The Viability of Contemporary European Social Democracies
Over the past two decades Western Europe has experienced unprecedented socioeconomic changes. The European social democracies like Britain, Germany, France, Italy and others are struggling to modernize their economies and societies in the face of increasing capitalism and globalization. Decades of benefits under social democracy in the post-war era make many individuals skeptical of their government’s desire for change. Many who are opposed to social democracy see it as an undermining of the rights and protections of laborers and others against the wealthy and powerful who control the means of production and are members of the elite. Thomson (36) explains this to a degree by his explanation of the changing nature of capitalism from the Fordist model to the contemporary post-Fordist model “As capitalism has matured it has brought with it a series of innovations which have undermined the basis of social democracy to leave a post-Fordist economy that represents a change from full employment, high growth and increased equity to the niche production, high unemployment, low growth and hierarchical society of post-Fordism.” To these individuals the very existence of social democracy itself is jeopardized by the increasing trend toward competition and economics at the expense of social welfare and social goods.
That social democracy and social democrats are in jeopardy can be seen by the way that the left battles the right, labor battles power and wealth, entrenched religion battles progressive morality, and a host of other internal conflicts that exist in nearly every country in Western Europe. Yet, the new faith in free government and free markets that has spread around the globe is beginning to lose some of its veneer to those who view it as no more than rhetoric on top of capitalism and competition. Ever since Ronald Reagan cut the strings holdin
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