Connected Transitions: Social Democratic Party Networks and the Crisis of the Keynesian Compromise in Europe

Project Information

EUROSOCIAL

Grant agreement ID: 704507

DOI

10.3030/704507

Project closed

EC signature date 3 March 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 December 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 173 076,00

EU contribution

€ 173 076,00

Coordinated by

FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUROSOCIAL (Connected Transitions: Social Democratic Party Networks and the Crisis of the Keynesian Compromise in Europe)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2018-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The 1970s are widely considered in historiography as a turning point in European and international history. Amid major social and cultural shifts, the decade witnessed the crisis of the post-World War II patterns of ‘embedded liberalism’, economic growth and state interventionism, and set the stage for the emergence of a new globalisation process that would redefine the concept of national sovereignty.
This project investigates these processes from the point of view of the European social democratic movement. A leading political force in many European countries for most of the decade, the social democrats were hard hit by the emerging new conditions, which called them to revise their programmes and approaches. The research focuses on three main aspects of their response to the crisis of the postwar ‘Keynesian compromises’: A) Social democracy as a transnational political force: it investigates the exchange of ideas and the transfer of policy strategies, the learning processes and the ideological conflicts that took place within the social democratic networks. B) The European Left as a key variable of the international history of the 1970s and 1980s: it focuses on the alteration of the ideological, political and economic relations between the two blocs and within each one of them, the evolution of social democracy’s transatlantic partnership, the impact of globalisation. C) Social democracy and European integration: it examines the new debates on (and contributions to) the development of the European Community that emerged during these years in connection with the economic crisis, globalisation and the difficulties of national reformism.
As a final result, this project aims at providing a highly innovative transnational narrative of the social democratic response to the challenges of the 1970s, consistent with the most recent trends in international political history.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the project I conducted a broad multi-archival research on sources located in several European countries and in the US (available in paper or – far less often – digitised format). In Europe, I examined a) Archives of political parties and organisations: the socialist/social democratic/Labour parties of France, Germany, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal and Italy; archives of the Socialist International and of the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community; archives of socialist personalities; b) British National Archives and archives of social democratic prime ministers (Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt, Joop den Uyl, Bettino Craxi); c) Archives of European institutions at the European University Institute. In the US I worked on foreign relations papers at the National Archives at College Park, MD; in the archives of the AFL-CIO; and in the presidential libraries of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. I also worked on socialist journals and magazines and performed an extensive literature review.
As a result of this research, I presented papers in twelve conferences and seminars. I wrote two journal articles, which were both accepted for publication, and two book chapters. I organised two monthly seminars, two workshops, a summer school and a conference on topics related to my research.
In addition to this, I taught courses in my host institution and engaged in several networking and dissemination activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The collection of this vast array of sources is allowing me to provide an innovative narrative of the social democratic perspective on the ‘shock of the global’ of the 1970s and on the crisis of the postwar equilibria in Europe. While some studies have emerged on these topics since the drafting of my proposal in 2015, EUROSOCIAL is, to my knowledge, the research that takes into account the broadest documentary base. In particular, this study is the first one to systematically employ US governmental sources for the analysis of this phase of the history of European social democratic parties. I have also paid special attention to the epistemological aspects of my research, and to the broader issue of the relations between social democratic internationalism, international relations, and the transnational and global ‘turns’ in historical studies. From this point of view, this research can also contribute to the historiographical debate on the renewal of political history. To sum up, this research contributes to the existing literature by: a) providing a broader and more detailed account of the transnational cooperation and debate among social democratic parties; b) crossing different sources in order to assess the role social democratic parties played as non-state actors that operated in the international arena; c) providing an innovative approach to political history, informed by a thorough reflection on the transnational and global ‘turns’ in historiography; d) offering a new perspective on the relationship between the ‘shock of the global’ and the strengthening of European cooperation.

At the same time, the questions discussed by this research are crucial to contemporary political and societal debates: globalisation and the transformation of national political-economic governance, intra-European policy transfers, transnational cooperation and solidarity, Euro-American relations all are issues that are now at the centre of the attention of governments, media and citizens alike. By studying the origins of contemporary phenomena and difficulties, the project aims to contribute to an informed debate on these question. During the fellowship I had the chance to discuss this link between past and present with representatives of cultural and political foundations and with policymakers. I was also invited to comment on present-day politics by French media, as well as to present the findings of my research to non-academic audiences. I therefore believe this project has the potential to interest a wider public and to spread awareness about globalisation and international cooperation, in accordance with one of the societal challenges outlined in Horizon 2020, ‘Europe in a changing world’, which aims at ‘supporting inclusive, innovative and reflective European societies’.

Workshop Poster