Creating a liberal-left alliance for social change: Prescriptions from the social sciences literature

Abstract

Based on research in the social sciences, this article suggests new directions and compromises that might make it possible for liberals and leftists to work together in the hopeful post-9/11, post-Bush/Cheney era. There are five basic issues-electoral strategy, the role of social movements, the need for a new model for the economy, the need for a reframing of who is "us" and who is "them," and the creation of a new organizational structure. It first explains why leftists should organize themselves into Egalitarian Democratic Clubs within the Democratic Party, followed by an analysis of why social movements are more valuable than many liberals have acknowledged but only when they embrace strategic nonviolence as their sole method of social disruption. It then suggests a new framework for thinking about an egalitarian economy that would allow liberals and leftists to work together even while disagreeing about how egalitarian that economy could become. Finally, it suggests a reframing of "us" and "them" in terms of people's values and policy prescriptions, not their class, race, gender, or sexual orientation, and the creation of a network of organizations that share a commitment to the proposed electoral, social movement, and economic strategies. © 2009 SAGE Publications.