PART IV
1. Cold war & European Reconstruction
1.1 The welfare state
Situation post WWII:
- Power West-Europe declines
- 2 new superpowers: U.S. and S.U.
- Abrupt shift in the geopolitical power
- From France and. Britain to U.S. and Soviet Union
- Cold war
- Though the U.S and S.U collaborated during the War
- They had very different ideological views - will eventually clash
- Both have nuclear power - mutually destructive → ‘Cold’ War (no physical fight)
- Decolonisation
- Massive uprisings and mobilizations of people in the global South
- Colonies are standing up for their emancipation and rights
- Britain: understood (not like France) that the day and age of colonisation was over
- Organized the decolonization in an orderly manner - keep support
- Supported the colonies so that the leaders of those colonies would stay friends
with Britain → hence, the commonwealth state
- Eg: India (deindustrialization and de-development)
- France: still believed to be a major power state (even with the end of the war and the rise
of US and SU)
- SO, they didn’t accept the idea of their colonies disappearing
- Frenchs fought many decolonisation wars - which they all lost
Britain’s second point of view:
Purpose: Different kind of Europe - Rebuild
- Avoid economic crisis
- Social and political democracy
- Against new radicalism
- → Create a society where all classes (or segments of it) within society would be well
enough integrated so that not any radical movement can gain power/large support =
welfare state.
Socio-economically: Keynes & Lord Beveridge (a policy to rebuild Europe)
- Social security
- Set of programs, policies, that give people access to supplementary forms of incomes (or
replacement income) if they can no longer meet their means
- Put people to work before - plan B → Security
- Welfare state
- Based on solidarity - a state that provides for its people (eg: social security)
, - Consultative economy
- Consultative economy = instead of having fights between labour and capital - you put
them together and you let the representatives of capital and labour discuss
- The state is the 3rd party - if there are problems, working as a mediator between
the demands of both sides → create a win/win situation
- The U.S. put in a lot of money to kick start the rebuild of Europe
- Marshall Plan
- + to avoid the expansion of communism in Western Europe
- Logic of the Cold War
- The state becomes an important player in the economy and social order
→ terrific success : 30 years of incredible growth, development, pacific exchanges, …
→ until the late 70s - the system hit its limits
- People live longer (among other things) - the social welfare state costs more and more, …
1.2 What about ideology?
Are ideological contradictions (ex. Left-right) still necessary in a welfare state?
Karl Popper
- ‘The open society and its enemies’ - his book
- Evil does not come from the outside of a society, it comes from within
- A way of thinking that we have taken from granted: historicism
- Threat: historicism (the ideas that you can find laws in historicism)
- No causality in social sciences, only probabilities → inaccurate, SO
- Replacing holism for value-free partial research (eco of J. Stuart Mill)
What if the majority is wrong? How can democracy defend itself against radical thinking?
- → The resilient democracy
D. Bell - End of ideology?
- People just want to be happy - rejection of radical ideologies
- Left with only democracy → end of ideology
Relation ideology – politics?
Burnham: is ideology still necessary?
- Past: entrepreneur determines everything
- Now: managerial revolution
- Managers in power - paid people → no real connection
1. Cold war & European Reconstruction
1.1 The welfare state
Situation post WWII:
- Power West-Europe declines
- 2 new superpowers: U.S. and S.U.
- Abrupt shift in the geopolitical power
- From France and. Britain to U.S. and Soviet Union
- Cold war
- Though the U.S and S.U collaborated during the War
- They had very different ideological views - will eventually clash
- Both have nuclear power - mutually destructive → ‘Cold’ War (no physical fight)
- Decolonisation
- Massive uprisings and mobilizations of people in the global South
- Colonies are standing up for their emancipation and rights
- Britain: understood (not like France) that the day and age of colonisation was over
- Organized the decolonization in an orderly manner - keep support
- Supported the colonies so that the leaders of those colonies would stay friends
with Britain → hence, the commonwealth state
- Eg: India (deindustrialization and de-development)
- France: still believed to be a major power state (even with the end of the war and the rise
of US and SU)
- SO, they didn’t accept the idea of their colonies disappearing
- Frenchs fought many decolonisation wars - which they all lost
Britain’s second point of view:
Purpose: Different kind of Europe - Rebuild
- Avoid economic crisis
- Social and political democracy
- Against new radicalism
- → Create a society where all classes (or segments of it) within society would be well
enough integrated so that not any radical movement can gain power/large support =
welfare state.
Socio-economically: Keynes & Lord Beveridge (a policy to rebuild Europe)
- Social security
- Set of programs, policies, that give people access to supplementary forms of incomes (or
replacement income) if they can no longer meet their means
- Put people to work before - plan B → Security
- Welfare state
- Based on solidarity - a state that provides for its people (eg: social security)
, - Consultative economy
- Consultative economy = instead of having fights between labour and capital - you put
them together and you let the representatives of capital and labour discuss
- The state is the 3rd party - if there are problems, working as a mediator between
the demands of both sides → create a win/win situation
- The U.S. put in a lot of money to kick start the rebuild of Europe
- Marshall Plan
- + to avoid the expansion of communism in Western Europe
- Logic of the Cold War
- The state becomes an important player in the economy and social order
→ terrific success : 30 years of incredible growth, development, pacific exchanges, …
→ until the late 70s - the system hit its limits
- People live longer (among other things) - the social welfare state costs more and more, …
1.2 What about ideology?
Are ideological contradictions (ex. Left-right) still necessary in a welfare state?
Karl Popper
- ‘The open society and its enemies’ - his book
- Evil does not come from the outside of a society, it comes from within
- A way of thinking that we have taken from granted: historicism
- Threat: historicism (the ideas that you can find laws in historicism)
- No causality in social sciences, only probabilities → inaccurate, SO
- Replacing holism for value-free partial research (eco of J. Stuart Mill)
What if the majority is wrong? How can democracy defend itself against radical thinking?
- → The resilient democracy
D. Bell - End of ideology?
- People just want to be happy - rejection of radical ideologies
- Left with only democracy → end of ideology
Relation ideology – politics?
Burnham: is ideology still necessary?
- Past: entrepreneur determines everything
- Now: managerial revolution
- Managers in power - paid people → no real connection
