Antonino Palumbo – författare

Neoliberalism has been one of the most hotly contested themes in academic and political debate over the last 30 years. Given the global and persistent influence of neoliberal ideas on contemporary styles of governance, social-service provision, and public policy, this intensive interest is understandable. At the same time, the use of the term has become loose, vague, and over-extended, particularly in the extensive critical literature. Rather than engage in further critique, or in the reconstruction of the history of neoliberalism, this volume seeks to bring analytical clarity to the ongoing debate.Drawing inspiration from the work of the Hungarian economic historian, Karl Polanyi, Remaking Market Society combines critique, original formulations, and case studies to form an analytical framework that identifies the key instruments of neoliberal governance. These include privatization, marketization, and liberalization. The case studies examine the development of neoliberal instruments (reform of the British civil service); their refinement (reform of higher education in England and Wales); and their dissemination across national borders (EU integration policies). Rather than look back nostalgically on the post-war welfare-state settlement, in the final chapter the authors ask why the coalitions that supported that settlement broke down in the face of the neoliberal reform movement.This highly original work offers a distinctive transdisciplinary approach to political economy, and therefore is an important read for students and academics who are interested in political economy as well as social theory and political philosophy.

Neoliberalism has been one of the most hotly contested themes in academic and political debate over the last 30 years. Given the global and persistent influence of neoliberal ideas on contemporary styles of governance, social-service provision, and public policy, this intensive interest is understandable. At the same time, the use of the term has become loose, vague, and over-extended, particularly in the extensive critical literature. Rather than engage in further critique, or in the reconstruction of the history of neoliberalism, this volume seeks to bring analytical clarity to the ongoing debate.Drawing inspiration from the work of the Hungarian economic historian, Karl Polanyi, Remaking Market Society combines critique, original formulations, and case studies to form an analytical framework that identifies the key instruments of neoliberal governance. These include privatization, marketization, and liberalization. The case studies examine the development of neoliberal instruments (reform of the British civil service); their refinement (reform of higher education in England and Wales); and their dissemination across national borders (EU integration policies). Rather than look back nostalgically on the post-war welfare-state settlement, in the final chapter the authors ask why the coalitions that supported that settlement broke down in the face of the neoliberal reform movement.This highly original work offers a distinctive transdisciplinary approach to political economy, and therefore is an important read for students and academics who are interested in political economy as well as social theory and political philosophy.

Neoliberal reforms and globalization have deeply transformed the state and set in motion a momentous shift from 'government' to 'governance'. Governance entails a move away from traditional hierarchical forms of organization and the adoption of network forms. It also entails a revision of the relationship between state and civil society in a more participatory direction. Governance is finally said to be responsible for shifting the emphasis away from statute law to more flexible forms of regulation and implementation. The state is thus claimed to be superseded by a 'networked polity' where authority is devolved to task-specific institutions with unlimited jurisdictions and intersecting memberships operating at sub- and supra-national level. This volume brings together a representative sample of the key articles that established governance as a major field of research and helped clarify the main critical issues to be addressed by those involved in research and teaching in this area.

Political accountability forms a cornerstone of modern democracy: it directs the political system towards the public interest and allows the exercise of the principles of autonomy and self-determination that lie at the core of democratic politics. Sadly, existing democracies, with their large, centralized bureaucracies, have evolved in ways that progressively undermine the ability of citizens to keep their representatives accountable and political regimes responsive. Far from reversing this trend, the neoliberal reforms introduced since the 1980s have increased that accountability gap. Globalization and the alleged passage from 'government' to 'governance' have aggravated the problem further. The notion of accountability that survives these changes is a problematic form of auditing carried out by a constellation of quangos, autonomous agencies and NGOs whose own accountability is problematic. This volume collects the main contributions to current debates on political accountability. It explores the challenges traditional conventions of accountability face today at the domestic, trans- and international levels and indicates the distinctive solutions those challenges require.

Political realists are accustomed to argue that ethical considerations have no place in public affairs. This is always a debatable view: realism habitually employs a crude utilitarian morality rather than being totally amoral, and ethical considerations have continued to play an ever more prominent role in the thinking and actions of policy makers and politicians. In addition, citizens increasingly expect policies not only to be efficient and effective according to some purely economic or prudential calculation, but also to be equitable and just as well. As a consequence, both the public and private morality of politicians and public officials has come under ever greater scrutiny. The essays collected together in this volume explore the ethical issues raised by the process and substance of policy-making, and discuss whether it is reasonable to expect ethical standards in public affairs.

This collection of landmark essays explains how deliberation is contributing to the democratization of policy making and policy implementation, fields which in the past were reserved to restricted professional groups having the right expertise. The works are gathered together under four thematic headings, giving the reader a flavour of the kinds of arguments and visions of deliberative democracy. The first part contains essays presenting the main features and arguments employed to justify attributing some epistemic value to deliberative democracy. The second part offers a sample of works moving beyond the epistemic concerns of analytical philosophers and critical theorists alike and analyses ways in which deliberative democracy could be pragmatically employed to boost the legitimacy and effectiveness of real existing democracies. The third section brings together works wishing to move beyond the model of representative democracy adopted by real existing democracies and realise more radical political visions. The fourth part includes a representative sample of works discussing the influence the models of deliberative democracy charted have had on new modes of governance.

Thirty years of developments in deliberative democracy (DD) have consolidated this subfield of democratic theory.

Thirty years of developments in deliberative democracy (DD) have consolidated this subfield of democratic theory. The acquired disciplinary prestige has made theorist and practitioners very confident about the ability of DD to address the legitimacy crisis experienced by liberal democracies at present at both theoretical and practical levels. The book advance a critical analysis of these developments that casts doubts on those certainties -- current theoretical debates are reproposing old methodological divisions, and are afraid to move beyond the minimalist model of democracy advocated by liberal thinkers; democratic experimentation at the micro-level seems to have no impact at the macro-level, and remain sets of isolated experiences. The book indicates that those defects are mainly due to the liberal minimalist frame of reference within which reflection in democratic theory and practice takes place. Consequently, it suggests to move beyond liberal understandings of democracy as a game in need of external rules, and adopt instead a vision of democracy as a self-correcting metagame.

Interest in citizenship has never been greater. Politicians of all stripes stress its importance, as do church leaders, captains of industry and every kind of campaigning group. Yet, despite this popularity, the nature and even the very possibility of citizenship has never been more contested. Is citizenship intrinsically linked to political participation or is it essentially a legal status? Does it require membership of a state, or is it only post-national, trans- and possibly supra-national? Is it a universal value that should be the same for all, or does it need to recognise gender and cultural differences? This volume reproduces key articles on these debates - from classic accounts of the historical development of citizenship, to discussions of its contemporary relevance and possible forms in a globalizing world.