Duke University Press - What's Left of the Left

“[D]istinguished scholars offer reflections on the past struggles and accomplishments of left-leaning parties in Europe and the United States and speculate about their future. . . . The book makes the important point that as advanced societies navigate the current moment of global economic uncertainty, liberals and social democrats have a new opportunity to regroup and rethink policies that promote economic security and social justice.” — G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

“This book provides a timely update of much of this literature… that will be of particular use to students seeking to get up to speed with the empirical and historical development of social democracy in these particular concrete contexts. Most of the chapters also bring this concrete discussion further up to date than it currently is in most other existing literature on social democratic parties.” — David Bailey, West European Politics

"In addition to its historical scope, What’s Left sets itself apart from the rest of its genre by including three chapters on the U.S. (regarding the Democratic Party’s evolving coalition, the American welfare state, and U.S. trade policy), making the point that the experiences of the American and European lefts are similar enough that the 'Democrats and social democrats' of the book’s subtitle have much to learn from one another." — Geoffrey Kurtz, Logos

“What’s Left of the Left provides the best synthetic overview available of center-left parties in Europe and the United States. Focusing on their development and fortunes since the 1970s, this collection fills a striking gap in the literature in a knowledgeable and informative way” — Peter A. Hall, coeditor of Changing France: The Politics That Markets Make

“This is an important book. It is thorough. It is balanced. It is judicious. Its verdict on the prospects for the left is severe and offers no consolation prizes, yet it makes no facile predictions. It locates the present crisis of the left in a wider perspective, with a series of intelligent comparative essays buttressed by equally intelligent essays focusing on specific regions or issues. It pays abundant attention, as it should, to the United States, too often overlooked in such surveys. Above all, it refuses to simplify complex issues and complex problems.” — Donald Sassoon, author of One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century