Who killed the European Social Democracy?

Social democracy, the most influential force in European politics for decades, is dying. The result of this death can be fragmentation, instability and political paralysis.

In recent months, social-democratic parties have been left without power in the Czech Republic, Austria, France and the Netherlands.

On Sunday, Italy's Democratic Party is able to receive poor results in national elections, finishing behind former Prime Minister Berlusconi's right-wing coalition and the 5star Anti-Establiment Movement. Among the 28 EU member states, only Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden remain under a social-democratic leadership.

Meanwhile, German Social Democratic Party membership [ The SPD, which was once dominant force, is still recovering from the embarrassing column in the September elections, voting for another major coalition with Angela Merkel conservatives.

It's a bad “decision if you do it, bad if you do it”. Opponents fear the movement will only accelerate the party's decline. Supporters are making a similar prediction: A “vote not” would probably lead the country to new elections where they would get an even worse result.

Since World War I, social-democracy has remained, along with the centre-right, as one of the two pillars of European democracy. It is a decline, coupled with the growing population of both the left and the right, that can leave the continent's policy in a unstable and unpredictable state.

In some countries, including Germany, the social-democrat de facto regime could lead to a party of de facto, with a dominant party in the centre facing smaller ones at the edges.

The religiousisation of social-democracy can also have deep reactions for the EU and its institutions, where the two largest parties have made decisions for decades in a major, informal and continuous coalition.

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The last wave of electoral losses has thrown the crisis of movement into a sudden relief, although procrastination has long ruined it. Many blame the economic and financial crisis that began in 2008 and caught governments unprepared. But while resistance to authenticity fostered the decline of social democracy, the roots of evil must be sought much earlier.

“The weakening of political left has been creating a long time ago,” argued Jan Rovny, a politician at Sciences Yes in Paris. The “is caused mainly by structural and technological changes that have changed the face of European societies, changed the continent's features, and given a renewed force to ID policies. ”

Some believe that the time of economic liberalisation that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall sowed the seeds of socialocracy's collapse.

It was the policy time of the third <x0 Street” that was promoted by labist Tony Blair and SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. These two were convinced that social-democrats loved modern reform, especially becoming more friendly with the market. Other European parties followed their path.

Some saw the movement, not as recovery, but as treason. After many decades of being sheltered in the warm bonds of postwar states in Europe, workers found themselves exposed to the harsh global market.

Germany, the birthplace of social democracy, simplified the movement. “Agent 2010, ” of Schroeder, a set of reforms that lifted many of the social services the Germans received as guaranteed, split the party and lost the elections in 2005.

The SPD has never led the government since. In 1998, the party received more than 40% of the vote. Last September, he won only 20.5%. The largest traditional SPD base has slipped into Die Linke, an extreme left movement. “The SPD never overcame the 2010 Aegean trauma,” said Albrecht von Luce, a prominent German writer and politician.

The victim of her success

So, as of now, the question is what social democracy could have done differently.

Although critics are quick to blame Schroder and Blair, most of the economists of the day say Europe had become more uncompetive and over-indebted. Consensus: The economy is revised and the budget is cut.

Few people said that reliance on spiral deficits to finance welfare countries was stable. Even fewer domestic dangers in embracing the market.

To put it simply, prosperity is killing social democracy.

“People do not see any great difference between major parties in” Kevin Kuehnert, SPD

The basic ideas of the movement a generation state of well-being with health, education and pension for all has been achieved forever, helping Europeans pass through high-class proletariat. In many countries today, a common Social Democrat is as likely to have white - as - blue collars.

Furthermore, technology has forever changed the nature of employment. Industrial workers' Unions once the social-democrat parties have disappeared, leaving the movement to follow members of the middle class.

As a result, the missing Social Democracy has lost éraison and hers. In the German campaign, the party could not find a central topic, finally placing itself on justice. For many, the slogan sounded annoying.

“All parties are pro-European. Where's the hard profile? ”

Kuehner and other leftist SPD mothers want the party to do more to increase the wages of those who receive little, for working mothers and others similar. But at the time of rapid economic growth and a decline in unemployment, the audience for such a thing is small.

“Return to right”

And it's a full field. Over the years, centrist social democracy policies have fascinated the growth of every number of leftist parties, from progressive movement like Green to populist groups like Podemos in Spain, which voters have not wanted. This fragmentation shows why an area to the left of social democracy, as it did with UK Laborists with Jeremy Corbyin, does not function in most countries.

And even greater danger is extreme right. In countries such as France and Austria, social-democrats have given impetus to the establishment of twin populists. Social-democracy support for genetic asylum and immigration regulations is written on the DNA of the internationalist movement. But it is a position that most Social Democrats do not support.

The constant flight of immigrants in recent decades associated with the refugee crisis in Europe has discouraged many voters who receive small packages. While some worry about losing their jobs by cheaper workers, others worry about the impact they will have on their national culture and identity.

Parties like the National Front and Alternatives for Germany feed on such fears. The Social Democratia still needs to find a successful strategy to attack such an institution.

“We are seeing a turn to the right, for which the left-wing parties have no response,” said von Luce.

The recent successes of charismatic politicians like Emmanuel Macroni in France or Sebastian Kurzi in Austria have given rise to hope for European Social Democrats, which, despite the challenges we may face, a right personality may emerge.

Mateo Renzie in Italy shows this is not possible. Once founded as the future of the European Social Democracy, Renz's star has set.

Renzi won more than 40% of the vote in 2014, with promise to revive Italy's stable economy. Many Italians hoped for a return to the ancient golden days.

It wasn't written. His democratic party failed to keep its economic promises. Although the economy improved slightly, most Italians do not feel benefits.

Under the careful look of the EU and the European Central Bank, the government cannot simply spend ways to solve problems as it has done in the past.

As in other European countries, frustrated voters in Italy will flock to populists. Renzi's DP is expected to receive less than 20% on Sunday. Its chances of having any role in the future government depend on Silvio Berlusconi's possibility of getting enough votes to form a large coalition.

However, some monitoring argue that the same global quake that fuelled the crisis on the left of the centre can also prove its values as political force.

“Ende has a role for social-democracy in Europe,” insisted Michael Browning, analyst with Friedri ch-Ebert-Stiftung, a foundation supported by German SPD.

The problem is that Social Democrat parties have forgotten how to mobilise.” He added it. “Once they figure out how to do that, there's still a lot to do. ”

♪ Periscope