This chapter introduces practical social democracy as a novel framework for understanding reformist politics. It argues that social democracy can be understood in terms of the challenges that reformist parties face with respect to balancing electoral, governance, and organisational considerations. These dimensions of politics are often in tension, but each of them is of central importance to reformist parties, which is why such balancing is essential to social democracy. The chapter contextualises practical social democracy by relating it to the existing literature on reformist politics and political parties. In addition, the chapter provides an overview of the volume as a whole and discusses how practical social democracy can shed light on a range of topics, such as the evolution of reformist politics, policy making in various issue areas, and the role of ideology and rhetoric.

This chapter examines how the Finnish Social Democratic Party (SDP) came to support the process of financial liberalization, while serving in a coalition government between 1987 and 1991. Financial liberalization is widely perceived as emblematic of a neoliberal turn in reformist politics. The chapter examines how a practical social democracy approach can shed light on the interaction between ideology, practical challenges, and coalitional imperatives that shaped policy-making and led to the SDP’s endorsement of financial liberalisation in Finland. It analyses these reforms in the context of the Finnish political economy and the development of social democratic economic policy. The chapter shows that financial liberalisation was debated extensively within the party and the government. The policy reforms were justified as a solution to key practical challenges, but also as a way for the SDP to promote traditional social democratic objectives. The chapter considers the implications of this case for understanding the embrace of markets by social democratic parties.

This concluding chapter discusses the main contributions of the volume, notably the implications of adopting a practical approach to social democracy. It also considers the key analytical lessons from the chapters for understanding the evolution of reformist politics, policy-making as well as the role rhetoric, language, and ideology. It also reflects on the wider implications of this agenda by examining its relevance to other parts of the world, such as Latin America (Brazil) and East Central Europe (Poland), and other policy areas, notably immigration. The analysis implies that the core logic of practical social democracy could be applicable across a wide range of countries and policy areas, but it also highlights that the specific nature of the feasible trade-offs between governance, electoral, and organisational imperatives vary across such settings and over time, thereby contributing to the diversity of reformist parties and policies.

Introduction

This study contributes to the literature on narratives about China by analysing the British media coverage of Chinese synthetic biology research, a topic which has not yet received sustained scholarly attention. Synthetic biology is a cutting-edge field of science focused on redesigning living organisms to endow them with new characteristics that can then be used to develop novel medical treatments and chemicals or used in agriculture (Jefferson et al, 2014). As China is becoming one of the world leaders in synthetic biology, this chapter explores how Chinese advances in this field are narrated in the UK by analysing the coverage in agenda-setting news outlets that shape public discussions about science and technology.

The ‘rise of China’ has generated extensive debate, especially in the US, but increasingly also in Europe. As this volume demonstrates, these developments have generated a variety of narratives about China. This is not surprising given the centrality of narratives to the way humans make sense of the world and even of themselves (Ricoeur, 1984). Narratives help people interpret the meaning of events and to share these interpretations with others. They are stories or forms of meaning-making in communication (see Breslin, Chapter 1, this volume), which can also be related to more abstract framings. Frames can be described as the ‘central organizing idea […] that provides meaning to an unfolding strip of events’ (Gamson and Modigliani, 1987: 143), and they are often formulated to serve strategic purposes or political agendas (see also Seiwert, Chapter 9, this volume). By contrast, narratives refer to more specific stories exemplifying these frames and involving particular actors, plots and implications, thereby making abstract ideas more relevant to readers (Crow and Lawlor, 2016).