Social Europe, the road not taken : : the left and European integration in the long 1970s / / Aurélie Dianara Andry.

• Superior document: Oxford scholarship online
• VerfasserIn: Andry, Aurélie Dianara,
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford, UK : : Oxford University Press,, [2023]; ©2023
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: First edition.
• Language: English
• Series: Oxford Academic.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (287 pages)
• Notes: Also issued in print: 2022.; "This is an open access publication, available online and distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND)".

This book examines the European Left's attempt to think and give shape to an alternative type of European integration-a 'social Europe'-during the long 1970s. Based on fresh archival research, it shows that the western European Left-in particular, social democratic parties, trade unions, and to a lesser extent 'Eurocommunist' parties-formulated a broad project to turn 'capitalist Europe' into a 'workers' Europe'. This alternative model of European unity favoured coordinated measures for wealth redistribution, market regulation, a democratization of the economy and of European institutions, upward harmonization of social and fiscal systems, more inclusive welfare regimes, guaranteed employment, economic and social planning with greater consideration for the environment, increased public spending to meet collective needs, greater control of capital flows and multinational corporations, a reduction in working time, and a fairer international economic order favouring the global South. During the pivotal years following 1968, deeply marked by labour militancy, new social movements, economic crisis, and the unmaking of the 'postwar compromise', a window of opportunity opened in which European integration could have taken different roads. The defeat of 'social Europe' was a result of a decade-long social conflict which ended with the affirmation of a neoliberal Europe. Investigating this forgotten power struggle and the reasons of its defeat can be useful not just to scholars and students eager to understand the historical evolution of European integration, the European Left, and European capitalism, but also to anyone interested in building alternative European and global futures.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Social Europe, the Road Not Taken -- Why This Forgotten Struggle Matters -- Methodology and Book Structure -- 1. The 'Social Dimension' of Postwar Europe -- The European Rescue of 'Welfare Capitalism' -- Liberalism, Social Welfare, and the Treaty of Rome -- Socialism and European Integration -- 2. 1968, 1969: Social Protest, European 'Revival' -- The Spirit of 1968 and Europe's Social Deficit -- The Left's (Crippled) European Turn -- The Hague, 1969: European Revival and Social Policy -- 3. A New Social Wind -- False New Start -- Europe Goes Left -- Enlargement and 'Socialist Europe' -- The 1972 Paris Summit: Economic, Monetary, and 'Social Union'? -- 4. 'For a Social Europe' -- Socialism through Europe -- The Socialists' 'Theses for a Social Europe' -- The Social Action Programme -- 5. There Were Alternatives -- European Socialism Turns Left -- Beyond Capitalist Planning -- A Socialist Alternative to Neoliberal Europe? -- European Trade Unions beyond Keynes -- 6. The Defeat -- Dropping the 'European Social Union' -- Trying Eurocorporatism -- Takin' It to the Streets -- Renouncing Economic Democracy -- Coup de Grâce -- Epilogue: The Road Taken -- The Other 'Social Europe' -- Reasons for the Defeat -- Bibliography -- Index.