the very notion that there is this neatly separable domain of economics, that has its own logic and shouldn't be tampered with by political or moral considerations - that notion itself is at the heart of this free market ideology ... Efficiency cannot be defined without reference to some shared sense of justice and fairness
The moderniser: Alex Salmond’s journey
Editorial // Ben Jackson
Having started with the firm intention of creating a clear political identity for the SNP on the left, Alex Salmond’s journey has followed in the footsteps of the other politicians of his generation.
The lessons of neo-liberalism
Feature // Daniel Stedman Jones
Labour must combine aspiration with a critique of the unbridled markets and celebration of financial and corporate power that have ruled since 1979.
Philosophical foundations for ‘good capitalism’
Feature // Martin O’Neill, Thad Williamson
Like many contemporary social democrats, John Rawls came to worry that tax-and-transfer strategies were not the high road to social justice.
Fending off locusts by shouting
Feature // Ed Turner
It is incumbent upon social democrats not just to bemoan ‘locusts’, ‘predators’, or the derogatory term of choice, but to pursue an urgent quest for real political tools to confront and control them.
Political strategy for a new economy
Feature // Graeme Cooke
Ed Miliband’s desire for ‘responsible capitalism’ is not yet attached to a political strategy with the potential to win, govern and change the country.
Interview: What they don’t tell you about capitalism
Feature // Ha-Joon Chang, James Stafford
Ha-Joon Chang’s underlying conviction is that there are few ‘realities’ in economics that cannot be changed by human agency.
The UK’s economic performance under Labour
Essay // Dan Corry, Anna Valero, John Van Reenen
A common view is that the performance of the UK economy between 1997 and 2010 was based on an artificial bubble. In this article we analyse the economic facts.
The other Israel
Feature // Toby Greene, Alan Johnson, Noam Leshem
The social protests that swept Israel’s boulevards and city squares in 2011 caught many observers by surprise. What produced this remarkable and unexpected political event?
Civic republicanism in Zapatero’s Spain
Review essay // Stuart White
Republican theory must respond to the ways citizens press their interests against the powerful.
R. Daniel Kelemen: Eurolegalism
Review // Andy Tarrant
The EU’s legal system is shaping its member states’ political economies in an American image.
Alistair Darling: Back from the Brink
Review // Robert Saunders
Darling is honest enough to admit that the government’s problems were not wholly exogenous.
