This is a difficult book to read but, if you persist, you will find your effort rewarded. Thomas Meyer and Lewis Hinchman do not propose a central argument; instead, they probe a plethora of definitional, normative, empirical, and strategic issues that impinge on social democracy. They begin by distinguishing social democracy from its opposite, “libertarian” democracy. They then undertake a lengthy discussion of the normative basis of social democracy that opens with John Locke and closes with the United Nations Conventions on Human Rights and with John Rawls's theory of justice. They next present a theory of the welfare state, followed by a theory of the social economy, especially as the latter relates to a “varieties of capitalism” approach. This discussion leads to reflections on the types of welfare states, with interesting sections on labor markets, education, and the issue of ecological sustainability. The book then turns to the question of whether social-democratic principles could be applied to the global market economy (they think it can, under certain conditions). Next they survey a number of cultural issues that impinge on social democracy, especially the challenges posed by multiculturalism. The final section compares libertarian and social democracies and, rather disjointedly, ends with reflections on defective versus consolidated democracies. This book does not lack ambition, and many of the individual reflections and debates are profound.

Yet the rationale for the organization of both the chapters and the material within chapters is often unclear to the reader. Why, for example, do the authors return to the definition of social versus libertarian democracy in the penultimate Chapter 8 when they dealt with that important topic in the Introduction? The reader sometimes feels at sea, perplexed as to the destination. In addition, the analysis is pitched at a high level of abstraction. It would have aided clarity if the authors had provided more illustrations of general points in the form of actual cases. But despite these stylistic and organizational shortcomings, this book has a lot to offer.

For those of us who do not read German, Meyer provides a major service in drawing heavily on the voluminous material in German on the normative and empirical theory of social democracy. The authors are also fully in command of the literature in English. The result is a remarkably comprehensive and nuanced discussion.

The book's comprehensiveness is limited, however, in one crucial respect. Like so much of the literature on social democracy, it refers only to cases in the industrial world. There are only scattered references to the developing world. The reader thus comes away with the mistaken impression that this type of politico-economic system is peculiar to advanced capitalist countries. Yet Uruguay was one of the first countries in the world to undertake a social-democratic experiment, following a civil war in 1903. Though ousted by military rule beginning in the 1980s, a social-democratic regime again governs Uruguay. In Costa Rica, a civil war in 1948 placed that country on a social-democratic path that it is still following. In Asia, Sri Lanka and the Indian states of Kerala and West Bengal provide further cases (the first interrupted by civil strife and an economic crisis in the late 1970s). Mauritius in the Indian Ocean has been a social democracy since the early 1970s. And the Third Way was arguably invented not by New Labour in Britain but by the Concertación in Chile from 1990 on. It is a pity that Meyer and Hinchman's book ignores this important face of the social-democratic experience.

On the definitional issue, the authors concisely distinguish between social and libertarian versions of liberal democracy. Although the distinctions are clear, the terminology is disconcerting. On the one hand, the notion of libertarian democracy is perplexing in that this term is rarely encountered. On the other hand, it strikes this reviewer as anomalous to conceive of social democracy as a type of liberal democracy. Juxtaposing liberal to social democracy as types of democracy would more closely accord with common usage.

The early chapters are, to my mind, the most original in the book. It is of particular note that the authors extend their discussion of the normative case to such important contemporary questions as the relationship between social democracy and ecological sustainability. They make a strong case that social democracy, together with “coordinated markets,” is far more capable of managing this complex problem than libertarian democracy in association with “uncoordinated markets.” They reason that the former institutional arrangement possesses a vastly superior capacity to decommodify (and therefore conserve) significant facets of nature and justly apportion the societal costs of adjustment to ecological limits.

Another fascinating discussion concerns the constraints that (neoliberal) globalization places on the effectiveness of social democracies in promoting just and egalitarian societies. If social democracies have to “adapt” to global neoliberalism, as New Labour in Britain contends, then the exigencies of global competition, especially in financial markets, will limit what political movements can gain in the way of social protection and egalitarian goals. It would be better if nationally based social democratic regimes and movements could reshape the rules of globally integrated markets to eliminate “negative” globalization. However, the authors note, this latter strategy is unlikely to succeed any time soon, as the United States government adamantly rejects significant reforms of global governance. Hence, they conclude, social-democratic movements should follow a two-track strategy: making the gains that are feasible within the existing global economic order while working in the longer term, especially through regional organizations such as the European Union, to reshape globalization in a social-democratic direction. The authors thus avoid heroic postures in favor of a subtle, unheroic long-range approach.

I hope I have persuaded prospective readers that this difficult book is worth tackling. Political scientists will be particularly interested in the careful delineation of social democracy, in how social democracy fits in the varieties of capitalism debate, in the role of social democracy in taming globalization, and in the difficulties of reconciling social democracy with multiculturalism. I do not, however, recommend this book as required reading in undergraduate courses.