Democratic Capitalism Research Articles

Social Rights Constitutionalism: An Antagonistic Endorsement

The article discusses how we might understand solidarity as the organizing concept behind the institutionalization of social rights. I argue that writing solidarity into social rights constitutionalism carries productive tension into constitutional thinking because it disturbs the smooth passage from civil to political and finally to social rights. Marshall's influential argument that social rights are continuous to civil and political rights has become both the grounding assumption in constitutional theory and at the same time the most obvious lie in the constitutional practice of advanced capitalist democracies, clearly belied in EU constitutional practice under austerity. I explore the various attempts to accommodate the continuity of civil, political, and social rights in the face of the contradictory articulation of social democracy and capitalism before undertaking something of a defence of the antinomic significance of social rights constitutionalism, and probing what mileage might be left in ‘exploiting’ the contradiction between capitalist interests and social rights.

The New Professional Econocracy and the Maintenance of Elite Power

This article begins by asking how have elites, who are more fragmented, transitory and precarious than ever, continued to do so well out of discredited, financialised capitalist democracy? One possible answer lies in what I term the new professional econocracy. As the article reveals, an increasing proportion of elite figures at the top of business and government now have educational and/or professional experiences of economics and related disciplines. On the one hand, this provides the basis of a shared professional discourse and accompanying set of norms, values and practices. This unites disparate and mobile elites. On the other hand, such knowledge enables these elites both to move across sectors and to game the economic and accounting systems that they have helped construct. Thus, elites reflexively adapt to, and benefit from, economic rules while also rigidly dictating them to those below.

Dr. Esperanto, or Anthropology as Alternative Worlds

ABSTRACTIn this 2015 presidential address, I use the story of so‐called artificial (invented, constructed) languages to discuss anthropology as an act of imagining alternative worlds. I argue that this activity becomes particularly salient at moments of crisis in liberal democratic capitalism and takes a variety of forms according to the position of social actors with respect to the political economic conditions they face. From Esperanto to Klingon and beyond, artificial languages illustrate some key dilemmas and responses, of which anthropology is a part. [Presidential Address, language, anthropology, artificial languages]

“Order Is the Best We Can Hope For”: <em>Sicario</em> and the Sacrificial Violence of the Law

"Order Is the Best We Can Hope For":Sicario and the Sacrificial Violence of the Law Kojo Koram (bio) The civilized have created the wretched, quite coldly and deliberately, and do not intend to change the status quo. —James Baldwin The spectacular modes of violence witnessed within contemporary politics offer a persistent challenge to the end-of-history proclamations that were made at the end of the previous century.1 The imagined resolution of social antagonism that was presumed to follow the fall of the Berlin Wall promised a global order in which liberal, capitalist democracy would provide a cohering anchor for all nations and cultures to coexist within a single universal. Rivalry between sovereign nations had been accredited as the source of murderous global conflict in what had been the bloodiest century in human history up to the end of the Cold War; with the twenty-first century heralding the suppression of that rivalry, it was anticipated that the violence would dissipate under the glare of a shared adherence to rule of law. However, the preponderance of increasingly spectacular images of violence delivered by contemporary politics and reflected in our popular culture troubles this [End Page 230] presupposition. The sight of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on fire that has been seared into our collective memory is read as confirming the end of "the end of history."2 The so-called War on Terror launched in the aftermath of 9/11 has continued to remind us of the return of a violence that was never truly contained, particularly with the images of Lynndie England's Abu Ghraib and the capture of Saddam Hussein. Critical scholars have responded by taking up the task of unpacking the insights that the War on Terror can offer us with regard to the contemporary workings of violence within the modern global legal order.3 However, absent from this critical engagement has been another abstract war that has both preceded and paralleled the War on Terror: the so-called War on Drugs. The task I will undertake in this essay is to address this absence by drawing some insights into the structuring of contemporary violence and its operative function within our proclaimed peaceful global legal order. I will examine first the legal architecture that governs the War on Drugs and then the representation of this inexhaustible war within popular culture, particular through Denis Villeneuve's 2015 film Sicario. Sicario, a cinematic interrogation of the irresolvable conflict between drug enforcement agents and narcotraffickers along the U.S.-Mexican border, captures the ways in which the drug war offers a telling instance of law underwritten by violence. The drug war and its damning representation in films such as Sicario offer a significant challenge to the presuppositions of the universal triumph of the rule of law heralding the realization of universal peace, for the legal project of universal drug prohibition requires reconciling an expansion of law with an expansion of violence. I will illustrate how the drug war reveals a violence that is not only present within the legal order but also in fact constitutes its very ground, a violence that takes a (re)generative form due to the way in which the construction of its victims imbues it with legitimacy. I term this violence "sacrificial violence," following the work of philosophical anthropologist René Girard. My exploration into the sacrificial undercurrent of legal ordering begins with an evidential problem: that the empirical violence that has resulted from the law's determination to prohibit drugs cannot be explained without challenging the orthodoxy that international law is opposed to violence. The contradiction between international law's founding claim to save "succeeding generations from the scourge of war"—as stated in the opening line of the preamble to the United Nations (UN) Charter—and its concurrent declaration of a War on Drugs holds significance for both scholars and practitioners who continue to uncritically invest in the redemptive power of law. [End Page 231] The Drug War as Catastrophe To intimately associate the violence of the War on Drugs with the workings of the international legal order is to call into question a primary orthodoxy of the law: that...

On Method, Nature and Grace in Caritas in Veritate

On Method, Nature and Grace in Caritas in Veritate Vincent L. Strand S.J. POPE BENEDICT XVI’s 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate [hereafter, CV; cited by § no. in parentheses below] elicited an enormous immediate response by religious and secular commentators. Vatican Radio reported that, two weeks after the encyclical’s release, 1,800 articles had been written about it.1 While the document received some critique from the Catholic left—such as from the liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, who exclaimed, “How good a dose of Marxism would be for the Pope!”—in general, the encyclical drew heavier fire from neoconservative and libertarian supporters of free market capitalism.2 [End Page 835] For example, according to George Weigel, CV “resembles a duck-billed platypus” with incisive passages written by the Pope himself mixed together with passages reflecting current Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace default positions that Weigel finds unimpressive. He suggests that the reader of CV note the former passages with a gold marker and the latter with a red marker, distinguishing those valuable passages to be kept and pondered from those to be disregarded.3 In a similar spirit, Michael Novak praises elements of the encyclical, in particular its “beautiful” discussion of caritas, but nonetheless insists that, “if we hold each sentence of Caritas in veritate up to analysis in the light of empirical truth about events in the field of political economy since 1967, we will find that it is not nearly so full in its veritas as in its caritas.”4 Thomas Woods, author of The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy, offers a boisterous libertarian critique of the encyclical, saying that, at worst, CV is “bewilderingly naïve, and its policy recommendations, while attracting no one to the Church, are certain to repel.”5 [End Page 836] These responses are noteworthy, given that the previous social encyclical, Centesimus Annus, was lauded by Weigel, Novak, and other Catholic neoconservatives.6 Upon first consideration, we might attribute the critique that CV elicited from these authors solely to the document’s specific economic and political policy recommendations: for example, its calls for redistribution of wealth and a world political authority (§§ 37 and 67). I would like to propose, however, that the [End Page 837] disagreement is more fundamental: it is not about the value of one economic theory or another, but instead about the role of economics as an autonomous science and about the degree to which Christianity should shape our economic and political thinking. The first part of this article will set a backdrop against which to consider these questions. It will offer a cursory exposition of the debate between Catholic neoconservatives (the so-called “Whig Thomists” long associated with the journal First Things7) and those thinkers associated with the journal Communio (sometimes referred to as “Augustinian Thomists”8). Second, I will argue that CV places Benedict’s thought in the latter camp. As I will show, this is due less to the content of Benedict’s theology than to its structure. I will suggest that CV contains a methodological newness that distinguishes it from earlier, more Thomistic social encyclicals: in CV, economic positions are obtained through revelation and a theological anthropology developed from Christological and Trinitarian reflection. Third, I will suggest that this methodology is an expression of Henri de Lubac’s position on nature and grace. The essay will conclude by naming several issues that merit further consideration. Christianity and Capitalism: A Debate A prolifically sustained argument in recent decades about the Church’s relationship to society has occurred between Catholic neoconservatives and the Communio school.9 It is not my intent here to offer a full exposition [End Page 838] of this debate. Instead, I would like to focus on their argument concerning the relationship of the Church to economics. Neoconservatives generally see the possibility of a smooth merger between democratic capitalism and Catholicism.10 At times, particularly in the work of Novak, this entails the strong claim that capitalism can be a source of spirituality.11 For his part, Weigel has proposed this merger by underscoring the virtue of creativity, which he finds present both in democratic...

Author Meets Critics— The Aisles Have Eyes

Author Meets Critics— The Aisles Have Eyes Joseph Turow (bio), Matthew P. McAllister (bio), Inger L. Stole (bio), and Edward Timke (bio) Keywords advertising history, data, democratic capitalism, digital advertising, hidden curriculum, privacy, retail marketing, smartphones, surveillance, technology Video 1. Author Meets Critics— The Aisles Have Eyes. Click to view video Advertising & Society Quarterlyis now bringing books to life through a new review format called “Author Meets Critics” (AMC). Pulling from a tradition that the journal’s editors have seen at academic meetings and book talks on university campuses, AMC records a conversation with a book author and academic and industry experts (serving as the “critics”) who discuss the book and how it helps us understand advertising’s place in society, culture, history, and the economy. The first AMC segment discusses Joseph Turow’s book The Aisles Have Eyes: How Retailers Track Your Shopping, Strip Your Privacy, and Define Your Power(Yale University Press, 2017). As is revealed in the discussion, Turow’s book covers the history and logic behind the technologically-advanced, data-driven retail marketing and advertising that many consumers take for granted today. Most consumers are unaware of how marketers and advertisers are carefully surveilling them when they elect to download a smartphone app or use a store’s in-house Wifi. Turow contends that culling consumer data is more than a threat to privacy. Marketing and advertising firms’ use of an array of consumer information undermines capitalistic democracy, which asserts that consumers have equal footing to learn about and buy products and services. Joseph Turow Joseph Turow is Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Turow’s research focuses on digital cultural industries, especially at the intersection of the internet, marketing, and society, as well as studies on database marketing, media and privacy, digital out-of-home media, the process of innovation in the mass media, and the relationship between media and the medical system. He has authored ten books, edited five, and written more than 150 articles on mass media industries. His other most recent books are Media Today: Mass Communication in a Converging World(Routledge, 2016) and The Daily You: How the New Advertising Industry is Defining Your Identity and Your Worth(Yale University Press, 2012). Professor Turow is an elected Fellow of the International Communication Association and was presented with a Distinguished Scholar Award by the National Communication Association. Matthew P. McAllister Matt McAllister is Professor of Media Studies and Chair of Graduate Programs in the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include advertising criticism, popular culture, and the political economy of the mass media. He is the author of The Commercialization of American Culture: New Advertising, Control and Democracy(Sage, 1996), and the co-editor of Comics and Ideology(Peter Lang, 2001), The Advertising and Consumer Culture Reader(Routledge, 2009), and The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture(Routledge, 2013). Matt has also published in such journals as Critical Studies in Media Communication, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, and Journal of Communication. Inger L. Stole Inger L. Stole is Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. Inger’s work explores the history of advertising, commercial propaganda, and consumer culture. Her first book, Advertising on Trial: Consumer Activism and Corporate Public Relations in the 1930s, was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2006, and followed by Advertising at War: Business, Consumers, and Government in the 1940sin 2012. In 2011, Professor Stole co-edited A Moment of Danger: Critical Studies in the History of U.S. Communication since World War IIwith Janice Peck. Her most recent work explores European/Scandinavian advertising during the Cold War. Edward Timke Edward Timke is Lecturer in Media Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also Associate Editor of Advertising & Society Quarterlyand contributor to ADTextOnline.org. His work centers on understanding the role of media in international relations...

A sequenced reforms agenda for Serbia: Tailoring the concepts and instruments

Impotent, import and debt-dependent Serbia's economy is the legacy of the geopolitical crisis in the 1990s, as well as of the misconceptions of the policy framework after the political changes in 2000. In a rapidly changing environment and without adequate remedies for failures, structural imbalances from socialism accumulated during transition. Namely, when the new normality and megatrends come into play, the existing structural imbalances are deepened. As a consequence, the risk of staying in regression is not mitigated yet, despite one-quarterof-century intention to escape the middle-income trap through radical reforms toward democratic capitalism. However, in 2017, the chances to escape from the long-term freefall are greater than ever before. After fiscal consolidation, which was the result of a four-year-long implementation of hard macroeconomic policy regime, Serbia has reached a strategic inflection point on the path from crisis to recovery. Even though the current Government is agile in terms of creating a balanced economy capable of growth (sustainable and inclusive), there is no smooth and painless movement away from import and debt dependence. Breaking away from the structural crisis requires a complex reform agenda with three sets of activities: a. quick annulation of past failures, b. adaptation of the new policy framework to the paradigm change in theory and policy, as well as to the new normality, and c. investment in structural changes in accordance with megatrends. Our intention is to offer a conceptual paper. The leitmotif is to provide evidence-based answers to key questions by discussing all relevant details from both macro and micro (or business) perspective, particularly regarding their interconnections. However, it is an attempt to create a framework from the ground up, primarily from the microeconomic (or business) viewpoint. There is no intention to offer a diagnosis on lacking policy targets and unsolved challenges, or the repeated arguments 'for and against', but rather to consider explanatory details and set up the problem-solving platforms. After all, the devil is in the detail. Proceeding from the new vision, through its macro (monetary and fiscal) articulation, we reach the industrial policy program for tradable sectors. While macroeconomic stability is maintained, the focus will be on the business perspective. We hope that the arguments offered will zoom out a more profound view to the problem of transitionism in Serbia, with the intention to avoid repetition of misconceptions and overestimations. By doing this, we strive to extract value from past failures. Namely, our attention is to bring some explanations for Serbia's transition pattern of failures with the purpose to release some thoughtful ideas for repairing hidden fractures of the system and propose solutions compatible with the new normality and megatrends. In order to do that, analysis is structured in five sections, besides the introduction (the way backward) and the conclusion (the way forward). To get everything on the radar, in the first section we talk about Serbia's macroeconomic fact sheets. After observing the lessons learnt from previous mistakes in the second section, in the third and fourth section we are discussing the new normality emerging from the global economy and megatrends influencing the economic framework, respectively. Finally, in the fifth section we are dealing with the heterodox policy framework as a valuable alternative to the neo-liberal (or orthodox) policy framework.

Nationalism, Populism, Islamism

Not that long ago, debates over politics were anchored in a clear opposition between universalism and relativism. Proponents of an inclusive structure of, at least aspirationally, all states—the new world order—envisioned an unchallenged entrenchment of democratic capitalism everywhere. Where dictatorships endured, as in North Korea, they were treated as bizarre outliers, exceptions that proved the rule of the progress of mankind toward Kant's perpetual peace. Universalist values held sway; ultimately all rights were to become human rights, due to all humans solely on the basis of their humanity, implying that rights pursuant to national citizenship, to membership in any particular…

Brexit and the Problem of European Disintegration

The Brexit referendum provokes speculation about the likelihood of European disintegration. This article discusses how scholarship might deal with the issue of disintegration and argues that it should be thought of as an indeterminate process rather than an identifiable outcome. Within the EU system, Brexit is likely to unleash disintegrative dynamics, which could see the EU stagnate into a suboptimal institutional equilibrium. At the same time, EU studies needs to lift its gaze beyond the internal dynamics of the EU system to consider the disintegration of the democratic capitalist compact within which European integration has been embedded historically.

A crise da democracia representativa e a necessidade de conciliação do crescimento econômico com o desenvolvimento humano

O presente artigo analisa a crise da democracia como reflexo da necessidade de conciliação do crescimento econômico com o desenvolvimento humano. Inicialmente, aborda a relação entre as mudanças que transformaram o capitalismo democrático em supercapitalismo, e o enfraquecimento dos modelos de democracia representativa. Posteriormente, sob a ótica da Teoria da Democracia, verifica que a democracia representativa pressupõe a preservação de um patamar econômico e social mínimo para todos os cidadãos. Ao final, conclui-se que a compatibilização entre crescimento econômico e desenvolvimento humano é imprescindível para a superação da crise da democracia.

현대한국에 민주적 자본주의의 준거 모델은 있는가? : 노태우 모델과 김대중 모델의 비교

현대한국에 민주적 자본주의의 준거 모델은 있는가? : 노태우 모델과 김대중 모델의 비교

Understanding Rabindranath Tagore’s Spirituality as Deep Ecology, Deep Anthropology and Political Theology

<p>The subject of this paper is the relevance of Rabindranath Tagore’s spirituality to the challenges we face in the world today. Tagore’s mission was ‘to work towards the true union of East and West’. The spiritual worldview Tagore brought to the West from 1912 onwards has been defined by Bengali scholars as ‘the integration of man and nature and God’. This can be expressed in more modern terms as ‘deep ecology, deep anthropology and political theology’, themes that run through the texts of the lectures Tagore gave on his foreign tours. He warned that the machine age would be disastrous for planet and people and urged a return to traditional village based society. He predicted that the dehumanising and destructive modern systems would come to an end, making way for a ‘new chapter in history’. The present crisis of democratic capitalism could lead to disruption or disaster, or else be an opportunity for relocalisation such as Tagore advocated. Movements for world change today focussed on taking responsibility for looking after ourselves and the environment directly through community involvement and decision making could be encouraged and affirmed by association with one of the greatest thinkers of the modern age.</p>

Public Law and Finance: A History of Misunderstandings and a Discourse Theoretical Proposal

This paper departs from the observation that many legal conflicts which emerged in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis are characterized by fault lines between the economic and the legal disciplines. These fault lines derive from two reasons which I describe as immanence and differentiation. Both are deeply rooted in the self-understanding of the economic and legal disciplines. In the economic literature, a mechanical view of the law prevails that has little to do with the self-understanding prevalent in the legal discipline. The legal discipline, in turn, is just as much to be blamed of immanence. However, the rationality of the legal discipline has become blurred, and there is great uncertainty how to deal with the rationalities of neighboring disciplines. As the idea of democratic capitalism relies on an autonomous law, this problem is of utmost urgency. The paper develops a discourse theoretical proposal that sees the rationality (or autonomy) of the law to reside in a specific kind of discourse. This understanding allows some hints as to how to integrate economic knowledge in legal decision-making. The paper then applies this understanding to the examples. This approach has certain repercussions for recent regulatory activities.

Translation, Transition, Transgender

Abstract This article discusses the anglophone reception of the life and work of the East German transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. Particular attention is paid to the translation and marketing of von Mahlsdorf's memoir against the backdrop of Eastern Europe's purported transition to Western capitalist democracy. Using the concept of framing developed first by Erving Goffman and adapted to the study of translation by Albrecht Neubert and Gregory Shreve, and then Mona Baker, the author analyzes the ways in which the presentation of von Mahlsdorf's life in the translated memoir reflects a specific Western framing of queer lives, which is later altered in Doug Wright's award-winning play about von Mahlsdorf following the release of von Mahlsdorf's secret police file and the troubled progress of the so-called transition. The article demonstrates how the careful study of translations can challenge the universalizing of Western conceptual and temporal frames by highlighting the historical and contingent nature of our sexual selves.

Trouble in Paradise: Political Economy and Cultural Criticism: Trouble in Paradise: From the End of History to the End of Capitalism

Slavoj Žižek’s title Trouble in Paradise is also the name of a 1932 movie directed by Ernst Lubitsch, a movie which Žižek begins discussing as his first topic in his introduction. But the title obviously also reflects the notion that there is a difference between the superficial appearances of social life (often publically attractively depicted, with supporting justifications, sustaining collective illusions) and a time of deep societal troubles. Žižek says about his own title: “The ‘paradise’ in the title of this book refers to the End of History (as elaborated by Francis Fukuyama: liberal democratic capitalism as the finally found best possible social order), and the ‘trouble’ is, of course, the ongoing crisis that compelled even Fukuyama himself to drop his idea of the End of History” (7). This is a switching of perspectives between what we might call “cultural” interpretation and criticism and critical examination and advocacy about the more overt power systems of political economy. Such switching of perspectives, which we do not object to, but which we wish to emphasize, recurs throughout the book.

Democracy Evolving: A Diversity of Institutional Contradictions Transforming Political Economy

:I analyze democracy as an evolving socio-historical process of autonomy, participative governance, social learning, and institutionalization. I discuss a variety of institutional contradictions, ranging from protective versus developmental democracy, socialist versus capitalist democracy, transcendental versus comparative institutionalism, and utilitarian versus pragmatist democracy. I argue that these contradictions are inherent in the agonistic nature of democracy that is transforming political economy along with the antagonistic interests of its members and institutions. I also present a basic synthesis of some dynamic aspects of democracy that enable and enhance social emancipation and transformation.

Public Law's Rationalization of the Legal Architecture of Money: What Might Legal Analysis of Money Become?

Many of the ills afflicting democratic capitalism have their source in the current legal architecture of money and finance. At the same time the reimagination of institutions of money and finance promise an avenue for reform to democratize the economy and prevent the perpetuation of austerity politics. Such institutional reimagination requires a perspective that recognizes money as an institution linking state and civil society, politics and the economy. Economics in great part eschews such a perspective and perceives of money as a medium of exchange largely independent of government and politics. Legal analysis, by contrast, should be ideally suited for the endeavor to analyse the various ways in which the institutional design of money configures political economy.

"Duch demokratycznego kapitalizmu" Michaela Novaka Jego analiza i ocena w kontekście etyki chrześcijańskiej

The paper refers to Michael Novak’s book The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. In his book Novak advances, among others, the thesis that in the light of the encyclical Laborem Exercens, published by John Paul II (1981), one can speak about some converging elements of Catholic and liberal social thought, e.g.: the creativity of modern labour, which would reflect, however, in the two doctrines the theological symbols of the Creator and His creation. But this paper cools down the enthusiasm of Novak and in six analysed aspects seeks to show that, despite some convergence in the phraseology between “the spirit of democratic capitalism” and “the spirit of Christian ethics”, there extends between them an essential abyss, which is the result of basing each “spirit” on different models of ethics.

Legacy effects of past land use on current biodiversity in a low-intensity farming landscape in Transylvania (Romania)

Ecological impacts of past land use can persist for centuries. While present-day land use is relatively easy to quantify, characterizing historical land uses and their legacies on biodiversity remains challenging. Southern Transylvania in Romania is a biodiversity-rich area which has undergone major political and socio-economic changes, from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to two World Wars, communist dictatorship, capitalist democracy, and EU accession—all leading to widespread land-use changes. We investigated whether present-day community composition of birds, plants, and butterflies was associated with historical land use. We surveyed birds, plants, and butterflies at 150 sites and classified those sites as forest, arable land, or managed grassland for six epochs using historical maps from the 1870s, 1930s, and 1970s, satellite imagery from 1985 to 2000, and field visits in 2012. Sites were labelled permanent if they had the same land use at all epochs and non-permanent otherwise. We used clustering and PERMANOVA based on community similarity to test for associations between community composition and land-use history. We found significant differences (p = 0.030) in bird communities between permanent and non-permanent forest sites, and permanent and non-permanent grassland sites (p = 0.051). No significant associations were found among plants or butterflies and land-use history. Bird communities were associated with historical land use, though plants and butterflies were not. Historical land-use change in our study area was likely not sufficiently intense to cross relevant ecological thresholds that would lead to legacy effects in present-day plant and butterfly communities.

Capital markets and tax policy making: A comparative analysis of European tax reforms since the crisis

Since the creation of monetary union, European governments have received loans from the international financial markets at low interest rates. The recent sovereign debt crisis has, however, once more revealed the structural dependence of capitalist governments on the capital markets. Countries such as Spain and Greece are charged unsustainable interest rates and their policy decisions have come under scrutiny by international bond holders who fear losing their investments. Based on a unique dataset of European tax policy decisions from 2008 to 2010, we show that financial market pressure, in the form of rising bond yields, has forced European governments to raise their taxes, especially in the more regressive field of indirect taxes. The findings suggest that capitalist democracies have little political room to maneuver and to conduct redistributive politics at times of high fiscal stress.