Publisher Description

This book makes an important contribution to the existing literature on European social democracy in the wake of the 2008 financial crash and ensuing recession. It assesses how social democratic parties have responded, at the national as well as at the European Union level. A wide range of leading political scientists provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of the prospects for social democracy in the midst of an unprecedented crisis for neoliberalism. The book benefits from an analysis of social democratic parties' experiences in 6 different countries - the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain and Greece - along with a number of chapters on the fate of social democracy in the institutions of the EU. -- .

Flap

This book addresses the question of how social democratic parties in Europe have responded to the global economic crisis - at the national level, across the European Union, and within the institutions of the EU. Many commentators have been keen to see a social democratic response to the global economic crisis that began with the sub-prime crisis and subsequently morphed into a full financial and economic crisis, from the collapse of Lehman Brothers onwards. In order for a social democratic alternative to globalised and finance-driven capitalism to emerge, however, we also need social democratic parties to be moving in the direction of producing such policies, and for them to be in a viable and popular form. This book is one of the first to assess whether this is the case. The book draws together some of the most well-known and prestigious scholars of social democracy and social democratic parties, along with a number of impressive new scholars in the field, to present a compelling and up to date analysis of social democratic fortunes in the contemporary period. It benefits from an analysis of social democratic parties' experiences in 6 different countries - the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, and Greece - along with a number of chapters on social democracy in the European Union. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social democracy and social democratic parties, European politics, party politics, and political economy.

Author Biography

David J. Bailey is Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Birmingham, Jean-Michel De Waele is Professor of Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Fabien Escalona is ATER in Political Science and PhD candidate at Sciences Po Grenoble, Mathieu Vieira is ATER in Political Science at Sciences Po Lille and PhD candidate at Sciences Po Grenoble and Université Libre de Bruxelles

Table of Contents

Introduction
David Bailey, Jean-Michel De Waele, Fabien Escalona and Mathieu Vieira
PART I: The political economy of European social democracy under global economic crisis
1. It does not happen here either: why social democrats fail in the context of the great financial crisis– Fabien Escalona and Mathieu Vieira
2. Social democracy and social movements from crisis to crisis – George Ross
3. Why the financial crisis has not generated a social democratic alternative in Europe? – Magnus Ryner
4. Social democracy in the light of capitalist crises: the case of the British Labour – John Callaghan
PART II: National responses to crisis
5. Coping with TINA: the Labour Party and the new crisis of capitalism – Philippe Marlière
6. Losing social democracy. Reflections on the erosion of a paradigmatic case of social democracy – Jenny Andersson
7. German social democracy: a popular project and an unpopular party – Ingo Schmidt
8. The French PS (2008-13). Not revolutionaries, not luminaries, just 'normal' guys amidst the tempest – Christophe Bouillaud
9. Back to the drawing board. The PSOE after the 2011 general election – Paul Kennedy
10. Trimph and collapse: the PASOK in the wake of the crisis in Greece (2009–13) – Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos
PART III: Towards a social democratic European Union?
11. Limits of consensus? The Party of European Socialists and the financial crisis – Michael Holmes and Simon Lightfoot
12. Palliating terminal social democratic decline at the EU-level? – David Bailey
13. Reforming Europe, renewing social democracy? The PES, the debt crisis and the Europarties – Gerassimos Moschonas
Postface: death by a thousand cuts? – Ashley Lavelle
Index

Long Description

This book makes an important contribution to the existing literature on European social democracy in the wake of the 2008 financial crash and ensuing recession. It assesses how social democratic parties have responded, at the national as well as at the European Union level. A wide range of leading political scientists provide the reader with an in-depth understanding of the prospects for social democracy in the midst of an unprecedented crisis for neoliberalism. The book benefits from an analysis of social democratic parties' experiences in 6 different countries - the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Spain and Greece - along with a number of chapters on the fate of social democracy in the institutions of the EU. -- .

Description for Sales People

The first book to be entirely dedicated to a full assessment of Western European social democratic party responses to the global economic crisisGathers analyses of the political economy of European social democracy, with six country-specific case-studies, alongside chapters that analyse the broader EU contextBrings together some of the most well-known and prestigious scholars of social democracy and social democratic parties, along with a number of impressive new scholars in the fieldOne of the first books to consistently evaluate the early prospects for social democratic parties and politicians to construct an alternative political and economic programme in the light of the global economic crisisOffers one of the most up to date assessments of the European Union as a potential site through which the global economy might be 'harnessed' by social democratic parties

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