(from FES Occasional Paper No. 42)

Four principles guide the social democratic response:

• Solutions must be consistent with basic values of social justice and social solidarity as well as basic notions of fairness
• The bonds of social solidarity cross national boundaries; we cannot take actions to help ourselves at the expense of those in the developing world
• Solutions must reflect an understanding of the necessary balance between government and markets
• Respect for the basic principles of democratic due process, including full transparency.

There is by now a consensus that the current global financial crisis may well be the worst since the Great Depression. As solutions are proposed, there is strong pressure from Wall Street to make sure that their way of doing business is protected.  They don’t want to see finance suffer from too much regulation.

In times of crisis, we all have to pull together; sacrifices are asked of us all. But in a democracy, that does not mean silent ascension to whatever is proposed. The voices of Social Democrats and those who reject the free market mantra of the US, should be listened to as the debate about how to proceed moves forward. We must be allowed to help formulate the government responses to the crisis. There are stark differences of opinion as to the best way to proceed.

To read more, click here.