scholarly journals Insider–Outsider Politics in Industrialized Democracies: The Challenge to Social Democratic Parties

2005 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID RUEDA
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Behavior ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Main Thrust ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Industrialized Democracies ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

In much of the political economy literature, social democratic governments are assumed to defend the interests of labor. The main thrust of this article is that labor is divided into those with secure employment (insiders) and those without (outsiders). I argue that the goals of social democratic parties are often best served by pursuing policies that benefit insiders while ignoring the interests of outsiders. I analyze Eurobarometer data and annual macrodata from 16 OECD countries from 1973 to 1995. I explore the question of whether strategies prevalent in the golden age of social democracy have been neglected and Left parties have abandoned the goal of providing equality and security to the most vulnerable sectors of the labor market. By combining research on political economy, institutions, and political behavior, my analysis demonstrates that insider–outsider politics are fundamental to a fuller explanation of government partisanship, policy-making, and social democracy since the 1970s.

Gerd Callesen, Socialist Internationals: A Bibliography of Publications of the Social-Democratic and Socialist Internationals, 1914–2000. Bonn and Gent: Bibliothek der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2001. 167 pp. Free of charge.

2004 ◽  
Vol 65 ◽  
pp. 173-175
Author(s):  
Reiner Tosstorff
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
International Association ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
World War ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

This is a very useful bibliographical tool produced by the efforts of the International Association of Labour History Institutions (IALHI). This association comprises more than one hundred archives, libraries and research centers all over the world, though the vast majority are located in Europe, and not all of them have the same importance, reflecting the geographical and political unevenness of socialism's history. This particular volume aims to list all the publications of the social-democratic internationals after 1914, i.e. from the time of the political split due to the support for World War I by most social-democratic parties. This means that the left-wing, beginning with the Kienthal-Zimmerwald movement during the war and leading to the “Communist International” from 1919 on, is not represented here. But also left-wing splits from social democracy in later years, as in the 1930s with the “London Bureau” of left-wing socialist parties (and also the Bureau's predecessors) are excluded here, as they openly campaigned against social democracy. Also, a few international workers' institutions (mainly in the cultural field) that had been founded before 1914, but tried to maintain their independence after 1914 faced with the political split, are therefore not listed as well.

Limited Influence? The Role of the Party of European Socialists in Shaping Social Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe

2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Holmes ◽  
Simon Lightfoot
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
European Norm ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

AbstractThis article looks at the role of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in its attempts to shape social democratic parties in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) towards a West European norm. It discusses how existing views in the academic literature on the role of transnational parties are inadequate. We argue that the PES did not play a key role in encouraging the establishment and development of parties in the CEE states from the 2004 enlargement in the early stages of accession. We contend that the overall influence of party federations has been limited, and that these limitations were as much in evidence before enlargement took place as they were afterwards.

Between ideology and pragmatism: social democracy and the economic transition in Georgia 1918-21

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Stephen Jones
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
State Building ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
External Threat ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

The Democratic Republic of Georgia (1918-21) was a novel experiment in social democracy in the most unexpected time and place. Georgia was rural and mostly illiterate, and its leaders faced the complex tasks of nation and state building in conditions of external threat, internal conflict, and global economic depression. The first democratically elected social democratic government in Europe, it confronted the inevitable tensions between market principles and socialist ideals. The new government’s economic policies reflected the dilemmas and contradictions faced by all social democratic parties in a capitalist environment. The new leaders created a mixed economy, framed by social democratic goals, but driven by pragmatism. Economic pioneers, how successful were they in creating a sustainable economic system and a model for other European socialists to follow?

Geneticists and the Eugenics Movement in Scandinavia

1989 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Roll-Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Gene Pool ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Genetic Science ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Two questions will receive special attention in this account, namely the political location of eugenics and the role of genetic science in its development. I will show that moderate eugenic policies had broad political support. For instance, the Scandinavian sterilization laws which were introduced in the 1930s were supported by the Social Democratic Parties, who were partly in position of government. I will argue that the effect of genetic research was to make eugenics more moderate, mainly because the fears and hopes were shown to be exaggerated. Degeneration was much slower than feared at first, if it took place at all, and the expectation of rapid and large effects of eugenic policies on the gene pool likewise proved to be quite unrealistic.

scholarly journals European Social Democracy

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Hopkin
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
European Country ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

European social democracy is at once a political theory, a political movement, and a set of institutions. As a political theory, European social democracy has its origins in the development of the workers’ movement, inspired by Marxist and utopian socialist ideas, in the second half of the 19th century. This movement spawned political parties with the label “social democratic,” “socialist,” or “labor” in practically every European country, and these parties mobilized industrial and agricultural workers as well as intellectuals in opposition to capitalism and political authoritarianism. Social democracy as a distinct political force emerged out of the split in the workers’ movement between revolutionary socialists and those who sought to achieve socialism through a parliamentary route. This split was formalized in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, with revolutionaries creating separate Communist parties while the rump of the workers’ movement adopted a gradualist or revisionist strategy of reforming capitalism through democratic institutions. Social democratic parties went on to establish themselves as mainstream political forces, participating in government or forming the main opposition, in almost every European country. Where social democrats were electorally successful, they were able to promote institutions such as the welfare state and corporatist bargaining in the workplace, and in some countries they brought parts of the private economy under government control. By the end of the 20th century, however, many European social democrats adopted increasingly promarket stances, arguing that globalization and technological change had rendered the classic social democratic model obsolete.

2. Cuban communism and Swedish social democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-73
Author(s):  
Michael Newman
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Fidel Castro ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
Positive Effect

After the split with communism, social democratic parties struggled with self-definition. ‘Cuban communism and Swedish social democracy’ focuses on two case studies, the golden age of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the communist regime in Cuba under Fidel Castro. Both prioritized sustainable economic success as a markerof progress and demonstrated that greater opportunities for women and people from different ethnic backgrounds would have a positive effect on the economy. Both governments were constructed and supported in markedly different ways. Neither were complete successes but were important examples of how the implementation of socialist ideologies—equality, cooperation, and solidarity—might look in practice.

Party Competition and the Resilience of Corporatism

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Anthonsen ◽  
Johannes Lindvall
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

AbstractThis article argues that after the Golden Age of capitalism, corporatist methods of policy-making have come to depend on specific modes of party competition. In contrast to previous studies of corporatism, which have argued that corporatism depends on strong social democratic parties, this article suggests that the competition between well-defined left-wing and right-wing ‘blocs’ has become detrimental to corporatism. In countries with mixed governments or traditions of power-sharing, on the other hand, corporatism thrives. These conclusions are based on a comparison of four traditionally corporatist countries – Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland – from the early 1970s to the late 1990s.

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