1,721,052 research outputs found
The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Pope Benedict XVI's social encyclical and the future of political economy
Full text linkThis collection of essays outlines a new political economy. Twenty years after the demise of Soviet state communism, the global recession in which free-market capitalism has plunged the world economy provides a unique opportunity to chart an alternative path. Both the left-wing adulation of centralized statism and the right-wing fetishization of market liberalism are part of a secular logic that is collapsing under the weight of its own inner contradictions. It is surely no coincidence that the crisis of global capitalism occurs at the same time as the crisis of secular modernity.
Building on the tradition of Catholic social teaching since the groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum (1891), Pope Benedict’s Caritas in veritate is the most radical intervention in contemporary debates on the future of economics, politics, and society. Benedict outlines a Catholic ‘third way’ that combines strict limits on state and market power with a civil economy centered on mutualist businesses, cooperatives, credit unions, and other reciprocal arrangements. By advocating an economic system re-embedded in civil society, the Pope proposes a political economy that transcends the old, secular dichotomies of state vs. market and left vs. right.
His call for a civil economy represents a radical ‘middle’ position between an exclusively religious and a strictly secular perspective. Faith can lead to strong notions of the common good and a belief that human behavior, when disciplined and directed, can start to act more charitably. There can also be secular intimations of this: the more faith-inspired practices are successful even on secular terms (e.g. more economic security, more equality, more sustainability, greater civic participation), the easier it will be for secular institutions to adopt elements of such an overarching framework without however embracing its religious basis. Thus, Benedict’s vision for an alternative political economy resonates with people of all faiths and none
The Good Life in Common: Europe beyond the crisis of instrumental reason
Full text linkThis book is the outcome of a project launched by ASSET, the School for Advanced Studies on Society, Economy and Theology based at the Studium Generale Marcianum in Venice. Entitled ‘Beyond the Crisis: Political and Economic Reason in European Politics’, this project analyses the complex links between rationality, politics and economics in Europe following the crisis of 2008-9. One of the key objectives is to explore how to develop and foster reasonable practices in Europe’s economy and political system – with a special focus on debates and policy-making in the European Parliament.
Why reason? The current crisis is a crisis of ‘economic reason’. There was too much reliance on supposedly ‘rational expectations’ or ‘efficient markets’ and too little consideration for the intrinsic value of reason as a whole – not just the sort of instrumental rationality that dominated politics and the economy for much of the twentieth century. That is why Cardinal Angelo Scola has rightly remarked that “[t]he 2008 global financial crisis came after a long period of "slumbering reason": agents, pressed by the aim of reaching extraordinary results in the short term, neglected to consider the proper dimensions of finance”. Seen in this light, the aftermath of the crisis raises fundamental questions about what reason is and what can be said to be reasonable.
As Pope Benedict XVI – in the address he intended to give during a visit to La Sapienza University in Rome on 17 January 2008 – reminds us, reason is inextricably intertwined to the desire for knowledge and the search for truth: “Man desires to know – he wants truth”. This statement has important implications for economic and political decisions, which should surely be taken in a reasonable manner. According to Benedict, such a “reasonable manner” in society involves a “process of argumentation sensitive to the truth”. As such, the ‘dictatorship of relativism’ that the Pope has rightly condemned is in fact a denial of reasonableness. Reason in politics, the economy and society requires notions of truth.
Questions like “What is reasonable?” or “How is reason shown to be true?” are not matters for philosophical speculation alone but ultimately concern the entire citizenry. Now that all the ideologies of instrumental reason have so manifestly failed, politicians and economic agents can no longer evade other fundamental queries, including “what makes a policy reasonable?”, “what is a proper understanding of political and economic reason?” or “when is a political action truly just?”.
Such and similar questions concern politics and society at all levels – local, regional, national, European and global. Growing economic interdependence around the world has mostly disembedded states and markets from the social bonds and civic virtues of civil society, but it also offers new opportunities for reciprocity, mutuality and solidarity among communities and nations. Post-1945 European integration and enlargement are grounded in a sense that the intermediary institutions of civil society within and across countries are more primary than either national states or transnational markets.
However, the EU – in its current configuration – has abandoned this vision in favour of political elites, market cooperation and bureaucratic regulation. As such, it has contributed to the centralisation of power and the concentration of wealth that is undermining democracies and market economies across Europe. In this process, abstract economic values linked to instrumental reason and procedural fairness have supplanted civic virtues related to notions of reasonableness and substantive justice.
To promote an ethos of responsible and virtuous action, what is required is the full breadth of political and economic reason. Christian social teaching offers conceptual and practical resources that are indispensable to the search for broader notions of rationality. Among these resources are non-instrumental conceptions of justice and the common good in the social doctrine of the Catholic Church and cognate traditions in Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Closely connected to this is the idea of ‘civil economy’. As Pope Benedict XVI has suggested in his encyclical Caritas in veritate, ‘civil economy’ embeds state-guaranteed rights and market contracts in the social bonds and civic virtues that bind together the intermediary institutions of civil society. In this manner, it binds the ‘logic of contract’ to the ‘logic of gratuitous gift exchange’. The logic of gift exchange translates into concrete practices of reciprocal trust and mutual assistance that underpin virtues such as solidarity and the pursuit of the public good in which all can share. As such, ‘civil economy’ reconnects activities that are primarily for state-administrative or economic-commercial purposes to practices that pursue social purposes.
So by which means can the EU possibly help broaden political and economic reason? This challenge is at the heart of ASSET’s project on political and economic reason. As one of the key institutions of the EU, the European Parliament is uniquely positioned to shed light on the ways in which ideas translate into policy-making and how reasonable practices can be fostered.
Unlike other work on the crisis, this publication seeks to offer an overarching account of the nature of the ongoing economic turmoil, its political implications and concrete alternatives to hitherto dominant ideologies. Specifically, the various contributions explore in different ways how the idea of reasonable practices shape the debates and policy-making of the European Parliament.
The book has three particular angles. First of all, it draws on Christian social teaching to raise fundamental questions about the crisis – in particular the writings of Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Scola. For example, various contributors link the financial and economic causes that triggered the ‘credit crunch’ to the wider “anthropological and cultural origins” of the current crisis.
Second, the book focuses on broader forms of reason than the instrumental rationality that has been dominant in both politics and economics. Narrow notions of reason seem to be connected with to the short-term maximisation of private profit which, in turn, undermines long-term growth and sustained prosperity for society as a whole. The emphasis of this project is therefore on reasonable practices that blend individual interest with a clear commitment to the common good.
Third, the publication seeks to link high-level ideas and academic research to political debates and concrete policy alternatives. Interviews with Members of the European Parliament from different political groups eschew conventional questions in favour of reflections on alternative policies that are grounded in reasonable practices. These interviews provide fascinating insights into the discussions at the heart of the wider EU political system and they also offer ideas for future policy initiatives
Blue Labour: Forging a New Politics
No full textFollowing Labour’s defeat at the polls in 2015, and at time when the Party is attempting to redefine its meaning, values and even identity, there is an urgent need for new thinking. Most people agree that a fresh start is needed. But in which direction should Labour turn? A crucial conversation is beginning, and it is in this fluid and volatile context that Blue Labour ideas could make a decisive difference. Seeking to move beyond the centrist pragmatism of both Blair and Cameron, and attempting to inject into politics a newfound passion and significance with which people can truly engage, this essential work speaks to the needs of diverse individuals and communities across the country.
In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, and the worst recession for over seventy years, Britain has witnessed one of the most turbulent eras in politics since the Second World War. The dominant political and capitalistic system has come under close scrutiny; the expenses scandal has further alienated people from politicians themselves; and the 2008 financial crash and urban riots of 2011 have cast serious doubt on the economic and social liberalism of Thatcherism and Blairism alike. The Blue Labour movement addresses the fact that neither nationalisation nor privatisation has delivered lasting prosperity or stability. Critiquing the dominance in Britain of a social-cultural liberalism linked to the left and a free-market liberalism associated with to the right, Blue Labour blends a ‘progressive’ commitment to greater economic equality with a more ‘conservative’ disposition emphasising work, personal loyalty, family, community and locality. It is the programme of a vital new force in politics: one that could define the thinking of the next generation and beyond
The Political Economy of Constitution
Full text linkThe distinction between constitution, as the set of fundamental normative premises ensuring the cohesion of any given polity, and contract, as the formal covenant agreed upon by the relevant stakeholders in that polity, is central to political economy. This paper outlines a conceptual framework for the political economy of constitution based on the above distinction. Our argument is that constitution in the material sense, that is, as a relatively stable configuration of interests prior to formal arrangements, determines the way in which formal rules and procedures operate within a specific historical context. The paper develops the constitutionalist tradition towards a ‘constitutional heuristic’ that helps to detect feasible organisations of political-economic interests in society. Stratified social systems are rooted in multi-layered connectivity and provide a structure for organising partially overlapping interests beyond purely contractual covenants. This conception of constitution has far-reaching implications for economic policy because it charts a course beyond the dichotomy between consensus and conflict. The political economy of constitution focuses on the multiple interdependencies within the social domain, which give rise to substantive arrangements among stakeholders. This approach enables the identification of policy domains, thresholds and measures congruent with the material constitution of any given society
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Transition in post-USSR Europe: The Human Factor in Political Identity Formation
Full text linkThis interdisciplinary dissertation seeks a more holistic and broader understanding of political identity formation processes in post-USSR Eastern Europe. It seeks to develop a theoretical approach for assessing the non-rationalistic factors, which influence domestic and foreign policy, political attitudes and identities in the region – including associative symbolism, human experience, political images and historical narratives.
The research is based on the main case of Lithuania, which is analysed in the first three chapters of the dissertation from three perspectives: the historical/political, the intellectual/narrative and the experiential/symbolic. Along the way, a theory is being inductively elaborated, offering new insights into the process of Lithuanian political identity formation. In the next two chapters, other cases are also explored in order to examine the theory’s applicability and broaden its spectrum of inquiry. These include Russia, Poland, Estonia and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Qualitative methods are used in this dissertation, including textual and visual analysis (of primary and secondary literary sources, photographs, film, etc.), unstructured interviews, historical analysis, as well as political, philosophical and anthropological theoretical approaches by Roland Barthes, Raoul Girardet, Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, Victor Turner, Arpad Szakolczai, and others.
The dissertation seeks to improve our understanding of political identity formation, periods of political transition and the importance of human experience to politics. It also aims at developing a theory capable of accounting for the often unrecognised factors of historical narrative, political symbolism and emotional associative charge. As a result it makes a contribution towards a better understanding of post-USSR Eastern European politics and thus to more effective policy towards the region, which is gaining increasing importance in global political arena
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
- …
