Is Social Democracy dead?

[Redalgo]

Social democracy, much like democratic socialism, is not dead so much as struggling to modernize in a way that does not contradict its core objectives. They both need effective methods of coping with globalization - in terms of accommodating immigrants, maintaining high levels of solidarity, weathering demographic and fiscal challenges to social rights commitments, and responding to valid criticisms from liberals and - on occasion - traditionalists to their right.

Popular approaches to multiculturalism are eroding social cohesion. The spectre of austerity lurks in waiting for countries that dawdle in fundamentally reevaluating their approaches to providing for the basic needs of all. Economic downturns drive wedges between social groups, diminishing their will to support each other in good faith and thus in turn undercutting socialist appeals for greater socioeconomic equality. Economic globalization is, in lieu of adequete political globalization, weakening the primacy of state over private interests. Advice from other camps is received most awkwardly - with some "socialists" becoming social liberals in all but name, some clinging to post-war doctrines in much the way orthodox Marxists did when presented with revisionism, and others using sacred symbols of labour but lacking detailed plans.

Their experiments in the old days were not failures, of course. Valuable lessons were learned. But now those results must be addressed in a serious way that leads champions of labour to innovative ideas - lest liberal trends continue to prevail with only lacklustre resistance from the left. The problem is not with voters being too ignorant to realize the potential of a moderate compromise betwixt the extremes of capitalism and communism. The problem is with social democrats resting on their laurels and failing to scheme up a bold vision for how their movement can better adapt to the modern world.