Socialism - Europe -- Comparative government -- Social democracy - Europe

Indeks : p.306-309 ; p.278-305 ; This book compares and explores how social democratic government have had to adapt, and also whether they have successfully managed to uphold old social democratic goals and values in the light of these challenges. It examines the policy measures of social democratic parties in democratic goals and tools, in particular, fiscal, employment, and social policy, in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark. They identify three policy patterns in social democratic governments: traditional, modernized, and liberalized social democracy and provide a comparative account of the explanatory power of the national context for policy adopted by social democratic parties. In some cases differences in policy and performance between the six governments correspond to the programmatic position of the social democratic party, they are primarily attributable - in this order - to the specific structure of national party competition, to the behaviour of trade unions, and to institutional veto points.