Progressive Politics In The Global Age

Progressive politics has been concerned with rolling back prejudices, improving democratic accountabilities, and promoting the common good for over a century. In recent years, however, many academics, as well as politicians, have started to call for a new way to take progressive ideas forward.

But how much of this rhetoric is underpinned by a coherent political vision? Are the policies associated with advocates of the ‘New Middle' or ‘Third Way' consistent with the promise of a fairer society? What are the principles which should shape the progressive reform agenda of the 21st century?

In this book, Henry Tam brings together a distinguished team of social and political theorists from America and Europe to address these questions. Discussion is centred around the growth of corporate power, the alienation of citizens from political discourse, the key progressive ideals needed to guide effective reforms and possible policy options.

Finally, the team argues that globalization is creating new forms of instability and injustice which can only be rectified by action across national boundaries. Together they set out how progressive politics should respond to the social, economic and environmental challenges of the global age.

Henry Tam is Fellow of the Globus Institute for Globalization and Sustainable Development, University of Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Preface.

Notes on Contributors.

Introduction (Henry Tam).

Progressive Politics in the Global Age (Henry Tam).

Part I: Progressive Ideas.

1. Cultural Resources for a Progressive Alternative (Robert N. Bellah and William M. Sullivan).

2. New Liberalism Revisited (Stuart White and Marc Stears).

3. Federalism & the Personalist Tradition (Ferdinand Kinsky).

4. Solidarity in Theory and Practice (Wlodzimierz Wesolowski and Aneta Gawkowska).

5. A Quest for Community (Philip Selznick).

Part II: Families, Citizens & The State.

6. Citizenship Begins at Home: Support for Working Families in the New Social Contract (Linda C. McClain).

7. Toward a Progressive Family Policy: The Family Unity Act (David M. Anderson).

8. Family and the Politics of Community Life (Jose Perez Adan).

9. Dignity, Citizenship & Welfare (Joseph Romance).

Part III: Power & Democracy.

10. Public Service and Active Citizenship (Kevin Mattson).

11. Modernizing Government (John Stewart).

12. Corporate Power in the New Gilded Age (Charles Derber).

13. The Need for More Democracy (Benjamin R Barber).

Part IV: Globalization and New Challenges.

14. The Threat of Globalization to Democracy and the Environment (Mark S Cladis).

15. Rhetoric and Reality of a New Politics for the Global Age (David Donnison).

16. Beyond Growth: New Progressive Economic Thinking (David Dyssegaard Kallick).

17. Globalization, Exclusion and the Prospects For Progressive Economic Policies (Bill Jordan).

18. Navigating Through Uncharted Waters: Global Communities and Our Common Futures (Wim van de Donk, Ernst M. H. Hirsch Ballin and Richard Steenvoorde).

Index.