Co-sponsored by the Havens Wright Center and the Transnational Institute (Amsterdam)

Over the last two decades, each wave of emancipatory politics around the globe has encountered significant reversals and setbacks when faced with the structural power and logic of capital and the state. And while the radical left has enjoyed moments of electoral and ideological resurgence in parts of the world, the main beneficiaries of the crisis of neoliberalism have been populist and authoritarian right forces. There is a great deal to be learned from investigating the fortunes of the left in electoral processes over the last two decades. In particular, it is important to analyze the strategic dilemmas faced by progressive parties and movements, along with an analysis of the possibilities, limitations, challenges and opportunities for a left transformative project in the 21st century.

The Conference aimed to develop a theoretically informed analysis of the long-term challenges, prospects, promises and pitfalls of the left within a variety of national contexts. The conference facilitated a dialogue between activists and scholars in the Americas and other regions of the world, with the goal of publishing a book and a series of related materials (short videos, podcasts, academic and journalistic articles, a dedicated website, etc.) that will be of long-term use to both activists and analysts.

The most important questions addressed by the conference are those that have long preoccupied the left, but which remain very much at the center of debate – most fundamentally, the content of the project or vision of a future society that it seeks to advance, and the kinds of state transformations, social bases, alliances, and organized collective capacities and political formations needed to bring it about.

For a Conference Summary Report “Democratic Socialism in Global Perspective,” which offers a rich, nuanced and frank analysis of the challenges faced by the left today and, we hope, will serve as a useful aid in navigating the major struggles to come, click on the links below:

English: https://www.tni.org/en/publication/new-politics-conference-2021
Spanish: https://www.tni.org/es/publicacion/new-politics-conference-2021

For more information, including a list of presenters, please visit the New Politics 2021 website.