E-Book Overview
A crisis makes you rethink your life. The recent economic crisis is no exception. All of us are now thinking how the world could be run differently. Despite this, a radical alternative has hardly emerged to mobilize the masses. Written for the public and students, this book explores the character and spirit of radical politics in our times.
E-Book Content
What is Radical Politics Today? ‘This is a bold, brave and timely book. As we emerge, blinking into the light after three decades of neo-liberal darkness, Jonathan Pugh has put together a collection of essays that will provoke and provide clues to the question of what comes next; what indeed is radical politics today?’ Neal Lawson (Chair, Compass) ‘Jonathan Pugh gathers some of the most innovative and insightful voices from Britain and beyond to stage a series of debates on the central issues facing radical politics today. This collection is a model for the kinds of discussion we need to move forward.’ Michael Hardt, co-author of Empire, Multitude and Commonwealth ‘At a time when all ideologies are either exhausted or have become irrelevant, the need for a truly radical politics can hardly be exaggerated. Radical politics is about rethinking the common sense, the taken for granted assumptions, of the age. This timely and well-planned collection of essays by distinguished and concerned scholars throws much new light on where we should be looking for new ideas. It represents a major contribution to the ongoing debate on the problems of our times.’ Lord Bhikhu Parekh ‘In the present moment of rapid and fundamental political and economic change we need sustained critical discussion of the kinds of alternative politics available to us. In What is Radical Politics Today? leading political theorists initiate this timely discussion by addressing both possibilities and obstacles from a wide range of perspectives.’ James Tully (University of Victoria) ‘As the most immediate effects of a global economic and financial crisis seem to be ebbing from our consciousness, the authors in this collection reaffirm the urgent need for a different kind of politics. One after the other they draw a picture of a world ill at ease with itself: addicted to consumption yet unjust in its rewards; obsessed with the idea of the global at the expense of an engagement with the real; aware yet narcissistic. Helpless with fear, paternalism and debt. But the book is, above all, in the words of one contributor “a challenge to fatalism”. The chapters sketch out a radical politics for the 21st century based on the rediscovery of our human powers to invent and adapt – a rebuilding of the state’s management and redistributive capacities, a revaluing of autonomous behaviour and critical judgement, the prioritising of a “social planet” over a “social state” and even, a repudiation of near-sacrosanct institutions. No doubt some injunctions will rile, but though this book may fail to comfort, it will not fail to challenge or provoke.’ Catherine Fieschi (Director, Counterpoint, The Think Tank of the British Council) ‘With impeccable timing, this volume provides a stimulating range of perspectives on what radical politics can offer during this period of crisis and change. It deserves to be widely read and debated.’ Ruth Lister (Loughborough University) ‘There’s a world to win, but only if the Left is possessed of bright ideas, inspiring aspirations and brilliant strategies. This book – rich in insight – assembles some of our leading thinkers to consider what sort of Left can unlock the progressive potential contained in this moment of early 21st-century crisis. Has the mainstream Left conceded far too much to the liberals and conservatives this last 30 years? If so, what sort of Left can win hearts and minds in this moment of crisis? The answers to these important questions are the stuff of this excellent book.’ Noel