WI The Developed World Turns Left Instead of Right in the 1980's?

Just have the Left adopt monetarist policies instead of the Right as in OTL.

In the UK it was actually the Labour party who after the IMF bailout in 1976, first adopted monetarist policies under Jim Callaghan. Similarly in Austrlaia the Whitlam Labor Government's last budget (or a mid-financial year mini-budget) in late 1975 was widely regarded (by Friedman himself I think as well) as the world's first Friedmanite budget.

Of course, they were rather less enthusiastic about adopting those policies than the right-wing governements in the 1980's were.
 
i can't speech for the rest of the world, in the USA Reagan must not run in 1980, this can be done a few ways, one he beats Ford in 1976 and wins the Presidency, gets blamed for the the shit that was the late 70's maybe he fucks Iran up more then Jimmy did, any way after Nixon then Reagan people are sick of the GOP and EMK sweeps in and takes the day. and welcome to the Kennedy 80s, or Reagan dies in 1979/80, John Connally wins the race for the nomination, any way the Dems pull out all the stops and some thing ugly comes out, Jimmy pulls it off or EMK beats Jimmy, one of them beats Connally

Practically any first-term president in 1980 was destined to become a hero because of the economic cycle. If Ford wins in 1976, then the GOP takes the blame for giving up the Panama Canal. Would Reagan have done the same had he won in 76? I'm not sure, but in any case, 1980 was an impossible year for an incumbent president.
 
In the UK it was actually the Labour party who after the IMF bailout in 1976, first adopted monetarist policies under Jim Callaghan. Similarly in Austrlaia the Whitlam Labor Government's last budget (or a mid-financial year mini-budget) in late 1975 was widely regarded (by Friedman himself I think as well) as the world's first Friedmanite budget.

Of course, they were rather less enthusiastic about adopting those policies than the right-wing governements in the 1980's were.

Yeah in New Zealand as well it was the Lange government which pursued economically liberal policies. But really, left and right are relative so you might see monetarism become the left's bete noire in ATL...
 
Shifting the policies of European nations even further to the left in the late seventies and the beginning of the eighties seems to require the following ingredients:

An alternative to Keynesian policies that involve the increase of income to beat inflation. This type of policy, intended to prevent a repetition of the crisis of the thirties, is basically bankrupt at this time. Maybe a type of policy that corresponds to corporatism becomes a reasonable alternative to the left, although it will be hard imagining the left switching over to a corporatist, confessional political structure and landscape.

Getting rid of the inertia that seems inherent to the leftist parties at the time. Many of these parties as far as I can see seem almost dogmatic in their confidence in Keynesian policies to solve economic issues. You need some kind of nineties, New Labour/ third way alternative available at PoD.

A new kind of consensus between the unions and the government, in which the unions no longer demand full employment. Maybe, in exchange, the unions get to represent the interests of the unemployed as well, on the one hand securing their welfare, on the other hand negotiating with the government for the means for re-education.

The IMF is mentioned as an organization enforcing or at least encouraging monetarist policy. Maybe the European Community becomes the podium for at least the Continental leftist parties to formulate and execute an economic counter to the problems of inflation, fitting maybe within the framework of European federalism...

Just a few ideas, hope that it helps.
 
Top