Articles about:
State of the Left
Progressives have been tormented by a series of political paroxysms of the past years. When looking for who to blame, they sometimes point to Millennials. Our youngest voters – broadly defined as those born between the mid-1980s and the early 2000s – have been accused of lacking political commitment. Even...
Social Democracy, as a family of political parties, is in the midst of an existential crisis. Its unity, its long-term future and the status of its members on the political scene are under threat. To remain true to the cause that saw them emerge in response to the industrial capitalism...
Paul Mason argues that the Left needs to draw inspiration from the 1930s ‘popular front’ idea and increase their prospects of gaining power by forming red-red-green alliances. To fight the resurgent right effectively, we need to understand what is driving it. For me it is not about economic performance...
The political Left finds its source in two struggles: one against the exploitation of human labour, the other for the emancipation of disenfranchised groups and individuals. The first is identified as the socialist Left, the second as the liberal Left. The first emphasises economic policies of redistribution and the regulation...
Social Democracy in Europe is ailing. The reasons are well-known and manifold: the disappearance of traditional industrial jobs and associated voter groups, robotics, the shrinking role of trade unions and the general fact that an increasingly divided society can no longer be represented by a single party. A retreat into...
European Progressives have much more to be proud about than just their tradition. There are many exciting examples of diverse contemporary initiatives, which undoubtedly could in-spire more confidence. And that is the key – since self-assurance and courage in proposing choices will be the defining factors in the battle that...
Economic neoliberalism is pushing Europe towards political illiberalism. Social democracy was powerless to stop it. By combining intergovernmentalism and neoliberalism, the EU is rendering itself powerless and creating inequalities. It is also endangering European democracy and threatening its own survival. Social democracy has failed on two fronts: on the...
Social Democrats have been sliding into the neoliberal trap – and lost many voters on the way. But there are answers to the question, ‘what is to be done’: facing electoral realities, renouncing neo-liberalism and going green are amongst them. In 1971, the Republican US President Richard Nixon announced,...
The Left has been losing ground for a decade. How does it reinvent itself and become successful again in the battle of ideas? It has to embrace new radical ideas and do politics differently. Progressives believe that human societies are capable of being improved, but are also aware that...
The Social Democratic parties are the leading political force in the fight against the enemies of democracy because the success of a political system is measured by its capacity to meet the expectations of its citizens, by its capacity to improve the living standards of its people. Let there...