The fate of social democracy: Interview with Adam Przeworski
Renewal - ISSN 0968-5211
Volume 31 Number 4 (2023)
The fate of social democracy: Interview with Adam Przeworski
David Klemperer pages 11-17
Abstract
Adam Przeworski is a Polish-American political scientist whose work has provided important insights into the dynamics of social democratic politics over the course of the twentieth century and beyond. In his books Capitalism and Social Democracy (1985), and Paper Stones: A History of Electoral Socialism (1990) (co-written with John Sprague), Przeworski explored the prospects of social democracy by examining the strategic dilemmas faced by social democratic parties throughout their history. Adopting a rational choice approach, Przeworski argued that the choices social democratic parties made were the product of external constraints. Specifically, he identified the electoral constraints imposed by the need to appeal to voters outside of the working class, and the economic constraints imposed by the necessity of maintaining growth. From his analysis of the trade-offs these constraints produced, Przeworski pessimistically concluded that ‘Social democrats will not lead European societies into socialism’.
To cite this article
David Klemperer (2023) The fate of social democracy: Interview with Adam Przeworski, Renewal, 31(4), 11-17