There are and were so many analyses painstakingly dissecting conditions under which the Left embraced neoliberalism and abandoned its social program and I am still flabbergasted by this happening. Thank you for your reporting!
I have one big question after reading your article in Unherd on Delors: why did he do it? What was his motivation for pushing both France and other EU countries to abandon monetary sovereignty? Your article establishes that he did in fact achieve that, but does not clarify why he (and presumably the French Socialist Party more generally) *wanted* to do that. Can you elaborate?
Hi James. Well of course there's no definitive way to answer that without a written confession from the protagonists :) One of the hardest things to do when analysing these historical events is knowing where ideology ends and self-interest begins. Many on the left certainly embraced neoliberalism in good faith: i.e., they actually believed the crap about the end of the nation-state, the inevitability of supranationalism, etc. Others were probably motivated by self-interest: i.e., they embraced the emerging status quo to maintain their status and influence. Given Delors's stellar career, one might be tempted to lean towards the latter explanation in his case. But in most cases it was probably a mixture of the two. You might want to check out our book "Reclaiming the State", which is pretty much all dedicated to trying to understand the neoliberalisation of the left: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337326/reclaiming-the-state/
There are and were so many analyses painstakingly dissecting conditions under which the Left embraced neoliberalism and abandoned its social program and I am still flabbergasted by this happening. Thank you for your reporting!
I have one big question after reading your article in Unherd on Delors: why did he do it? What was his motivation for pushing both France and other EU countries to abandon monetary sovereignty? Your article establishes that he did in fact achieve that, but does not clarify why he (and presumably the French Socialist Party more generally) *wanted* to do that. Can you elaborate?
Hi James. Well of course there's no definitive way to answer that without a written confession from the protagonists :) One of the hardest things to do when analysing these historical events is knowing where ideology ends and self-interest begins. Many on the left certainly embraced neoliberalism in good faith: i.e., they actually believed the crap about the end of the nation-state, the inevitability of supranationalism, etc. Others were probably motivated by self-interest: i.e., they embraced the emerging status quo to maintain their status and influence. Given Delors's stellar career, one might be tempted to lean towards the latter explanation in his case. But in most cases it was probably a mixture of the two. You might want to check out our book "Reclaiming the State", which is pretty much all dedicated to trying to understand the neoliberalisation of the left: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337326/reclaiming-the-state/
I actually found my way to "Reclaiming the State" several years ago through my acquaintance with Bill Mitchell and MMT. Thanks.
A great essay, thank you! A good historical perspective on Delors, and the, presumably, unintended consequences of his political actions.