Synopses & Reviews
Those who hoped the collapse of financial markets would usher in the end of neoliberalism and rehabilitate support for traditional social democratic policies programmes have been disappointed. It is not only the irrationality of markets which is the focus of public discontent, but the inefficiency of states and the inability of elected governments to humanise and control global market capitalism.
Despite recent successes, social democratic parties in the EU have become locked in a cycle of electoral under-performance. The crisis remedies of the Right appear more simple and direct in their diagnosis, casting the state as restrictive, wasteful and inefficient. Abstract theoretical debates on the Left about a 'paradigm shift' in Western capitalism in the aftermath of the crisis have had little traction.
So, in the aftermath of the 2008 crash prompted by the failure of US financial services conglomerate, Lehman Brothers, this book addresses a deceptively simple question: what is to be done? It makes the case for a new, post-crisis settlement harnessing the dynamic traditions of social liberalism and social democracy as the foundation for progressive reforms geared towards alleviating crisis aftershocks and addressing the deep-seated structural challenges afflicting western capitalist democracies.
Review
"Instead of making sweeping generalisations and putting together unrealisable manifestos, the cast of contributors deliberately concentrate on providing cutting-edge, evidence-based analysis and workable solutions - on hard choices rather than hot air. Social democrats everywhere can draw both ammunition and even a measure of confidence from every single page. Highly recommended." - Tim Bale, University of London, UK
"Progressive Politics after the Crash is a major contribution to ongoing debates about the future of the left. The onset of the 'great recession' in 2008 seemed, for a moment, to promise a revival in the fortunes of the centre-left, but it has not yet happened. The argument made here is that the fortunes of parties of the centre-left will not improve until parties and thinkers on the left develop a model of governance premised on a deeper understanding of the nature of contemporary global capitalism, and of the constraints it places on the state and state finances and on traditional, social-democratic policies for growth and redistribution. Progressive politics on this reading requires not so much a new rhetoric or vision but rather novel approaches to creating a fair society - 'social investment', for example, and measures aimed at 'predistribution' - as well as persistent efforts to create or recreate the institutional basis for centre-left politics. These finely crafted chapters will be essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of progressive politics." - James Cronin, Harvard University, USA
"The Great Financial Crisis has raised major policy challenges for all advanced democracies. Yet, very few policy thinktanks have addressed these questions comprehensively and even fewer take the perspective of the centre-left. Progressive Politics after the Crash is a concise and highly readable collection of chapters that includes some of the world's most stimulating and reflective academics. It is a very valuable contribution to a new centre-left agenda of establishing a political economy in the western world based on the reconciliation of economic development, equal access to assets and human capital, and redistribution." - Anke Hassel, Hertie School of Governance, Germany
"If it is to win the battle of ideas, the centre-left urgently needs a new reform agenda. The essays in this book, drawing on the twin traditions of social liberalism and social democracy, begin to show the way forward." - Andrés Velasco, Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, and former finance minister of Chile
Synopsis
In the wake of the 2007-8 financial crash, and as the world struggles to deal with its long-term consequences, this book takes stock of the fate of progressive politics in Europe and America. Although there are more centre left governments in power - most notably since the election of François Hollande in France and the re-election of Barack Obama in the US - questions continue to be asked about their governing programs and political strategies for dealing with a tough new era. This book explores how American and European centre left traditions are adapting to twenty-first century structural constraints and ideological pressures. It takes a broad view of the circumstances of western capitalist democracies to look at how new policy programs, new concepts and new interpretations might shape and inspire the next stages of progressive governance and politics.
About the Author
Olaf Cramme is Director of Policy Network and a Visiting Fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics. Previously, he worked as a Parliamentary Researcher at the Houses of Parliament.
Patrick Diamond is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, Senior Research Fellow at Policy Network and Gwilym Gibbon Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. He was formerly Head of Policy Planning in 10 Downing Street and Senior Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister.
Michael McTernan is Deputy Director of Policy Network. He is editor of the Policy Network Observatory and the monthly State of the Left report.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. Social Democracy Past and Future: Its Politics and Paradigms
2. The Left's Relationship with Capitalism
3. A Post-crisis Centre-left: Progressive Politics after an Era of Plenty
PART I: GROWTH, INEQUALITY AND WELFARE
4. Is the West headed for a Lost Decade, and what can be done about it?
5. The Financial Crisis and the Future of the Eurozone
6. Pre-distribution: Rebuilding the Organizational Foundations of Democratic Capitalism
7. Towards a New Politics of Production and Middle Class Economic Security
8. What Comes After Pro-growth Progressives?
9. Recreating Solidarity: Social Citizenship and Participation
10. The Emerging Intergenerational Conflict: Rewriting the Social Contract Between Generations
11. Affordable Social Investment Beyond the Eurozone's Austerity Reflex
12. European Aspirations: GDP and Beyond
PART II: TRUST, POLITICS AND POWER
13. 'Crisis? What crisis?' Explaining the Electoral Performance of Social Democracy
14. The Political Sociology of Cosmopolitanism and Communitarianism and its Impact on Present and Future of Social Democracy
15. Communitarian Appeals: Lost or Anew? Social Democracy in the 21st Century
16. Taking Europe to its Extremes? The Politicization of European Integration in Western Europe
17. Immigration and the European Left: Anti-migration Populism, Identity and Community
18. The Rise of Alternative Social Movements
19. Political Space in the Era of 'Post-democratic Capitalism'
20. Towards an Assertive Social Democracy