The rise of social democracy

There was a time when politics was simply a struggle for power, especially in the Philippines. Political parties in this country had no ideology at all. This is one of the root causes of corruption and the existence of dynasties.

Today, there is the beginning of an ideology in a few political groups. This is social democracy and in this book, we see how this ideology started.

The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe’s Twentieth Century Politics by Sheri Berman (Cambridge University Press, 2006) offers a bold, revisionist interpretation of the ideological and institutional evolution of 20th century Europe. Challenging the long-standing Marxist and liberal paradigms, Berman argues that it was not economics but politics and ideology – particularly the rise of social democracy – that decisively shaped the modern European state. Early on, she writes, “The belief that economics determines politics, that economic development produces political change more or less automatically, is not merely mistaken – it is dangerous.”

At the heart of Berman’s argument is a direct challenge to historical materialism, especially the Marxist belief that capitalism would inevitably collapse under the weight of its internal contradictions. She critiques Marxists for waiting passively for a revolution that never came, while social democrats, especially in countries like Sweden and Germany, acted decisively to reform capitalism. “Social democracy was born of Marxism, but it did not die with it,” she writes, suggesting that the true heirs of the left were those who adapted, not those who clung to dogma.

She traces how early social democrats like Eduard Bernstein rejected deterministic Marxism in favor of democratic gradualism, arguing that socialism could be achieved through the expansion of political rights and state institutions.

One of the most compelling sections of the book covers the interwar period, where Berman examines why liberal democracies collapsed across much of Europe, giving rise to fascism and authoritarianism. Here, she highlights the failure of both liberalism and Marxism to adapt to the political and social crises of the time.

Marxists, especially in Germany, remained paralyzed by doctrinal purity and failed to build coalitions. The Social Democratic Party (SPD), despite being the largest workers’ party in the world, remained ideologically trapped. “The SPD was an organization whose leaders had accepted the political system but whose theoretical foundation had not,” Berman explains.

Meanwhile, liberal parties were unwilling or unable to address the socioeconomic turmoil that plagued the working and middle classes. Their reliance on minimal state intervention proved politically fatal. It was the social democrats – those who embraced state action, reform and democratic participation – who eventually provided the ideological tools for rebuilding democracy after the war.

Berman devotes considerable attention to the post-1945 period, in which social democracy emerged as the ideological backbone of Western European reconstruction. With the horrors of fascism fresh in memory and communism looming in the East, Western Europe embraced a “third way” – a middle path between unfettered capitalism and revolutionary socialism.

In countries like Sweden, Norway and West Germany, social democratic parties built welfare states that guaranteed employment, health care, education and pensions – an institutional structure now central to modern European identity. “Rather than viewing the state as the enemy of freedom and prosperity, social democrats saw it as the best means for securing both,” Berman notes.

Berman’s central thesis – that politics, not economics, is the primary driver of historical change – is not new in political theory, but she applies it with clarity and force to twentieth-century Europe. She carefully differentiates social democracy from both Marxism and liberalism, showing that it was an autonomous ideological project rather than a mere compromise between extremes.

Her work stands out for its emphasis on ideological agency. In a scholarly world that often privileges structural explanations, Berman insists that ideas matter – not just in justifying policies, but in shaping the institutions that define societies. “The primacy of politics is not just a slogan – it is a historical truth,” she writes.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its analytical clarity. Berman writes with a lucid style, weaving political theory and historical narrative seamlessly. Her analysis of political parties, particularly in Germany and Scandinavia, is deeply informed and richly contextualized.

A comment is that its focus is almost exclusively on Western Europe, with little attention to how social democracy fared – or failed to take root – in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe or the Global South.

Berman is clearly sympathetic to social democracy, and while this does not undermine her scholarship, it does make the work more of an argumentative intervention than a neutral historical account. Yet in a time when liberal democracy faces renewed threats, her conviction that “democracy must be actively constructed, not passively awaited” feels urgent and relevant.

The Primacy of Politics is a powerful and persuasive reinterpretation of modern European political development. The author challenges us to rethink how we understand the relationship between economics and politics, offering a compelling case for the transformative role of social democracy in the twentieth century. Through its emphasis on ideology, leadership and institutional reform, the book reminds us that history is made not just by forces, but by choices.

In the words of Berman herself: “Democracy’s success in the 20th century was not inevitable – it was achieved by political actors who understood that ideas and institutions must be molded to meet new challenges.” This idea is as relevant today as it was a century ago.