TOWARDS AN INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY:

The Crisis of the Growth Economy and the Need for a New Liberatory Project

 

Contents

 

Acknowledgments (vii)

 

Introduction (ix)

 

 

PART I : THE CRISIS OF THE GROWTH ECONOMY

 

Chapter 1 : The market economy and the marketization process (3)

 

From markets to market economies (4)

• Pre-"market economy" markets

• Nation-states and markets

• The emergence of market economies

The marketization process: the liberal phase (14)

• The advent of economic liberalism

• The rise of protectionism and nationalism

• Protectionism leads to statism

The marketization process: the statist Phase (21)

• Pre-war statism

• The social-democratic consensus

• The internationalisation of the market economy and the collapse of statism

The marketization process: the neoliberal phase (33)

• The flourishing of the neoliberal movement

• The neoliberal consensus

• The internationalised market economy

Internationalisation and the nation-state (46)

• Internationalisation or globalisation?

• Withering away the nation-state?

• Is this the end of politics (as we know it?)

 

Chapter 2 : The Growth Economy and 'Socialist' Statism (62)

 

The rise of the Growth Economy (63)

• The two types of growth economy

• The growth economy and the growth ideology

• The growth economy and the concentration of power

The fall of the 'socialist' growth economy in the East (73)

• The causes of the fall of the ‘socialist’ growth economy

• From a ‘socialist’ growth economy to a market economy

a. The capitalist market economies in East Europe

b. The ‘socialist’ market economies in the Far East

The collapse of social democracy in the West (85)

• The move from social democracy to social liberalism

• The decline of social democracy in the European Union

• A European ‘social market’: the new social-democratic myth

Why 'socialist' statism failed (100)

• The role of growth, competitiveness and efficiency

• The conflict between the growth economy and socialist ethics

 

Chapter 3 : The growth economy and the South (110)

 

The failure of the growth economy in the South (111)

• The spreading of the growth economy

• The case of the ‘economic miracles’ in the South

• The growth economy and development

The conventional approaches to development (117)

• The classical approaches

• Neo-Malthusians and the ‘overpopulation’ myth

• Neo-classical and Marxist/dependency approaches to development

• The regulation approach to development

The ecological dimension of development (129)

 

Democracy and Development (131)

• Towards a new ‘North-South’ divide

• Development or Democracy?

 

Chapter 4 : The generalized crisis of the capitalist growth economy (140)

 

A multi-dimensional crisis (141)

• The economic dimension

• The political dimension

• The social dimension

• The ideological dimension

The growth economy and the ecological crisis (149)

• The sustainable development approach

• The deep ecology approach

• The ‘appropriate development’ approach

Is there a way out? (157)

• The Right’s proposal: further marketization

• The Left’s proposal: the ‘civil societarian’ approach

• Towards a new liberatory approach

 

PART II : TOWARDS A CONFEDERAL INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY

 

Chapter 5 : Towards a new conception of democracy (171)

 

Democracy and the Growth Economy (171)

• The compatibility of democracy with the capitalist growth economy

• The compatibility of democracy with the ‘socialist’ growth economy

Democracy, freedom and autonomy (175)

• How to define freedom?

• Freedom, individualism and collectivism

• Democracy, sovereignty and the state

Conceptions of democracy (185)

• The Athenian conception of democracy

• The liberal conception of democracy

• The Marxist-Leninist conception of democracy

• The conceptions of ‘radical’ democracy

The conception of an inclusive democracy (205)

• Political democracy

• Economic democracy

• Democracy in the social realm

• Ecological democracy

• A new conception of citizenship

 

Chapter 6 : A Confederal inclusive democracy (224)

 

Democracy and Community (225)

• The meaning of community

• Communitarianism: the false ‘third’ way

The political framework of inclusive democracy (230)

• Confederal democracy

• Criticisms raised against the confederal democracy

The economic framework of inclusive democracy (237)

• Economic democracy defined

• The preconditions of economic democracy: community self-reliance

• The preconditions of economic democracy: demotic ownership of productive resources

• The preconditions of economic democracy: confederal allocation of resources

a. The market mechanism

b. The central planning mechanism

c. Participatory planning and freedom of choice

Outline of a model of confederal economic democracy (255)

• Meeting the basic needs of all citizens in the confederation

• Meeting the non-basic needs of all citizens in the community

• Allocation of work

a. Allocation of work in the basic needs sector

b. Allocation of work in the non-basic needs sector

• Production targets and technology

a. Basic goods and services

b. Non-basic goods and services

c. Intermediate goods

d. Technology

• Distribution of income

• Exchanges between communities

 

Chapter 7 : From "here" to "there" (275)

 

Democracy and Community (225)

• The meaning of community

• Communitarianism: the false ‘third’ way

The political framework of inclusive democracy (230)

• Confederal democracy

• Criticisms raised against the confederal democracy

The economic framework of inclusive democracy (237)

• Economic democracy defined

• The preconditions of economic democracy: community self-reliance

• The preconditions of economic democracy: demotic ownership of productive resources

• The preconditions of economic democracy: confederal allocation of resources

a. The market mechanism

b. The central planning mechanism

c. Participatory planning and freedom of choice

Outline of a model of confederal economic democracy (255)

• Meeting the basic needs of all citizens in the confederation

• Meeting the non-basic needs of all citizens in the community

• Allocation of work

a. Allocation of work in the basic needs sector

b. Allocation of work in the non-basic needs sector

• Production targets and technology

a. Basic goods and services

b. Non-basic goods and services

c. Intermediate goods

d. Technology

• Distribution of income

• Exchanges between communities

 

PART III : TOWARDS A DEMOCRATIC RATIONALISM

 

Chapter 8 : How do we justify the project for an inclusive democracy (305) PDF

 

The Myth of Objectivity: Orthodox `Objectivity' (306)

• Rationalism versus empiricism/positivism

• Falsificationism and scientific research programmes (SRP)

• Objectivity versus intersubjectivity

The Myth of Objectivity: Dialectical 'Objectivity' (316)

• The dialectical conception of objectivity

• Marxist ‘objectivity’ and dialectics

• Dialectical naturalism: an objective ethics?

Beyond 'Objectivism', Irrationalism and Relativism (340)

• What is the foundation of freedom and democracy?

• Neither ‘scientism’ nor utopianism

• Neither general relativism nor irrationalism

• Conclusion: towards a democratic rationalism

Epilogue (357)

 

Selected bibliography (360)

 

Name Index (375)

 

Subject Index (378)

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