debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
If social democracy has a future, then it can only lie in fully accepting the lessons of its own past, both distant and recent. Today, almost exactly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is surely clear that the record of reforming governments before and after that momentous event has belied many [...]
Social democrats must reaffirm their commitment to people whose security is threatened by modernisation. European social democracy faces an existential crisis for one reason: the electorate is of the opinion that social-democracy is betraying the good society it once promised and stood for. The project of Andrea Nahles and John Cruddas must be supported. Their [...]
‘Building the Good Society’ has come at the right moment. Not only Europe but also European social democracy is ‘at a turning point’. This document stands in great contrast to the Blair and Schröder document of 1999, which represented ‘traditional’ social democracy – although it would be better to call it ‘transitory’ social democracy, since [...]
It is time to rebuild the consensus for equality that was destroyed by neoliberal hegemony. The social-democratic contracts adopted throughout the West in the aftermath of the thirty years of war and depression of the first half of the twentieth century implied that public policies would henceforth be geared towards establishing and consolidating a society [...]
Habemus Presidentem. With the Lisbon Treaty ratified, the European Council appointed the Belgian Prime Minister Van Rompuy as its President, and Lady Ashton as Vice-President of the European Commission. The echo has been devastating. The Financial Times has called it ‘a colossal failure of ambition’. However, the decisions by the heads of states and governments [...]
Faith in politics is on the wane – particularly in social-democratic politics. The search for reasons for the disastrous defeat of the German social democrats in the September elections, and the poor prospects of parties of the left across Europe, has led to various and detailed explanations. Most of these are right in some respect, [...]
Bridging the gap between the interests of their traditional supporters and the demands of the global economy is major challenge for social democrats today. If European social democracy is to recover from the experience of three decades of dominance by neoliberal thinking, a world economy on the brink of financial meltdown, and a substantial increase [...]
Achieving attainable goals is more convincing that proclaiming great visions. It seems that Europe has always been at a turning point. Our current status quo appears ominous because of the financial crisis and the fall of social-democratic governments throughout Europe. But in reality there never was a ‘golden age’ for social democracy, and it is [...]
It is time to ditch the third way and start a renaissance in social-democratic thought. When social democrats write about the future of social democracy, there is often a conspicuous absence of any sense of ownership. People make references to an elusive ‘social democracy’ or ‘social democrats’, without ever referring to themselves. I am a [...]
Deforestation and its impacts as a topic of international climate negotiations have been underestimated for too long. While the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC calculates that deforestation accounts for around 20 percent of global greenhouse gases, recent scientific findings emphasise that this figure might be much higher. Therefore, deforestation comes after energy supply and [...]
We need to be advocates of social liberalism as well as equality. Once again social democracy seems marginalised in European politics. In some of the larger countries – such as Germany, France and the UK – the situation is more or less catastrophic, with parties that lack support and relevant policies on almost all the [...]
Utopianism is a necessary part of our rethinking of social democracy. Almost exactly twenty years ago the Berlin wall came crashing down on ‘actually existing socialism’ in Eastern Europe. Some commentators on the political right were quick to announce the ‘end of history’ and the ever-lasting triumph of the liberal-capitalist order: the end of the [...]
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