New policies from the New Radical Centre; the future PM revitalises social democracy in an intense year of politics.
'The Australian people are again looking to Labor for the next generation of public policy ideas and reforms. This is why Mark Latham's book is so valuable. It is a fresh and thoughtful assessment of the means by which Labor might renew its program for social democracy.' - Gough Whitlam
Global capital treats us all with ruthless efficiency. We are either consumers, factors of production, or a deadweight loss. Our human aspirations - individual and social - are feeling the pressure of globalisation.
Globalisation has left parties and politicians struggling for solutions. The political Right has not been able to show, once the active role of government is withdrawn, how individual liberty alone can answer the insecurity and remorseless inequity of an open economy. The choice between market freedom, with its army of working poor, and the failings and unsustainable costs of the welfare state, is barely a choice at all. It simply points to the need for a third way.
Internationally, parties of the Left are responding by reasserting the public values and policies of a good and compassionate society. The choices made by the ALP and other social democratic causes will determine, perhaps permanently, whether these goals remain feasible.
In this book, Mark Latham declares as irrelevant the old politics of the Left/Right divide. He embraces a different set of values and policies - social responsibility, equality of opportunity and merited reward, public mutuality and the wholesale devolution of governance. Fresh solutions to the problems of unemployment, economic sovereignty, tax and welfare are available to us. Latham shows why they are needed, and how they might work.
Civilising Global Capitalism offers a rich and cohesive store of ideas to reconcile the global economy with the values of a decent society. To read it is to take part in the regeneration of Australia s social democracy.
Author bio:
MARK LATHAM is the Member for Werriwa, having been elected to the Federal Parliament in January 1994. He is among the new generation of Labor thinkers and parliamentarians, presently serving as Shadow Minister for Education and Youth Affairs.
Category:
Politics & Government
ISBN:
9781864486681
Table Of Contents:
Foreword by Gough Whitlam
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I-THE CHASE FOR GLOBAL CAPITAL
1 National capital
2 Global capital
3 Competitive advantage
4 New political economy
5 Fiscal crisis of the state
6 Economic rationalism
7 Economic nationalism
8 New growth policies
9 Industry policy
10 Conclusion: responding to globalisation
PART II-POLICIES FOR THE NEW ECONOMY
11 The new economy
12 Income inequality
13 Economic exclusion
14 Employment creation
15 Financing government
16 Conclusion: Superseding the market
PART III-MANAGING THE COMMONS
17 The theory and practice of social justice
18 Questions of legitimacy
19 Overloaded government
20 First principles
21 Managing the commons
22 A role for government
23 Conclusion
PART IV-A POST-FORDIST WELFARE STATE
24 Shifting sands
25 Functional flexibility
26 Place management...
Publisher:
Allen & Unwin
Imprint:
Allen & Unwin
Pub Date:
April 1998
Page Extent:
440
Format:
Paperback - C format
Age:
0 - 0
Subject:
Politics & government