Search

Uno spettro s'aggira per l'Europa: lo spettro del sovranismo. Tanto l'establishment quanto la sinistra non perdono occasione di ricordarci come il sovranismo rappresenti la principale minaccia per la democrazia e per la pacifica convivenza tra i popoli europei. Ma è veramente così? E cosa si intende davvero per “sovranismo”? In questo libro, Thomas Fazi e William Mitchell sgombrano il campo da molti miti a riguardo, mostrando come la domanda diffusa di maggiore sovranità altro non sia che una risposta naturale al pluridecennale processo di desovranizzazione, depoliticizzazione e de-democratizzazione impostosi in Europa attraverso l'integrazione economica e monetaria e affrontando di petto il tasto più dolente della perdita di orientamento delle sinistre mainstream, vale a dire la rimozione della consapevolezza che lo Statonazione rimane la sola cornice in cui le masse possano sperare di migliorare le proprie condizioni e allargare gli spazi di democrazia.

The crisis of the neoliberal order has resuscitated a political idea widely believed to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the neo-nationalist, anti-globalisation and anti-establishment backlash engulfing the West all involve a yearning for a relic of the past: national sovereignty. In response to these challenging times, economist William Mitchell and political theorist Thomas Fazi reconceptualise the nation state as a vehicle for progressive change. They show how despite the ravages of neoliberalism, the state still contains resources for democratic control of a nation's economy and finances. The populist turn provides an opening to develop an ambitious but feasible left political strategy. Reclaiming the State offers an urgent, provocative and prescient political analysis of our current predicament, and lays out a comprehensive strategy for revitalising progressive economics in the 21st century.

Traditional public policy and welfare economics have held that market failures are common, requiring the intervention of government in order to serve and protect the public good. In Beyond Politics, William C. Mitchell and Randy T. Simmons carefully scrutinize this traditional view through the modern theory of public choice. The authors enlighten the relationship of government and markets by emphasizing the actual rather than the ideal workings of governments and by reuniting the insights of economics with those of political science. Beyond Politics traces the anatomy of government failure and a pathology of contemporary political institutions as government has become a vehicle for private gain at public expense. In so doing, this brisk and vigorous book examines a host of public issues, including social welfare, consumer protection, and the environment. Offering a unified and powerful perspective on the market process, property rights, politics, contracts, and government bureaucracy, Beyond Politics is a lucid and comprehensive book on the foundations and institutions of a free and humane society.