Conventional economic wisdom is that austerity and inequality are necessary pains of growth. Data show, on the contrary, that to benefit all people the economy must first be designed this way.
Inverted Totalitarianism: Antecedents and Precedents
Democracy is threatened by the inverted form of totalitarianism resulting from the free-market ideology. Is the Founding Fathers’ defiance against democracy an antecedent to its “management” today?
Beginnings of the Imaginary of a Permanent Global War
Since World War II, the U.S. made itself the legitimate guardian of freedom in the world. To Sheldon Wolin, this is the clear mark of a drift from an open “constitutional imaginary” to a dictatorial “power imaginary.”
Be Agnostic about Growth
Despite the obvious absurdity of taxing our finite planet to infinity, growth remains the exclusive economic goal most officials in power cling to. What can explain their sobering lack of vision?
Intellectual Elites against Democracy
James Madison’s reference to the “confusion and intemperance” of the multitude used to be the rationale of a government by the elite. What is the intellectual legacy of elitism in the United States today?
Dream Big, Start Small
The success of activism depends on the balance between how broad your cause might be and the small battles you can win. This chapter draws the main lessons from four world-renowned examples of such successes.