This volume addresses a number of interrelated issues in the old and new political economy. The focus on globalization is generally taking the mind off questions of debt and indebtedness. Capital now has such a decided institutional edge that its legitimacy in capitalist democracies is under threat. Present developments seriously jeopardise the balance between capital, public and social institutions on which the progress and welfare of the developing world and the capitalist democracies depend. Going back to Marx, Weber and Habermas, H.T. Wilson concludes that against the backdrop of Weberian pessimism, social intellectuals still have to rise to the occasion, rather than assisting in the massive, and consequently, self-confirming prophecy that contemporary postmodernism now threatens to become.
Author(s): Hugh T. Wilson
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 280
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 12
1 Introduction......Page 16
2 Capitalism and Legitimacy......Page 25
3 Legitimacy and Capitalism......Page 40
4 Sovereignty and Legitimacy......Page 58
5 Capitalism and Democracy......Page 80
6 What the People Do for Capitalism......Page 104
7 Property, Capital and Society......Page 130
8 Public Capital and its Co-optation......Page 155
9 The Public Debt: We Win, You Lose......Page 181
10 Privatization: Hypocrisy Triumphant......Page 210
11 Free Trade: The Supreme Illusion......Page 239
12 Legitimation Crisis?......Page 268
13 Capitalism after Postmodernism......Page 288
C......Page 308
H......Page 309
L......Page 310
Q......Page 311
W......Page 312
Z......Page 313
C......Page 314
D......Page 316
G......Page 317
M......Page 318
N......Page 319
P......Page 320
S......Page 322
W......Page 323
