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Books > Business & Economics > Economics > Political economy
Economic democracy is essential for creating a truly democratic
political sphere. This engaging book uses Marxist theory to
hypothesise that capitalism is not a democratic system, and that a
modern socialist system of producer cooperatives and democratically
managed enterprises is urgently needed. A New Model of Socialism
focuses on the current crisis of the political Left, a result of
the collapse of the Soviet model of society and the decline of
statism and kingship. Bruno Jossa expands on existing theories to
explore Marx?s notions on economic democracy in a modern setting.
He advocates a move away from the centralised planning form of
economic socialism towards a self-management system for firms that
does not prioritise the interests of one class over another, in
order to achieve greater economic democracy. It is argued that the
establishment of such a system of democratic firms is the
precondition for reducing intervention in the economy, thus
enabling the State to perform its ultimate function of serving the
public interest. This timely book is ideal for advanced scholars of
Marxist, radical and heterodox economic theory, as well as
academics with an interest in the rise of socialism in our modern
world. Indeed, it will also be of value to all those seeking a
viable and practical alternative to existing capitalist and
socialist thinking.
"Why is it so difficult to develop and sustain liberal democracy?
The best recent work on this subject comes from a remarkable pair
of scholars, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. In their latest
book, The Narrow Corridor, they have answered this question with
great insight." -Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post From the
authors of the international bestseller Why Nations Fail, a crucial
new big-picture framework that answers the question of how liberty
flourishes in some states but falls to authoritarianism or anarchy
in others--and explains how it can continue to thrive despite new
threats. In Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson
argued that countries rise and fall based not on culture,
geography, or chance, but on the power of their institutions. In
their new book, they build a new theory about liberty and how to
achieve it, drawing a wealth of evidence from both current affairs
and disparate threads of world history. Liberty is hardly the
"natural" order of things. In most places and at most times, the
strong have dominated the weak and human freedom has been quashed
by force or by customs and norms. Either states have been too weak
to protect individuals from these threats, or states have been too
strong for people to protect themselves from despotism. Liberty
emerges only when a delicate and precarious balance is struck
between state and society. There is a Western myth that political
liberty is a durable construct, arrived at by a process of
"enlightenment." This static view is a fantasy, the authors argue.
In reality, the corridor to liberty is narrow and stays open only
via a fundamental and incessant struggle between state and society:
The authors look to the American Civil Rights Movement, Europe's
early and recent history, the Zapotec civilization circa 500 BCE,
and Lagos's efforts to uproot corruption and institute government
accountability to illustrate what it takes to get and stay in the
corridor. But they also examine Chinese imperial history,
colonialism in the Pacific, India's caste system, Saudi Arabia's
suffocating cage of norms, and the "Paper Leviathan" of many Latin
American and African nations to show how countries can drift away
from it, and explain the feedback loops that make liberty harder to
achieve. Today we are in the midst of a time of wrenching
destabilization. We need liberty more than ever, and yet the
corridor to liberty is becoming narrower and more treacherous. The
danger on the horizon is not "just" the loss of our political
freedom, however grim that is in itself; it is also the
disintegration of the prosperity and safety that critically depend
on liberty. The opposite of the corridor of liberty is the road to
ruin.
The public space of democracies is constructed in a context that is
marked by the digital transformation of the economy and society.
This construction is carried out primarily through deliberation.
Deliberation informs and guides both individual and collective
action. To shed light on the concept of deliberation, it is
important to consider the rationality of choice; but what type of
rationality is this? References to economic reason are at once
widespread, crucial and controversial. This book therefore deals
with arguments used by individuals based on the notions of
preferential choice and rational behavior, and also criticizes
them. These arguments are examined in the context of the major
themes of public debate that help to construct the contemporary
public space: "populism", social insurance, social responsibility
and environmental issues. Economic Reason and Political Reason
underlines the importance of the pragmatist shift of the 2000s and
revisits, through the lens of this new approach, the great
utilitarian and Rawlsian normative constructs that dominated
normative political economics at the end of the 20th century.
Alternative approaches, based on the concept of deliberative
democracy, are proposed and discussed.
Marx Matters is an examination of how Marx remains more relevant
than ever in dealing with contemporary crises. This volume explores
how technical dimensions of a Marxian analytic frame remains
relevant to our understanding of inequality, of exploitation and
oppression, and of financialization in the age of global
capitalism. Contributors track Marx in promoting emancipatory
practices in Latin America, tackle how Marx informs issues of race
and gender, explore current social movements and the populist turn,
and demonstrate how Marx can guide strategies to deal with the
existential environmental crises of the day. Marx matters because
Marx still provides the best analysis of capitalism as a system,
and his ideas still point to how society can organize for a better
world. Contributors are: Jose Bell Lara, Ashley J. Bohrer, Tom
Brass, Rose M. Brewer, William K. Carroll, Penelope Ciancanelli,
Raju J. Das, Ricardo A. Dello Buono, David Fasenfest, Ben Fine,
Lauren Langman, Alfredo Saad-Filho, Vishwas Satgar, and William K.
Tabb.
This Handbook discusses theoretical approaches to migration studies
in general, as well as confronting various issues in international
migration from a distinctive and unique international political
economy perspective. With a focus on the relation between
globalization and migration, the international political economy
(IPE) theories of migration are systematically addressed. Original
new contributions from leading migration scholars offer a complete
overview of international migration. They examine migration as part
of a global political economy whilst addressing the theoretical
debates relating to the capacity of the state to control
international migration and the so called 'policy gap' or 'gap
hypothesis' between migration policies and their outcomes. An
examination of the relationship between regional integration and
migration, with examples from Europe, North America, the Middle
East and North Africa, as well as South-East Asia - is also
included. Aimed at political scientists and political economists
with an interest in globalization and EU policymaking this
collection will be accessible to students, academic and
policymakers alike. Contributors: R.G. Anghel, A. Balch, M. Fauser,
C. Finotelli, A. Geddes, W.J. Haller, F. Jurje, O. Korneev, S.
Lavenex, A.I. Leon, S. McMahon, E. Nadalutti, H. Overbeek, F.
Pasetti, H. Pellerin, M. Piracha, T. Randazzo, R. Roccu, M. Samers,
G. Sciortino, K. Surak, L.S. Talani, R. Zapata-Barrero
Taking a realist approach, this insightful book looks at the forces
shaping the evolution of global infrastructure networks. As the
international economy globalises, there is an emergent need for
national systems to adapt and integrate to form a global system.
The authors expose the move to interconnect state infrastructures
as a strategy to support and enhance states' territoriality.
Examined through the lens of economic infrastructure (including
transport, energy and information) this book addresses the forces
of integration and fragmentation in the development of global
networks. The significant impact of globalisation on infrastructure
adaptation is especially highlighted, as well as the key
limitations hindering development. Global Infrastructure Networks
will be of great interest to academics and graduate students of
geography, political economy and public policy. International
policy makers will also find this a compelling read, as it
identifies the benefits and limitations of upcoming developments in
global infrastructure.
This work on environmental planning focuses on open-cast mining. It
addresses the issues around open-cast mining that are central to
the context of social science debate: risk; the division of public
and private; environmental protest and politics; and new social
movements.
The scholarly value of the proposed publication is self-evident
because of the increased emphasis placed on the role of creativity
and innovation in critical thinking and problem-solving, newly
emerging skills in self-management such as active learning,
resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility, education, a
sustainable planet , the prevention of a 6th extinction event, the
new normal caused by COVID-19, the future and challenges of
collective and green creativity, eco-innovation and sharing
creativity and innovation globally. Creativity is a crucial
cognitive skill and innovation is a requirement to meet the
challenges of today and tomorrow, and therefore it should be
celebrating its value as it is often misunderstood and
underestimated. Hence understanding creativity and innovation and
how education can develop these cognitive abilities and skills, AS
WELL AS, how education can be improved to meet future challenges
and demands using creativity and innovation are the key objective
of this publication. There is a relationship between education,
creativity and innovation, with an important link to technology and
how this relationship can be enhanced. The proposed topic for
publication will not only facilitate in identifying the important
creativity, innovation and education mechanisms, frameworks,
competencies, and skills, which is imperative for a sustainable
planet and economic development. It will increase the development,
knowledge and understanding of creativity, innovation and education
needed now and in the future and help policymakers in designing and
implementing policies that are more effective in the post-pandemic
era that can stimulate creativity, innovation and better education.
The primary intended audience is scholar-practitioners who have the
need for qualified Reference material regarding the subject matter
of the proposed publication as outlined above. The secondary
intended audience is managers, organization development
specialists, consultants, educationalists, policymakers and
undergraduate/graduate business students who require the same
Reference material. At the same time, while having academic rigor,
the writing of the book will be in a way such that non-academics
and non-specialists can understand it; it will be appealing to the
public, while celebrating global creativity, innovation and
education.
How have the most influential political economists of the past
three centuries theorized about sovereign borrowing and shaped its
now widespread use? This important question receives a
comprehensive answer in this original work, featuring careful
textual analysis and illuminating exhibits of public debt empirics
since 1700. Beyond its value as a definitive, authoritative history
of thought on public debt, this book rehabilitates and reintroduces
a realist perspective into a contemporary debate now heavily
dominated by pessimists and optimists alike. The book
simultaneously explicates and critiques the most prominent theories
concerning why states borrow in the first place, whether or not
they borrow productively, the incidence of their debts, why they
sometimes borrow too much and why they often default, whether
explicitly or implicitly. The author classifies major public debt
theorists as pessimists, optimists or realists. This book also
examines the influence of regime types, especially why most modern
welfare states tend not only to over-issue bonds but also to incur
even larger implicit obligations via unfunded, off-balance sheet
liabilities. Scholars and undergraduate and graduate students in
economics and political science, as well as policymakers, will find
this analysis of public debt and public spending insightful and
revealing.
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