PERSPECTIVE DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS BUILDING THE GOOD SOCIETY Looking Back and Forward: A Personal Take on the Good Society Project Neal Lawson April 2020 What follows is a personal ac­count of how and why Build­ing the Good Society – The Project of the Democratic Left was published and its impact. It then provides the authors’ personal views about the ­challenges ahead for social democrats. It is necessarily UK-biased and focused. The author is keen to hear and explore the German take on the origins, successes and failures of the project and what next for German and UK social democracy.