Nostalgia

Nostalgia

Let me start with a short quotation from a short piece "Nostalgia makes us all tick"

"Whether we are inclined, personally, to be nostalgic or we are somehow bound up in the external and contextual nostalgic webs, nostalgia dictates our lives. Beyond the intimate bittersweet immersions of nostalgia, conjured by aging, remembrance, death, time, childhood, loss, recovery, and melancholia, we are influenced by such things as retro shops, local produce, concepts of national states, xenophobia, communities, technology advancement, migration, and the climate crisis”.

Some three years ago. I wrote about “Nervous States – democracy and the Decline of Reason” (2018) - a highly original analysis of how feelings seem in recent years to have overwhelmed western societies. Its author, William Davies, is very good on how 17^th century trade led to the development of the system of trust which allowed bills to be issued and exchanged; and subsequently to the wider system of trust of middlemen and experts.

A veteran scholar of neoliberalism, Davies has drawn on a wide set of genres 
— history, philosophy, political science, medicine — to explain the “decline of 
reason” subtitle of his book.
In the seventeenth century, a twin set of abstracted languages were born: the
 abstract system of signs set up by modern commerce and science and the 
system of “abstract” representative government. Each of these moments has 
its own protagonists in Davies’s book. Not just Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes
 and Francis Bacon but, arguably, the first technocrat William Petty’s “political
 arithmetic” - as inventors of the modern state, commerce and modern science.
Then there is the anti-rationalist camp, in which we find Friedrich Hayek,
 Sigmund Freud, Gustave Le Bon, Napoléon, and Donald Trump, who together
 initiate the much-lamented “decline of reason.”
Modernity’s twin system of representation (modern science and the
 representative state) has seen a dramatic loss of legitimacy in the last
 thirty years.
- Science has lost its glow and has retreated into a citadel of expertise.
- Party-politics and parliaments, in turn, have lost their attraction, with
 decreasing memberships and increasing popularity for referendums from 
populists.

The result is a two-pronged “crisis of representation,” both on scientific and political
 fronts. But today I turn my attention to Nostalgia - 

Social scientists interested in studying emotions – which became a particularly thriving and promising research concern from the 1980s and onwards – have to a large degree neglected nostalgia and focused more intensely on emotions such as fear, love, trust, shame, guilt, anger, envy and so on. At least this was the case until quite recently, when nostalgia gradually stated to attract the attention of scholars working within the social sciences and humanities. Sociology, psychology, anthropology, historical science, political science, literary studies, business studies and so on have now discovered nostalgia as a potent and inexhaustible source of knowledge about individual behaviour as well as about ongoing cultural changes.

According to Zygmunt Bauman (2017), we now live in the ‘age of nostalgia’. In fact, it seems as if in recent years we may have witnessed nothing less than a ‘revival of nostalgia’ in many quarters of the academic world with numerous new books published on the topic and an increasing number of journal articles testifying to the fact that nostalgia is indeed still with us and alive and kicking

Nostalgia has become very fashionable in the past decade. Perhaps first noticed by Gary Cross in Consumed Nostalgia – memory in the age of fast capitalism (2015) although Post-communist Nostalgia by Maria Todorova and Zsuzsa Gille had also drawn attention to the phenomenon in 2010 but mainly for a central european audience.

Both books passed me by – and I have been able to download them only because a friend passed me yesterday "Nostalgia in Central and Eastern Europe – from Literature and Film to Media" by Alexandru Condrache (2022)

Alexandru Condrache’s book scans nostalgy’s landscapes with gusto aplenty and no little faith. He knows what he’s talking about even if some of us don’t care, while others might try to not remember the scars that once were wounds, some deep. As a devoted interdisciplinarian, he chronicles the kinds and binds of (mostly Eastern European) nostalgies stalking literature and film, journalism and ads, ideologies left and right, and our less or more fictitious selves. Ostalgie, Yugonostalgia, and especially Romanian post-communist aches are taken to task, sifted through fine meshed analytic strainers, found wanting or desirous, and placed in inviting synthetic containers where nostalgias cohabitate, whether personal or collective, painful or just playful, ridiculous, dramatic, or passées. “Nostalgia in Central and Eastern Europe: From Literature and Film to Media” sets up and charts off one of the most inclusive networks of nostalgias to date. At that, it is to be reckoned with as a lucid study in interdisciplinary communications

Further Reading

"Nostalgia Now – cross-disciplinary perspectives on the past" MH Jacobsen 2020 The full book

"Media, Communications and Nostalgia" 2016 useful overview 113pp

How Realistic is it to expect Good Government?

 “Notes on Good governance” was the subtitle of a book I wrote in 1999 called “In Transit” - but the concept is one of which I’ve been not only sharply critical but downright dismissive. But surely we all support such things as transparency, rule of law, accountability and effective public bodies – the notions that lie at the heart of “good governance”?? My problem was that, in the 1990s, these became largely Western ideas (some of them very recent) which we were imposing on non-Western nations and expecting them to imitate when we ourselves have proved incapable of living up to these high standards.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Ralf Dahrendorf had warned that it would take at least a generation for the Rule of Law to become properly embedded and enforced in ex-communist societies. Thirty years later that’s looking a shade optimistic!

In the new millennium a Harvard Professor, Merilee Grindle, suggested in an article entitled Good Enough Governance that we tone down our expectations and gave us what is probably the definitive paper for this discussion - Good Governance Revisited (2005) – particularly with its tables and diagram detailing the variety of issues and stages at stake….

My reservation stems from the fact that Grindle’s paper focuses on what we used to call the “developing” nations and fails to recognise that the Eastern bloc of new EU member states still lack the basic standards of “good governance” – she is, after all, more of a specialist in Latin American systems. The paper offers a five-fold typology of government – “collapsed”, “personal rule”, “minimally institutionalised”, “institutionalised, non-competitive states” and “institutionalised, competitive states” but seems a bit crude to me and to need nuancing. Countries such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania perhaps need a category of their own.

For the moment, I offer some generalised comments on the difficulties all countries face in seeking to achieve better government. This, of course, begs the question of how many countries are genuinely seeking to improve their systems

Why progress toward Better Government is difficult

Key Principles	What it should mean	Reality
Accountability	Elections allow the electorate to get rid of governments pursuing unpopular policies Ministers take responsibility for departmental performance Government propose and oppositions dispute	Globalisation and neoliberalism have homogenised policies – “they’re all the same” Noone resigns nowadays opposition increasingly cast as disloyal
Transparency	Those in power accept responsibility for their actions Mass media take their responsibilities for exposing misdeeds seriously	Public Relations cover up mistakes Media focuses now on spectacle Whistle-blowers prosecuted
Rule of Law	Noone is above the law Justice is neutral and judges fair-minded Money can’t buy favours People respect the law	Various legal scandals have demonstrated judicial incompetence - and that justice commands a price. Judges have been socialised into the elite and find it difficult to challenge their own – and in ex-communist countries belong to networks The US system is based on massive transfer of corporate money to politicians even the basic issue of political succession is now open to doubt; and Republican states bar blacks from voting
Effective public institutions	Public bodies adequately funded Their performance measured and open to challenge Politicians propose and civil servants advise	Austerity programmes have weakened the efficacy of state bodies The traditional notion of civil service independence now questioned increased politicisation

We have, of course, become much more cynical since 1989. Our trust in both public and private organisations has crashed spectacularly. On Thinking Institutionally was a rare book by Hugh Heclo which explored this issue in 2008. Pages 18-20 give a timeline exposing the development of political distrust in the USA

Even people understood to be conservatives—at least in the way we conceptualize political ideology today—assail institutions. Free market economics places a premium on self-interest and assumes institutions stifle innovation and entrepreneurship.
But institutions provide reference points in an uncertain world. They tie us to the past and present; furnish personal assistance; and institutionalize trust.

In his final Presidential address in 1960, Eisenhower left us with this warning

We . . . must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

The best writing on the subject
 “Democracy for Sale - dark money and dirty politics”; by Peter Geoghegan (2020). A study of the worrying trends which have been seen in the UK in the past decade

Fighting Systemic Corruption – the indirect strategy Bo Rothstein 2018 
His Quality of Government Unit contains the most important analysts of government systems

Making development work – the quality of government approach Bo Rothstein 2015 An important report It’s more than 100 pages long so this shorter powerpoint presentation may be more helpful 

”How Corrupt is Britain?” Ed by D Whyte (2015) a collection of essays about most key institutions of the country ie policing, government and the corporate sector

Bringing politics back in ; Brian Levy (2013) Brian Levy is another economist – who wrote “Against the Grain”

Good Governance - Inflation of an Idea Merilee Grindle (2010) a useful article in which the author updates her idea of “good enough Governance”

British system of government still has signs of life

It’s good to know that “accountability” and “openness” are still in evidence in British government. I had feared that 7 years of corruption and madness had killed such values off. But yesterday the House of Commons’ Committee on Privileges issued a short report entitled simply “Issues to be raised by Parliamentary Ctte on Privileges with Mr Johnson” which threatens to blow Boris Johnson apart. This represents the line of questioning the committee will pursue when interviewing BJ about the apparent lies he told the House of Commons on numerous occasions about what has become known as the “Partygate Affair” when both he, the present Prime Minister and others were fined by the police for breaching the strict laws then in place throughout the land. Lying to Parliament has been one of the most heinous crimes any member is capable of!!

And, to add fuel to the fire, the newspapers have been having a field day this week with the treasure trove of messages the previous Minister of Health, Matt Hancock, is revealed to have sent when he was photographed in a clinch with his aide. They demonstrate a culture of utter contempt by senior Conservatives for the law of the land which was preventing the rest of society from attending funerals and weddings. In the meantime, a Committee of Inquiry into Covid 19 was finally announced in December 2021 with the appointment of a Chairperson - although the terms of reference were not complete until June 2022. The inquiry is structured into phases or “modules”

Also in today’s newspapers a stinging attack by the UK’ “Food Tsar” (I never knew there was one) on the government – and supermarkets for failing to take seriously a significant 290 page report he sent to them in 2021 – the National Food Strategy. With three Prime Ministers in office during 2022, the government did perhaps have other things on its mind – but food and energy have certainly been up there on the minds of the great unwashed public. But all credit to Michael Gove, the Minister for Levelling-up, for commissioning the report – even if he and his Prime Minister may now be regretting the transparency and criticisms it has brought.

And all credit too to the Institute for Government – one of the better (and genuinely independent) Thinktanks which recently set up a feature called Ministers Reflect which, so far, has allowed people in previous positions of power to reflect honestly on their experience of government. I’ve chosen one Conservative and one Labour Minister interviews. What comes across is their total unpreparedness for office. The Institute does frequent podcasts – for example this most recent – although I did feel that a zoom discussion in which I took part on the Centre of Government was overly complacent and London-based.

I know that we have all become so cynical about politicians but it is good to know that some of the newer values of transparency, accountability and openness are apparently alive and kicking in some parts of the system

Can "the Foundational Economy" help Social Democracy?

Social democratic parties are in deep trouble in most of Europe – they’ve become tainted with neoliberalism and ambition and have forgotten their roots. Keir Starmer may have been the Leader of the English Labour party for almost three years but has made little impact. The party may be enjoying a 20% lead in the polls but that is basically down to the total mess Conservative governments have made of things - not just since the June 2016 Brexit referendum but since the austerity Cameron and Osborne imposed on the nation in 2010. That’s 13 years of suffering for those on low and insecure income (about 15% of the British population). And the last 12 months have been particularly cruel for such people as energy and food prices have soared.

The Labour party’s 2017 Manifesto, developed under Jeremy Corbyn, was very popular – not least for its commitments to bring privatised industries back into public ownership and had been underpinned by this earlier report on Alternative Models of Ownership. But Corbyn’s leadership was under constant attack by both the mainstream media and the majority of the parliamentary Labour Party and the party crashed in December 2019 to its worst defeat since the 1930s – losing almost 50 seats in the north of England which had been Labour for almost a century (but which had voted for Brexit).

Starmer (unlike Corbyn) had been on the Remain side of the argument and, on Corbyn’s resignation, clothed himself in respectable leftist garments for his campaign for the leadership which were discarded quickly on his victory.

In 2018 Rachel Reeves (who became in 2021 the party’s Shadow Minister of Finance) published a significant 66 page pamphlet entitled “The Everyday Economy” and the “Political Quarterly” ran a short but well-referenced article about it, leading to a further series of articles in the journal in 2022. Surfing has unearthed quite a collection of articles and pamphlets about the concept which was developed a decade ago by the Foundational Economy Collective people at Manchester University whose working papers can be accessed here. Reeves meant three things by the term -

• “First, work and wages. People need more control in their workplace, stronger rights to collective bargaining, higher wages, and investment in technological innovation and skills.

• Second, families and households. Austerity, low wages and the burdens of care are putting millions of families under pressure. We need to protect services that support families and do much more to eradicate child poverty, which is rising.

• Britain is one of the most centralised countries in Europe. We must devolve decision making, resources and tax-raising powers to cities, towns and counties. Involving local communities and their insights will lead to better policy, and more responsive and cost-effective public services”.

But that was some years ago. Keir Starmer has now upped the ante in a series of announcements about Labour party policy culminating in “Mission Economy” which is as technocratic statement of commitment to economic growth as you are likely to see – with the prints of Mariana Mazzucatu all over it.

The question is how on earth this can be squared with the very different approach embedded in the discourse about the “Everyday/Foundational economy”? In such diverse places as Barcelona, Wales, Scotland and Manchester, experiments have been underway in the past few years – often with the help of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), to embed this more localist approach which runs so counter to neoliberalism

The foundational approach differs from the “productive economy” approach which has dominated centre-left (and centre-right) politics in the UK and elsewhere since the late 1940s. It’s focus is on the possibility and necessity of local initiative in a foundational politics which breaks down the established distinction between economic and social policy.

Senior figures in the UK Labour party have been searching for a narrative based on shared values or national identity – but an electorally credible narrative has to be based on the deliberative and performative basis of successful local initiative. So that the social democratic offer becomes “trust us to do more of what we have already done to deliver a future that works for you”.

We have feminism to thank for this – it was 1996 when the feminist collective Gibson-Graham published The End of Capitalism (as we knew it), a much-neglected classic which set in motion a way of looking at economics which has clearly inspired such authors as Kate Rawarth and Ann Pettifor. It was followed by 2 further books, one of which occupies the first place in the table below.

I appreciate readers will not be used to such a table – but it’s there simply to dip into. There’s only one book – the rest of the material being articles and pamphlets with the number of pages clearly marked.

A Resource on the Foundational Economy (in chronological order)

Title	The Takeaway
"Take Back the Economy – an ethical guide to transforming our communities” Gibson-Graham et al (2013)	Nothing less than a total rethink of the economics discipline. Superbly written and presented – using graphs and tables The link in the title accesses the entire book
Manifesto for the Foundation Economy (2013)	The Centre for Research into Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) of Man University is well-known for the originality of its work. Here it argues for a new kind of intervention which would challenge public and private business models that privilege least cost and most profit and neglect the preconditions of national, regional and local economic security and social sustainability (23 pages).
Forging a Good Local Society; Neil McIntosh (2016)	McIntosh was for many years the Head for the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) which helped local authorities. This is a superb reflection on the value locally-based strategies can bring to national efforts (56 pages)
Labour’s Lost Tribe – winning back the working class (2018)	A useful political assessment of the dilemmas the Labour party faced in the UK - particularly in Corbyn times (11 pages)
The Foundational economy – infrastructure (2018)	The concept has attracted Europe-wide interest. This is an excellent article from an Italian sociological journal which puts the debate in the wider European context and argues that FE helps the defence and management of the local commons (30 pages)
Everyday Socialism (Fabian 2019)	One of the best overviews – at 100 pages. This is the must-read paper which will be needed for future referencing
Debating the Foundational Economy (Renewal 2019)	An excellent short discussion of the concept – with many concrete examples (8 pages)
Everyday Work R Reeves and M Reader (GMB 2019)	A useful update of her 2018 NEF paper whose rights she has sold to Scribd which charges a monthly fee (shame on her!!) 48 pages
Building the Good Society; Neal Lawson (2020)	A short look back at a decade of left-wing developments by a stalwart who tells truth to power
After the Pandemic - experimental governance and the foundational economy (Symphonya 2021)	The pandemic inspired hopes that the value of essential workers such as nurses and supermarket workers would be placed above those of financiers……(6 pages)
The Foundational Economy as social-ecological transformation (Vienna 2021)	A good feminist and ecological overview of the field (19 pages)
Placing the Foundational Economy B Russell et l Stafford Uni 2022	The best literature review – although it suffers somewhat from academic jargon (18 pages)

Snippets

Snippets

I have three very talented daughters – two with a design inclination and one a General Practice medic who combines that with teaching medical students in Edinburgh. So this post is for all of them. Although the focus this time is mainly medical, I will deal with design in a future post

1. Photos of Scotland in the 1930s. A woman GP on the Hebrides took these wonderful photos which can currently be viewed at an exhibition in Edinburgh. 

2. The European Union has just developed a new partnership on health with the World Health Organisation. WHO has come in for some criticism recently but I have to say that I have a lot of respect for it – having seen it at close quarters for 6 months in 1990/91 when I was invited to help the head of its European Division of Public Health develop a strategy for central europe. I have never seen such a lean and effective organisational system – with one person, a secretary and a small budget dealing very effectively with, respectively, drugs, smoking, maternity and healthy cities

3. Lea Ypi has been making quite an impact with her recent book on Free – coming of age at the end of history which recounts – through the various members of her family – the diverse ways in which they interpreted what was happening to their society before and after 1989. French TV had this lovely documentary of her revisiting her family home in Albania

4. Martin Wolf has a more interesting background than you might imagine from his sobriquet as lead financial journalist at the Financial Times – his family having fled from Nazi Austria. After an initial stint at the World Bank where he became disillusioned with McNamara’s policies, he fell under the influence of Hayekian thinking and wrote positively about globalisation. His latest book “The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism” warns against the “UK creep toward authoritarianism“ which he explores in this great interview

5. Dr John Campbell. This guy has been the daily voice of reason on Youtube for the past 3 years on Covid and ran very useful tutorials on health topics for years before – although the Wikipedia link throws some doubt on some of his claims. I began to worry about his judgement when he appeared on the Neil Oliver show a month ago. Oliver was a bit of a Scottish historian but has become a rabid conspiracy theorist in the past couple of years - and Campbell was most ill-advised to appear on the programme.

This broadcast on depression is a welcome break from his fixation on Covid which encouraged me to upload to his site (which attracts some 5000 mainly US comments a day!) a link to Johann Hari's great book on Lost Connections

6. Saying Goodbye; A friend of mine lost his wife recently. It was the end of Alastair Campbell’s most recent The Rest is Politics which reminded me of Jacques Brel’s powerful “Do not Leave me”