100 CHAPTER 4
TENSIONS WITHIN . . . SOCIALISM (2) Social democracy v. Third way ideological pragmatic
globalization
nation-state
information society
industrial society
community
class politics
market economy
mixed economy
full employability
full employment
meritocracy
concern for underdog
opportunity for all
social justice
promote inclusion
eradicate poverty
rights and responsibilities
social rights
welfare-to-work
cradle-to-grave welfare
competition/market state
social-reformist state
THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM For much of the twentieth century, it was widely accepted – by its enemies as well as its friends – that socialism and history marched hand in hand. The expansion of the franchise to include, over time, working-class voters gave a powerful impetus to the growth of democratic socialism. The 1917 Russian Revolution demonstrated the potency of revolutionary socialism, by leading to the creation of the world’s first socialist state. Socialism’s influence spread yet more widely in the aftermath ofWorldWar II. As orthodox communism spread throughout Eastern Europe and into China, Cuba and beyond, democratic socialist parties practising Keynesian social democracy often dominated the policy agenda, even, sometimes, converting liberal and conservative parties to ‘socialist- style’ thinking. However, the advance of socialism was reversed in the final decades of the twentieth century, most dramatically by the fall of communism but also by the retreat of social democratic parties in many parts of the world from traditional values. Since then, debate about the future of socialism has been dominated by the assumption that socialism is a spent force, a dead ideology. Those who argue that the difficult times socialism has experienced since the late twentieth century signal the end of socialism as a meaningful ideological force usually
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