Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy
Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy

Author: G÷ran Therborn

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-11-24

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1788739019

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A global panorama of the historical development and contemporary malaise of liberal democracy, from a renowned social theorist. Barely a century has passed since liberal democracy became established in the majority of advanced capitalist economies. Elsewhere, it is of even more recent vintage. Classical liberalism held universal suffrage a mortal threat to property. So why did it nevertheless come to pass, and how stable today is the marriage between representative government and the continued rule of capital? People on all continents consider inequality a "very big problem". The Davos Economic Forum and the OECD say they are worried. But capitalist democracies don't respond. How has democracy been transformed from a popular demand for social justice to a professional power game? These questions are raised, and answered, in Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy. Together with an essay on the current situation, it includes a compact global history of 'The Right to Vote and the Four World Routes to/through Modernity' and two landmark essays from New Left Review, 'The Rule of Capital and the Rise of Democracy' and 'The Travail of Latin American Democracy', collected here in book form for the first time.

Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy
Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy

Author: G÷ran Therborn

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-11-24

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1788738993

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A global panorama of the historical development and contemporary malaise of liberal democracy, from a renowned social theorist. Barely a century has passed since liberal democracy became established in the majority of advanced capitalist economies. Elsewhere, it is of even more recent vintage. Classical liberalism held universal suffrage a mortal threat to property. So why did it nevertheless come to pass, and how stable today is the marriage between representative government and the continued rule of capital? People on all continents consider inequality a "very big problem". The Davos Economic Forum and the OECD say they are worried. But capitalist democracies don't respond. How has democracy been transformed from a popular demand for social justice to a professional power game? These questions are raised, and answered, in Inequality and the Labyrinths of Democracy. Together with an essay on the current situation, it includes a compact global history of 'The Right to Vote and the Four World Routes to/through Modernity' and two landmark essays from New Left Review, 'The Rule of Capital and the Rise of Democracy' and 'The Travail of Latin American Democracy', collected here in book form for the first time.

Imperial Inequalities
Imperial Inequalities

Author: Gurminder K. Bhambra

Publisher: Manchester University Press

Published: 2022-11-29

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1526166135

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Imperial Inequalities takes Western European empires and their legacies as the explicit starting point for discussion of issues of taxation and welfare. In doing so, it addresses the institutional and fiscal processes involved in modes of extraction, taxation, and the hierarchies of welfare distribution across Europe’s global empires. The idea of ‘imperial inequalities’ provides a conceptual frame for thinking about the long-standing colonial histories that are responsible, at least in part, for the shape of present inequalities. This wide-ranging volume challenges existing historiographical accounts that present states and empires as separate categories. Instead, it views them as co-constitutive units by focusing upon the politics of economic governance across imperial spaces. Authors examine the fiscal innovations that enabled European empires to finance their expansion, the politics of redistribution that were important to constructing the veneer of legitimacy of taxation, and the fiscal mechanisms that were established to ensure that the imperial contours of inequality continued to define the postcolonial world. These diverse contributions provide new resources for how we think about issues of taxation and welfare across the longue durée. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10, Reduced inequalities

Talking About Global Inequality
Talking About Global Inequality

Author: Christian Olaf Christiansen

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-02-17

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 3031080424

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Comprising a collection of interview essays with nineteen public intellectuals and scholars from around the world, this book reflects on some of the most pressing questions of our age: what is global inequality; what causes it; and how should we deal with it? Leading figures within the fields of History, Sociology, Economics, Anthropology and Postcolonial Studies, shed light on how their personal backgrounds, places of work, and hometowns have shaped their views on global inequality. We learn about the causes of global inequality, the historical factors that have shaped the world into an unequal place, and the challenges that humanity is confronted with in the face of the widening gap between the poor and the rich. Bringing together voices from the Global North and South, this book helps us to think more broadly about inequality and deepens our understanding of how this long-lasting phenomenon is, and has been, experienced across the globe.

Wittgenstein and Democratic Politics
Wittgenstein and Democratic Politics

Author: Lotar Rasiński

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-10-28

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1040188850

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume demonstrates how Wittgenstein’s philosophy can illuminate our understanding of politics and open new ways of conceptualizing democratic theory and practice. Its focus is on language, reason and communication as central to identifying present confusions in our understanding of democracy. The book seeks to engage Wittgenstein’s philosophical insights, aiming to go beyond the dichotomous oppositions and conceptual entanglements pervading existing frameworks of social and political theories of democracy. Its key topic is the irreplaceable role of dialogue in civic democratic engagement as a condition for the understanding of self and others and, hence, for political life in which reason has a role. Indeed, it presents concrete examples of how Wittgenstein can be constructively applied to current political discourse. Part I of the volume focuses on the general idea of applying Wittgenstein’s philosophy to political and democratic theory and explains the deep and intrinsic relation between Wittgenstein’s thought and politics. Part II discusses Wittgenstein’s concrete concepts as illuminating for understanding selected aspects of democratic politics. Part III deals with a possible exchange between Wittgenstein and other political thinkers, especially Hannah Arendt. Wittgenstein and Democratic Politics will appeal to researchers and advanced students working on Wittgenstein’s philosophy, political philosophy and democratic theory.

The Cambridge History of Socialism
The Cambridge History of Socialism

Author: Marcel van der Linden

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-11-24

Total Pages: 896

ISBN-13: 110858859X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume describes the various movements and parties, across all six continents, that wanted social change through state transformation. It begins with a reconstruction of social democracy's trajectories from the 1870s until the present. The evolution of socialism on different continents is illustrated through a number of national case studies. Experiments at a subnational level (for example, municipal socialism) are also explored, as are the varying experiences of international umbrella organizations. The next part focuses on divergent socialist experiments and ideologies in several parts of the world, including South Asia, Africa, the Arab world, Brazil, Venezuela, and Israel/Palestine, followed by an overview of 'independent' socialist movements, including left-socialist parties of the 1930s and the post-war period, and the global New Left since its beginnings in the 1950s. The volume concludes with critical essays on socialism's long-term and global development.

Social (In)equality, Community Well-being and Quality of Life
Social (In)equality, Community Well-being and Quality of Life

Author: Patsy Kraeger

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2024-02-12

Total Pages: 459

ISBN-13: 103531245X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Combining theoretical and empirical research with global case studies, this innovative book examines the complex relationships between social (in)equality, community well-being and quality of life centred on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10. Insightful and forward-thinking, it explores strategies for fostering strong communities, focusing on the importance of social connections, shared resources and a sense of belonging.

Embedded Autocracy
Embedded Autocracy

Author: András Bozóki

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-07-17

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1793636079

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Embedded Autocracy: Hungary in the European Union considers the new Hungarian autocracy as a political regime that is deeply entrenched in the make-up of Hungarian society. The deterioration of the social conditions of democracy did not begin in 2010, when Viktor Orbán came to power, so it cannot be reduced to a leadership issue only. András Bozóki and Zoltán Fleck avoid the trap of historical determinism as well. The Orbán's regime is not based solely on the autocratic traits of the leader, nor on simply institutional failures, but on social contexts and cultural configurations. The analysis employed in this book is complex. Hungary's democratic future depends on our ability to understand the mechanisms of autocracy embedded in society. Scenarios for the destruction of democracy are voluminous, and autocratic legalism is one of them, which requires complex analytical tools to understand. Bozóki and Fleck describe the unexpected collapse of Hungarian democracy with the aim of contributing to the exposure of the structural weaknesses of contemporary democracy. Understanding the operational characteristics of the first autocratic regime within the European Union will contribute to the success of those policy makers who aspire to guard the stability of democracy.

Persistence of Race
Persistence of Race

Author: Nina G. Jablonski

Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1928480446

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the third and final group of essays emerging from the discussions of the Effects of Race Project at the Stellenbosch Ins􀆟tute for Advanced Study (STIAS) that occurred in 2016 and 2017. The authors consider the biological and social understandings of race, and how new information from both the biological and social sciences is changing our perspec􀆟ve on the nature of the human condition, including the association of biological and social phenomena with “race”. They also look at global events or movements which influence these processes in South Africa and the costs of a racialised world order to humans and humanity. Phenomena are examined through the lenses of many disciplines: sociology, history, geography, anthropology and writing.