1st Edition
Social Democratic Party Policies in Contemporary Europe
The end of the twentieth century saw an unprecedented coincidence of electoral success for social democratic parties in western Europe leading to intensive discussion on the future of this new European left. The debates often centred on the notion of a 'Third way' and generated major expectations for policy change among social democratic politicians and voters. The authors collected here examine the recent social and employment policies of these progressive parties, looking for change in the guiding principles of policy and on actual policy decisions. They show how the maxims of demand management and egalitarianism have been replaced by social investment and equality of opportunity and demonstrate the full extent of convergence on policies such as employment maximization, the containment of social expenditure and a shift towards a social investment welfare state.
Biography
Giuliano Bonoli works at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Bern and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Martin Powell is Reader in Social Policy in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, UK.
'A highly interesting and thorough account of the avenues Social Democratic governments have pursued in terms of social and economic policy and of what contemporary Social Democracy might mean in these fields.' - Simon Bornshier and Silja Hausermann, Swiss Political Science Review
