Overview

In What's Left of the Left, distinguished scholars of European and U.S. politics consider how center-left political parties have fared since the 1970s. They explore the left's responses to the end of the postwar economic boom, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the erosion of traditional party politics, the expansion of market globalization, and the shift to a knowledge-based economy. Their comparative studies of center-left politics in Scandinavia, France, Germany, southern Europe, post-Cold War Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States emphasize differences in the goals of left political parties and in the political, economic, and demographic contexts in which they operate. The contributors identify and investigate the more successful center-left initiatives, scrutinizing how some conditions facilitated them, while others blocked their emergence or limited their efficacy. In the contemporary era of slow growth, tight budgets, and rapid technological change, the center-left faces pressing policy concerns, including immigration, the growing population of the working poor, and the fate of the European Union. This collection suggests that such matters present the left with daunting but by no means insurmountable challenges. Contributors Sheri Berman James Cronin Jean-Michel de Waele Arthur Goldhammer Christopher Howard Jane Jenson Gerassimos Moschonas Sofia Perez Jonas Pontusson George Ross James Shoch Sorina Soare Ruy Teixeira

Full Product Details

Author:   James E. Cronin ,  George W. Ross ,  James Shoch ,  Sheri Berman
Publisher:   Duke University Press
Imprint:   Duke University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.572kg
ISBN:  

9780822350798

ISBN 10:   0822350793
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   24 August 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii Introduction: The New World of the Center-Left / James Cronin, George Ross, and James Shoch 1 Part I: Ideas, Projects, and Electoral Realities Social Democracy's Past and Potential Future / Sheri Berman 29 Historical Decline or Change of Scale? The Electoral Dynamics of European Social Democratic Parties, 1950–2009 / Gerassimos Moschonas 50 Part II: Varieties of Social Democracy and Liberalism Once Again a Model: Nordic Social Democracy in a Globalized World / Jonas Pontusson 89 Embracing Markets, Bonding with America, Trying to Do Good: The Ironies of New Labour / James Cronin 116 Reluctantly Center-Left? The French Case / Arthur Goldhammer and George Ross 141 The Evolving Democratic Coalition: Prospects and Problems / Ruy Teixeira 162 Party Politics and the American Welfare State / Christopher Howard 188 Grappling with Globalization: The Democratic Party's Struggles over International Market Integration / James Shoch 210 Part III: New Risks, New Challenges, New Possibilities European Center-Left Parties and New Social Risks: Facing Up to New Policy Challenges / Jane Jenson 241 Immigration and the European Left / Sofía Pérez 265 The Central and Eastern European Left: A Political Family under Construction / Jean-Michel De Waele and Sorina Soare 290 European Center-Lefts and the Mazes of European Integration / George Ross 319 Conclusion: Progressive Politics in Tough Times / James Cronin, George Ross, and James Shoch 343 Bibliography 363 About the Contributors 395 Index 399

Reviews

What's Left of the Left provides the best synthetic overview available of center-left parties in Europe and the United States. Focusing on their development and fortunes since the 1970s, this collection fills a striking gap in the literature in a knowledgeable and informative way --Peter A. Hall, co-editor of Changing France: The Politics that Markets Make

What's Left of the Left provides the best synthetic overview available of center-left parties in Europe and the United States. Focusing on their development and fortunes since the 1970s, this collection fills a striking gap in the literature in a knowledgeable and informative way Peter A. Hall, co-editor of Changing France: The Politics that Markets Make This is an important book. It is thorough. It is balanced. It is judicious. Its verdict on the prospects for the left is severe and offers no consolation prizes, yet it makes no facile predictions. It locates the present crisis of the left in a wider perspective with a series of intelligent comparative essays buttressed by equally intelligent essays focusing on specific regions or issues. It pays abundant attention, as it should, to the United States, too often overlooked in such surveys. Above all, it refuses to simplify complex issues and complex problems. Donald Sassoon, author of One Hundred Years of Socialism

Author Information

James Cronin is Professor of History at Boston College and an affiliate of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. George Ross is ad personam Chaire Jean Monnet at the University of Montreal, Hillquit Professor in Labor and Social Thought Emeritus at Brandeis University, and Faculty Associate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. James Shoch is Associate Professor of Government at California State University, Sacramento.

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