Bøger af Leo Panitch

Radical politics have been defined in modern times -- and distinguished from earlier traditions of protest -- by the idea that economic, social and political structures are contradictory. Systems of exploitation creates not only wealth and prosperity for the powerful, but at the same time bring into being the forces which ensure their own eventual downfall. But it is a large step from the general assertion that social forms contain their own contradictions to analysis of the specific contradictions which occur in a given historical context, their interaction and movement, and their possible historical outcomes.This collection of essays examines social contradictions in the age of globalization in which old antagonisms often appear to be overcome, and new cracks are emerging in the facade of capitalist progress. Where do they occur? Where can they be expected to appear in future? How can they be grasped in a spirit of sober radicalism, which neither accepts the limits of the present nor overcomes them through wishful thinking alone? What possibilities do they offer for mobilizing resistance? These issues define an agenda which is critical for socialism in our time.

One hundred years ago, -October 1917- galvanized leftists and oppressed peoples around the globe, and became the lodestar for 20th century politics. Today, the left needs to reckon with this legacyand transcend it. Social change, as it was understood in the 20th century, appears now to be as impossible as revolution, leaving the left to rethink the relationship between capitalist crises, as well as the conceptual tension between revolution and reform. Populated by an array of passionate thinkers and thoughtful activists, Rethinking Revolution reappraises the historical effects of the Russian revolutionpositive and negativeon political, intellectual, and cultural life, and looks at consequent revolutions after 1917. Change needs to be understood in relation to the distinct trajectories of radical politics in different regions. But the main purpose of this Socialist Register editionone century after -Red October-is to look forward, to what might happen next.

Since 1964, the Socialist Register has brought together leading writers on the left to investigate aspects of a common theme. Telling the Truth: Socialist Register 2006 examines how contemporary social and political debate is structured, how ideas and ideologies come to inform policy making, research, education, and our conceptions of truth more generally. It also discusses the role of the state in intellectual life and the media, and the role of think-tanks, foundations, political parties and global institutions such as the World Bank in the dissemination of knowledge and ideas. Such questions are not always at the center of public debate, but are essential to establishing freedom for critical thought and reflection, and for the formation of a new generation of intellectuals.Contributors include Terry Eagleton, Barbara Ehrenreich and Frances Fox Piven, Doug Henwood, Robert McChesney, and Michael Burawoy.

Amidst the carnage of the First World War, Rosa Luxemburg posed a stark choice for humanity: socialism or barbarism. Violence Today asks if current patterns mark a decent into the barbarism that Luxemburg feared and if a just society, one capable of transcending the endemic violence of the neoliberal order, is possible in the new century.This powerful and provocative new collection explores the roots of violence -- military, terrorist, criminal, and casual -- in contemporary society. It analyzes the social context, history, and structure of modern violence, casting light on patterns and practices from America's inner cities and prisons to "failed states" like Afghanistan. Violence Today also gives special attention to debate within the Left about violence, including a controversial defense of armed struggle.Contributors: John Berger, Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, Peter Thomas, Vivek Chibber, Christian Parenti, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Georgi Derluguian, Sofiri Joab-Peterside, Ulrich Oslender, Achin Vanaik, Barabara Harriss-White, Lynne Segal, Joe Sim and Steve Tombs, Dennis Rodgers, Avishai Erlich, Philip Green, Garance Upham, Mary des Chenes and Stephen Mikesell, Samir Amin.

Morbid Symptoms sees health as a major field of political economy, one that focuses on the struggle between commercial forces seeking to make it into a field of profit, and popular forces fighting to keep it--or make it--a public service with equal access for all.Central to this volume is an analysis of the global health industry--the pharmaceutical, insurance, medical technology, and healthcare provider corporations. Essays by leading authorities in the field include Vicente Navarro on the impact of globalization on health services, Julian Tudor Hart on mental health in sick societies, Meri Koivusalo on international organizations and capitalist health policies, Sanjay Basu on HIV/AIDS and the resurrection of comprehensive primary care in the "south," and Julie Feinsilver on Cuba's health care system and its role in Cuba's foreign policy. Separate essays review the state of health care around the world, while others deal with a variety of key issues such as obesity, the "fitness" industry, and the significance of ever-popular hospital-based television programs.Contributors: Robert Albritton, Julian Ammirante, Kalman Applbaum, Pat and Hugh Armstrong, Sanjay Basu, David Coburn, Hans Ulrich Deppe, Julie Feinsilver, Marie Gottschalk, Julian Tudor Hart, Lesley Henderson, Christoph Herman, Meri Koivusalo, Colin Leys, Roddy Loeppky, Maureen Mackintosh, Vicente Navarro, Mohan Rao, Thomas Seibert, and Wang Shaoguang.

Since 1964, the Socialist Register has brought together leading writers on the left to investigate aspects of a common theme. Coming to Terms with Nature: Socialist Register 2007 examines whether capitalism can come to terms with today's ecological challenges and whether socialist thought has developed sufficiently to help us do so. Topics include: the ecological contradictions of capitalist accumulation and the growing social conflicts they create; the relationship between imperialism, markets, oil politics, and renewable energy; the significance of the impasse over the Kyoto protocol; and whether market forces and technology can overcome the "limits to growth" while preserving the biosphere.These essays also analyze how deeply consumerism affects working class politics and the shortcomings of Green parties and "green commerce." In addition, they address the necessity to redefine standards of living chiefly in the countries of the North in order to allow for the global redistribution of wealth and income that are critical for development in the South.The international roster of contributors includes Mike Davis and Neil Smith, Enrique Leff, Joan Martinez-Alier, Elmar Altvater, and Michael Lowy.

Global Flashpoints critically examines today's neoliberal order and the new resistance movements which it has sparked across the globe. This timely and panoramic work offers penetrating historical analysis of the role of politics, religion and imperialism in shaping the contemporary crisis in the Middle East and of the prospects for the Left throughout the Islamic world. Global Flashpoints also explores the present state of resistance movements in Europe and the United States and highlights developments in Latin America, including Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, the recent uprising in Oaxaca, indigenous agrarian movements in Bolivia, and Brazil's landless movement. Global Flashpoints offers a uniquely powerful and provocative account of the worldwide struggle against imperialism and neoliberalism in the new century.Contributors: Aijaz Ahmad, Gilbert Achcar, Asef Bayat, Sabbah Alnasseri, Bashir Abu-Manneh, Yildiz Atasoy, Hidayat Greenfield, Ana Esther Cecena, Margarita Lopez Maya, Jack Hammond, William Robinson, Wes Enzinna, Joao Pedro Stedile & Atilio Boron, Richard Roman & Edur Velasco Arregui, G.M. Tamas, Raghu Krishnan & Adrien Thomas, Peter Burnham, Kim Moody, Alfredo Saad Filho, Elmar Altvater & Greg Albo.

Since 1964, the Socialist Register has brought together leading writers on the left to investigate aspects of a common theme. This issue examines the new U.S.-led imperialist project that is currently transforming the global order, its impact on different regions of the world, and on gender, media, and popular culture.Contributors and essays include: Stephen Gill, American Supremacy and the New World OrderChris Rude, Financial Discipline: Imperial Strategy Since the Asian CrisisChandra Mohanty, Patriarchy in the New World OrderVivek Chibber, The New Imperialism and the South: The Passing of the "National Bourgeoisie"Yuezhi Zhao, China and Global Capitalism: The Cultural DimensionEd Comor, Media and Communications in the U.S. Empire

"For years, intellectuals have argued that, with the triumph of capitalist, liberal democracy, the Western World has reached 'the end of history.' Recently, however, there has been a rise of authoritarian politics in many countries. Concepts of post-democracy, anti-politics, and the like are gaining currency in theoretical and political debate. Now that capitalist democracies are facing seismic and systemic challenges, it becomes increasingly important to investigate not only the inherent antagonism between liberalism and the democratic process, but also socialism. Is socialism an enemy of democracy? Could socialism develop, expand, even enhance democracy? While this volume seeks a reappraisal of existing liberal democracy today, its main goal is to help lay the foundation for new visions and practices in developing a real socialist democracy. Amid the contradictions of neoliberal capitalism today, the responsibility to sort out the relationship between socialism and democracy has never been greater. No revival of socialist politics in the twenty-first century can occur without founding new democratic institutions and practices"--Amazon.com.

Today the left faces new challenges from political forces amassing on the radical right. The 52nd volume of the Socialist Register presents a serious calibration and a careful political mapping of these forces. It addresses pivotal questions on the reordering of the new right. These essays - very broad in terms of themes and places - speak to the global challenges the new right poses for the left at this historical moment. What is the nature of the right's populism, nationalism and militarism? What is the social base and organizational strength and range of far-right political forces? To what extent are they influencing mainstream parties and opinion? How have they penetrated state institutions? What role do state security services and police forces play? Does our political situation today require comparison with 1930s fascism? How should the left respond to defend democratic and human rights?

"How to live with the new technologies? Essays in the fifty-seventh Socialist Register reveal the contradictions and dislocations of technological change in the twenty-first century. And they explore alternative ways of living: from AI to the arts, from transportation to fashion, from environmental science to economic planning."--

In this groundbreaking study of the financial meltdown, renowned radical political economists lay bare the roots of the crisis in the inner logic of capitalism itself. Objective and detailed, this account provocatively challenges the call for a return to a largely mythical golden age of economic regulation as a check on finance capital. In addition, it deftly illuminates how the era of neoliberal free markets has been, in practice, under-girded by state intervention on a massive scale. Arguing for genuinely transformative alternatives to capitalism, and discussing how to build the collective capacity to realize these goals, this record is a critique of the crisis and an indispensable springboard for a renewed political left.

Leo Panitch, Sam Gindin, and Stephen Maher provide a newly updated and expanded primer for twenty-first century democratic socialists. The Socialist Challenge Today presents an essential historical, theoretical, and critical perspective for understanding the potential as well as the limits of three important recent phenomena: the Sanders electoral insurgency in the United States; the Syriza experience in Greece; and Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. The renowned coauthors compellingly convey the importance of developing strategic and practical capacities to democratically transform state structures so as to render them fit for realizing collective democracy, social equality, sustainable ecology, and human solidarity.

A new and essential history of the Labour new left from Tony Benn to Jeremy Corbyn.

The attempt to establish a 'new social contract' between the Government and the unions, with a view to stabilising the economy and restraining industrial militancy, emerged as a burning issues of contemporary British politics during the 1970s. This study uncovers the roots of this development in the incomes policies of successive post-war Governments.

Thirteen critical essays on the economy and politics of the modern world are presented here. They include socialistic analyses of gobalization, the modern capitalist state, the "weightless economy", the ideology of neo-liberalism in Britain, and the economic crises in Southeast Asia.

The all-encompassing embrace of world capitalism at the beginning of the twenty-first century was generally attributed to the superiority of competitive markets. Globalization had appeared to be the natural outcome of this unstoppable process. But today, with global markets roiling and increasingly reliant on state intervention to stay afloat, it has become clear that markets and states aren't straightforwardly opposing forces.In this groundbreaking work, Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin demonstrate the intimate relationship between modern capitalism and the American state, including its role as an ';informal empire' promoting free trade and capital movements. Through a powerful historical survey, they show how the US has superintended the restructuring of other states in favor of competitive markets and coordinated the management of increasingly frequent financial crises.The Making of Global Capitalism, through its highly original analysis of the first great economic crisis of the twenty-first century, identifies the centrality of the social conflicts that occur within states rather than between them. These emerging fault lines hold out the possibility of new political movements transforming nation states and transcending global markets.

This book addresses the challenges facing socialists and the recent shift from protest to politics. It examines the limits and possibilities for class, party and state transformation and the democratic and socialist insurgencies inside the Labour Party in Britain, and the Democratic Party in the USA.