Mark Carney is Counting On Cooperation Between Middle Power Countries. Not Going to Happen, says Hal Brands.
Mark Carney says the ‘rules-based’ international order is over. The United States is demanding that other countries subject themselves to more direct rule by the US, so that America can fend off the threat from China. Carney says middle power countries can cooperate and resist. Hal Brands is highly skeptical that this can work.
The New Rules for Success in Today's World Economy.
What do both Mark Carney and Donald Trump see when they look at today’s ‘free enterprise plus empire’ world system? Trump celebrates, and Carney bewails, that ‘My Country First’ has replaced the old ‘Rules-Based’ System. Michael Beckley provides detailed examples of poor countries that have succeeded within the old system (and how). And he spells out how they can still succeed in the new one.
Who Is Afraid of Elon Musk?
Is DOGE the wave of the future? Chat GPT. Large Language Models. AI takes over. Humans fuse with robots. Digital devices control most human activities. That is Elon Musk’s UnAmerican Dream.
The Feminist Left is Pro Family. Why Not Say So?
Mothers today are increasingly judged by the “success” of their children. The responsibility to be The Nurturer is 24/7. Fathers want to share, but still do way less. What can we do to change this?
There Is No Such Thing As A Left-Wing Universal Basic Income (UBI#2)
Why do we on the left support the Milton Friedman fix for poverty? We think: Maybe AI led automation will lead to a Leisure Society if we push for a left-wing UBI.
UBI is a Poor Idea, Not an Idea that Helps the Poor (UBI#1)
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a reactionary Milton Friedman idea supported by many of us on the left. I critique real existing UBI point by point. In UBI#2, I will argue that there is no such thing as a workable or winnable left-wing version of UBI.
Left Populism, Why Not? (part two)
Why does the Left pretend to be populist? The Populist Moment cites three reasons. Each reason flags something big that the Left can and should change.
Left Populism, Why Not? (part one)
Borriello and Jager’s The Populist Moment explains brilliantly how and why the Left in rich states has decided to pretend to be populist.
Liberal Democracy Is Limited. Fight For Democracy Instead.
Why settle for liberal democracy? Why not left-led campaigns for More and Better Democracy? LD#1: This is the first of a series.
What Is Democracy Without Equality of Results?
Liberal democracy is under threat. What kind of democracy should the left fight for? Astra Taylor has both answers and questions.
Social Movements Will Not Free Us (part three)
A strengthened ‘civil society’ will not win anyone’s liberation. Popular struggles will, if we Agitate, Educate and Organize so people see the Left Alternative.
Social Movements Will Not Free Us (part two)
Does ‘strengthening (a) civil society’ of voluntary associations gradually improve liberal democracy ‘from below’? It is conventional wisdom. But mostly wrong.
Where Will the Post-2008 Left Go Next?
Since 2008, many people are disillusioned with capitalism. Keir Milburn says workplace experiences are more critical to this than many realize. Is he right? What does it imply about how we should organize?
Neoliberalism Really is Globalization After All
Hayekian neoliberalism is not really a new economics. Quinn Slobodian shows that it is a political movement to recolonize the world and undermine democracy.
A Ten Point Program To Unite the Global Left
The Left regularly succeeds in making clear what it is against. Here is a Ten Point Program that sums up what we are for.
Is a ‘Social Movement Society’ the Way to Win Democracy?
The Right is attacking liberal democracy. The neoliberal Center is gutting it. What can the Left do about it? Donatella della Porta has an idea.
Progressive International: Globalize the Left
Big business globalized and made the left play endless local defence. Progressive International aims to globalize a left that can go on offence.
A Cold War Against China is a Bad Idea
Aggressively expanding NATO led Russians to embrace Putin. Is isolating and encircling China really such a good idea?
Save Planet Earth with a Clean Energy Global Commons
Headlines everywhere trumpet the rapid expansion of clean energy. Joe Biden promises hundreds of thousands of green new jobs. Global warming will be averted after all, I guess. Except, as clean energy rises, carbon emissions continue to go up, way up, here there and everywhere. Why doesn’t an increase in clean energy cause a decrease in dirty energy? Andreas Malm explains why.
Has the Left Given Up on Ending Capitalism?
Is the age of left-wing revolutions over? Does this inevitably mean that the left has to accommodate itself to a capitalist economy and a capitalist world system? I firmly believe that the way forward to a more just society will be worked out incrementally by today’s left, especially by the left of that left who want to move society towards a new post-capitalist social system. But facts are facts, and right now the left is united around a set of sacrosanct principles that result in a refusal or incapacity to imagine practical ways of changing who is in power in society’s institutions.
