This book critically analyzes the current historical conjuncture of neoliberal capitalism with an eye to its emergent alternatives. Can democracy and capitalism thrive together? Is socialism a viable and a desirable alternative? What are the forms of emancipatory action and critical thought that can effectively chart a way forward?
Focusing on nine “critical debates” it provides a uniquely comprehensive overview of the tensions, contradictions, and latent emancipatory potential of contemporary global capitalism. The specific debates are as follows: capitalism’s relationship with democracy; privatization and governance of the commons; the financialization of capitalism; technology and the future of work; varieties of neoliberal capitalism; cosmopolitanism, international development, and human rights; feminist theory and social solidarity; sustainability and climate change; and theories of capitalist crisis.
Author(s): Albena Azmanova; James Chamberlain (Editors)
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Year: 2022
Language: English
Commentary: Politics, Critical Debates, critically analyzes neoliberlism, captialism and democracy
Pages: 267
Tags: Politics, Critical Debates, critically analyzes neoliberlism, captialism and democracy
Contents
About the Editors
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Capitalism and Democracy: Complementarity, Complicity, Conflict, Compatibility
2.1 Liberal Legacies and the Early Modern Tradition
2.1.1 The Levellers Controversy
2.1.2 Liberalism and the Priority Argument
2.1.3 Neorepublicanism and the Ambiguity of the Early Modern Tradition
2.2 Theories of Complicity and the Separation Thesis
2.3 Marketizing Democracy
2.3.1 Rational Markets and Irrational Democrats
2.3.2 The Frayed Ends of Democratic Capitalism
2.3.3 Capital and Coloniality
2.4 Strategies of Compatibility
2.5 Parting Considerations
References
Chapter 3: Privatization and the Governance of the Commons
3.1 The Debate
3.2 Private Property and the Commons: Political Ideas, Economic Theories, and Legal Practice
3.2.1 Moral and Economic Justifications for Property Rights
3.2.2 The Marxist Critique
3.2.3 The Dogma of Absolute Property Revisited
3.2.4 New Reformulations: On the Common Good and the “Good” Governance
3.3 The Tragedy of the Commons Reassessed: A Case Study on Chile
3.4 Conclusion: A Recategorization of the “Commons”
References
Chapter 4: Finance and the Financialization of Capitalism
4.1 Introduction
4.2 What Is Financialization?
4.3 Financialization of Everyday Life and the Household
4.4 Financialization and Race
4.5 Finance, Subjectivity, and Culture
4.6 Financialization and Democracy
4.7 Capitalism and Climate Change
4.8 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Technology and the Future of Work
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Information Technology, Capitalism, and Class
5.3 Technology, Automation and Work
5.4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Varieties of Neoliberal Capitalism
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Neoliberal Development Model
6.2.1 The Dimensions of the Neoliberal Development Model
The Structural Adjustment Program (SAP)
The Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPCI)
The Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)
6.3 The Asian “Tigers”
6.4 The Case of BRICS (Brazil, Russia India, China and South Africa)
6.4.1 The Origins and Structures of BRICS
6.4.2 BRICS as an Alternative Economic Development Model
6.5 The Social Democratic Developmental State Model
6.5.1 State Type
6.5.2 Democracy-Development Nexus
6.5.3 Development Ideology
6.5.4 The State as the “Engine of Development”
6.5.5 State Autonomy
6.5.6 Embeddedness
6.5.7 The Centrality of Human Material Wellbeing
6.5.8 Funding Development
6.5.9 The Role of the “Market”
6.6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Cosmopolitanism, International Development and Human Rights
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Cosmopolitanism
7.3 Development
7.4 Human Rights
7.5 Conclusion
References
Chapter 8: Feminist Theory and Social Solidarity
8.1 Capitalist and Anti-capitalist Feminisms
8.2 Solidarity: A Brief Genealogy
8.3 Feminist Theories of Solidarity: Identity, Redistribution, and Intersectionality
8.3.1 Identitarian Ideals
8.3.2 Post-identitarian Organizing
8.3.3 Intersectionality: History and Present
8.3.4 Neoliberal Feminism
8.4 Persistent Challenges
References
Chapter 9: Sustaining What? Capitalism, Socialism, and Climate Change
9.1 Sustainable Ubiquity
9.2 Sustainable Confusion
9.3 What We Talk About When We Talk About Sustainability
9.4 The Extractive Circuit
9.5 Green Capitalism I: The Discount Rate
9.6 Green Capitalism II: Green Growth
9.7 Green Growth on the Left
9.8 Prometheanism and Techno-Mysticism
9.9 Degrowth Dilemmas
9.10 ‘One Solution—Revolution’ and Other Marxist Fallacies
Bibliography
Chapter 10: Capitalism and Crisis: Thinking Through Capitalist Crisis with Schumpeter and Polanyi
10.1 Introduction
10.2 The Marxian Legacy: Defining Capitalism
10.3 Schumpeter on Capitalist Crisis
10.4 Polanyi and the Great Transformation
10.5 Conclusion
References
Index
