Decline of European Social Democracy featuring JMC Alumnus Dr. Georg Menz

Mon, April 11, 2022 5:00 PM at Club Spartan (3rd Floor, Case Hall)

European Social Democracy is in demise. Its electoral fortunes are fading and the once mighty catch-all parties of the center-left are shedding voters to the new upstart parties from the Far Right and Far Left. What can account for this dire state of affairs? In this talk, six core factors for the malaise of the European center-left parties are explored. In order to explain the demise and the lack of appeal of these parties, we will look at the decline of the working class, the withering of the link to blue collar workers, programmatic lack of clarity and an unclear stance on pressing issues related to immigration and European integration.

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Dr. Georg Menz obtained his BA in International Relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University and his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. He also studied at the Free University of Berlin and Sciences-Po Paris. In his previous role, he was Professor of Political Economy at Goldsmiths College, University of London and Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration. He also served as Visiting Professor at the University of Vienna (Austria), LUISS Carlo Luigi (Italy) and Pittsburgh. In addition, he had held visiting fellowships at Georgetown University, the European University Institute, the University of Oxford and Australian National University.

He has been published widely in a number of international scholarly journals. His single-authored monographs include "Varieties of Capitalism and Europeanization", "The Political Economy of Managed Migration" and "Comparative Political Economy" (all with Oxford University Press). His research interests include international political economy, European Union politics, labor and social policy, and the politics of immigration.