Reinventing Social Democratic Development

Reinventing Social Democratic Development
Author: Olle Törnquist
Publisher: Nias Studies in Asian Topics
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9788776941987

"Uneven economic growth in the Global South, with mounting inequalities and the crisis of democratization, has generated new quests for social democracy - but are such efforts, these days, at all feasible? The point of departure in this book is that there are no easy solutions such as generalizing the Latin American Pink Tide or exporting the Nordic model. There are many unresolved problems with participatory approaches; and the current conditions in the Global South differ substantially from those that enabled social and political forces to fight for the combination of equity and growth during late industrialization in the North. Can social democratic development be reinvented? This is what we discuss in this book. There are numerous protests against the existing order and there are attempts at change. But history will not be repeated, and the effort must be made to move on by analyzing whether and how the troublesome new circumstances may not only block some of the old policies, but also pave the way for alternative dynamics that can foster a viable and democratic counter movement. A group of prominent and committed scholars on social democracy in the South, most of them from Scandinavia and from India, decided four years ago to discuss these issues in several joint workshops. In this book, the outcome of their deliberations, they focus on the core dimensions of social democratic development and then read the two most critical cases in the South and North against each other in historical perspective, those of India and Scandinavia In order not to take ready-made Scandinavian solutions as points of departure, they start off from the challenges in India, only thereafter looking for useful Scandinavian and other experiences. They also consider whether and how Scandinavia is affected by uneven development in countries like India, thus casting fresh light on the current problems of social democracy in the North too" (ed.)

In Search of New Social Democracy

In Search of New Social Democracy
Author: Olle Törnquist
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 604
Release: 2021-09-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0755639782

Why is the classical social democratic vision of development based on social justice by democratic means losing ground? Why was it so difficult to renew, even in the context of the third wave of democracy in the South? How does this matter in the North too, and how might it be reinvented? This accessible book brings to life major insights gained through written sources and interviews with a large range of activists and political protagonists in the southern cases of Indonesia, India, and the Philippines – but also in the northern social democratic stronghold of Sweden. By considering the experiences in view of the basics of Social Democracy and a broader comparative framework, Olle Törnquist arrives at globally relevant conclusions. Crucially, Törnquist also puts forward suggestions for how to achieve this reinvention social democracy. Through implementation of broad alliances in the Global South, supported by the Global North, for transformative rights and welfare reforms – universal, participatory and impartially implemented - precursors to social economic growth pacts can thus be effected.

Democracy and Prosperity

Democracy and Prosperity
Author: Torben Iversen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2020-11-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691210217

It is a widespread view that democracy and the advanced nation-state are in crisis, weakened by globalization and undermined by global capitalism, in turn explaining rising inequality and mounting populism. This book, written by two of the world's leading political economists, argues this view is wrong: advanced democracies are resilient, and their enduring historical relationship with capitalism has been mutually beneficial. For all the chaos and upheaval over the past century--major wars, economic crises, massive social change, and technological revolutions--Torben Iversen and David Soskice show how democratic states continuously reinvent their economies through massive public investment in research and education, by imposing competitive product markets and cooperation in the workplace, and by securing macroeconomic discipline as the preconditions for innovation and the promotion of the advanced sectors of the economy. Critically, this investment has generated vast numbers of well-paying jobs for the middle classes and their children, focusing the aims of aspirational families, and in turn providing electoral support for parties. Gains at the top have also been shared with the middle (though not the bottom) through a large welfare state. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom on globalization, advanced capitalism is neither footloose nor unconstrained: it thrives under democracy precisely because it cannot subvert it. Populism, inequality, and poverty are indeed great scourges of our time, but these are failures of democracy and must be solved by democracy.

Reinventing Democrats

Reinventing Democrats
Author: Kenneth S. Baer
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2000-02-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 070061009X

When Bill Clinton declared in 1996 that "the era of big government is over," Republicans felt that he was stealing their thunder. But in fact, it was the culmination of a decade-long struggle for the heart and soul of the Democratic party. This book tells how a group of New Democrats reformed their enfeebled party's agenda, moved it toward the center, and recaptured the White House with their first two-term president since FDR. Reinventing Democrats is the story of the Democratic Leadership Council, an elite group of elected officials, benefactors, and strategists that let fresh air into the smoke-filled room of politics and changed the public philosophy of their party. Kenneth Baer tells who they are, where they came from, what they believe in, and how they helped elect Bill Clinton-the DLC's former chairman-to the presidency. Drawing on DLC archives and interviews with party insiders, Baer chronicles the increasing influence of the DLC from 1985 to the present. He describes battles waged between New Democrats and party liberals after the failed candidacy of Walter Mondale, and he takes readers behind the scenes in Little Rock to tell how DLC director Al From encouraged Clinton's run for the White House. He then explains how the DLC reshaped the party's agenda into a "third way" that embraced positions such as welfare reform, a balanced budget, free trade, a tough stance on crime, and a strong defense. In this revealing analysis of insider politics, Baer shows how a determined faction can consciously change a party's public philosophy, even without the impetus of a national crisis or electoral realignment. He also shows that the New Democrat stance exemplifies how ideas can work in sync with the political calendar to determine which specific policies find their way onto the national agenda. If Clinton has achieved nothing else in his presidency, says Baer, he has moved his party to the center, where it stands a better chance to succeed-much to the dismay of conservatives, who feel victimized by the theft of many of their strongest issues. In a book that will engage any reader caught up in the fervor of an election year, Baer reveals the role of new ideas in shaping political stratagems and provides much food for thought concerning the future of the New Democratic philosophy, the Democratic party, and American party politics.

Democracy Reinvented

Democracy Reinvented
Author: Hollie Russon Gilman
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016-01-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 081572683X

Participatory Budgeting—the experiment in democracy that could redefine how public budgets are decided in the United States. Democracy Reinvented is the first comprehensive academic treatment of participatory budgeting in the United States, situating it within a broader trend of civic technology and innovation. This global phenomenon, which has been called "revolutionary civics in action" by the New York Times, started in Brazil in 1989 but came to America only in 2009. Participatory budgeting empowers citizens to identify community needs, work with elected officials to craft budget proposals, and vote on how to spend public funds. Democracy Reinvented places participatory budgeting within the larger discussion of the health of U.S. democracy and focuses on the enabling political and institutional conditions. Author and former White House policy adviser Hollie Russon Gilman presents theoretical insights, indepth case studies, and interviews to offer a compelling alternative to the current citizen disaffection and mistrust of government. She offers policy recommendations on how to tap online tools and other technological and civic innovations to promote more inclusive governance. While most literature tends to focus on institutional changes without solutions, this book suggests practical ways to empower citizens to become change agents. Reinvesting in Democracy also includes a discussion on the challenges and opportunities that come with using digital tools to re-engage citizens in governance.

Social Democracy After the Cold War

Social Democracy After the Cold War
Author: Ingo Schmidt
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
Total Pages: 341
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 1926836871

"Despite the market triumphalism that greeted the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet empire seemed initially to herald new possibilities for social democracy. In the 1990s, with a new era of peace and economic prosperity apparently imminent, people discontented with the realities of global capitalism swept social democrats into power in many Western countries. The resurgence was, however, brief. Neither the recurring economic crises of the 2000s nor the ongoing War on Terror was conducive to social democracy, which soon gave way to a prolonged decline in countries where social democrats had once held power. Arguing that neither globalization nor demographic change was key to the failure of social democracy, the contributors to this volume analyze the rise and decline of Third Way social democracy and seek to lay the groundwork for the reformulation of progressive class politics. Offering a comparative look at social democratic experience since the Cold War, the volume examines countries where social democracy has long been an influential political force--Sweden, Germany, Britain, and Australia--while also considering the history of Canada's NDP, the social democratic tradition in the United States, and the emergence of New Left parties in Germany and the province of Québec. The case studies point to a social democracy that has confirmed its rupture with the postwar order and its role as the primary political representative of workingclass interests. Once marked by redistributive and egalitarian policy perspectives, social democracy has, the book argues, assumed a new role--that of a modernizing force advancing the neoliberal cause." -- Publisher's website.

Reinventing the Left in the Global South

Reinventing the Left in the Global South
Author: Richard Sandbrook
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2014-08-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1316061957

This book offers a fresh appraisal of the nature and significance of the democratic Left in the Global South. The moral and intellectual leadership of the Left is shifting south from its European birthplace. It is in the Global South, most notably in Latin America, that one finds newly self-confident progressive movements. This 'new' democratic Left includes parties and social movements that not only are avoiding the familiar pitfalls that ensnared socialists and social democrats in the twentieth century, but also are coping with the realities of the twenty-first century, especially neoliberal globalization. In analyzing and illustrating three innovative strategies - moderate social democracy, radical social-democratic transition to socialism, and Left populism - this study nudges the debate about the Left out of the well-worn grooves into which it has fallen in recent decades.

In search of social democracy

In search of social democracy
Author: John Callaghan
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2017-05-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1526125099

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. The search for social democracy has not been an easy one over the last three decades. The economic crisis of the 1970s, and the consequent rise of neo-liberalism, confronted social democrats with difficult new circumstances: tax-resistant electorates, the globalisation of capital and Western deindustrialisation. In response, a new bout of ideological revisionism consumed social democratic parties. But did this revisionism simply amount to a neo-liberalisation of the Left or did it propose a recognisably social democratic agenda? Were these ideological adaptations the only feasible ones or were there other forms of modernisation that might have yielded greater strategic dividends for the Left? Why did some social democratic parties feel it necessary to take their revisionism much further than others? In search of social democracy brings together prominent scholars of social democracy to address these questions. Focusing on the social democratic heartland of Western Europe (although Australia and the United States also figure in the analysis), it gives the first detailed assessment of how the new social democratic revisionism has fared in government. The book begins by considering the underlying causes of the end of social democracy’s golden age and the magnitude of the challenges faced by social democratic parties after the 1970s. It then proceeds to examine detailed case studies of how particular social democratic parties responded to this changed political terrain. Finally, it contributes to a broader conversation about the future of social democracy by considering ways in which the political thought of ‘third way’ social democracy might be radicalised for the twenty-first century. The contributors offer a variety of perspectives – some are sceptical of social democracy’s prospects, others more sanguine; some supportive of the performance of social democratic parties in government, others bitingly critical. But they are united by the conviction that the themes addressed in this book are crucial to understanding the current politics of the industrialised world and, in particular, to determining the feasibility of more egalitarian and democratic social outcomes than have been possible so far in the era of neo-liberalism.

Social Democracy in the Making

Social Democracy in the Making
Author: Gary Dorrien
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 595
Release: 2019-04-23
Genre: Christian socialism
ISBN: 0300236026

An expansive and ambitious intellectual history of democratic socialism from one of the world's leading intellectual historians and social ethicists The fallout from twenty years of neoliberal economic globalism has sparked a surge of interest in the old idea of democratic socialism--a democracy in which the people control the economy and government, no group dominates any other, and every citizen is free, equal, and included. With a focus on the intertwined legacies of Christian socialism and Social Democratic politics in Britain and Germany, this book traces the story of democratic socialism from its birth in the nineteenth century through the mid-1960s. Examining the tenets on which the movement was founded and how it adapted to different cultural, religious, and economic contexts from its beginnings through the social and political traumas of the twentieth century, Gary Dorrien reminds us that Christian socialism paved the way for all liberation theologies that make the struggles of oppressed peoples the subject of redemption. He argues for a decentralized economic democracy and anti-imperial internationalism.

The Development of Socialism, Social Democracy and Communism

The Development of Socialism, Social Democracy and Communism
Author: Mohamed Ismail Sabry
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2017-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1787433749

This book examines how socioeconomic and institutional factors shaped the development of Socialism and its two contending variants of Social Democracy and Communism, investigating why each of these factions enjoyed varying levels of popularity in different societies between 1840 and 1945.