The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY, vol.3, no.4, (October 2007)
Editorial
This issue begins with two major theoretical articles which constitute a pre-publication from the book under publication (in English and in Greek) under the title Global Capitalism and the Demise of the Left: Renewing Radicalism through Inclusive Democracy, which celebrates and critically assesses the publication of the book Towards An Inclusive Democracy, (London/N.Y.: Cassell/Continuum), ten years ago. The book consists of essays by respected analysts of the International Left representing all main facets of it.
In the first article, Steve Best, the editor of this book, brilliantly stresses the paradox that despite the growing deterioration of society and nature in recent decades “yet, where one might expect this multifaceted crisis to generate an appropriate political response, another crisis has formed: theoretical and political opposition to global capitalism – in any significant and truly radical form embodying democratic social and political alternatives -- has collapsed.” The author then goes on to examine the present cultural crisis which complements today’s multidimensional crisis in order to conclude that, “when one considers the paucity of radical viewpoints that still survive, the project of Inclusive Democracy immediately comes to mind as one of the few, if not the only, coherent and comprehensive theoretical and political frameworks for systemic social change”.
In the second article, Takis Fotopoulos attempts a brief presentation of the vast amount of theoretical work that has followed the publication of Towards An Inclusive Democracy and its translation in several languages. As the article stresses, this is a clear indication of the fact that the Inclusive Democracy (ID) project is not just a static theoretical work but a wide-ranging political project enriched with a dynamic theory, which has been constantly expanding in new areas of research. Thus, the class theory of the ID project and its view on postmodernism is summarised, as well as the ID approach on ethics and Paideia, whereas the democratic rationalism adopted by the ID project is delineated from irrationalism, objective rationalism, and recent scientific developments like systems theory and complexity. Then, the main aspects of neoliberal globalisation are discussed with reference to the main aspects of the present multidimensional crisis, and finally the ID project is delineated from old and new antisystemic movements like the projects of autonomy, communalism, Parecon, de-growth, and the ecovillage movement.
The next section consists of two articles examining again the rapidly deteriorating ecological crisis (Takis Fotopoulos), first, with respect to the growth economy-- which is shown to be the main culprit of this crisis—as well as direct action and its limitations and, second, with reference to the effects of climate change (as a result of the greenhouse effect), which this summer has led to catastrophic flooding in Northern Europe and wild forest fires in Southern Europe in general and Greece in particular where scores of people were burnt alive.
Finally, the third section consists of a well researched and insightful analysis by John Sargis of the present US trend toward totalitarianism, as illustrated by “Interoperability” and its associated legislative coups and Presidential decrees which not only constitute a withering of constitutional government but also set the President up as dictator in chief.
The Editorial Committee
October 2007