Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- About the contributors
- Preface
- 1 The crisis of social democracy
- 2 The Long Depression, the Great Crash and socialism in Western Europe
- 3 Social democracy in crisis: outlining the trends in Western Europe
- 4 The positions and fortunes of social democratic parties in East Central Europe
- 5 Rethinking public expenditure from a social democratic perspective
- 6 Social democracy in crisis? What crisis?
- 7 Can the Swedish social model survive the decline of the social democrats?
- 8 Multiculturalism, right-wing populism and the crisis of social democracy
- 9 Labour markets, welfare states and the dilemmas of European social democracy
- 10 Class politics and the social investment welfare state
- 11 Labour, skills and education in modern socio-economic development: can there be a social democratic economic and industrial policy in a globalised economy?
- 12 From single market to social market economy: is there room for solidarity?
- 13 Social democracy and security
- 14 Multilevel social democracy: centralisation and decentralisation
- 15 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
11 - Labour, skills and education in modern socio-economic development: can there be a social democratic economic and industrial policy in a globalised economy?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- About the contributors
- Preface
- 1 The crisis of social democracy
- 2 The Long Depression, the Great Crash and socialism in Western Europe
- 3 Social democracy in crisis: outlining the trends in Western Europe
- 4 The positions and fortunes of social democratic parties in East Central Europe
- 5 Rethinking public expenditure from a social democratic perspective
- 6 Social democracy in crisis? What crisis?
- 7 Can the Swedish social model survive the decline of the social democrats?
- 8 Multiculturalism, right-wing populism and the crisis of social democracy
- 9 Labour markets, welfare states and the dilemmas of European social democracy
- 10 Class politics and the social investment welfare state
- 11 Labour, skills and education in modern socio-economic development: can there be a social democratic economic and industrial policy in a globalised economy?
- 12 From single market to social market economy: is there room for solidarity?
- 13 Social democracy and security
- 14 Multilevel social democracy: centralisation and decentralisation
- 15 Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Between 1945 and the 1980s, successful social democratic economic policy was facilitated by Keynesian demand management policies, fostering full employment, increasing employees' incomes, and built on a close relationship between government and trade unions. This was seen most clearly in the Nordic countries and in Germany under Willi Brandt. However, elements could also be seen, for example, in British ‘Labourism’ and French dirigisme. During the last thirty years globalisation has posed profound challenges for the economies of Western Europe in general and for social democratic ideology and economic management in particular. Mass-produced goods are largely manufactured in Newly Industrialising Countries (NICs), and the number of blue-collar jobs is falling in Western Europe. In addition, advanced economic and industrial development is increasingly both regionalising and exacerbating uneven economic development within nation-states. This increases social divisions and undermines social cohesion. Nevertheless, there are still European industries, enterprises and regions which develop very competitively (Hilpert 2003, 2006). They are usually knowledge-intensive, based on high technology and scientific research, and on the manufacture of high-quality products.
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- The Crisis of Social Democracy in Europe , pp. 169 - 183Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2013