Law and Order Policies and Third Way Social Democrats

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-130
Author(s):  
Georg Wenzelburger
Keyword(s):  
New Labour ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Law And Order ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
German Constitutional Court ◽  
British Case

Chapter 4 provides a comparative case study on the law and order policies adopted by two social democratic governments, the British Blair administration and the German Red-Green government led by Chancellor Schröder. It reveals that while both governments started from a somewhat similar programmatic stance, only the British case saw a significant turn toward tougher policies. The divergence between the cases is explained by two main facts. First, the German SPD seemed to use a tough policy stance mainly for strategic reasons, whereas the leaders of New Labour were deeply convinced of the policy. Therefore, the German policy stance was much less coherent. Second, the power of the German constitutional court strengthened the position of the Ministry of Justice vis -à-vis the Ministry of the Interior—a fact that hindered a tougher path.

British Social Democracy beyond New Labour: Entrenching a Progressive Consensus

2007 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Leggett
Keyword(s):  
New Labour ◽  
British Society ◽  
Operating Environment ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Cultural Shift ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Social democrats are seeking a project beyond New Labour's dwindling Third Way. In particular, they have seized on the idea of a ‘progressive consensus’ as a means of entrenching a deeper, cultural shift in British society on centre-left terms. This article assesses the potential of social democratic responses to New Labour for fulfilling this task. ‘Traditional’ and ‘modernising’ perspectives are identified, each of which have a positive and critical variant. The critical-modernising approach emerges with the greatest potential for moving beyond the New Labour project. Critical-modernisers operate on the Third Way's analytical terrain—recognising the still-changing operating environment of the centre-left. However, they seek simultaneously to develop a political narrative that is distinct from the Third Way. In order to achieve this latter objective, the normative heritage of more traditional approaches remains a key resource for critical-modernisers, as they seek to show how more recognisably social democratic themes can resonate with a rapidly changing social context.

Social Democrats I

Just Property ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 108-137
Author(s):  
Christopher Pierson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Functional Property ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Press ◽  
British Case ◽  
Further Development

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of what we mean by social democracy. I explore the origins of a distinctively social democratic view in mid-nineteenth century Europe, above all through the work of Louis Blanc and Ferdinand Lassalle. I plot its further development, above all in the context of German social democracy and the work of Bernstein, Kautsky, Luxemburg, and Jaurès. I turn to the British case to consider the further development of these ideas in the interwar period, above all in changing views of nationalization, planning, taxation, and ‘functional property’. Key thinkers in this process include Tawney, Jay, and Keynes. The earliest social democrats had very clear views about the need to socialize the ownership of property. Later social democrats, under the press of a politics that was electorally feasible, sought to fudge the hard questions on property.

Balancing and judicial self-empowerment: A case study on the rise of balancing in the jurisprudence of the German Federal Constitutional Court

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
NIELS PETERSEN
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Power ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Argumentation Framework ◽  
Constitutional Review ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
German Constitutional Court ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
German Federal Constitutional Court ◽  
German Federal Constitutional

AbstractMany critics of the proportionality principle argue that balancing is an instrument of judicial self-empowerment. This contribution argues that the relationship between balancing and judicial power is more complex. Balancing does not necessarily create judicial power, but it presupposes it. This argument is confirmed through a case study of the German Federal Constitutional Court. The analysis shows that the German Constitutional Court was very reluctant to base decisions, in which it overturned legislation, on balancing in the first two and a half decades of its jurisprudence. However, in the late 1970s, once the Court had strengthened its own institutional position, it increasingly relied on balancing when declaring laws as incompatible with the constitution. Then, balancing developed into the predominant argumentation framework of constitutional review that it is today in the Court’s jurisprudence.

The Retreat of Social Democracy. By John Callaghan. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. 255p. $69.95 cloth, $24.95 paper. Against the Third Way. By Alex Callinicos. Oxford: Polity Press, 2001. 160p. $56.95 cloth, $21.95 paper. Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times: The Left and Economic Policy since 1980. Edited by Andrew Glyn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 374p. $70.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 652-654
Author(s):  
Fred Block
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Financial Integration ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Welfare State

Since the 1980s, global financial integration and the rise of neoliberalism have significantly changed the terrain on which European social democratic parties operate. However, fierce debate persists over the evaluation of these changes. Some observers—from widely differing political standpoints—insist that social democracy and the free movement of capital across national boundaries are fundamentally incompatible. It follows that the only options for social democratic parties are either to embrace neoliberalism and dismantle much of the welfare state or organize concerted action to reshape the global financial architecture. An opposing group of analysts are equally adamant that while the terrain has certainly become more difficult, it is still possible for Social Democrats to preserve much of the welfare state and even launch new policy initiatives.

Social Democrats II

Just Property ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 138-171
Author(s):  
Christopher Pierson
Keyword(s):  
Basic Income ◽  
Market Socialism ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Political Force ◽  
Basic Capital ◽  
Wage Earners

This chapter continues the evaluation of ideas about property amongst social democrats in the period after 1945. It explores how in the period between 1945 and 1975, social democrats came to de-emphasize the importance of ownership as a political force (my exemplar is Britain). In the second half of the chapter, I turn to social democratic responses when this orientation faltered (after 1975). Of particular interest here is the experience of Swedish social democrats and their initiative for Wage-Earners’ Funds. After a brief consideration of ideas surrounding a ‘Third Way’, I complete my survey with an assessment of a number of recent property alternatives generated by social democrats. These include asset-based egalitarianism, predistribution, basic capital and basic income, property-owning democracy, and market socialism. The most important thinkers discussed here are Durbin, Crosland, Marshall, Childs, Karelby, Adler-Karlsson, Meidner, White, Hacker, Van Parijs, Meade, and Nove.

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