work. In this perspective, well-intentioned social programs hindered
economic growth, fueled inflation, and raised popular expectations to
the point of making democracies almost “ungovernable.” Yet, neither
side had a clear alternative to propose. The left’s progressive welfare
state was allusive more than specific, and the right had not yet fleshed
out what a modern economy with less, or different, social protection
would be like.^50 This market-oriented alternative was about to
emerge, however, and it would soon bring the left back to a nearly
unconditional defense of the existing welfare state.
The East–West divide
On the world scene, the age of universality was dominated by the
Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Before it
became an arms race, the East–West conflict was a fundamental clash
of values, ideologies, and lifestyles. The United States and its allies
defended freedom and capitalism, while the USSR and its “fraternal
states” of Eastern Europe promoted equality through state socialism.
In this confrontation, there was no great mystery as to the positions
of the right and the left, at least within democratic countries.
After the defeat of fascism in 1945, the East–West division became
the prism through which politicians and experts on the right analyzed
global affairs. Every gesture of the Soviet Union stood as a proof that
communism threatened the “free world.” Erected in August 1961 to
halt the flow of refugees trying to escape to the West, the Berlin Wall
became a potent symbol in this respect. Perceived as “a standing insult
to the West,” the Wall demonstrated how the citizens of socialist
countries were deprived of the most basic freedoms and were held as
prisoners in repressive political regimes.^51
Defending the free world against Soviet hegemonic ambitions meant
maintaining an international order whose values and interests coincided
with those of the West, and promoting the protection of individual
freedoms. Against the backdrop of the reconstruction of Europe, such
a task quickly became coterminous with the recognition of American
(^50) Claus Offe,Contradictions of the Welfare State, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press,
1984, pp. 147–58.
(^51) John Mander,Berlin: Hostage for the West, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1962,
p. 10.
122 Left and Right in Global Politics