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"This insightful text rigorously examines and accounts for contemporary developments - and crucially a reversal of 'democraticness' - in democratic polities and related political processes comparing 38 democracies across the world. The focus is on contemporary developments and recent volatile levels of democraticness. Democracies in Peril? introduces theoretical backgrounds of what makes democracy tick and scrutinizes empirical trends and development in 'democraticness' in an accessible manner. It explores what 'democracy' as a political regime implies and how the liberal democratic model developed, as well as examining the present state of affairs in democracies, the challenges democracies encounter and the perils of democracy as a legitimate system of governance in the 21st century. The book provides a 'systemic' approach to adjudicate the effects of this assumed reversal in democratization in terms of popular preferences, party behaviour, institutional architecture and policy performance. The effects of public policy formation and the role of the state on actual democratic performance are also analysed. Finally, case studies on the Covid pandemic and the development of social welfare demonstrate the complex relationship between government capacities - under pressure - and the quality of democracy, approaching the question: How do 38 democratic states cope with societal problems, populist tendencies and a fast-changing world without degrading their institutional quality and legitimacy? This text will be of key interest to students, scholars, journalists and interested readers of comparative politics, democratization, public administration, political economy, constitutional law, and the social sciences in general"--

chapter 1 Understanding Social Democracy: a comparative analysis of the 'Left' in the 'West' -- chapter 2 Democratisation of the state and the emergence of Social Democracy as a party -- chapter 3 Social Democratic ideology and values: the welfare state as a project or a model -- chapter 4 Party system dynamics and party competition: the electoral struggle for political power -- chapter 5 Social Democratic government participation and the use of state powers -- chapter 6 The use of public powers: Social Democratic policy formation and policy performance -- chapter 7 Searching for a new direction: Third Ways, Europe and globalisation -- chapter 8 Varieties of Social Democracy: pathways to power and mission performance.

"The Social Democratic party family is a central part of political life in the West. This book focuses on this party family as well as a unique political force in the industrialised world. It provides a critical comparative survey of when, where, how and why Social Democracy developed within established capitalist democracies. The book explains the electoral fortunes of Social Democratic parties, the influence of the party system dynamics and co-operation between parties in government. It examines the ideological tensions within Social Democratic parties between socialists and reformists and its ramifications for pursuing a ́ 'better and kindeŕ'; world. This study also discusses the recent state of affairs and its mission in the 21st century. The book features a comparative analysis of 21 cases from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the United States. It will be of key interest to students and scholars of public policy, comparative politics, party politics and democracy studies."--Provided by publisher

Democracy is the most widely used way of organizing politics in the contemporary world. Comparative Democratic Politics brings together a team of renowned international scholars to provide a comprehensive review of theory and research in this essential area of comparative study. Four major themes covered are: · the contribution of comparative politics as a distinct field within political science to our understanding of democracy, democratic politics and democratic theory · what we can learn from a comparative analysis of the role, functioning and behaviour of the principal actors (electorate, parties and institutions) across nations · the relationship between politics and public policy formation and processes of democratic decision-making and corresponding policy-making capacity · how we measure contemporary democracy or democratic performance in both a procedural and material sense. Comparative Democratic Politics will be essential reading for all students and academics of political science and public policy.

The Politics of Problem-solving in Postwar Democracies focuses explicitly on the way in which and the extent to which public policy formation in multi-party systems can be both effective and legitimate; effective in finding solutions for societal problems which are beyond the citizens capacity; and legitimate in formulating policies that are acceptable to most involved. Cross-national variations in the way political institutions work and can be conducive to political consensus and cooperative behaviour are - so it is argued and evidenced throughout the book - the key factors for successful policy-making and related problem-solving

This Research Note investigates the extent to which social democracy has changed in Europe and Australia as a result of the introduction of the 'Third Way'. In the next section, I discuss the programmatic change made by social democratic parties with respect to the welfare state and economic management, issues that have always been considered their core business. In the following section, the shift from the ideology of the traditional welfare state to the ideas of the so-called social investment state, as part of the Third Way ideas, will be explored. Finally, I shall address to what extent this change in ideology has been influenced by the vote-seeking and office-seeking behaviour of social democratic parties. Adapted from the source document.