“Voters, Parties, and Social Pacts in Western Europe” Kerstin Hamann Department of Political Science University of Central Florida Orlando, FL 32816-1356 USA Phone: 407-823-2085 e-mail: khamann@mail.ucf.edu John Kelly School of Management Birkbeck College University of London Malet Street London WC1E 7HX UK Phone: (00 44) 207-631-6646 e-mail: j.kelly@bbk.ac.uk Prepared for delivery at the 15 th International Conference of the Council for European Studies, Chicago, IL, March 29-April 2, 2006. This is work in progress. Comments and suggestions on this preliminary draft are welcome.