Editorial policy statement.

PositionEditorial

Renewal is a quarterly journal of politics and ideas, committed to exploring and expanding the progressive potential of social democracy.

Social democracy has always been a complex and contested political tradition. Renewal offers a space in which the historic purposes of social democracy--the expansion of equality, democratic governance, and social freedoms--can be debated, advanced, and applied to contemporary politics. The last three decades, lived under the shadow of neo-liberalism, have been testing ones for advocates of these objectives. But there are reasons to think that the politics of the next three decades can be different. Financial crisis, recession, and austerity have thrown into sharp relief the instability, unfair-ness, and cynicism of the neo-liberal era. Social democratic solutions, drawing on ancestral commitments to market regulation, social partnership, and the egalitarian sharing of benefits and burdens, are gaining greater purchase in public debate. But it will require careful thought and a bruising political struggle to move these commitments from oppositional discourse into a coherent and powerful political project capable of commanding public support and ultimately building a good society.

Renewal aims to provide a forum in which such a revitalised social democratic prospectus can be formulated and debated. To do so, it will span the realms of social action, academic research, political activism, and policy development. It will develop a critical analysis of existing conditions and current trends, but will also seek to uncover and connect to countervailing forces, emerging...

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