| Abstract: | This article looks at the political economy of social democraticeconomic policies. It focuses on those policies that seek toextend democracy to the social and economic spheres and examineswhy such experiments have met with limited success in the past.It compares external constraints on the viability of such policies,such as the freedom of capital movements and globalization,with internal constraints. Since social democratic policiesrely on promoting coordination and cooperation between economicagents and groups, it is argued that an important, but oftenneglected, internal constraint is the extent to which socialdemocracy can draw upon, or, if they are lacking, foster thoseinstitutions within society which promote coordination and cooperation.The paper examines in detail the social democratic experienceof PASOK in Greece and draws some conclusions for the widerrelevance of the future viability of social democratic economicpolicies. |
