As the twenty-first century dawned, social democratic parties
across Europe and beyond found themselves newly, and rather
surprisingly, in the ascendant. Britain's New Labour was only the
most spectacular in a whole series of political restorations. For
many, this renewal only became possible when 'modernizing' social
democratic parties jettisoned their old ideological and
institutional baggage, setting off down a 'third way' that rejected
the outmoded ideas of both left and right. The argument of "Hard
Choices" is that this view is doubly misleading: it misrepresents
the past and misunderstands the present.
The first half of the book restores some of the complexity to
social democracy's past and shows that it was much more subtle,
varied and intelligent than its latter-day critics suppose. Turning
to the present, the second half of the book shows how a few
contemporary half-truths - relating to globalization and
demographic change - have been used to justify the abandonment of
the defining core of a social democratic politics. The book does
not argue that 'nothing has really changed'. In fact, a great deal
has changed and policy-makers have to adjust to a range of new
circumstances, constraints (and opportunities). But those who
exhort us simply to abandon the 'traditional' terrain of the
centre-left are wrong. Social democracy remains just what it always
was - a politics of messy compromises and hard choices.
This book will appeal to undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars
in politics, social policy and political sociology, as well as the
interested general reader.
General
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