Social Democracy And The Challenge Of European Union

He also explores what this new form of political activity means for European politics, arguing that the traditional positions of left and right may be becoming increasingly significant within the EU's evolving, transnational political culture.

European social democracy is in crisis. In the last decade it has ceased to be about either society or democracy. The authors explore its values, how it can be revived and what kind of political economy it requires to thrive. This book includes a foreword by the two leaders of the 'Building the Good Society' project, Andrea Nahles and Jon Cruddas.

Socialist and Social Democratic parties leave few political observers and citizens indifferent. For several years, a certain number of actors on the political scene have presented it as a political family in crisis, lacking in imagination and dynamism, incapable of renewal and doomed to fade into insignificance. Others, on the contrary, describe it as a grouping with a promising, even brilliant future.This book does not set out to confirm either of those two visions. Its aim is to analyse in-depth the transformations which are affecting, at the current time, the different aspects of Social Democracy: new organisational models, changes in political and electoral performance, changing relations with the trade unions and civil society associations, reactions to the emergence of new political rivais and new values, new ideological trends and political programmes, etc. For the first time, the analysis does not concern exclusively Western Europe, but also deals with the Social Democratic parties of the consolidated democracies and the organisations that claim to be part of democratic socialism in Central and Eastern Europe, and highlights the specific characteristics and points in common. At the dawn of the 21st century, it is therefore the challenges and the different responses to those challenges that are analysed by several of the leading European specialists in Social Democratic parties in Europe.

Nowadays, the political discourse of European Social Democracy seems to pose more questions than to offer sound solution patterns and policies. This is, given the dynamic field of migration and integration, not unexpected and surprising. How migration and integration policies should be constructed and built up against the background of divergent national histories and cultures is still a demanding task. Thus formulating the right questions and intimating paths to solutions is the first decisive step. This book explores social democratic reactions, responses, and policies concerning the big issues of migration and multiculturalism. The authors map out a range of new social-democratic thinking having experienced waves of migration, different approaches of integration policies, and right-wing populist reactions in their respective countries.

The nature of social democracy in the countries of the European Union is more significant and better understood than is indicated by the available literature. This thought-provoking handbook aims to redress this disparity by bringing together Political scientists from across Europe to provide a definitive collection on social democracy in the EU.

Why has Europe's most successful political party become so divided over EU membership? Applying various theoretical perspectives, Nicholas Aylott illustrates how integration has caused such difficulty for Swedish Social Democracy.

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 Senior Research Fellow at Policy Network. He is also a Gwilym Gibbon Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Oxford. He was formerly Head of Policy Planning in 10 Downing Street and Senior Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister.