Tag archive for ‘welfare state’
Tony Judt’s lessons of the 20th century
Last week I was interviewed on Dutch radio about Ill Fares the Land, the alarming intellectual testament of the late Tony Judt. In fact, it was a double interview together with a conservative-liberal academic/politician. He expressed the usual criticism against the book, namely that it is an old-fashioned, nostalgic defence of the social-democratic European welfare [...]
Squalid Isolation – Social Cohesion, Quality of Life and Losing the Ties that Bind
A few weeks ago I called on social democracy to come to terms with the fact that many of its voters are not on loan to other parties, but for the most part gone for good. One of the key problems behind this, I argued, is that the traditional bases of all mass parties are [...]
Tough Challenges Ahead as Austerity Measures Hit Europe
As Europe struggles to get to grips with the global financial crisis, we are seeing governments apparently determined to outdo each other in the severity of their austerity packages. Next in line will be the new British government, which later this month will set out what promises to be very harsh measures for cutting the [...]
What a Post-American World means for Europe
In recent months, Europe has learned some hard lessons about its transatlantic partner. President Barack Obama triggered great hope when he replaced George W. Bush at the American helm. But a year later, especially following Obama’s failure to produce anything of substance at Copenhagen, Europeans are realizing that Obama is going to have a difficult [...]
Can The State Still Be Saved?
After eleven years in government, the German Social Democratic Party are now having to cope with their greatest electoral defeat in the post-war period. On the day of the election there was a feeling almost of unbelief about what was happening, not just among party members but also among many supporters. How was it possible [...]
Our Aim should be a Fundamental Rebalancing of Economic Power
Compensatory redistribution in the form of the welfare state is not on its own enough to redress the inequalities generated by capitalism. At the beginning of this debate Poul Nyrup Rasmussen highlighted what several other contributors have agreed is an apparent paradox: the ideology of market fundamentalism lies thoroughly discredited by the failure of its [...]
Fair taxes are part of the Good Society
Fiscal deficits can be managed and are less dangerous than cuts. In Britain, the Conservative Party and their friends in the mainstream media and City are using the recession to launch an assault on the solidarity of the welfare state. Over the summer, the Labour Party was embarrassed over its ‘investment versus cuts’ narrative when [...]
A Social-Democratic Strategy for Growth
An ethically informed strategy, based on growth through investment and better employment conditions, is also the most effective. Our debate on the good society should not seek to design a social model based on ethical principles. Rather, ethics should help us in determining the direction and means by which we as democratic socialists seek to [...]
Six Things that didn’t cause the Crisis – But really ought to have
Experts, soothsayers and pundits have been falling over themselves to list the factors that combined to produce the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. (My ha’penny’s worth is here). A partial consensus has emerged on some issues (excessive deregulation of the financial sector, current account imbalances) while debate continues to rage on others (such [...]
