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.

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.

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.

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.

Fostering peace through dialogue The international social democratic movement and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-177
Author(s):  
Pentti Väänänen
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Active Member ◽  
Vice Presidents ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Political Force ◽  
Willy Brandt ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Global Affairs

The Socialist International (SI), the worldwide forum of the socialist, social democratic, and labor parties, actively looked for a solution to the Jewish-Palestinian conflict in the 1980s. At that time, the Israeli Labour Party still was the leading political force in Israel, as it had been historically since the foundation of the country. The Labour Party was also an active member of the SI. The Party’s leader, Shimon Peres, was one of its vice-presidents. At the same time, the social democratic parties were the leading political force in Western Europe. Several important European leaders, many of them presidents and prime ministers, were involved in the SI’s work. They included personalities such as Willy Brandt of Germany; former president of the SI, Francois Mitterrand of France; James Callaghan of Great Britain; Bruno Kreisky of Austria; Bettini Craxi of Italy; Felipe Gonzalez of Spain; Mario Soares of Portugal; Joop de Uyl of the Netherlands; Olof Palme of Sweden; Kalevi Sorsa of Finland; Anker Jörgensen of Denmark; and Gro Harlem Brudtland of Norway—all of whom are former vice-presidents of the SI. As a result, in the 1980s, the SI in many ways represented Europe in global affairs, despite the existence of the European Community (which did not yet have well-defined common foreign policy objectives).

Czech Social Democracy and its “cohabitation” with the Communist Party: The story of a neglected affair

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubomír Kopeček ◽  
Pavel Pšeja
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Unsuccessful Attempt ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

This article attempts to analyze developments within the Czech Left after 1989. Primarily, the authors focus on two questions: (1) How did the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) achieve its dominance of the Left? (2)What is the relationship between the Social Democrats and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM)? We conclude that the unsuccessful attempt to move the KSČM towards a moderate leftist identity opened up a space in which the Social Democrats could thrive, at the same time gradually assuming a pragmatic approach towards the Communists. Moreover, the ability of Miloš Zeman, the leader of the Social Democrats, to build a clear non-Communist Left alternative to the hegemony of the Right during the 1990s was also very important.

Sweden is Increasingly Loosing its Peculiarity (On Elections of 2010)

2011 ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
I. Grishin
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Development Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Development Model ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Political Force ◽  
Left And Right

The article analyses results of Swedish parliamentary elections in September 2010. The author regards them as another manifestation of the fact that Sweden is losing peculiarity of its social development model. This is a result of the end of an era of two-block party structure of the Riksdag (left and right centers) and of the domination of Social Democrats in the political life of the country. The new third political force – the party of Swedish Democrats which strongly opposes the other culture immigration – is detail regarded.

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.

Social democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Practical Politics ◽  
Post War ◽  
Distribution Of Income

The idea of social democracy is now used to describe a society the economy of which is predominantly capitalist, but where the state acts to regulate the economy in the general interest, provides welfare services outside of it and attempts to alter the distribution of income and wealth in the name of social justice. Originally ’social democracy’ was more or less equivalent to ’socialism’. But since the mid-twentieth century, those who think of themselves as social democrats have come to believe that the old opposition between capitalism and socialism is outmoded; many of the values upheld by earlier socialists can be promoted by reforming capitalism rather than abolishing it. Although it bases itself on values like democracy and social justice, social democracy cannot really be described as a political philosophy: there is no systematic statement or great text that can be pointed to as a definitive account of social democratic ideals. In practical politics, however, social democratic ideas have been very influential, guiding the policies of most Western states in the post-war world.

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