The social democratic malaise and world politics

Social democrats have lost their political momentum. They no longer seem to know what they stand for in today’s world, and all European social democratic parties are suffering from the same malaise. The search for a new social project has started. Though in many cases this is still happening within the national context. But there is no watertight partition between domestic and international politics. That has been the experience of the socialist and social democratic movement from its very beginning. The movement developed because the international environment was conducive to it and when its political project was successful, that success was always closely linked to the international context that enabled it. This holds equally true today, now that social democratic parties feel they have arrived at an impasse. Social democracy will only become relevant if it proves able to embody a social contract that combines, as in the past, safeguarding individuals from the risks against which they could not protect themselves, while at the same time uniting people again by offering a perspective on progress in exactly that area that constitutes the greatest challenge facing the world today and in the future - global warming.Social democrats have lost their political momentum. They no longer seem to know what they stand for in today’s world, and all European social democratic parties are suffering from the same malaise. The search for a new social project has started. Though in many cases this is still happening within the national context. But there is no watertight partition between domestic and international politics. That has been the experience of the socialist and social democratic movement from its very beginning. The movement developed because the international environment was conducive to it and when its political project was successful, that success was always closely linked to the international context that enabled it. This holds equally true today, now that social democratic parties feel they have arrived at an impasse. Social democracy will only become relevant if it proves able to embody a social contract that combines, as in the past, safeguarding individuals from the risks against which they could not protect themselves, while at the same time uniting people again by offering a perspective on progress in exactly that area that constitutes the greatest challenge facing the world today and in the future - global warming.A