“The implosion of neoliberal ‘turbo-capitalism’ in the autumn of 2008 should have been the moment for social democratic parties to come in from the cold but more than two years on social democracy is in retreat— electorally weak — intellectually incoherent.” — Mehdi Hasan and Jonathan Derbyshire“What has been missing from center-left parties is any substantive philosophy of the public good.” The center-left needs “a much richer conception of the ‘aspirations’ of ordinary citizens”
Center-left governments have a fetish of ever-increasing ‘growth’ — improved productivity, technological innovation…[but] not as ‘instruments’ for enhancing people’s ‘liberty.’ Set against ‘consumerism’s promise of happiness’ [Ernst Hillebrand] must be ‘a vision of an alternative society.’
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has its limits not only as ‘an indicator of economic performance [Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz]; but also as an indicator of ‘social progress.’
“Economic growth is not an end in itself.… ‘GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile.’” [Robert Kennedy]
“Measuring economic performance and production is one thing. Measuring citizens’ quality of life is quite another.”“[Center-left] politicians must be ‘moral’ reformers, rather than ‘mechanical’ reformers focused on ends, not means.” Center-left politicians “need to see that their task consists as much in moral persuasion and argument in favor of the fundamental values of equality, social solidarity and genuine liberty as it does in pulling on the levers of power.”
The center-left can no longer afford to masquerade as “centrist technocrats.” They must begin their own reform by “radically rethinking and expanding their understanding of progress and prosperity.”
Sources and notes
“After Growth: The Future of Social Democracy” (Mehdi Hasan and Jonathan Derbyshire in Social Europe Journal) October 25, 2010, http://www.social-europe.eu/2010/10/after-growth-the-future-of-social-democracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+goodsociety+%28Social+Europe+Journal+%C2%BB+Good+Society+Debate%29
“The implosion of neoliberal ‘turbo-capitalism’ in the autumn of 2008 should have been the moment for social democratic parties to come in from the cold. More than two years on, however, social democracy is in retreat across the Continent, electorally weak and intellectually incoherent.”— Mehdi Hasan and Jonathan Derbyshire
Mehdi Hasan studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Christ Church, Oxford University, and is senior politics editor at the New Statesman and a former news and current affairs editor at Channel 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehdi_Hasan
Jonathan Derbyshire is a literary journalist whose work has been published in the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and the Financial Times; he is culture editor of the New Statesman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Derbyshire
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