In search of social democracy: responses to crisis and modernisation

pt. I. After the golden age : social democracy in crisis. Explanations for the neo-liberal direction of social democracy : Germany, Sweden and Australia compared / Ashley Lavelle -- Fiscal policies, social spending and economic performance in France, Germany and the UK since 1970 / Norman Flynn -- From The future of socialism (1956) to a future without socialism? The crisis of British social democratic political economy / Noel Thompson -- pt. II. Responses to the crisis : the Third Way and other revisions. The political economy of French social democratic economic policy autonomy, 1997-2002 : credibility, dirigisme and globalisation / Ben Clift -- The Spanish Socialist Worker's Party : continuity, innovation and renewal / Paul Kennedy -- A new Swedish model? Swedish social democracy at the crossroads / Dimitris Tsarouhas -- The modernisation of German social democracy : towards a third way and back? / Hartwig Pautz -- The meaning of modernisation : New Labour and public sector reform / Eric Shaw -- Reformism in a 'conservative' system : the European Union and social democratic identity / Gerassimos Moschonas -- pt. III. Resources for rethinking. Unlocking the talent of every citizen : debates about potential and ambition in British socialist thought / Jeremy Nuttall -- The continuing relevance of Croslandite social democracy / Kevin Hickson -- The rhetoric of redistribution / Ben Jackson -- Republicanism, socialism and the renewal of the left / Martin McIvor -- Economic democracy instead of more capitalism : core historical concepts reconsidered / Adrian Zimmermann -- Afterward / Nina Fishman

Focusing on the social democratic heartland of Western Europe, In search of social democracy gives the first detailed assessment of how the new social democratic revisionism has fared in government. The book begins by considering the 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 examines 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, but are united by the conviction that the themes addressed in this book are crucial to determining the feasibility of more egalitarian and democratic social outcomes than have been possible in the era of neo-liberalism