Tag Archives: democracy

Is there a Deep State in our western liberal democracies? If so, is it a conspiracy or something more ‘interesting’ than that? These are questions that the Left has been traditionally engaged with, especially when facing undercover campaigns to prevent progressives from winning power or, on occasion, to unseat or destabilise left-wing governments. However, more recently, the Alt-Right has begun waging a war of words against the Deep State, with Donald Trump and his supporters doing so most...

Increasingly, however, academics and development practitioners are looking at a less visible and tangible obstacle – the capture of the State by economic and political elites. The extreme concentration of economic and political power reinforces the ability to unduly co-opt, corrupt and divert the democratic process, and influence the role of the State, perpetuating measures that reinforce privilege on the one hand and inequality and exclusion on the other. This elite capture is manifested...

In examining the implications for an exit from a currency union, one of the issues that arises is the proportion of public debt that is issued under foreign law. This is a separate issue to the implications of foreign-currency denominated debt. Both issues are problematic and compromise a government’s capacity to remain solvent. I covered the former issue to some extent in my 2015 book – Eurozone Dystopia: Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale – when I was considering different strategies...

Reflections with which I agree.Comments on Global Political EconomySome thoughts on liberal democracy as a deceptive term Jim O'ReillySee alsoIn my view, Dugin gets this right, too, as opposed to bourgeois liberalism's, "My way, or the highway." The third totalitarianism is transnational corporate totalitarianism under the control of international capital, which happens to be mostly in Western "liberal" hands.Geopolitika The 'Third Totalitarianism' From The West Alexander Dugin

I’ve just reviewed Professor Carey Doberstein’s book on homelessness governance (UBC Press). The book looks at the way decisions are made pertaining to funding for homelessness programs in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto during the 1995-2015 period. Points raised in my review include the following: -Homelessness trends look quite different across the three cities. For example, it can be growing in one city, but declining in another. -One of the book’s main arguments is that better decisions...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, speaking at a policy forum here Tuesday, identified a singular roadblock to achieving success on a host of progressive policies — and it wasn’t the Trump administration. It’s American oligarchy. Bingo! USA TODAYSen. Bernie Sanders says this one issue keeps progressive policies from advancing Nicole Gaudiano, USA TODAY

The idea that authoritarianism attracts workers harmed by the free market, which emerged when the Nazis were in power, has been making a comeback. Pushback is not the major reason why capitalism is a threat to democracy. Modern capitalism, characterized by extraction of economic rent — land rent, monopoly rent and financial rent — results in oligarchy.The populist and progressive backlash is a reaction to the excesses of the system now generally called "neoliberalism." It has also been...

Remainers claim that Brexit will be an economic apocalypse. But it provides the opportunity for a radical break with neoliberalism. JacobinWhy the Left Should Embrace Brexit Thomas Fazi and Bill Mitchell

Well, to be clear, Trump is a big problem. But he’s not the cause of our problems. To understand why, we have to go back to the 70s, when conservatives and oligarchs launched a de facto coup that ultimately ushered in a New Dark Ages. Conservatives like Lewis Powell and Milton Friedman were mounting a counterattack on the progressive policies of the New Deal, in an attempt to make America more “business friendly.” As I detail in my book WTF, America? How the US Went Off the Rails and How...

The comprehensive survey by the Pew Research Center released Thursday found deep partisan divides over whether the country is achieving some of the values critical to maintaining democratic principles. Suggests that populism is on the rise across the population asa whole regardless of the partisan divide and large cohort that self-identifies as independent. This in turn suggests different forms of populism. The Hill Survey: Most say US not living up to its democratic idealsReid Wilson