Death of Social Democracy

Dr Ashley Lavelle is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University, Australia.

• Contents: Preface; Introduction: the social democratic malaise. Part 1 The Death of Social Democracy and its Political Consequences: Social democracy and neo-liberalism; Explaining the death of social democracy; Political consequences of the death of social democracy. Part 2 The Death of Social Democracy in Australia: The 'light on the hill' extinguished; Political consequences: a green altenative to social democracy? Part 3 The Death of Social Democracy in Britain: New Labour, not Labour; Political consequences: a fragmenting base. Part 4 The Death of Social Democracy in Germany: Rescuing Standort Deutschland; Political consequences: the '1930s in slow motion'. Part 5 The Death of Social Democracy in Sweden: The decline of the Swedish model; Political consequences: the SAP loses its invincibility; Conclusions; Bibliography; Indexes.

'Lavelle retraces the steps of social democracy’s embracing of neoliberalism and provides a detailed and passionate account of its transformation. The argument developed in this comparative study is straightforward, coherent, and empirically sound. It is also innovative and bound to cause controversy. This excellent book is one of the most remarkable recent studies on contemporary Social Democracy and a genuine contribution to the understanding of modern politics.' Gerassimos Moschonas, Panteion University of Athens, Greece, and Free University of Brussels, Belgium