Social Democracy Research Articles

Eurointegration in Czech Left-Wing Parliamentary Parties’ Programs in the 1990s – 2010s

The article presents the results of a comparative historical analysis of the foreign policy sections of the programs of the Czech Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia using documents from their current archives. Particular attention in the approaches of the two parties is paid to the issues of the integration of the Czech Republic into the structures of NATO and the European Union. Based on the study of the available scientific literature, a conclusion is made about the need to consider this problem through the prism of two main lines in the context of European integration: security policy and economic rapprochement with the EU. Fundamental differences in the interpretations of Czech Social Democrats and Communists about the prospects for their country's entry into European and Euro-Atlantic associations have been revealed. If the Social Democrats defended the need to “enter Europe” and even into its “core”, seeing this as a significant benefit for the country’s economy due to the free movement of labor, protection from currency crises and a reduction in transaction costs, the Communists called for maintaining the focus on a multi-vector foreign policy of the state – cooperation with all countries of interest to the Czech Republic. At the same time, both parties, although with varying degrees of intensity, resorted to criticism of European institutions. The results of the study help to identify the reason why the major Czech left-wing parties lost the elections to the lower house of the Czech Parliament in 2021.

Comrades' Courts in the Soviet Period of Russian Statehood as a Form of Non-Professional Justice

The formation and development of comrades’ justice in the Soviet period of Russian statehood is associated with the implementation of the unified national concept of the court, conditioned not so much by professional justice as by the mass participation of non-professional judges from the people in court. The jurisdiction of cases heard in public courts was regulated by the relevant provisions and criminal codes, providing that these courts considered minor crimes, both by virtue of a direct indication in the law, and by way of delegation of the function of justice by the courts or the prosecutor’s office in each specific case. The activities of the comrades’ courts are divided into three periods. The first period — from 1919 to 1922 — is characterized by the disciplinary orientation of the comrades’ courts authorized to consider all violations of labor legislation. The second period — from 1928 to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War — is characterized by a variety of comrades’ and public courts that covered various spheres of economic, social and political activities, from Soviet enterprises and institutions to collective farms. Its main purpose was to free public courts from a mass of minor offenses and property disputes, as well as ensuring productivity growth and combating disruptors of production in enterprises and institutions. The third period — from the late 1950s to 1991 — set the goal of strengthening socialist democracy by involving a wide range of workers in the management of public affairs, including through comradely justice, which defined comrades’ courts as quasi-judicial bodies of public and state power, intrinsically inscribed in the concept of a socialist national state.

The Impact of the Anglo–Boer War on Russian Marxists before the October Revolution

ABSTRACT Various political movements in Russia followed the Anglo–Boer War of 1899–1902 (also known as the South African War). The reasons why the Russian Marxists, who later carried out the first socialist revolution in history, sympathised with the Boers and ignored the reactionary and exploitative nature of their regimes in the Transvaal and the Orange Free State remained unexplored. Russian Marxists were reluctant to join the mass pro-Boer effort. However, they participated in the pro-Boer campaign conducted by the Second International. Poorly informed about the oppression of Africans in the two republics, the social democrats regarded the Boers as freedom fighters whose experience deserved to be studied and applied to the confrontation with tsarist autocracy. Russian Marxists used information on Boer commando tactics and other aspects of the South African War for instruction, training, and dissemination of their ideas. They campaigned for an introduction of a militia in Russia and studied the methods and organisation of Boer military units. Although Russian Marxists had little in common with members of burgher commandos, lessons of the Boer resistance to British imperialism served the cause of a Russian revolution.

LITURATERRA [Entrevista: 2024, 3] A política contra o destino: o modo de pensar as alternativas

Brazilian philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a professor at Harvard University (USA) for over forty years, presents and discusses his perspective on politics in this interview. In it, he discusses elements of his social and political theory, one of the highlights of which is his treatment of institutional issues in an original way that differs from conventional institutionalism. He begins by defining the distinction between right and left in contemporary circumstances. It defines the possible types of politics. He deals with the fundamental concepts of his theory of institutional alternatives, explaining the nature of his experimentalist proposal. It approaches the organization of powers with a different emphasis from the dominant reflection on political institutions, always uncritically focused on the issue of stability, and proposes that the main objective of politics is to provide structural transformations. It argues that the democratic regime should have its center of gravity focused on majorities and not minorities. And he suggests that the central cause of the current crisis in democratic societies is of a programmatic nature: we have not yet been able to clear away the rubble of bankrupt social democracy. The general theme discussed was a new institutional model that would enable liberal societies to overcome the dead end in which they find themselves. The interview took place on May 22, 2022, in the district of Araras, in the municipality of Petrópolis (RJ).

Hilja Pärssinen and the religious grounds for socialist welfare in early twentieth-century Finland

ABSTRACT The schoolteacher and poet Hilja Pärssinen (1876–1935) was the most influential and internationally best-known female socialist in Finland before the Finnish Civil War (1918). She was a member of the Finnish Parliament, the leader of the Finnish Social Democratic Women’s Movement, and the most prominent ideologue of the Finnish Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) welfare programme. For instance, Pärssinen promoted paid maternity leave, public daycare, legalised abortion, and compulsory education with free meals and school supplies. Historians have acknowledged Pärssinen’s leading role as the architect of Finnish socialist welfare, but also pointed out that she was an aggressive opponent of the Evangelical Lutheran church. However, the studies have mainly failed to note that instead of rejecting religion itself, Pärssinen claimed all the reforms demanded by socialists were based on Christianity. Finnish scholars have argued—mainly based on writings by the party male elite—that the SDP rejected religion and adopted secular/antireligious ideology at the beginning of the twentieth century. I argue that this paradigm is based on an oversimplified and gendered interpretation. This paper will show that shifting the perspective from male socialist leaders to female ideologues can change and widen the comprehension of the history of socialism drastically.

‘Towards a modern democracy’? The constitutional politics of the 1990s British left

ABSTRACT This article argues that a ‘constitutional lens’ sheds light on British political contestation in the 1990s. It is commonly suggested that 1990s politicians merely consolidated the hegemony of ‘Thatcherism’. Yet, this struggles to encompass the decade’s political volatility, from the Conservatives’ descent into internecine warfare over the Maastricht Treaty to the fraught Irish peace process. Though varied, these developments shared a key theme: controversy over the constitution of the United Kingdom. To illustrate its case, this article applies the constitutional lens to the 1990s left. Existing accounts emphasise Labour’s concessions to Conservative opponents. By 2001, however, the first Blair government had enacted contentious constitutional changes: devolution, proportional voting systems, and a Human Rights Act. These policies reflected a dynamic, new, liberal-left politics of constitutional reform. From the 1980s, liberals, social democrats and Marxists forged a new constitutional agenda, responding to trends since the 1960s—growing ‘popular individualism’, agitation for ‘human rights’, European integration, and Scottish nationalism—and to the end of the Cold War. By the 1990s, campaigners had developed a bold programme for ‘modernising the constitution’, which influenced Labour’s programme. Through New Labour’s governments, this agenda profoundly reshaped the institutions of British politics in the twenty-first century.

Научный смысл и суть концепции «верховенства Конституции в управлении государством» и «верховенства Конституции в исполнении властных полномочий» в КНР

The supremacy of the Constitution in the exercise of power and state governance is the essence of Xi Jinping's ideas on the rule of law. Chinese conceptions of thesupremacy of the Constitution in state governance and the exercise of power are fundamentally different from so-called Western "constitutionalism". The essence of adopting theConstitution as a basic guide to action is to better transform the constitutional institutioninto an effective way of governing the country. Adherence to the comprehensive leadershipof the CPC is one of the basic requirements of the Chinese Constitution and constitutes theessence of the supremacy of the Constitution in governing the state and exercising power. "The people" is the goal of the supremacy of the Constitution in governing the state andexercising power. Following the set of socialist institutions with Chinese characteristicsinvolves maintaining, strengthening and improving the essential, basic and important institutions defined by the Constitution. To this end, it is necessary to adhere to the organicunity of the Party leadership, the rule of law in governing the state and the role of the peopleas full masters in the country, so as to realize the fundamental right of the people to governthe state, and to enhance the vitality of the Party and the state, mobilize the enthusiasm ofthe people, expand socialist democracy and develop socialist political civilization. The supremacy of the Constitution in the governance of the state and the exercise of power playsa leading role in the comprehensive rule of law in the governance of the state and shouldbe based on its deep implementation. The rule of law in the governance of the state and theexercise of power and the rule of rules in party governance are not pseudoscientific gamesof terms, but the scientific expression of the rich practice and dialectical relationship ofcomprehensive governance of the state in accordance with the law.

Party Competition Over Democracy: Democracy as Electoral Issue in Germany

Elected leaders increasingly undermine liberal democratic institutions with the support of their voters, openly challenging liberal democratic institutions in election campaigns. However, political scientists thus far have lacked the theoretical and empirical tools to study the role of elections in democratic backsliding. This article theorizes the degree to which democracy in general and liberal democracy more specifically can and should be conceptualized as valence and positional issues in multiparty electoral competitions of established liberal democracies. By investigating how German citizens and parties of the postwar period spoke about democracy per se and liberal democracy in their regional and national election manifestos, this article shows that democracy per se and liberal democracy, in particular, have been issues of different qualities in German postwar elections. While parties have used references to democracy in general as a mixed issue, showing both signs of valence and positional issues, parties’ emphasis on liberal democracy is shaped by a positional logic. Social and direct democracy have also been positional issues. Studying democracy and its various conceptions as electoral issues will help us address many important questions concerning the stability of democracies, shifting researchers’ focus to the competition of parties over citizens’ support for reforms that undermine or stabilize liberal democracy.

Social Justice Imaginaries and Education Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand (2017–2024)

AbstractIn this article, we continue Martin Thrupp’s critical work in education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand by examining the policies of the Sixth Labour-led Government (2017–2023) and the Sixth National-led Government (2023-present). We consider their attempts to mitigate social injustice via education policy and the social imaginaries that underpin such efforts. Our conceptual framework draws on Nancy Fraser’s tripartite analysis (redistribution, recognition, participation), the contributions of education policy scholars who have built upon her work, and others who offer alternative framings of social justice. To contextualise our analysis, we provide a historical account of the discursive shift from equality to equity in New Zealand education policy and the recent transition by the Left from the ‘Third Way’ (Giddens, The third way: The renewal of social democracy, Polity Press, 1999) to ‘progressive neoliberalism’ (Fraser, American Affairs 1:46–64, 2017, Fraser, The old is dying and the new cannot be born: From progressive neoliberalism to Trump and beyond, Verso, 2019). Examination of selected education policies by the most recent Labour and National governments reveals that, despite equity infusing the rhetoric of both governments, their actual policies have consistently adopted affirmative responses aimed only at ameliorating inequality’s most visible effects. We conclude with a call for more intentionally transformative efforts in education based on holistic conceptions of social justice.

The Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation in the 1990s in the assessments of domestic social Democratic parties

The article is devoted to the consideration of assessments of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation in the 1990s by domestic social democratic parties. The subject of the study is the publications of representatives of Russian Social Democrats, which reflect their views on the foreign policy of the Russian Federation during the period of Boris Yeltsin. The Social Democratic parties in the world and in Russia at that time influenced both the domestic and foreign policies of their states. The assessments of the social democratic parties in their programs and press reflect a wide range of views on the foreign policy of our state in the 1990s. Depending on the directions of the Social Democrats - left and right, their contradictions in views are displayed, which shows the breadth of social democratic thought at that time. The study uses a historical and comparative method, a civilizational approach in analyzing the assessments of the positions of the right-wing social Democrats and a world-system analysis in analyzing the assessments of the positions of the left-wing social Democrats. The scientific novelty of the study consists in identifying the positions of the social democratic parties of the 1990s on the foreign policy course of the Russian Federation, and the different assessments of the country's foreign policy by left and right social Democrats. The study reveals differences in the assessments of social democratic parties and their priorities in the foreign policy of the Russian Federation, depending on their directions - the left social Democrats and the right social Democrats. The article evaluates the attitude of the parties to the official course of the authorities of the Russian Federation at that time, who advocated the country's close integration into the Western world. The conclusion is made about the role of social Democrats of different directions in constructing a new understanding of Russia's foreign policy, based on the ideological positions of the parties.

Lessons to be learned: the Portuguese revolution and the Spanish socialists in the mid-1970s

This article examines how the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party interpreted and responded to the Portuguese revolution. Based on the party’s newspaper, El Socialista, and supplemented by primary sources from Spanish, British and French archives, the article shows the relevance of the Portuguese experience in shaping the Spanish Socialist Party’s perspective on the transition from dictatorship to democratic socialism. It also highlights the impact of the revolution on the party’s international relations. The main working hypothesis is that the development of Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, immediately before and during the Spanish transition to democracy, cannot be fully understood without paying attention to the Portuguese revolution.

북유럽 초·중 통합운영학교(Comprehensive School)의 특성 연구

Purpose: Due to the decline in school-age populations and urbanization, the discussion on integrated elementary and middle schools has begun in earnest. To effectively operate integrated schools, it is necessary to refer to the experiences of countries that have long implemented similar systems. Thus, this study aimed to explore the comprehensive school system in Northern Europe, where primary and lower-secondary schools are integrated, and analyze its characteristics to draw implications for the operation of integrated elementary and middle schools in the South Korean context. Methods: To achieve the research objectives, this study examined and analyzed the background and current status of the comprehensive school systems in Northern European countries—Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Estonia—that operate under a single structure integrating the primary and lower-secondary school education periods. The study also explored the teacher training systems, school evaluations, and student assessments in these countries. Results: The four countries aimed to achieve both social welfare for all citizens and educational effectiveness. The comprehensive school systems in each country share a common feature of striving to realize the values of social democracy. To link the two school levels, each country has developed its own teacher training and evaluation systems. Conclusion: These findings suggest that, in order to effectively operate integrated elementary and middle schools in the Korean context, it is essential to develop methods that link and integrate the two school levels while considering the specific characteristics of each level, promote collaboration among teachers, and clearly establish educational objectives in addition to administrative and economic goals.

In the labyrinth of ideological search: ways to construct a memory of an uncomfortable past (on example of events of the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War)

This article is devoted to the problem of constructing a collective memory of the "inconvenient past" by modern elites of Russia on the example of the events of the 1917 revolution and the subsequent civil war. The conflict aspects of commemoration (installation of monuments and memorial signs) in the process of constructing an official historical narrative are considered. Concidered changes in the official historical narrative regarding the "difficult past" in different periods of time. The preservation of historical memory largely depends on the political objectives of the current government, which not only supports collective memory through various commemorative practices, but also constructs a modern historical narrative. This narrative does not imply the restoration of Soviet historiography; it combines a variety of interpretations of the events of the Revolution and the Civil War in the context of building the historical continuity of Russian statehood. Therefore, the images of some Soviet figures coexist with the figures of their opponents, forming ideas among the mass audience about patriotic service to the Russian state, regardless of ideological and political views. The "lost memory" is not being restored; current generations of Russians have not accepted the political experience of supporters of democratic socialism, who rejected Bolshevism and did not support the "white movement" in the civil war. The attitude towards the losers in the fight against the Bolsheviks today is negative, as towards weak and incapable politicians. Considering historical memory as an integral part of collective memory, it is concluded that only those events of the past that are perceived by society as extremely useful for modern generations are integrated into the structure of collective consciousness. In addition, the inertia of public consciousness affects the "selection of event material". For this reason, during the entire post-Soviet period, it was not possible to completely replace the former Soviet ideological cliches with a new historical narrative.

Houses to Live In: Planning Social Democracy in New Zealand School Texts

ABSTRACT Between 1947 and 1949, state-sanctioned texts on town planning and housing were produced for New Zealand schools. In these publications, ideals of social democratic citizenship intersect with modernist precepts of planning and design. Analysis of the school texts in the discursive context reveals an aim to encourage future citizens to take an active role, in accordance with new education pedagogy, in shaping the built environment of post-war society. While the relationship between ideas and architecture has been of interest to historians of education, attention has largely focused on the school. This article extends the conversation to reflect on how readers of school texts were encouraged to consider their relationship to the wider built environment and hailed as active citizens within an imagined community of New Zealand’s social democracy tasked with shaping its material form.

Political and Constitutional Rights of Tribal Communities in Indian Constitution

The Constitution of India has laid down some basic provisions for the upliftment of the interests of the tribal community and its overall upliftment. Considering the social and economic situation in India, the scheduled tribes should get a fair place in the development of the country in the post - independence era, they should be developed in all respects and social and economic equality should be established, and the feeling of marginalization should not remain in the backward tribes. Specially, there is a provision in our constitution to reserve some seats in legislatures, ministries and administration for backward classes. While preparing the state constitution of the country, it is seen that important provisions have been made in the constitution for the scheduled tribes in order to establish economic and social democracy in the country. In order to establish economic and social justice, it was necessary to make special provisions for the backward classes.

Kautsky’s Unexpected Comeback: Understanding the Re-emergence of the Second International in Contemporary Debates

Abstract In the history of the left, the conjuncture 1914–1917 is the “bifurcation point” per definition. Leaving an enduring mark on the labor movement, it also shaped subsequent historiographies. For the pro-Bolshevik left, 1914 epitomized the betrayal of a group of reformist leaders. Conversely, anti-communist social democrats regarded the Second International as an uncomfortable political heritage. Despite irreconcilable disputes, both traditions shared a lack of interest in defending the period 1889–1914, let alone delving into its history. The real take-off of Second International historiography came later and coincided with the outset of the Cold War, experiencing a “golden age” in the 1960s and 1970s. Studies of socialism lost momentum from the 1980s onwards, but the last 15 years have seen a resurgence of interest in the Second International and even a popular reappraisal of Karl Kautsky. Linking historiography to wider social and political phenomena, this article reflects on this new interest in the Second International in both activist and academic circles. The first section summarizes the historical significance of the International and examines how the crisis of 1914 became a crucial “bifurcation point” with significant political and historiographical impact. The second section explores recent trends in scholarly research on the subject. The third section provides an analysis of the vindication of Karl Kautsky among radicals and socialists in the United States over the past 10 years. The conclusion summarizes the main arguments and reflects on the contribution this analysis can make to a discussion about the “long cycle” of socialism.

Decolonizing the National Park: Unsettling public space through Indigenous urbanism

ABSTRACT Despite warnings of decline, public space continues to play a pivotal role for social movements and democracies. Yet, because liberal concepts of public space are rooted in settler colonialism, they avoid critical engagement with histories and contemporary expressions of Indigenous urban life. The occupation of Bogotá’s National Park by Indigenous communities presents an opportunity to reexamine the limits of public space. While government officials espoused conventional definitions about public space, Indigenous occupants described the National Park in entirely different terms. They relied on a praxis known as the minga for sustenance, communication, spatial organization, community building, and political mobilization. Drawing on Indigenous urbanism, this article frames the occupation of the National Park as a practice of decolonization, which challenges the historical legitimacy of stolen land and the supremacy of property. It considers the minga as a practice of Indigenization and an epistemologically distinct form of citymaking.

Daryl Leeworthy. Causes in Common: Welsh Women and the Struggle for Social Democracy Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2022. Pp. 192. £11.99 (paper).

Daryl Leeworthy. Causes in Common: Welsh Women and the Struggle for Social Democracy Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2022. Pp. 192. £11.99 (paper).

Taking the Right Lessons from Lenin and the Russian Revolution

Eric Blanc's article, “Taking the Right Lessons from Lenin and the Russian Revolution,” critically examines the enduring influence of Lenin and the Bolshevik Revolution on socialist movements, highlighting the challenges of applying revolutionary strategies in parliamentary contexts. Blanc argues that while Leninist parties have played significant roles in advancing working-class interests, their revolutionary approach has been less effective in advanced capitalist democracies. He emphasizes that the Russian Revolution demonstrated the potential to overthrow capitalism but warns against overgeneralizing its strategies. Blanc critiques the myth of Bolshevik exceptionalism and the rigid organizational discipline often associated with Leninism, proposing instead a more flexible and inclusive approach to building socialist movements. By analyzing the experiences of socialist parties across the Russian Empire, particularly in Finland and Latvia, Blanc illustrates the effectiveness of uniting radical and moderate socialists within broader workers' parties. He argues that a strategy rooted in democratic socialism, adaptable to varying political contexts, offers a more viable path to socialist transformation than the insurrectionary models promoted by early Leninists. Blanc concludes that the key to advancing socialism lies in scaling up working-class and socialist organization through transformative reforms and democratic engagement, rather than adhering to prescriptive revolutionary strategies.

Transdisciplinary and systemic construction of a framework for assessing the sustainability of alternative food networks in Mexico City

ABSTRACT This paper describes and analyzes the process and results of the construction of a framework to assess the sustainability of alternative food networks in Mexico City, using a transdisciplinary and systemic approach. We generated a practical tool with twenty-two evaluation criteria linked to five themes: “care for nature and waste reduction;” “equity and economic viability;” “quality, diversity and local products;” “social equity, transparency and democracy,” and “learning and collaboration.” Our method allowed us to develop common languages and context-appropriate tools for sustainability assessment; identify trade-offs and leverage points; and promote collective learning in alternative food networks.