Chapter 78 Chapter Fourteen Twenty Years of Crisis 2

2 The recession, coupled with the restructuring of the economy aimed at eliminating manpower, has brought a gloomy political depression to the 20-year crisis era.For a generation, people have been accustomed to the prosperity of full employment, the confidence in the job market, the belief that finding a job is easy and that the job you want is waiting around the corner. When the depression clouds of the early 1980s began to rise, only the lives of manufacturing workers were threatened.It was not until the early 1990s that this kind of worry about job insecurity and uncertain future began to come to the hearts of white-collar workers and professionals in countries such as the United Kingdom.Half of people in Britain's most prosperous industries fear losing their jobs.This is an age when people are lost and at a loss. Their original way of life has long been destroyed and crumbled (see Chapters 10 and 11). "Top 10 massacres in American history... 8 of them occurred after 1980." Usually, the perpetrators are mostly white middle-aged men in their 30s and 40s. "After a long period of loneliness, they are extremely frustrated and full of anger." And after suffering a major blow in life, such as unemployment or divorce, he is on the verge of committing a heinous crime.Is this phenomenon a coincidence?Perhaps even the “growing culture of hate in the United States” (Butterfiele 1991) that contributed to it was not accidental?This hatred began to be sung openly through the lyrics of popular songs in the 1980s, and it was even more evident in the increasingly obvious brutal scenes in TV movies.

This sense of disquiet has created huge rifts in the political strata of the developed world.Even before the end of the Cold War and the destruction of the international balance of power on which several Western congressional democracies depended for stability, it has since been disrupted.When the economy is not going well, no matter who is in power, voters will naturally blame them for their crimes. However, the most distinctive feature of the political ecology during the two decades of crisis is that the setbacks of the incumbent may not necessarily benefit those in opposition popular.The biggest losers are the Western Social Democratic Party and the Labor Party. The best weapon they use to win the support of the people—that is, social and economic measures led by the government—has lost its effectiveness one by one.And the cornerstone of their electorate — the working class — crumbles to pieces (see Chapter 10).In a transnational economic world, domestic wages are more exposed to foreign competition than ever before, and governments have less ability to step in to shield them.At the same time, under the depressed atmosphere, people's hearts are scattered, and people from all sides traditionally assembled under the banner of social democracy begin to split: some people have temporarily stabilized their jobs (relatively), some have lost their jobs, and some still hold on to the old areas and old areas with strong trade union colors. enterprises, and others to new districts and new enterprises that are less threatened and non-unionized.As for the hapless victims who were not welcome everywhere in the bad years, they sank to the bottom and were reduced to the "lower class".What's more, since the 1970s, many supporters (mainly young or middle class) have left the leftist camp for other more specific movements—especially environmental protection, women's movement, and other so-called "new Social Movements" for - weakening the power of the Social-Democratic parties still further. In the early 1990s, labor and social-democratic governments were once again as rare a phenomenon as they were in the 1950s, as even those led symbolically by socialists, whether voluntarily or reluctantly, abandoned their traditions policy.

The new force that has stepped into this political vacuum is a mixed platter, starting from right-wing xenophobia and racism, passing through large and small parties advocating "secessionism" (secessionism), all the way to various names on the left The "Green" party and various other "new social movements" are of all kinds.Some of them have established a considerable territory in their own country, and sometimes even become a hegemon in one region or one region; however, by the end of the short twentieth century, there is still no new army that can truly replace the old established political forces.As for the support received by other groups, the strength fluctuates greatly.However, most influential people have abandoned the label of universal civil democratic politics and turned to some individual group identity. Therefore, there is a development in the nation-state system that fully accepts foreign countries and outsiders, as well as the traditional representatives of the American and French revolutions. hostility from the bottom of my heart.We will discuss the rise of this new phenomenon of "identity politics" later.

However, the importance of these movements lies not only in their positive content but also in their refutation of the "old politics".Some of the most powerful of these, such as the separatist Northern League in Italy, and the fact that 20 percent of American voters voted in the 1992 presidential election were based largely on this negativity. The lieutenant voted for a wealthy Texas guy who was an outside party freak. In 1989 and 1990, Brazil and Peru even elected new presidents based on the reason that "the unknown person must be trustworthy".Thanks to the adoption of the "non-proportional representation" electoral system (unrepresentative electoral system), the United Kingdom has been spared the crisis of the birth of the third largest party from time to time since the 1970s.Britain's liberals, successively independent, or allied with the social democrats split off from the Labor Party, or merged with the two parties, at one time enjoyed popular support equal to or better than one of the other two major parties.It happened in the late 80's and early 90's since that previous bad period in the 30's.The collapse of an old party with a long record of governing but a massive loss of support is unheard of—the Socialist Party in France (1990), the Conservative Party in Canada (1993), the Government Party in Italy (1993).Put simply, during the 20 years of the crisis, the inherently stable political structures of capitalist democracies began to unravel.What's more, among the many emerging political forces, those with the greatest potential for growth often belong to the combination of the following elements: populist demagoguery, highly exposed personal leadership, and hostility to foreigners and foreign countries.Faced with this situation, how many survivors who survived the inter-war period can not feel disheartened?