Ever since the Second Industrial Revolution petered out, global capitalism has faced a demand crisis. If you think that all we need now is to stop austerity and spend our way out of the crisis, think again. Over the past few decades, developed economies were kept alive through artificially created demand. The inflation of the […]
Good Society: What Needs To Be Done
Trump, Brexit, Le Pen. Right-wing populist revolts are shaking the liberal order. Progressives, however, lack the strength to rein in global capitalism, break the neoliberal hegemony and fight back that populist challenge. To save democracy, we need to get down to work on three construction sites: a new economic model, an identity narrative and a […]
Ten Theses For The Fight Against Right-Wing Populism
Who is drawn to right-wing populism and why is it so dangerous? The real danger of right-wing populism lies in its ability to forge broad societal alliances In the United Kingdom, United States, Hungary, and Poland, right-wing populist alliances have shown that they can win majorities. This mass appeal is built upon a platform which […]
The Revolt Against Globalism
Donald Trump has been elected the 45th President of the United States. Not many saw this coming. Which is odd, given the wave of middle and working class anger raging against ‘globalism’ around the world for a decade. Some thoughts on the post-liberal age. This election has been a rustbelt race. Trump’s bet on the […]
Transformative Platform Politics For The Digital Society
The more our societies diversify into a loose network of lifeworlds, the more important it becomes to find a platform to hold them together. This common platform cannot be made out of a potpourri of policies, but needs to be built around a credible narrative about a better future for all. Shaping the Society of […]
Shaping The Great Digital Transformation
A deep crisis is paralyzing the societies of the West. The outsourcing of low skilled manufacturing to emerging economies has created a ‘precariat’ excluded from economic, social and political life. The middle classes, already under pressure from stagnating real wages, are afraid of suffering the same fate in the digital economy. More and more people […]
The Middle Classes In The Vertigo Of Change
Tahrir, Thaksim, Maidan. Hundreds of thousands are protesting around the world. From Tunisia to Thailand, from Ukraine to Egypt, governments are overthrown. The images resemble each other. What do leaders with such vastly different ideologies such as the Bolivarian socialist Chavez, the neoliberal tycoon Thaksin, the Islamist Erdogan and the friend of oligarchs Yanukovich have […]
How Thailand’s Middle Class Rage Threatens Democracy
No matter how the elite power struggle ends, the future of Thai democracy will depend on the political orientation of the middle classes. Will political entrepreneurs continue to mobilize mass protests for elite interests, or will the middle classes settle for a social compromise to safeguard their own interests? In order to bring the Bangkok […]
What We Need To Learn From Neoliberal Discourse
Policy shifts are always the outcome of a struggle between those who want to uphold the status quo and those who seek change. Given the access to financial, coercive and ideological means of the status quo coalition, shifting the development path is nothing less than a herculean task. In order to succeed, progressive actors need […]
Utopia, Technocracy And Struggle: Ways Out Of The Crisis Of Social Democracy
The crisis of social democracy is closely connected to the shift in the balance of power between capitalism and democracy. Opportunity structures for technocratic as well as combative political approaches have deteriorated. To increase political assertiveness, social democracy needs to rediscover its utopian project to strike a balance between the universal mandate of democracy and […]
The Economy Of Tomorrow Project
How To produce socially just, sustainable and green dynamic growth for a Good Society. The near meltdown of the world economy in 2008 took most academics and decision-makers by surprise. Much of the early analyses concentrated on the “greed is good” incentive structures and “jenga leverage towers” of casino capitalism. However, the crisis was by […]
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