It’s taken a few days to gather together and skim some of the more recent books which might be useful as I try to draft the concluding chapter to the book I’ve been working on for the past decade – the one in which I try to understand the sense of crisis which has overtaken the West. The last two posts tried to give a sense of the book’s basic arguments.
I’m one of these people who tend to read everything I can lay my hands on – imagining that it will somehow give me the clarity my confusion requires.
Somehow
I never learn that I need to start with
questions – against which I can query the text. I have to discipline myself
to articulate these questions
POWER is the big problematic for me at the moment. How – given the selfish individualism which has invaded our modern souls – is it possible for people to come together to force the system to change for the better. It was trade unions and the working class who for that brief period after the war forced a certain balance of power. The growth of the service sector and globalisation have undermined that.
And what about a programme which would actually attract votes? That’s why I’ve included the books on socialism, social democracy and communitarianism.
The first column gives the book titles – in chronological order – starting with the earliest. The second column explains why I think they could be useful
Title |
First Impressions |
Why the Third Way Failed
– economics, morality and the origins of ”the big society”; Bill Jordan (2010) |
This,
for a social democrat, is one of the most important questions – why did a
consensual approach which rebuffs both left and right idelogies fail? Was it
the absense of a serious approach? Or are we doomed to be tribal? |
Unaccountable – how the
elite brokers corrupt; Janine Wedel (2014) |
Wedel
is an anthropologist – and applies those skills to the contemporary political
system of the USA |
Rebalancing Society – radical renewal beyond left,
right and center
Henry Mintzberg (2015) |
One
of my favourite little books which I’ve brought in as a measure for the other
books. He’s basically got it all – strong analysis of what’s wrong;
recognition of the importance of worker coops and social enterprise; and of
the need for a shift in power |
Back to the future of
Socialism
Peter Hain (2015) |
Most
of the books in the table are by academics but this one is by that rarity – a
thinking and caring politician. The title is a reference to the classic 1956
“Future of Socialism” and is a useful update |
Reclaiming the State – a
progressive vision of sovereignty in a post neo-liberal world Bill
Mitchell (2017) |
I
like the look of this book – written by an Australian - which, unusually,
argues for a more activist role for the state |
Wrong Turnings – how the
left got lost;
Geoff Hodgson (2018) |
Hodgson
is both a political economist and social democrat and has a strong analysis
here |
Why
the Left Loses – the decline of the centre left; R Manwaring and P Kennedy
(2018) |
The
classic book on social democracy (Berman) was published 15 years ago. This is
a more recent assessment from Australians which looks at the lessons from
recent experience. See reading list here |
Is Socialism Feasible? Geoffrey Hodgson (2019) |
Hodgson
is a political economist and social democrat who writes clearly and is
prepared to face hard truths |
From
What Is to What If – unleashing the power of imagination to create the world
we want Rob Hopkins (2019). |
Hopkins
is an environmental activist who founded the Resilient Towns movement. |
The Demons of Liberal
Democracy;
Adrian Pabst (2019) |
Pabst
is a Third Way man who abhors left and right. I felt this would provide a
challenging read |
Winners take all – the
elite charade of changing the world; A Girdiharadas (2019) |
One
of the problems progressives have is that the devil has stolen a lot of his
tunes. |
Goliath – the 100-year
war between monopoly power and democracy; Matt Stoller (2019) |
very important review suggests the author has
swallowed the liberal competition ideas of economists too literally; and has
underestimated the power of class struggle in the post-war US achievements |
The Free Society in
Crisis;
David Starkey (2019) |
Have
included this curious book largely from admiration of the author’s courage in
limiting his reading list to books that are more than 50 years old |
The evolution of
communitarian ideas – history, theory and practice Henry Tam (2019) |
Communitarianism
is an important strand of progressive thought Tam
is a very thoughtful and excellent writer who blogs here |
The Third Pillar – how
the market and the state leave the community behind Raghuram Rajan (2019) |
an
overdue analysis of the huge role which communiity bodies have to play in the
future which was all too easily dismissed by the loose talk of ”The Third
Way” and the ”Big Society”. Although
we do have to ask why it is that ideas apparently attractive to mainstream
opinion were never taken seriously.... |
The New Class War –
saving democracy from the new managerial elite; Michael Lind
(2020) |
I
want to like this book – but feel the argument that managerial power needs
taking down is hardly likely in itself to lead to the rebalance of power we
need |
Twenty-First Century Socialism; Jeremy Gilbert (2020) |
This
is a short and very readable book. Gilbert is the author of Common Ground – democracy and collectivity in an
age of individualism
(2013) |
Unrigged
– how Americans are battling back to save democracy; David Daley (2020) |
The
book may have a focus on the US but the move to discredit democracy and
disenfranchise voters is widespread (eg contemporary UK) as is evident from
books with titles such as “Against Democracy” (2016) |
Rentier Capitalism – who
owns the economy?
Brett Christophers (2020) |
A
British economist gives us a good sense of the curious direction the British
economy has taken. Strongly influenced by the work of US economist Michael Hudson, famous for his “Killing
the Host” and “J is for Junk Economics” |
Authoritarianism and how to counter it;
Bill Jordan (2020) |
The
sociology author of ”Why the Third Way failed” takes on the question of why
voters have turner again to ”the hard men” and what we can do about it... |
Share the Wealth – how to
end rentier capitalism; Philippe Askenazy (2021) |
Too
many anglo-saxon economists dominate this field – so it’s good to get a
French view (a translation of a 2016 book) |
Mission Economy – a
moonshot guide to changing capitalism; Mariana Mazzucato (2021) |
This
Italian economist now based in Britain is one of the few economists who has
been prepared to argue strongly for public investment and an activist role
for government – see also Bill Mitchell (below) and Andrew Cumbers |
Consequences of
Capitalism;
Noam Chomsky and Mary Waterstone (2021) |
Very
disappointing book – based on recent lectures delivered by Chomsky. And it
shows….with the narrative often jumping into distracting stories. |
Post
Growth – life after capitalism ; Tim Jackson (2021) |
The
elephant in the room….a suitable note on which to finish |
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