To obtain civic participation in the public sphere, the first step is to stop arguing the nature of the problems facing contemporary politics: rather, the republican answer is to be engaged in a practice that seeks to identify, discuss, and decide how to overcome these problems collectively
Crises and opportunities
Editorial // Martin McIvor
Economic, social, environmental, and ideological dimensions of the present crisis - and the heightened struggle over Britain’s future that is the consequence of its new political instability.
A crisis of civility
Feature // Adam Lent
New Labour’s policies have proved inadequate to the task of slaying the contradiction between market individualism and social responsibility.
Gordon Brown’s ‘Adam Smith problem’
Feature // Matthew Watson
Smith’s own writings betray a generic tension between the behavioural habits required for a dynamic market economy and those required for a self-sustaining market society.
Causes of the credit crunch
Feature // Graham Turner
Unbalanced globalisation breeds asset bubbles. Rising inequality leads to extreme house price cycles. Fundamental reform means reducing corporate power or increasing the strength of labour.
The ideological importance of housing
Feature // John Houghton
The current housing crisis is not a market imbalance in need of correction, but the consequence of our reliance on the market itself to produce and distribute an essential public good.
The limits of expertise
Feature // William Davies
Years of office have dulled the distinction between the mechanisms of Whitehall and the principles of the Labour Party.
After New Labour
Commentary // Sunder Katwala
New Labour has been the most successful governing project of the British centre- left for half a century. This project is clearly now over.
Reclaiming aspiration
Commentary // Jon Cruddas
Contrasting the supposedly aspirational groups, seats, voters and parts of the country with the so-called core-vote is an extraordinary disservice to millions who fall outside this political calculus.
A green New Deal
Commentary // Andrew Simms
A Green New Deal could bring diverse social and industrial forces together, leading to the new progressive alliance we need to challenge the dominance of the finance sector.
Learning from Europe
Commentary // Robin Wilson
New Labour’s wrong calls - Blair’s war and Brown’s boom - have common origins in their disdain for the European social model. We can look to the continent for new solutions to global problems.
Learning from America
Commentary // David Lammy
Can we move on from the cautious pragmatism of the 1990s, and break free from the politics of control? The lessons from America are that we can and we must.
Lessons of the US digital campaign
Commentary // Nick Anstead, Andrew Chadwick
British parties should democratise their organisational structures and the electoral environment in ways likely to catalyse internet-enabled civic engagement.
Less talk, more action
Commentary // Deborah Littman
Politics isn’t just about ideas, it’s about power; and debates do not build power, organising does. We need to start developing practical campaigns on issues that really matter to people.
Mobilisation, representation and republican movements
Commentary // Karma Nabulsi
The rich, elaborate, and complex republican tradition provids in its concrete practices the methods and tools to once again rejuvenate the public realm.
Cameron’s blueprint?
Notebook // Len Duvall
Boris Johnson is urging David Cameron to use his London mayoralty as a blueprint for national Tory policy. If he continues to follow the path of his first twelve weeks, it does not bode well.
US foreign policy after the elections
Notebook // Gideon Rachman
Foreign policy is likely to loom larger in the 2008 presidential election than normal. Three debates will dominate: Iraq, whether to talk to enemies, and how to reinvigorate America’s world leadership.
The economics of Andrew Glyn
Essay // Stuart White
At what point must egalitarians be prepared to challenge fundamental aspects of capitalist society? Are social democrats willing to make such a challenge when it becomes necessary?
William Baumol et al: Good and Bad Capitalism
Review // Colin Crouch
The varieties of capitalism, as seen from the stable of orthodox neo-classical economics.
Paul Collier: The Bottom Billion
Review // Paul Segal
In a world of plenty, why are so many countries so poor?
Paul Krugman: The Conscience of a Liberal
Review // Ben Jackson
A rare example of advice from the United States that New Labour doesn’t want to hear.
