In Search of New Social Democracy: Insights from the South – Implications for the North

Description

Why is the classical social democratic vision of development based on social justice by democratic means losing ground? Why was it so difficult to renew, even in the context of the third wave of democracy in the South? How does this matter in the North too, and how might it be reinvented? This accessible book brings to life major insights gained through interviews with a large range of activists and political protagonists in the southern cases of Indonesia, India, and the Philippines but also in the northern social democratic stronghold of Sweden. By considering the experiences in view of the basics of Social Democracy and a broader comparative framework, Olle Törnquist arrives at globally relevant conclusions. Olle Törnquist outlines the difficulties facing the Global North and South in achieving the renewal of Social Democracy, beginning with authoritiarianism and market\-driven globalization. Crucially, Törnquist also puts forward suggestions for how to achieve this reinvention, namely through broad alliances in the Global South, supported by the Global North, for transformative rights and welfare reforms that are universal, participatory and impartially implemented which would serve as precursors to social economic growth pacts. Cover Contents List of Illustrations Preface Part I Introduction 1 The mystery – and how to solve it 2 What is Social Democracy? 3 Cases and contextual puzzles Part II Legacies of second-generation Social Democracy 4 Progress and demise of the world’s largest popular reform movement in Indonesia 5 The rise and stagnation of Kerala’s Emancipatory Left 6 The ‘people power’ mystery in the Philippines 7 Effects in the North: From Swedish internationalism to ‘Social Democracy in one country’ Part III Challenges of Third-generation Social Democracy 8 Philippine experiments for a democratic Left 9 The rise and decline of the Indonesian democracy movement 129 9 The rise and decline of the Indonesian democracy movement 10 Dilemmas of deepening democracy after Suharto 11 Kerala’s renewal of Social Democracy 12 Counter-movements in India – New openings in Kerala 13 Inconclusive left-of-centre politics in the Philippines 14 Whither ‘reformist populism’? The Indonesian experience 15 Implications and options in the North: The Swedish stalemate Part Four Reinventing Social Democracy 16 Lessons for a new Social Democracy 17 Towards a roadmap References Consolidated Index