Breakthrough

Why is our epoch’s remarkable thirst for change failing to translate into effective transformation? How can we reboot political creativity? This open access study scrutinizes the rationale, political strategy, and policy logistics that block emancipatory transformations in the early 21st century. By examining flagship attempts at alleviating suffering — from humanitarian refugee policies and struggles against mass surveillance, to the fight for gender parity, access to housing, and freeing work from bureaucratic control— the authors distinguish the roadblocks and the chances for a breakthrough. The authors explore questions about trade-offs, unintended consequences, and ways for re-energizing struggles against injustice, with the goal of illuminating the nature and form of emancipatory politics that are still attainable amidst what feels like an unending crisis.The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.