Social Democracy in the Twenty-fi rst Century: Hobson, Keynes and Complexity

The Credit Crunch of 2008 has upended the reign of the free market and underscored the importance of political regulation and control. It has given a new impetus to social democracy and to the importance of the state in constructing the conditions for security and fairness. Unregulated capitalism has in this sense been exposed, and the need for a bail out by unwitting consumers has caused massive global anger and resentment. The fi rst decades of the twenty-fi rst century are witnessing the same types of argument that saw the development and establishment of the welfare state from the last third of the nineteenth century until its political establishment in the 1940s.