism and fascism. Harry Truman, who served as U.S. president
from 1945 until 1953, is regarded as a centrist Democrat,[59][60] while Dwight Eisenhower, who
was the president from 1953 to 1961, is regarded as a centrist Republican.[61][62]

The early 1990s were perhaps the high water mark of post-war centrist politics in America.
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 center 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.[63]
Independent candidate H. Ross Perot, who focused on pragmatic issues like a balanced budget
and was viewed as a populist centrist,[64][65] garnered nearly 19% of the popular vote in the 1992
presidential election, even though he ran against Bill Clinton, a center-left Democrat,[66] and
George H.W. Bush, a center-right Republican.[67] Perot went on to form the Reform Party and run
a second time in the 1996 presidential election, but 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.[68]

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 aimed to nominate a presidential ticket
of centrists with names that would be on ballots in all 50 states. The group banked 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.[69]

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 were big
determinates of swing votes in the 2012 presidential election.[70] Political Columnist and author
John Avlon wrote in his 2005 book Independent Nation that centrism is not a matter of
compromise or reading polls; rather it's an antidote to the politics of divisiveness, providing
principled opposition to political extremes.[71]

Centrists in the two major U.S. political parties are often found in the New Democrat Coalition[72]
and the Blue Dog Coalition of the Democratic Party and the Republican Main Street Partnership
of the Republican Party, as well as the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Barack Obama has
been widely identified as a centrist Democrat president,[73][74][75] as has Joe Biden.[76][77] Outside of
the two major parties, some centrists inhabit the Libertarian Party[78] and independent candidacy
movements, such as Unite America co-founded by Charles Wheelan.

See also
 Blairism
 Centre-left politics
 Centre-right politics
 Centrist Marxism
 Communitarianism
 Distributism
 Golden mean
 Individualism
 Independent politician
 Independent voter
 Left-right politics
  List of centrist political parties
 Moderate
 Radical centrism
 Syncretic politics
 Third Position
 Third Way
 Triangulation (politics)

Notes
1.

1. Brokerage politics: "A Canadian term for successful big tent parties that embody a
pluralistic catch-all approach to appeal to the median Canadian voter ... adopting centrist
policies and electoral coalitions to satisfy the short-term preferences of a majority of
electors who are not located on the ideological fringe."[6][7]

References
1.

 Oliver H. Woshinsky. Explaining Politics: Culture, Institutions, and Political Behavior.

Oxon, England; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2008. Pp. 141, 161.
  Boswell, Jonathan (2013). Community and the Economy: The Theory of Public Co-
operation. Routledge. p. 160. ISBN 9781136159015.
  Bobbio, Norberto; Cameron, Allan (1997).Left and Right: The Significance of A Political
Distinction. University of Chicago Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-226-06245-7. ISBN 978-0-226-06245-7.
  "BBC News — UK Politics — What is the Third Way?". BBC News. 27 September 1999.
Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  Amanda Bittner; Royce Koop (1 March 2013). Parties, Elections, and the Future of
Canadian Politics. UBC Press. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-7748-2411-8. Domination by the Centre The
central anomaly of the Canadian system, and the primary cause of its other peculiarities, has
been its historical domination by a party of the centre. In none of the other countries is a centre
party even a major player, much less the dominant....
  Marland, Alex; Giasson, Thierry; Lees-Marshment, Jennifer (2012). Political Marketing
in Canada. UBC Press. p.  257. ISBN  978-0-7748-2231-2.
  John Courtney; David Smith (2010). The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics. OUP
USA. p.  195. ISBN  978-0-19-533535-4.
  Brooks, Stephen (2004). Canadian Democracy: An Introduction. Oxford University
Press. p. 265. ISBN 978-0-19-541806-4. two historically dominant political parties have
avoided ideological appeals in favour of a flexible centrist style of politics that is often labelled
"brokerage politics"
  Johnson, David (2016). Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in
Canada, Fourth Edition. University of Toronto Press. pp.  13–23. ISBN  978-1-4426-3521-0.
...most Canadian governments, especially at the federal level, have taken a moderate, centrist
approach to decision making, seeking to balance growth, stability, and governmental efficiency
and economy...
  Baumer, Donald C.; Gold, Howard J. (2015). Parties, Polarization and Democracy in
the United States. Taylor & Francis. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-317-25478-2.
  Smith, Miriam (2014). Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada: Second Edition.
University of Toronto Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-4426-0695-1. Canada's party system has long
been described as a “brokerage system” in which the leading parties (Liberal and Conservative)
follow strategies that appeal across major social cleavages in an effort to defuse potential
tensions.
  Elections Canada (2018). "Plurality-Majority Electoral Systems: A Review". Elections
Canada. First Past the Post in Canada has favoured broadly-based, accommodative, centrist
parties...
  Andrea Olive (2015). The Canadian Environment in Political Context. University of
Toronto Press. pp. 55–60. ISBN 978-1-4426-0871-9.
  Amanda Bittner; Royce Koop (1 March 2013). Parties, Elections, and the Future of
Canadian Politics. UBC Press. pp. 300–. ISBN 978-0-7748-2411-8.
  "Liberal Party". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2015.
  Graham, Ron, ed. (1998). The Essential Trudeau. McClelland & Stewart, p. 71.
ISBN 978-0-7710-8591-8.
  Thompson, Wayne C. (2017). Canada 2017–2018. Rowman & Littlefield, p. 135.
ISBN 978-1-4758-3510-6.
  Ambrose, Emma; Mudde, Cas (2015). "Canadian Multiculturalism and the Absence of
the Far Right". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. 21 (2): 213–236.
doi:10.1080/13537113.2015.1032033. S2CID 145773856.
  Taub, Amanda (2017). "Canada's Secret to Resisting the West's Populist Wave". The
New York Times.
  Christopher Cochran (September 2010). "Left/Right Ideology and Canadian Politics".
Canadian Journal of Political Science. 43 (3): 583–605. doi:10.1017/S0008423910000624.
JSTOR  40983510.
  "Sangma to launch his own party tomorrow". The Hindu. PTI. 4 January 2013.
ISSN  0971-751X. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  "NPP first from N-E to get national party status". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 8
June 2019. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  Staff Reporter (11 March 2021). "Makkal Needhi Maiam declares 70 candidates". The
Hindu. ISSN  0971-751X. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  Iran Daily – Dot Coms – 05-31-07, Bertie's Challenge Archived 18 October 2007 at the
Wayback Machine, 5th paragraph
  Brown, John Murray (13 February 2009). "Irish Poll Hits Fianna Fail". Financial
Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  "Irish opposition party says IMF/EU deal too costly". Reuters. 12 December 2010.
  "Only the center can hold: Democracy and the battle of ideas".
  " ‫ יאיר לפיד‬// ‫ הנה מה שאנחנו באמת מאמינים בו‬."‫"אומרים שאנחנו מפלגת"רק לא ביבי‬.
  Politieke Barometer: D66 middenpartij bij uitstek. Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback
Machine
  Stichting, Anne Frank (20 January 2011). "Kroniek extreemrechts: De Centrumpartij".
annefrank.org.
  Hassan, Mirza (28 June 2012). "Survey: Imran Khan most popular leader of Pakistan".
TheNewsTribe.com. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  "elections.com.pk". Archived from the original on 5 February 2007. Retrieved 4 April
2017.
  Saifi, Sophia; Raja, Adeel; Dewan, Angela. "Imran Khan's party wins Pakistan election
but falls short of majority". CNN. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  [1] Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. 27 July 2018
  [2], El Confidencial
  "Andrés Herzog sucederá a Rosa Díez al frente de UPyD" (in Spanish). Reuters. 11 July
2015. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016. En su último
discurso como portavoz de UPyD, Díez reivindicó a su formación -que se define como un
partido progresista situado en el centro político-, como el artífice del cambio político en España
  González Almeida, José María (12 November 2013). "UPyD: La evolución de la política
en España". upyd.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 22
May 2016. UPyD ofrece entendimiento a través del transversalismo, que bien pueden servir sin
necesidad de inclinarse a un lado o a otro, ya que todos tienen algo positivo que aportar y la
formación magenta sabe bien sintetizar lo mejor de cada idea, ofreciendo un dulce cóctel al
ciudadano
  [3] Europa Press
  DISTRIBUCIONES DE FRECUENCIA MARGINALES DEL ESTUDIO 2909
CUESTIONARIO 0 MUESTRA 0, CIS-Centro de Estudios Sociológicos (see Question number
27) (Spanish)
  digitale, WNG agence. "Es braucht eine starke liberale Kraft im Parlament – mehr denn
je". fdp.ch.
  The party itself rejects the left-right notion, stating on its FAQ-page that it is a centre
party.
  "Die CVP ist die Partei der Mitte!". cvp.ch.
  "Frequently Asked Questions". CVP Schweiz.
  In urban and Protestant areas, the party tends to be more centrist than in rural,
predominantly Catholic areas.
  "Partei - EVP Schweiz". www.evppev.ch.
  "Im Parlamentarier-Rating steht die EVP mit der sozialen Mitte alleine, da ist
niemand!". evppev.ch.
  The party rejects the left-right classification, but it tends to be on the centre or centre-left
on social and environmental issues, centrist on economic issues and centre-right on ethical
issues.
  "BDP Schweiz  › Köpfe". www.bdp.info.
  "Smartvote Parteienporträt: Bürgerlich-Demokratische Partei (BDP), page 3" (PDF).
smartvote.ch. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  Ltd., Magnolia International. "Parteigeschichte". grunliberale.ch.
  http://country.eiu.com/article.aspx?
articleid=721636456&Country=Switzerland&topic=Summary&subtopic=Political+structure The
Economist Intelligence Unit (2015). Switzerland--Country Overview. The Economist. p. 1
  Peter Childs; Michael Storry (13 May 2013). Encyclopedia of Contemporary British
Culture. Routledge. p. 485. ISBN 978-1-134-75555-4.
  Donald Sassoon (30 July 2010). One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European
Left in the Twentieth Century. I.B.Tauris. p. 698. ISBN 978-0-85771-530-2.
  Barker, Alex (26 September 2010). "Miliband declares New Labour dead". Financial
Times. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  Savage, Michael (8 April 2018). "New centrist party gets £50m backing to 'break mould'
of UK politics". The Guardian.
  Stewart, Heather; Weaver, Matthew (14 June 2019). "Chuka Umunna joins Lib Dems:
'No room for two in centre ground'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  Perraudin, Francis (19 December 2019). "Independent Group for Change to be
disbanded". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  Schlesinger Jr., Arthur (4 April 1948). "Not Left, Not Right, But a Vital Center". New
York Times.
  Emery, Noemie (17 July 2006). "The Inconvenient Truth about Truman". Washington
Examiner.
  Zeitz, Joshua (4 November 2018). "Democrats Aren't Moving Left. They're Returning to
Their Roots". Politico.
  Choilet, Derek (7 May 2019). "Why Democrats -- and all Americans -- Should Embrace
Centrism". The Washington Post.
  Bartlett, Bruce (24 August 2020). "When the Republican Party Was Sane". The New
Republic.
  Dionne Jr., E.J. (Winter 2000). "Why Americans Hate Politics: A Reprise". Brookings
Research. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  Judas, John (19 May 1996). "The Third Rail". The New Republic.
  Kazin, Michael (22 November 1998). "'Populism' By any Other Name . . ". Los Angeles
Times.
  Funk, Tim (25 February 2016). "Bill Clinton's centrist legacy becomes an issue as his
wife courts the left". Charlotte Observer.
  Allen, Jonathan (1 December 2018). "As a moderate Republican and internationalist,
George H.W. Bush was last of a kind". NBC News.
  Ekins, Emily (29 August 2011). "Reason-Rupe Poll Finds 24 Percent of Americans are
Economically Conservative and Socially Liberal, 28 Percent Liberal, 28 Percent Conservative,
and 20 Percent Communitarian". Reason. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  Jonsson, Patrik (29 July 2011). "Americans Elect launches centrist third-party bid amid
Washington dysfunction". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  Killian, Linda (February 2012). "4 Types of Independent Voters Who Could Swing the
2012 Elections". TheAtlantic.com. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  "Independent Nation: How the Vital Center Is Changing American Politics".
publishersweekly.com. Publishers Weekly. 1 February 2004. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
Avlon's thesis by exploring political battlegrounds-from state primaries to presidential
campaigns-in which a centrist message succeeded. To Avlon centrism is not a matter of
compromise or reading polls; rather it's an antidote to the politics of divisiveness, providing
principled opposition to political extremes.
  Pollard, Vic (15 March 2007). "Pollard column: 'Mod squad' lockout has Parra
steamed". The Bakersfield Californian. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved
23 July 2014.
  Noor, Poppy (18 December 2019). "OK boomer: how Barack Obama became the
ultimate centrist dad". The Guardian.
  Kiely, Kathy; Moore, Martha (3 July 2008). "Obama faces online backlash for centrist
views". ABC News.
  Prell, Owen (21 July 2020). "Is America a Failed State? More Than We Realize".
Medium.
  Smith, Sean (15 November 2020). "Be warned Joe Biden – centrism is no longer a safe
haven in politics". The Independent.
  Hook, Janet (12 August 2020). "Picking Harris, Biden puts centrist stamp on Democrats'
future". Los Angeles Times.

78.  Olson, Walter (16 August 2016). "Gary Johnson and the Rise of Libertarian
Centrism". Reason.com. Reason Foundation. Retrieved 14 March 2017.

Further reading
 Ali, Tariq (2015). The Extreme Centre: A Warning. Verso Books.
 Brown, David S. (2016). Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the
Founding to Today. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
 Chase Sr., Richard G. (2019). We of Mind and Reason - A Treatise for the Constitutional
Patriots of America. The Fourth Branch

External links
 Media related to Centrism at Wikimedia Commons
 Quotations related to Centrism at Wikiquote


 v
 t
 e

List of political ideologies

 v
 t
 e

Political spectrum
Authority  Czech Republic
control:
National
libraries
Categories:

 Centrism
 Political ideologies
 Political spectrum
 Political theories

Navigation menu
 Not logged in
 Talk
 Contributions
 Create account
 Log in

 Article
 Talk

 Read
 Edit
 View history

Search

 Main page
 Contents
 Current events
 Random article
 About Wikipedia
 Contact us
 Donate

Contribute

 Help
 Learn to edit
 Community portal
 Recent changes
 Upload file

Tools

 What links here

  Related changes
 Special pages
 Permanent link
 Page information
 Cite this page
 Wikidata item

Print/export

 Download as PDF
 Printable version

In other projects

 Wikimedia Commons
 Wikiquote

Languages

 ‫العربية‬
 Español
 Français
 हिन्दी
 Bahasa Indonesia
 Bahasa Melayu
 Português
 Русский
 中文

Edit links

 This page was last edited on 1 December 2021, at 18:27 (UTC).

 Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy
Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-
profit organization.

 Privacy policy
 About Wikipedia
 Disclaimers
 Contact Wikipedia
 Mobile view
 Developers
 Statistics
 Cookie statement