debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
In the wake of the pan-European search for a new social democratic vision, the discussion about social democratic basic values and their meaning for today’s politics has taken centre stage again. What are social democratic basic values and have social democratic parties betrayed them in government? Or, even worse, have they been lost altogether? If [...]
We have entered an age of fear. Insecurity is once again an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Insecurity born of terrorism, but also, and more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, [...]
Immigration more important than the Economy? Judging by the content of the debate in Greece over the past few days, one might think that the most pressing issue facing the country ahead of the upcoming general elections is illegal immigration rather than the economy. The two coalition partners, New Democracy and PASOK, have attempted to [...]
One way to think about the future of the state is to analyze the situation for some of the largest states that exist, namely the state in the Nordic countries.[1] In the discussion about the future of the state, there are many misunderstandings of these states, even by sympathetic commentators. The most common one is [...]
Who needs the state? Interventions in the financial sector by governments during the crisis show that it is capitalism that needs the state in order to survive yet again. But the ones the state should serve first and foremost are the people: it should protect them from the excesses of the ‘invisible hand of the market’ and ensure [...]
Social democracy in Europe today is split regarding the role the state should play. Actually social democratic thinking has never been uniform about this question, and our positions have changed over time (including etatist, technological approaches as well as emancipative ideas of civil self-organisation). Concerning Europe we have participated in building our supranational structure with [...]
Progress and Economic growth, argues Daniela Kolbe, are never ends in themselves. Under what conditions is growth good for society? And what kind of growth? A well-designed, intelligent indicator won’t resolve any political conflicts, but it will make for a more objective debate. My home town of Leipzig is the most beautiful city in the [...]
The basic demands of the French Revolution – Liberty, Egality and Fraternity – are also the basic values of German Social Democracy: Freedom, Justice and Solidarity. “Freedom” here is not used in the narrower liberal sense of formal freedom under the law or the free-for-all of economic markets, but rather means the concrete legal, social, [...]
The state occupies a central place in social democratic thinking. It is the vehicle through which policies are delivered. Indeed, it is no coincidence that the growth of the modern state was a forerunner of the social democratic movement. Today, it is impossible to think about social democracy without considering the role of the state. But the relationship is not without [...]
The Mission of Social-Democratic Politics Liberal socialism or social democracy emerged in mass form in the late 19th century, with the launch of the Second International on Bastille Day in Paris in 1889—100 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall placed its deformed successor in history’s dustbin. While its participants were often enthused by [...]
With a new party leader in place, the Swedish social democratic party (SAP) is once again trying to find its role in the Swedish political landscape – a landscape that has been transformed greatly over the past six years of conservative government, and arguably even more over the past three decades, of which a majority [...]
Professor Philippe Marliere of University College London (UCL) gives his inaugural lecture and analyses the Parti Socialiste Primary for the 2012 Presidential Election in France. This post is part of the ‘Basic Values Debate’ jointly organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and Social Europe Journal. Read more on social democratic parties: ‘The Future of the SPD as a Catch-All Party’. The [...]
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