Social Democracy

Social Democracy is similar to Liberalism. Social democrats tend to advocate a Market economy with public sector and private sector. Some Social democrats advocate a private sector that is larger than the public sector. In Social democratic Scandinavian countries the public sector tends to be larger than the private sector. Social democrats believe that the government should ensure that all citizens can access child care, education Health Care and similar services. This can be achieved through state provision or through subsidizing the private sector.

Social democrats favour state regulation of the private sector to protect the interests of society generally. The state should ensure fair trade and prevent monopolies etc. Social democrats want to see social security to protect citizens from the effects of ill health, unemployment, retirement and from poverty generally. Fairly high progressive taxation is advocated to achieve this.