Rewind twenty five or thirty years and we would find an argument raging about the difference between social democracy and democratic socialism. This was perhaps before the former found its voice in our modern economy and was at a time when the real idea of socialism still enjoyed credence in mainstream politics. We now know [...]
‘Plan B’ for International Climate Negotiations
25/03/2010 by
The roadmap for the next Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Mexico is clear: The EU wants a comprehensive and legally binding outcome at the end of this year. To achieve this already in 2010 should be the fundamental goal of Europe’s climate strategy. This is not only urgent because the world has [...]
A MoveOn.org for Europe?
24/03/2010 by
Whilst a lot of hyperbole is spoken with regards to online campaigning we shouldn’t underestimate its importance. Online campaigning is useful because it can facilitate a more bottom up and consultative process than traditional campaigning. It can also join geographically distant groups relatively cheaply. For that reason a well organised online campaign movement for the [...]
Amartya Sen on Power, Justice and Capabilities
20/03/2010 by
I have just come across the lecture of Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen talking about Power, Justice and Capabilities at the annual lecture of the Demos think tank a few days ago. This is the Demos blurb of it: For the Nobel prize-winner Amartya Sen, a good society is one populated by individuals with the [...]
Towards a Co-operative Europe
19/03/2010 by
Human flourishing requires conditions of relative equality. Progressives have always realised this and have traditionally looked to the state to deliver. This has led to many successes, particularly in the 1945-75 period when robust profitability (rooted in the re-stocking of manufacturing capacity destroyed in World War II) and the communist threat obtained many social concessions [...]
Markets, Sustainability and the End of Politics
17/03/2010 by
Within a capitalist economy there is always a settlement between the interests of capital and the interests of labour. As Shelley reminded English workers nearly 200 years ago in his poem ‘The Mask of Anarchy’, the greatest power always rests in the hands of labour since ‘Ye are many – they are few’. Under a [...]
Angles, Saxons, Inequality, and Educational Mobility in England and Germany
17/03/2010 by
Good politics has always seen well-funded, public provision of education as a vital pathway to delivering the Good Society. This article draws on recent evidence from Germany and the UK to show that even in more equal societies, such as Germany, attention still needs to be paid by progressive politicians to education – in particular, [...]
Reforming the Common Fisheries Policy
15/03/2010 by
The laudable theory behind Europe’s Common Fisheries Policy was to manage a shared natural resource for the benefit of all, but in application the policy has proven an unmitigated disaster. Under the EU’s own figures, around ninety per cent of European fish stocks are outside of safe biological limits and only a negligible proportion of [...]
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