In late September, the who’s who of international centre-left politics gathered in London. Keir Starmer, Mark Carney, Mette Frederiksen, Anthony Albanese, Pedro Sánchez, Jacinda Ardern and others discussed at the two-day Global Progress Action Summit how progressive parties can win elections and counter the rise of right-wing populists in these challenging times.
The Global Progress Action Summit was organised by the Centre for American Progress and its British partners, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Labour Together. On the first day of the summit, the Berlin-based think tank Das Progressive Zentrum curated and organised background sessions and discussions on climate, social and security policy. Alongside senior politicians and their closest advisers, representatives from NGOs and think tanks were also present.
A big tent and a new security promise
In workshops and panel discussions, it became clear that despite many commonalities, progressive narratives – and examples of progressive success stories – vary. While a centre-left government recently failed in Germany, it is worthwhile to look at other countries. Earlier this year, Mark Carney won decisively in Canada, and Anthony Albanese was re-elected in Australia with a record result, despite the inflation crisis. Jonas Gahr Støre recently won re-election in Norway, and Keir Starmer secured a historic landslide victory for Labour in the United Kingdom last year. In Spain, Pedro Sánchez has been back in power since 2024 with a left-wing majority and policies that differ fundamentally from those of Anglo-Saxon countries on important issues such as migration and foreign and security policy.
Although none of these election victories can be explained without considering their specific contexts, these successes are nevertheless based on common factors: a broad social approach that brings together different milieus under one ‘big tent’; a healthy dose of confidence; and, above all, a new promise of security. Progressive security is understood here not only in military terms, but comprehensively: social security, economic stability, cultural belonging.
An inclusive national project
A particularly striking debate centered around a concept that has long been part of the progressive discourse in Anglo-Saxon countries and is likely to spark discussions in Germany: progressive patriotism. This involves combining national identity and solidarity with social and inclusive values, highlighting achievements such as democracy, the welfare state, climate policy, multilateralism and diversity. The motto here is clear: do not let right-wing populists and national narratives of decline push you on the defensive, but instead offer a counter-narrative based on democratic and progressive values.
Keir Starmer spoke in London of a ‘patriotic renewal, rooted in national stories, restoring pride where people live and work’. In the British debate, this means fighting for national symbols – but in the sense of a ‘multi-ethnic modern nation’ (Starmer). His Anglo-Saxon counterparts Mark Carney and Anthony Albanese expressed similar sentiments.
Pete Buttigieg, US Secretary of Transportation under Joe Biden, reminded us that patriotism does not have to be exclusive; on the contrary, ‘Patriotism can be a way to summon more and more people into a shared national project’. And British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy added: ‘In politics, you are nothing really unless you have an account for place and belonging. You have to speak to people and have something to say about how you improve their sense of place.’
Majorities through tangible change and emotional belonging
Internationally, it can be observed how progressive forces are actively occupying certain fields and concepts instead of leaving them to the far Right. What can we learn from this for the German debate? This type of narrative shifts the focus: It is not about defending the status quo, but about change, renewal – and about involving people in a common project.
Because the status quo is not enough – it does not work for too many people. Defending it is therefore not enough. It must be about change that everyone feels. Change that lowers the cost of living for the working population and that ‘holds no one back and leaves no one behind’, as Anthony Albanese put it. That is why election campaigns ‘should not be lectures on democracy’, as J. B. Pritzker, Governor of Illinois, put it pointedly.
But politics that delivers is only one building block of success. The centre-left also needs a identity-forming narrative for workers and employees. International centre-left parties show that only those who also create emotional belonging can win back majorities. David Lammy reminded us in London: ‘Empathy and authenticity are premiums in politics; you listen to folk, you hear their stories, and you tell their stories back.’
The questions are clear – the answers are open
In London, the participants asked themselves questions that the German left must also answer: Is the core issue the classic ‘top versus bottom’, i.e. the question of material justice? Is it the struggle between the democratic centre and right-wing populist and extreme right-wing forces that must be fought? Or finally: is the conflict between left and right, as a dispute over values, identity and social cohesion, central to strategic considerations? Whether social democratic, green, social-liberal or left-wing: forward-looking answers must be found.
