What's left of the left : Democrats and Social Democrats in challenging times

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What's left of the left : Democrats and Social Democrats in challenging times

edited by James Cronin, George Ross, and James Shoch

Duke University Press, 2011

  • : cloth
  • : pbk

Available at  / 6 libraries

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Includes bibliographical references (p. [363]-394) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In What's Left of the Left, distinguished scholars of European and U.S. politics consider how center-left political parties have fared since the 1970s. They explore the left's responses to the end of the postwar economic boom, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the erosion of traditional party politics, the expansion of market globalization, and the shift to a knowledge-based economy. Their comparative studies of center-left politics in Scandinavia, France, Germany, southern Europe, post-Cold War Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States emphasize differences in the goals of left political parties and in the political, economic, and demographic contexts in which they operate. The contributors identify and investigate the more successful center-left initiatives, scrutinizing how some conditions facilitated them, while others blocked their emergence or limited their efficacy. In the contemporary era of slow growth, tight budgets, and rapid technological change, the center-left faces pressing policy concerns, including immigration, the growing population of the working poor, and the fate of the European Union. This collection suggests that such matters present the left with daunting but by no means insurmountable challenges. Contributors Sheri Berman James Cronin Jean-Michel de Waele Arthur Goldhammer Christopher Howard Jane Jenson Gerassimos Moschonas Sofia Perez Jonas Pontusson George Ross James Shoch Sorina Soare Ruy Teixeira

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii Introduction: The New World of the Center-Left / James Cronin, George Ross, and James Shoch 1 Part I: Ideas, Projects, and Electoral Realities Social Democracy's Past and Potential Future / Sheri Berman 29 Historical Decline or Change of Scale? The Electoral Dynamics of European Social Democratic Parties, 1950-2009 / Gerassimos Moschonas 50 Part II: Varieties of Social Democracy and Liberalism Once Again a Model: Nordic Social Democracy in a Globalized World / Jonas Pontusson 89 Embracing Markets, Bonding with America, Trying to Do Good: The Ironies of New Labour / James Cronin 116 Reluctantly Center-Left? The French Case / Arthur Goldhammer and George Ross 141 The Evolving Democratic Coalition: Prospects and Problems / Ruy Teixeira 162 Party Politics and the American Welfare State / Christopher Howard 188 Grappling with Globalization: The Democratic Party's Struggles over International Market Integration / James Shoch 210 Part III: New Risks, New Challenges, New Possibilities European Center-Left Parties and New Social Risks: Facing Up to New Policy Challenges / Jane Jenson 241 Immigration and the European Left / Sofia Perez 265 The Central and Eastern European Left: A Political Family under Construction / Jean-Michel De Waele and Sorina Soare 290 European Center-Lefts and the Mazes of European Integration / George Ross 319 Conclusion: Progressive Politics in Tough Times / James Cronin, George Ross, and James Shoch 343 Bibliography 363 About the Contributors 395 Index 399

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