scholarly journals Keine Zeit mehr

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (171) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Demirović
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Crisis Management ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Democratic Capitalism ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Welfare State

His recently published book on the economic crisis Wolfgang Streeck, one of the advisors of the former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, is a harsh critique of the trajectory of economic policies parties in Germany followed since the late sixties. The article discusses the arguments and proves the contradictions in Streecks approach. Streecks argues that mass support of the welfare state capitalism in the early seventies eroded. Capital withdrew its trust in democratic capitalism as the compromise between social classes. Thus an unexpected crisis of legitimation began. The state under the leading role of social democratic parties started with measures to ensure the loyalty of the working class but failed in a specific way. Crisis management led to crises on a higher level. Streecks approach claims to be critical. But nevertheless it doesn’t draw the necessary consequences, i.e. a critique of the social democracy that finally turns out to fail as a project: crisis management leads to the recent crisis of the EU and the monetary union. His recommendations: to go back to the ruins of the welfare state are not convincing. The book shows that social democracy confronted with the results of its own policies is perplexed.

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.

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?

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.

scholarly journals Derecho constitucional económico: estabilidad presupuestaria y derechos sociales // Constitutional economic Law: Budget stability and Social rights.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (100) ◽  
pp. 881
Author(s):  
Elviro Aranda Álvarez
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
El Paso ◽  
Public Spending ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
Constitutional Economic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Welfare State

Resumen:La estabilidad presupuestaria y los límites a la deuda pública se han convertido en los principios referenciales de la política económica de la Unión Europea tras el paso por la crisis económica de los últimos años. La aplicación de estos principios supone hacer grandes recortes en el Estado del Bienestar que puede afectar sustancialmente a los derechos sociales e, incluso, el modelo de Estado de nuestro país. El presente artículo pretende dejar constancia que tanto la interpretación de esos principios como el nuevo artículo 135 de la CE deben ser interpretados de conformidad con las reglas económicas constitucionales que aseguran la vigencia del Estado social y democrático deDerecho.Summary:Introduction 1. Constitutional economic rules in the Spanish Constitution of 1978: the lack of a definite economic model and the diffuse reference to budget stability 2. Public spending as a key instrument in welfare state economic policies. 3. Justice principles regarding public spending contained in article 31.2 of the Spanish Constitution. 3. Budget stability in european law. evolution and goals. 4. The tense balance between economic and social rights and budget stability. Conclusions.Abstract:Budget stability and public debt limits have become key economic policy factors in the European Union in the wake of the recent economic crisis. The application of these principles involves major cuts to the Welfare State that may substantially affect social rights and even the model of State in our country. This article argues that both these principles and the new article 135 of the Spanish Constitution must be interpreted in accordance with constitutional economic rules that ensure the continuing validity of the social and democratic Statebased on the rule of law.

A Model of Welfare Capitalism?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Constructivist Approach ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
Swedish Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
Original Sense ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter discusses the rise of the idea of Sweden as a particular model of welfare capitalism in the social sciences from the 1930s onwards. Drawing on a constructivist approach to political economy, it proposes that prevailing analytical concepts of the Swedish model as a politics-against-markets type of intervention into the capitalist economy are today falsified, as both the welfare state and social democracy have been thoroughly caught up in the process of marketization. The defining features of welfare capitalism in its original sense have undergone a transformation. Neoliberalism was introduced in Sweden, the chapter concludes, through the welfare state, functioning as a de facto series of quasi markets.

scholarly journals The Demobilization of Class Politics in Denmark: The Social Democratic Party’s Group-Based Appeals 1961–2004

2018 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads Thau
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
General Level ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Class Politics ◽  
Specific Level ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Abstract In Denmark, as in other Western European countries, the working class does not vote for social democratic parties to the same extent as before. Yet, what role did the social democratic parties themselves play in the demobilization of class politics? Building on core ideas from public opinion literature, this article differs from the focus on party policy positions in previous work and, instead, focuses on the group-based appeals of the Social Democratic Party in Denmark. Based on a quantitative content analysis of party programs between 1961 and 2004, I find that, at the general level, class-related appeals have been replaced by appeals targeting non-economic groups. At the specific level, the class-related appeals that remain have increasingly been targeting businesses at the expense of traditional left-wing groups such as wage earners, tenants and pensioners. These findings support a widespread hypothesis that party strategy was crucial in the decline of class politics, but also suggests that future work on class mobilization should adopt a group-centered perspective.

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.

scholarly journals Is there an opportunity to establish the social-capitalism in the post socialist transition?

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-425
Author(s):  
Alpar Losonc
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Model ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Welfare State ◽  
Social Capitalism

Recently Claus Offe has put the question that concerns the fate of the European model of social capitalism: Can the model of social capitalism survive the European integration in the context of certain contemporary tendencies? Offe has presupposed that the mentioned model is challenged by the processes of globalization and the integration of the post socialist countries into the European Union. The working hypothesis of the article is that there is an opportunity to provide a coherent answer to this question. The article consists of two parts. In the first part the author starts with the Polanyi's socio-economic theory and emphasizes the importance of this approach for the analyzing of the tendencies of capitalism in Western Europe and in the post socialist countries. The author argues that with the Polanyi's theory we are able to explicate the forms of the embedded liberalism in Western Europe after 1945 and the orientation of non-embedded neo-liberalism and the functioning of the workfare state after the crisis of the Keynesian welfare state. Despite the tendencies of the globalization projected by neo-liberalism, the central element of the social capitalism namely, the welfare state, remains with the dimensions of the continuity. In the next part the author points out that there is an asymmetrical structure between the Western-Europe and non-Western part of Europe concerning the socialization of capitalism. The neoliberalisation in accordance with the model of the transfer of ideal-type of capitalism is more strongly implemented in the countries of transition. In addition, the mentioned theoretical approach provides opportunities to explain the failures of implementing of neo-liberalism in the post socialist countries. On the basis of the endorsing of the socio-economic aspects we can address the issue pointed out by Offe.

scholarly journals Welfare State Policy Model as A Poverty Reduction Strategy in the West Sumatra Districts and Cities

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 227
Author(s):  
Azwar Azwar Azwar ◽  
Emeraldy Chatra ◽  
Zuldesni Zuldesni
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
State Model ◽  
The West ◽  
Policy Model ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
West Sumatra ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Welfare State

Poverty is one of the social problems that the government can never completely solve. As a result, other, more significant social issues arise and cause social vulnerability, such as conflict and crime. As a province that is experiencing rapid growth in the last ten years, the West Sumatra find difficulty to overcome the number of poor people in several districts and cities.  The research outcomes are the models and forms of social policy made by West Sumatra regencies and cities governments in improving the welfare of poor communities. It is also covering the constraints or obstacles to the implementation of social policy and the selection of welfare state models for the poor in some districts and municipalities of West Sumatra. This research is conducted qualitatively with a sociological approach that uses social perspective on searching and explaining social facts that happened to needy groups. Based on research conducted that the social policy model adopted by the government in responding to social problems in the districts and cities of West Sumatra reflects the welfare state model given to the poor. There is a strong relationship between the welfare state model and the form of social policy made by the government.

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