INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Is There Any Truth in the Thesis of the End of Social Democracy? An Empirical Analysis of the Election Results and Voter Profiles of Social Democratic Parties in Europe over the Past 20 Years BERNHARD WESSELS August 2010 ࡯ This study explores in empirical terms whether there is anything in the recent reports of the death of social democracy. Bernhard Weßels analyses the electoral perform­ance and voter profiles of social democratic parties in 12 European countries for the period 1990–2009. ࡯ The result is – at least for adherents of the crisis scenario – surprising. There is no question of the end of social democracy. No structural crisis is discernible, either, since social democratic parties have been able to maintain their core identity and their status as national parties. The fact that, in Western Europe in particular, social democratic governments have been voted out is easily explicable in terms of the normal political cycle. ࡯ However, the study should not be(mis)understood as sounding the all-clear. Elec­tions are not won of their own accord. Social democracy in many European countries faces the task of re-establishing itself as a genuine alternative to the current govern­ing parties. The study also emphasises the difficult voter structure faced by social democratic parties: no other party family is as poorly positioned among younger voters.