Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
It is one of the ironies of the 20th century that, even as ideas of economic democracy became fashionable with the European and Euro-American Left, the actual traditions of economic democracy of indigenous Americans were rarely defended.
Two recent books takeup the challenges of radical social and institutional transformation to make a GND maximally effective. One outlines the requirements for a maximally participatory democracy, but raises questions about its ideological valences; the other outlines a multilayered effort in one US city, leaving us with questions about organizational capacity to pull off the GND. Inasmuch as these works draw mainly on non-US examples, they magnify the challenges that remain here.
Our long-term aim should be to deal with the anti-social behaviour of large, powerful, multi-national corporations which run rings round national governments and often make us all feel quite manipulated.
Is there any path toward a more democratic, equal and ecologically sustainable society? What can one person do?
Faced with spiralling social, economic and environmental problems, many people are turning to economic democracy for solutions. But what shape should this democracy take?
