The Renewal of Social Democracy

The Amsterdam Process

Today social democracy is suspended between embarrassment and complacency. The financial crisis of 2008 has not served as the definitive clarion call for centre-left governance, but rather exposed an ideological vacuum in social democratic thinking and the low levels of confidence in centre-left parties and their governing ideas.

European social democracy is thus in desperate need of a period of ideological reconstruction underpinned by genuinely fresh ideas and transformative policies. It has to confront the fundamental causes of its vulnerability, loss of trust and élan in past years.

To this end, Policy Network and the Wiardi Beckman Stichting have initiated a new and ambitious process of reflection and strategic thinking which will focus on the following five thematic clusters: the social democratic idea in the 21st century; demographics, constituency and coalitions; political economy and welfare state reform; identity, community and culture; and European integration.

The project seeks to:

• Bring together an "avant-garde group" of individuals and organisations from across Europe to analyse the roots of the long-term structural decline of European social democracy.
• Facilitate a new round of ideological renewal and revisionism capable of overcoming traditionalist inertia as well as the mistakes made during the latest revisionist projects, such as the “Third Way”.
• Publish a series of papers and edited volumes underpinned by original research from top academics and experts who will identify and address the key political and policy dilemmas the centre-left is currently facing.
• Seek the direct involvement of senior experts and policymakers from countries outside Europe where the success of the centre-left offers a number of compelling lessons for European social democracy.
• Open up to wider developments in the world of ideas and confront new societal trends with bold answers, appealing to traditional constituencies and new progressive generations.