The Dutch political laboratory is alive and kicking. Populist actors may have taken past headlines but the election marked the dramatic return of the pro-European centre ground. ‘The political centre is back’, ‘Again the purple coalition of red and blue’, ‘Voters want cooperation. Not polarisation’: these are some of the headlines of Dutch newspapers the […]
Beyond the Sunday Rhetoric of Social Democratic Basic Values
We have entered an age of fear. Insecurity is once again an active ingredient of political life in Western democracies. Insecurity born of terrorism, but also, and more insidiously, fear of the uncontrollable speed of change, fear of the loss of employment, fear of losing ground to others in an increasingly unequal distribution of resources, […]
The European Paradox: Brussels Must Become More ‘European’
Yet again historians, sociologists, cultural studies academics, and political scientists betray their academic duty. Previously they’ve shied away, in numbers far too big for comfort, from the problems of immigration, integration and Islam. They became traitors to their own expert knowledge on human society by failing to, in a timely and loud fashion, single out […]
A Bazooka Against the European Electorate
And again, historians, sociologists, cultural studies academics and political scientists betray their academic duty. Earlier, they shied away from the problems of immigration, integration and Islam en masse. They turned traitor to their expert knowledge of human society by failing to signal the shadow sides of multicultural integration in a loud and timely manner. They […]
Europe’s Burning House
What to do when pyromaniacs are extinguishing a house on fire? A house that has been set on fire by themselves. Do you leave them in peace or do you call them to order? That is one of the painful dilemmas of the contemporary eurocrisis. The metaphor of the EU as a burning house derives […]
Eurozone Blues
In the Netherlands and Germany the left is propping up governing coalitions on the right in support of the eurozone. But are they getting a good deal in light of ongoing right-wing austerity politics? Pinned down by the eurocrisis, both the social democratic PvdA in the Netherlands and the SPD in Germany are caught in […]
The Euro is Destroying Europe
The Finns claim Greek islands, the Poles denounce the authoritarian dictate of France and Germany, the Dutch criticize the fiscal ethics of the Greek, and the Germans are agitated about the French pension age. This is asking for big trouble. The rescue operation for the euro pits national populations against each other instead of reconciling […]
The Party Paradox
There are two tales about party politics. In the first, political parties are moribund, if not on their last legs. Parties are said to have been in crisis or decline for decades and are believed to have lost virtually all their functions to the courts, the bureaucracy, the media, or powerful social organizations. Parties supposedly […]
Why was the Left trapped into Multiculturalism?
When and why has the left become so culturalist, stressing essentialist notions of identity and the value of frozen group cultures? How come that the left, which was always in the egalitarian-equality business, have become so obsessed with difference, diversity and cultural inequalities? How is it possible that progressive liberals, who are ethical individualists, turn […]
The Refreshed Social Democracy that came in from the Norwegian Cold
Memos to the Left for the Progressive Governance Conference in Oslo, 12-13 May ‘’The 21st is the century of empowered citizens. The last thing they want is to be told what to do. If modern social democrats fall prey to the conservative politics of paternalism, upset citizens will extract their revenge at the voting booth. […]
Tough on Populism and the Causes of Populism
Nearly everywhere, it seems, there’s a populist revolt against established politics. From the True Finns in Finland, to the Front National 2.0 in France, to the Tea Party movement in America, and to the Sarrazin-upheaval in Germany the populist revolt continues. But what are the common causes? Why is it happening? Why now? What is […]
The ‘Pact for the Euro’ will Produce an Anti-European Backlash
Europe is a pain in the ass for European social democracy. It represents one of those ‘dossiers’ which cause in a dramatic and existential way a split in two of its core constituencies: the internationalist academic professionals on the one hand, strongly in favour of and connected to European politics, versus the traditional constituencies, negatively […]
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