Since the emergence of social democracy as a revolutionary force in mid-nineteenth century Europe, change has been a constant of its development. In this meticulous but always lively study, Moschonas traces its evolution and mutation from its revolutionary roots, through the reformist post World War II years to the ‘great transformation’ of the past twenty-five years.

In the Name of Social Democracy explores the meaning of the term ‘social democracy’ in the twenty-first century. The progressive weakening of its organisational and cultural traditions has gradually led to a redefinition. Where social democrats might have been expected to spend the last twenty-five years prioritising employment, arresting the trend of redistribution of wealth to the rich, defending the social state and tackling the new zones of poverty, their response in all these fields has been inadequate and disappointing. The organic links with the working class movement are looser and the structures (party, union and associative) are unravelling, enhancing the importance of the elites and the party leader. In the ‘great transformation’ of recent years, Moschonas argues, a process of ‘de-social-democratisation’ has been set in train.

Through scrupulous analysis of current trends, Moschonas demonstrates that this is the most profound change yet in the history of social democracy. The objective of equality and the interests of working people have largely been abandoned; capitalism has transformed social democracy more than it has succeeded in transforming capitalism. Widespread political cynicism among the European electorate, the extreme right’s penetration into the new plebeian arenas, conflicts with trade unions – all confirm this abandonment and signal a real break in the social-democratic tradition.

“One of the most outstanding recent works on social democracy. Moschonas analyses with extreme accuracy the ‘great transformation’ of this major political force through its multiple dimensions.” – Gérard Grunberg

“This excellent book maps out the profound doubts about social democratic identity at a time when the parties in question appear resigned to choosing between different forms of inequality. Always perceptive in its criticisms, it has a genuine non-polemical feel about the current predicament of the European Left. A lively, energetic and intelligent analysis.” – Donald Sassoon.


Gerassimos Moschonas is Assistant Professor in Comparative Poltics in the Department of Political Science and History at Pantheion University, Athens.
Publication
April 2002

370 pages


Cloth
1 85984 639 4
£45 / US$70 / CAN$90

Paper
1 85984 346 8
£17 / US$22 / CAN$30