The Death and Life of the Center-Left

Robert Kuttner (Brandeis University), Will Hutton (Academy of Social Sciences), Stephanie Rickard (LSE)

Wednesday 07 May 2025 18:30 - 20:00

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About this event

Since the 1990s, progressive parties have tended to combine globalist neoliberal policies with avant-garde social views. Life steadily became more precarious for large numbers of working people, who lost confidence in traditional left-of-center parties. Economically stressed and culturally conservative lower- and middle-income voters found themselves no political champion and turned increasingly to the nationalist, authoritarian right.

This trend is in drastic contrast to the economics of the postwar boom, when the center-left and center-right shared basic assumptions about how to manage and regulate capitalism. Global trade and migration expanded at a socially bearable pace that did not undermine national social contracts. The politics of that era produced economic security for ordinary people and strengthened democratic institutions.

With the loss of confidence in both center-left parties and in democracy itself, what is a conceivable road back to building a society that is both dynamic and secure, and that restores a believable center-left?

Speakers

Will Hutton (@williamnhutton) is a political economist, author, think tank and academic leader and columnist. He is currently President of the Academy of Social Sciences (since 2021) regular columnist for the Observer (since 1996) and co-chairs the Purposeful Company (since 2015) – a think tank who argues that companies’ intrinsic purpose should drive their strategy, values and ultimately profit.

Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine. He was a longtime columnist for BusinessWeek and The Boston Globe. He was a founder of the Economic Policy Institute and serves on its board. Kuttner is author of twelve books, including the 2008 New York Times bestseller, Obama's Challenge: American's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency.

Stephanie J Rickard (@sjrickard.bsky.social) is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Government at LSE. For over fifteen years, she has researched issues related to the international political economy, including trade agreements and international financial rescues. In her award-winning book, Spending to Win, Rickard investigates how economic geography influences countries' economic policies and international economic relations.

Chair: Jonathan Hopkin is Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Government and European Institute at LSE. He is the author of Party Formation and Democratic Transition in Spain and Anti-System Politics: The Crisis of Market Liberalism in Rich Democracies.

This event is organised by the LSE Programme on Cohesive Capitalism

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For further information please contact Lubala Chibwe by email: l.chibwe@lse.ac.uk.