International Concerns of European Social Democrats

240 Pages·1997·23.263 MB·English

by  B. Vivekanandan (auth.)

INTERNATIONAL CONCERNS OF EUROPEAN
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS
Also by B. Vivekanandan
AS THE MIND UNFOLDS: Issues and Personalities (editor)
CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM: An Analysis (co-editor)
ECHOES IN PARLIAMENT: Madhu Dandavate's Speeches (editor)
PATHFINDERS: Social Democrats of Scandinavia
THE ISSUES OF OUR TIM ES (editor)
THE MODERN COMMONWEALTH
THE SHRINKING CIRCLE: Commonwealth in British Foreign Policy,
1945-1974
International Concerns
of European Social
Democrats
B. Vivekanandan
Professor ofWestern European Studies
School of International Studies
lawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi
Foreword by Kalevi Sorsa
former Prime Minister ofFinland
First published in Great Britain 1997 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-25775-1 ISBN 978-1-349-25773-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-25773-7
First published in the United States of America 1997 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-17581-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vivekanandan, B.
International concerns of European Social Democrats / B.
Vivekanandan ; foreword by Kalevi Sorsa.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-17581-8 (cloth)
I. Socialism-Europe. 2. Socialism-International cooperation.
3. International economic relations. 4. Sustainable development.
5. World politics-1945- I. Title.
HX238.5.V59 1997
335-{!c21 97-9325
CIP
© B. Vivekanandan 1997
Foreword © Kalevi Sorsa 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1997
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be Iiable to
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with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97
Dedicated to
my beloved mother
MEENAKSHI
who is no more
Contents
Foreword by Kalevi Sorsa viii
Preface and Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction
2 The Economic Dimension 17
3 International Peace and Security 71
4 Liberation Struggles 105
5 Environmental Issues 132
6 The Way Ahead 166
Notes 183
Bibliography 203
Index 212
Foreword
In producing this survey of European social democracy at a time when that
international ideological movement is the subject of lively discussion,
Professor Vivekanandan has given us a piece of research that is clearly of
great significance.
From the wider perspective ofthe outsider, he has been able to make some
poignant observations which would not register so clearly in the more
myopic perspective of the insider. The backdrop for this highly readable text
is an extensive body of documentation and many personal interviews with
leading European Social Democrats. This formidable work is a valuable
contribution to contemporary political history.
Professor Vivekanandan concentrates his analysis on four essential areas
of the subject at hand: the international economy, international peace and
security, liberation struggles, and environmental issues. Because all of these
are global problem areas, the work provides a survey of the specific policy
approaches of European Social Democratic parties to problems that are
crucial from the viewpoint of the developing countries. Behind this lies a
question: Does Social Democracy have answers for the topical issues of many
of the developing countries, in terms of both ideological content and practical
political action?
It is noteworthy that European Social Democracy turns out, in light of
Professor Vivekanandan' s analysis, to be surprisingly harmonious, given that
cooperation between the parties is completely free of coercion and press ure.
Only the French Socialist Party appears to be swimming against the tide of
the mainstream along the national interests, and then only with respect to a
couple of issues - disarmament and liberation struggles.
The relative uniformity of the political agendas across the different parts
of Europe is another of the surprising insights of Professor Vivekanandan.
The c1ear message in this is that despite their societal differences, Western
Europeans are for the most part in the same stage of development, which
means that their attitudes and problems are also much the same.
Today, European Social Democracy offers a mixed bag of prospects from
the standpoint of socio-economic as weil as international political
considerations. Just when the welfare state has been built up in the northern
area ofWestern Europe to such a degree that political discussion is concerned
about whether the build-up should continue or whether some parts of the
edifice should actually be dismantled, the southern region of the continent
VIII
Foreword ix
stilJ has the demanding task of completing the safety net. In this setting, the
different Social Democratic parties face widely differing chalJenges.
Nonetheless, there are common problems. The economic and political
unification ofWestern Europe within the frame ofthe European Union (EU)
is a concrete manifestation of Socialists' century-old call for cooperation
between peoples of different nations. Because of the political needs that have
arisen in the new environment, the parties of the EU countries have joined
together in a single, unified European Social Democratic Party. The party
is drafting a European agenda for Social Democratic policy, which will
replace the former multiplicity of national programmes in regard to
European issues.
This will moreover force ideologues to come together on a number of issues,
on which they could formerly disagree, within the looser context of the
Socialist International, without disrupting their various cooperative
endeavours. Now they must forge common policies even on these issues.
That this will not come about completely without problems is seen, for
example, in the fact that even within the Social Democratic movements in
each of the new member states - Austria, Finland and Sweden - apart of
the membership opposed membership itself.
But such is always the case: dreams that have been fulfilled are no longer
dreams. Instead, they contain all the things that belong to the everyday
reality, inc1uding the difficulties and the confIicts.
The problems facing the Social Democrats of the East European countries
are of a very different nature. If the collapse of centralized Leninist socialism
based on the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' soiled - unfairly - even the
reputation of democratic socialists, in Eastern Europe it initially seemed as
though Social Democracy was apriori dead and buried - so complete was
the newly freed peoples' rejection of socialism and even of the sense of
community. But folJowing the swings from one value-extreme to another,
the political pendulum is now coming to rest in a more normal position:
Socialist parties that have shaken off the Communist stigma have returned
to power in Hungary, Poland and Lithuania. And we are watching with
interest the Iike-minded democratic trends in Bulgaria and Romania. In
Russia party Iines have not yet been c1early drawn, but interest in social
democracy is evident not only in the traditional Social Democratic party but
among a number of other political groups.
Overall, it now appears that Social Democracy is making a strong comeback
also in Eastern Europe, after decades of suffocation under Communist
dictatorships.
If, during the last decade, international Social Democracy was marked by
vigorous expansion in Latin America, it appears that the 1990s will see Africa
x International Concerns 0/ European Sodal Democrats
conquered. Also in the Islamic world and in Asia, one sees a growing interest
in this movement for human equality, solidarity and freedom, but we will
probably have to wait until the next century before areal breakthrough
occurs there.
* * *
Globalization of the movement and technological revolution pose new
problems to international Social Democracy. Along what lines should
international cooperation be developed so that peace can be guaranteed for
all and so that life in the developing countries can become worthy of human
beings? How can modem society guarantee security andjoy ofliving to people
who live in an ever more rapidly changing world? How can one protect
spiritual freedom of people in an era of mass media and effective brainwashing
techniques? How can the necessity of growth be reconciled with the necessity
of saving nature? How can we get rid of cultural inequality?
I turn first to the question of the environment. To classical socialists, this
was a non-problem. On the contrary, they biblically proclaimed that the new
movement might weil beat capitalism in subduing nature to best advantage.
Only socialism could finally make man the lord of the creation. In Communist
countries the feedback channels were closed to the people as weil as the
markets, consequently the destruction of nature reached proportions that were
beyond belief, and only now that the system itself has collapsed is the
destruction beginning to slow down.
In Finland the Social Democrats approved their first environmental
programme already in 1969, that is, before the Club ofRome' s epochal report.
But in truth, it must be admitted that the Social Democratic movement has
not always and everywhere been a vanguard of the environmental movement.
Often it has been so preoccupied with issues of social development that it
has not paid sufficient attention to the limits that are set by nature.
Nowadays, however, as Professor Vivekanandan shows, Social Democrats
are among the key groups involved in environmental policy.
On the other hand, the enormous strides that are being taken in productivity
enhancement through rationalization, automation, computerization and
telecom-technology, along with the roadblocks to economic growth that
have surfaced in many countries, have led to unprecedentedly deep and
persistent unemployment in Europe. The solution may lie in aredistribution
of work by shortening working hours, as has been done at many stages of
technological advance in the past.
A third problem is the weakening of government and politics in general.
Although Social Democrats have never believed in the omnipotence of