In this excellent book, Newell offers a sharp and compelling analysis shedding a critical light on the relationship between European integration and the crisis of social democracy.´
-Arianna Giovannini, Associate Professor of Local Politics and Public Policy, De Montfort University, UK
Lucidly written, and with a keen grasp of historical detail and comparative example, this is a fascinating book, essential for understanding the European left´s past and future.´
-Luke March, Professor of Post-Soviet and Comparative Politics, University of Edinburgh, UK
Admirably weaving three (red) threads - Brexit; European integration; the attitudes and policies of left-wing parties - Newell has written a highly commendable book.´
-Gianfranco Pasquino, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Bologna, Italy
This is a book about European integration andmainstream parties of the left, the main underlying question driving it being: Given that the communist left was fatally wounded by the collapse of the Berlin Wall; given that, since then, the terms left´ and right´ have not infrequently been attacked (especially by populists) as being no longer useful for making sense of politics; given that social democracy, understood as national Keynesianism´ no longer appears to be viable (as reflected in its long-term electoral decline), what does it mean to be on the left in the early 21st century and what can be done to revive its fortunes? Its answer is that being on the left means embracing principles of equality and international solidarity, and that since the nation state is too small to respond effectively to climate change and the other most pressing issues of the present, no viable strategy for left-wing revival in Europe can dispense with European integration as a central element, of which European democratisation is a core component.
James L. Newell is former Professor of Politics at the University of Salford, UK, and currently Adjunct Professor of Politics at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy.
