Comparative economists have gradually concluded that success or failure in transition to democratic capitalism is a matter of institutions, not geography or leadership or outside assistance. However, why do some countries exhibit pro-growth institutions, with little corruption or rent seeking? And how can we explain the relative successes of very different forms of capitalism, such as the USA, ...

The British Industrial Revolution triggered a reversal in the social order whereby the landed elite was replaced by industrial capitalists rising from the middle classes as the economically dominant group. Many observers have linked this transformation to the contrast in values between a hard-working and thrifty middle class and an upper class imbued with disdain for work. We propose an economi...

924 they staged intraparty coups to oust the incumbent prime ministers in 2010 and 2013. In each of these cases, the result was electoral defeat. And while Japan’s cabinet system may not be working like that of the UK, New Zealand or Australia, perhaps it can be conceived of as just another parliamentary democracy model, under which the country was able to recover from the ruins of war to becom...

This article examines the role played by varieties of capitalism in the Euro crisis, considering the origins of the crisis, its progression and the response to it. Deficiencies in the institutional arrangements governing the single currency are linked to economic doctrines of the 1990s. The roots of the crisis are linked to institutional asymmetries between political economies. Northern Europea...

Correspondence A. N. Mendes Faculdade de Saúde Pública, Universidade de São Paulo. Av. Dr. Arnaldo 715, São Paulo, SP 01246-904, Brasil. [email protected] The philosopher Slavoj Žižek, in his discussion of capitalism and its current crisis, states that capitalism is a movement with a properly worldless character 1. Žižek bases his discussion on Alain Badiou, who associates this world concept ...

This address explores a broad framework for thinking sociologically about emancipatory alternatives to dominant institutions and social structures, especially capitalism. The framework is grounded in two foundational propositions: (1) Many forms of human suffering and many deficits in human flourishing are the result of existing institutions and social structures. (2) Transforming existing inst...

Fisheries are understood within a binary frame that is both spatialized into the First and Third Worlds and founded upon a developmentalist discourse of fisheries that produces the conditions for capitalism. The result is an inevitable march toward privatization of resources abstractly understood and their utilization by individuals as capital. The Third World is allowed to diverge from this in...

This paper argues for the immediate use of Kansei engineering to help deal with the chaotic situation of poorly implemented and disconnected technologies. A theoretical criticism of the current industrial capitalism, together with the promotion of a new post-industrial form of capitalism lays the foundation for a explanation of how this transition can be achieved through a proper understanding ...

In the absence of a comprehensive institutional design for a radical democratic egalitarian alternative to capitalism what we need to work out are principles of institutional innovation and change which will tell us whether we are at least moving in the right direction. In this chapter we will explore one way of doing this. I will begin by interrogating the meaning of the word “social” in socia...

The main changes of new capitalism concern mainly two spheres: the new technological paradigm and valorization process and the importance of finance. The main feature of the prevailing finance-led growth regime during the first decade of new millennium is then presented. In this perspective, particular attention is given to the analysis of the evolution and the logic characterizing mergers and ...