Those who identify as centrist support gradual political change, often through a welfare state with moderate redistributive policies.
Though its placement is widely accepted in political science, radical groups that oppose centrist ideologies may sometimes describe them as leftist or rightist.
Centrism developed with the left–right political spectrum during the French Revolution, when assemblymen associated with neither the radicals nor the reactionaries sat between the two groups.
Liberalism became the dominant centrist ideology in the 18th century with its support for anti-clericalism and individual rights, challenging both conservatism and socialism.
Centrism became more influential after the dissolution of the Soviet Union as it spread through Europe and the Americas, but it declined in favour of populism after the 2007–2008 financial crisis.
[17] Centrist populist parties often do not have a strong ideological component, instead making anti-establishment politics the core of their message to capitalise on voter dissatisfaction and receive protest votes.
[19] Support for a middle class is a defining trait of centrism, holding that it is preferable to reactionary or revolutionary politics.
[27] According to the median voter theorem, parties are incentivised to move toward the political centre to maximise votes and to have the final say on closely-contested policies.
[29] Elections based on first-past-the-post voting or proportional representation provide less incentive for parties to hold centrist positions.
[28] Proportional representation systems weaken centrist parties because they incentivise the capture of specific voters instead of the general population.
[38] In the Nordic countries where social democracy dominates politics, centrism competes with the centre-right to form a rightward flank.
Christian democracy, usually a conservative movement, serves a similar role in Latin America as its opposition to more rightward politics moves it toward a centrist or centre-left position.
[37] The Bonapartism of Napoleon III brought French conservatism to the centre when it maintained an element of working class revolution.
[66] The radical movement gave way to centrism after the 1870s as they both coalesced around ideals of republicanism, secularism, self-education, cooperation, land reform, and internationalism.
[68] Centrist liberals in Europe accepted scientific racism in the 19th century, but did so less than its primary advocates,[69] and rejected the related concept of social Darwinism.
[71] Centrist liberalism was one of the two major global ideological groups at the beginning of the 20th century, where it was challenged by right-wing conservatism and Catholicism.
[74] Following World War II, middle class centrist parties in developed countries became less common as they moved leftward or rightward.
Under the leadership of Alcide De Gasperi, it absorbed the centre-left and centre-right to create a centrist grouping and combat the Italian Communist Party.
[75] This created a scenario in which the Christian Democrats expressed centrist positions but were the rightmost of Italy's major parties and took on a more conservative role.
[13] Fiji implemented a political system designed to encourage centrism in an ethnically divided nation as it transitioned away from colonial rule in 1965.
[79] Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt, and in 1976 he split the ruling Arab Socialist Union into three parties based on its left, centre, and right factions.
Rule was maintained through what became the centrist National Democratic Party, effectively controlling Egyptian politics and marginalising the other factions.
[80][81] The fall of dictatorships in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Portugal in the 1980s was met by centrist parties that became the primary forces in transitioning the nations to democracy.
[85] The centre-right, previously dominated by neoliberalism, became more accepting of the welfare state, and it showed more support for combatting poverty and inequality.
This included the "kinder, gentler America" championed by George H. W. Bush in the United States, Die Neue Mitte (transl.
The New Centre) of Gerhard Schröder in Germany, the British "Thatcherism with a grey face" led by John Major, and the anti-neoliberalism of Mexican president Vicente Fox.
[89] Conservative groups had actively suppressed centrist figures like Caledonian Union leader Maurice Lenormand [fr], who was accused of being a communist and prosecuted for allegedly organising the bombing of his own party newspaper's headquarters in the 1960s.
[91] After a long period of strong left-wing and right-wing movements, Latin American nations trended toward centrism in the 2000s.
[93] Following the pink tide that saw several left-wing politicians take office, those in democratic nations adopted relatively moderate policies, including Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil, Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Mauricio Funes in El Salvador, and Tabaré Vázquez and José Mujica in Uruguay.
[95] In many Latin American nations, opposing presidential candidates campaigned on similar platforms and often supported retaining their predecessors' policies without any significant changes, shifting the focus of elections to personality over ideology.