debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
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 international debate on progress is becoming increasingly important in a number of countries. Besides changing the way we assess societal well-being, it has a number of significant consequences for political parties. Based on indicators of social well-being they can formulate a new overarching narrative and, at the same time, communicate the core brand of [...]
“Michelle, ma belle”, sings Paul McCartney, “these are words that go together well.” Until recently, few people would have said the same of the terms “happiness” and “public policy”? But while these words may indeed lack the poetic elegance of the Beatles classic, it is our conviction that they will be inextricably linked in the [...]
Conventional wisdom in money centers characterizes the welfare state as wasteful and inefficient, penalizing good hard-working people in order to subsidize those that would rather live on state largesse than work for a living. Most recently, rising levels of government debt have given the bond markets and the rating agencies reason to attack a number [...]
The expert on western European politics Peter Mair has diagnosed a ‘hollowing out’ of politics in recent decades, as parties have become less representative voices for diverse groups of the citizenry and more mediatised vehicles for members of a detached political class to insert themselves into government.[1] This is particularly clear in France, with its [...]
Research in The Netherlands highlights a discrepancy between private well-being and societal discomfort. How should we understand what is going on, and what it means for the centre-left? Although the Dutch inhabit one of the happiest countries in the world, for a substantial part of the population personal well-being is accompanied by high discomfort and [...]
The importance of social capital has become widely accepted in the social sciences. One reason for the interest in social capital (defined as networks based on reciprocity and interpersonal trust) is that, as measured in surveys, it correlates with a number of other variables that for most people are normatively highly desirable. For example, people [...]
Now that governments are beginning to think that measuring well-being through self-reports is a good idea, it’s high time to discuss how best to do this. In a recent interview for the International Journal of Wellbeing, Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman has expressed fears that governments will insert only one of the widely-used subjective well-being questions [...]
In 2010, France has experienced an intense social struggle. The triggering factor was the pension reform which the government of Prime Minister François Fillon argued was necessary to “save the pension system”. The French system relies on compulsory basic and supplementary state pension schemes financed mainly by contributions (proportional to wages) and taxes decided at [...]
The left’s response to austerity, thus far, has been necessary but far from sufficient. Social democrats have to challenge the cuts agenda because they will make growth less likely and impact on the poor hardest. That work must go on. Not least, the left must refocus on the bankers and financialised capitalism. This is the [...]
Britain entered the financial crash with the second lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7 and cross-party support for the Labour government’s spending plans. An unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus – supported by the G20 – helped prevent an economic catastrophe. By March 2010, the Labour government had set out plans to halve the deficit within [...]
A banner unfurled on the Leaning Tower of Pisa reads No alla riforma (of education). Portugal virtually comes to a halt as a result of a general strike that has united the bitterly divided union movement against austerity measures. British students trash the headquarters of the ruling Conservative Party in protest at budget cuts. In [...]
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