Soundings: a journal of politics and culture, 2017
P ity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get t... more P ity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get their memes right. One that made the rounds in the aftershock of Trump’s election was a still from The Road, the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, in which Viggo Mortenson, wheeling a shopping trolley of possessions through the gathering nuclear winter, argues with his boy: ‘But son, her emails’. As with the election itself, the joke’s on us. The Road was filmed, in part, in rustbelt areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia that had been devastated by decades of Clintonian neoliberalism. These bleak landscapes of post-industrial collapse are the condition and not the consequence of Trump’s success. The apocalypse, for many, is already here it’s just unevenly distributed.
This new report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition seeks t... more This new report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition seeks to connect struggling communities to local institutional wealth through engaging student activism. The report profiles three administration-led initiatives and three student-led initiatives, as well as five potential future partnerships, where institutional investments are directed into local communities in a way that empowers low-income residents, develops small businesses, and generates sustainable economic development
Soundings: A journal of politics and culture, 2017
Pity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get th... more Pity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get their memes right. One that made the rounds in the aftershock of Trump’s election was a still from The Road, the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, in which Viggo Mortenson, wheeling a shopping trolley of possessions through the gathering nuclear winter, argues with his boy: ‘But son, her emails’. As with the election itself, the joke’s on us. The Road was filmed, in part, in rustbelt areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia that had been devastated by decades of Clintonian neoliberalism. These bleak landscapes of post-industrial collapse are the condition and not the consequence of Trump’s success. The apocalypse, for many, is already here it’s just unevenly distributed.
The radical ‘Meidner Plan’ for wage-earner funds in Sweden in the mid-seventies was one of the mo... more The radical ‘Meidner Plan’ for wage-earner funds in Sweden in the mid-seventies was one of the most promising roads not taken by the European left in the second half of the twentieth century. Had it been implemented in full, it could have marked a major shift within social democracy from income redistribution to asset redistribution, thereby setting course for an inexorable transition to economic democracy through the gradual socialisation of all major industry. Today, the genesis and fate of the wage-earner funds can provide a valuable historical perspective on the challenges of democratising wealth, while the core components of Meidner’s innovative proposal – the share levy and collective ownership of capital – are once again up for reconsideration and recovery in the programme of the Jeremy Corbyn-led British Labour Party, given yawning inequality and a widespread and growing sense of the need for a very different pattern of political economy.
Trump ran hard against neoliberal finance and trade in both the primary and the general election,... more Trump ran hard against neoliberal finance and trade in both the primary and the general election, and many blue-collar voters in the abandoned towns of the Rustbelt and rural Appalachia were willing to give him a chance. Fortunately he does not have the intellectual curiosity - nor his advisers the savvy or policy chops - to follow through, for if Trump were really to go ‘full heterodox’, amid the current stagnation, downward mobility and spiking mortality, the political rewards could be extraordinary.
The left must move beyond defensive rearguard actions, argues Joe Guinan, and embrace strategies ... more The left must move beyond defensive rearguard actions, argues Joe Guinan, and embrace strategies that are capable of delivering radically different social and economic outcomes – and this means going after capital.
Soundings: a journal of politics and culture, 2017
P ity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get t... more P ity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get their memes right. One that made the rounds in the aftershock of Trump’s election was a still from The Road, the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, in which Viggo Mortenson, wheeling a shopping trolley of possessions through the gathering nuclear winter, argues with his boy: ‘But son, her emails’. As with the election itself, the joke’s on us. The Road was filmed, in part, in rustbelt areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia that had been devastated by decades of Clintonian neoliberalism. These bleak landscapes of post-industrial collapse are the condition and not the consequence of Trump’s success. The apocalypse, for many, is already here it’s just unevenly distributed.
This new report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition seeks t... more This new report from The Democracy Collaborative and the Responsible Endowments Coalition seeks to connect struggling communities to local institutional wealth through engaging student activism. The report profiles three administration-led initiatives and three student-led initiatives, as well as five potential future partnerships, where institutional investments are directed into local communities in a way that empowers low-income residents, develops small businesses, and generates sustainable economic development
Soundings: A journal of politics and culture, 2017
Pity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get th... more Pity the liberals, so incapable of comprehending the meaning of Trump that they can’t even get their memes right. One that made the rounds in the aftershock of Trump’s election was a still from The Road, the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic novel, in which Viggo Mortenson, wheeling a shopping trolley of possessions through the gathering nuclear winter, argues with his boy: ‘But son, her emails’. As with the election itself, the joke’s on us. The Road was filmed, in part, in rustbelt areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia that had been devastated by decades of Clintonian neoliberalism. These bleak landscapes of post-industrial collapse are the condition and not the consequence of Trump’s success. The apocalypse, for many, is already here it’s just unevenly distributed.
The radical ‘Meidner Plan’ for wage-earner funds in Sweden in the mid-seventies was one of the mo... more The radical ‘Meidner Plan’ for wage-earner funds in Sweden in the mid-seventies was one of the most promising roads not taken by the European left in the second half of the twentieth century. Had it been implemented in full, it could have marked a major shift within social democracy from income redistribution to asset redistribution, thereby setting course for an inexorable transition to economic democracy through the gradual socialisation of all major industry. Today, the genesis and fate of the wage-earner funds can provide a valuable historical perspective on the challenges of democratising wealth, while the core components of Meidner’s innovative proposal – the share levy and collective ownership of capital – are once again up for reconsideration and recovery in the programme of the Jeremy Corbyn-led British Labour Party, given yawning inequality and a widespread and growing sense of the need for a very different pattern of political economy.
Trump ran hard against neoliberal finance and trade in both the primary and the general election,... more Trump ran hard against neoliberal finance and trade in both the primary and the general election, and many blue-collar voters in the abandoned towns of the Rustbelt and rural Appalachia were willing to give him a chance. Fortunately he does not have the intellectual curiosity - nor his advisers the savvy or policy chops - to follow through, for if Trump were really to go ‘full heterodox’, amid the current stagnation, downward mobility and spiking mortality, the political rewards could be extraordinary.
The left must move beyond defensive rearguard actions, argues Joe Guinan, and embrace strategies ... more The left must move beyond defensive rearguard actions, argues Joe Guinan, and embrace strategies that are capable of delivering radically different social and economic outcomes – and this means going after capital.
How can we build local communities that are prosperous, inclusive and sustainable? Is there a way... more How can we build local communities that are prosperous, inclusive and sustainable? Is there a way of promoting economic development that works for everyone?
Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill argue that traditional economic strategies, driven by tax incentives and public-private partnerships, typically waste billions in order to subsidize the extraction of profit by footloose corporations with little benefit to the community. They outline an exciting alternative economic model which uses the power of democratic participation to drive equitable development and ensure that wealth is retained locally: Community Wealth Building. They show how this model can transform our economic system from the bottom up by creating a web of collaborative institutions, such as worker co-operatives, community land trusts, and public and community banks, all underpinned by local ‘anchor’ strategies.
This book is essential reading for everyone interested in building more equal, inclusive, and democratic societies, and for everyone who wants to explore how local political action can help to make that change happen.
When long, long trends get steadily worse, year in and year out, it is clear that something profo... more When long, long trends get steadily worse, year in and year out, it is clear that something profound is at work. When big problems emerge across the entire spectrum of national life, it is not for small reasons. A political economy is a system, and today’s system is programmed not to meet basic needs but to prioritize the generation of corporate profits, the growth of GDP, and the projection of national power. It follows that if we are serious about addressing the challenges we face, we need to think through and then build a new system of political economy, however difficult the task, and however long it may take. Systemic problems require systemic solutions.
openDemocracy and Politics in Spires, Mar 17, 2014
Chapters 3 and 8 in 'Democratic Wealth', a collection of essays that challenges the poverty of id... more Chapters 3 and 8 in 'Democratic Wealth', a collection of essays that challenges the poverty of ideas following the 2007 financial crash and explores in an open-minded and creative fashion what resources we have for a renewal of economic thinking – 'resources of hope', to use Raymond Williams’s helpful phrase. The articles were first published as part of an online series hosted by openDemocracy and Politics in Spires, a website run by the Departments of Politics and International Relations/International Studies at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
The Labour leadership is putting together the elements of a new twenty-first century socialist po... more The Labour leadership is putting together the elements of a new twenty-first century socialist political economy with a direct focus on ownership, control, democracy, and participation. Rolled out across the entire economy, it could displace traditional corporate and financial power in Britain.
Chapter Two in "Labour's New Economics" (New Socialist, 2018). To consolidate the ambitious proje... more Chapter Two in "Labour's New Economics" (New Socialist, 2018). To consolidate the ambitious project they have initiated, Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell must follow through on the construction of a radical new left political economy.
The radical ‘Meidner Plan’ for wage-earner funds in Sweden in the mid-seventies was one of the mo... more The radical ‘Meidner Plan’ for wage-earner funds in Sweden in the mid-seventies was one of the most promising roads not taken by the European left in the second half of the twentieth century. Had it been implemented in full, it could have marked a major shift within social democracy from income redistribution to asset redistribution, thereby setting course for an inexorable transition to economic democracy through the gradual socialisation of all major industry. Today, the genesis and fate of the wage-earner funds can provide a valuable historical perspective on the challenges of democratising wealth, while the core components of Meidner’s innovative proposal—the share levy and collective ownership of capital—are ripe for reconsideration and recovery given yawning inequality and a widespread and growing sense of the need for a very different pattern of political economy.
A one-day conference on the theory and practice of progressive local and city government.
In rec... more A one-day conference on the theory and practice of progressive local and city government.
In recent years, with the emergence of the Cleveland Model in the US and the Preston Model in the UK, there has been an enormous upsurge of interest in ways to make local economies more egalitarian and more democratic. Our one-day conference will bring together a range of academics, policy researchers and practitioners to discuss the theory and practice of building more equal and democratic economies at the local and city level, looking at issues including Community Wealth Building, remunicipalisation, and the role of local institutions in creating a more just society. Our keynote speaker is Professor Thad Williamson, who is both an academic political theorist at the University of Richmond, and was also from 2014-16 the founding director of the Office of Community Wealth Building in the City of Richmond, VA, the first institution of its kind in the United States.
For the first time in a generation a radical agenda for systemic economic transformation is takin... more For the first time in a generation a radical agenda for systemic economic transformation is taking shape on the British Left at the level of both ideas and practice. Offering real, on-the-ground solutions to communities and regions battered by successive waves of disinvestment, deindustrialisation, displacement, and disempowerment, it is based on a new configuration of institutions and approaches capable of producing more sustainable, lasting, and democratic outcomes. Rooted in place-based economics, democratic participation and control, and mobilising the untapped power of the local public sector, this emerging new political economy is also striking for being a transatlantic agenda—one that can find and is increasingly finding powerful application in both the United Kingdom under ambitious local authorities, and in the United States via the emboldened left politics of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Justice Democrats.
For the first time in a generation, a radical agenda for systemic economic transformation is taki... more For the first time in a generation, a radical agenda for systemic economic transformation is taking shape on the British left at the level of both ideas and practice. Offering real, on-the-ground solutions to communities and regions battered by successive waves of disinvestment, deindustrialisation, displacement, and disempowerment, it is based on a new configuration of institutions and approaches capable of producing more sustainable, lasting, and democratic outcomes. Rooted in place-based economics, democratic participation and control, and mobilising the untapped power of the local public sector, this emerging new political economy is also striking for being a transatlantic agenda – one that can find, and is increasingly finding, powerful application in both the UK under a number of ambitious local authorities, and in the US via the emboldened left politics of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Justice Democrats.
An interview with Zitto Kabwe, Tanzanian opposition MP and leader of the democratic socialist ACT... more An interview with Zitto Kabwe, Tanzanian opposition MP and leader of the democratic socialist ACT-Wazalendo Party, by Martin O’Neill and Joe Guinan. Originally published in two parts by Renewal. This version published as one combined text by the Next System Project of the Democracy Collaborative.
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Papers by Joe Guinan
Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill argue that traditional economic strategies, driven by tax incentives and public-private partnerships, typically waste billions in order to subsidize the extraction of profit by footloose corporations with little benefit to the community. They outline an exciting alternative economic model which uses the power of democratic participation to drive equitable development and ensure that wealth is retained locally: Community Wealth Building. They show how this model can transform our economic system from the bottom up by creating a web of collaborative institutions, such as worker co-operatives, community land trusts, and public and community banks, all underpinned by local ‘anchor’ strategies.
This book is essential reading for everyone interested in building more equal, inclusive, and democratic societies, and for everyone who wants to explore how local political action can help to make that change happen.
control, democracy, and participation. Rolled out across the entire economy, it could displace traditional corporate and financial power in Britain.
In recent years, with the emergence of the Cleveland Model in the US and the Preston Model in the UK, there has been an enormous upsurge of interest in ways to make local economies more egalitarian and more democratic. Our one-day conference will bring together a range of academics, policy researchers and practitioners to discuss the theory and practice of building more equal and democratic economies at the local and city level, looking at issues including Community Wealth Building, remunicipalisation, and the role of local institutions in creating a more just society. Our keynote speaker is Professor Thad Williamson, who is both an academic political theorist at the University of Richmond, and was also from 2014-16 the founding director of the Office of Community Wealth Building in the City of Richmond, VA, the first institution of its kind in the United States.