Liberalisme og centrumsorienterede demokratiske ideologier

A challenging, clear-eyed, and authoritative history of American conservatism and its grave effect on our country's foreign policy In this compelling and sometimes alarming analysis, J. Peter Scoblic, executive editor of The New Republic, traces the history of American foreign policy and how it has evolved from the Cold War conservatism of the 1950s to today. The belligerence, intransigence, and disinclination for diplomacy that mars the right wing once brought us to the brink of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. More recently it has failed to meet the post-9/11 challenges posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Scoblic argues forcefully that the only way to face these new threats practically and seriously is by adopting an approach exactly opposite to that suggested by conservatism. By diagnosing the origins of Bush's foreign policy, U.S. vs. Them illuminates the path to renewed American leadership in the twenty-first century as the most serious danger ever faced looms before us: nuclear terrorism.

"As engaging as it is provocative. . . . Sullivan's book should be read closely by liberals as well as conservatives." -- Jonathan Raban, The New York Review of BooksOne of the nation's leading political commentators makes an impassioned call to rescue conservatism from the excesses of the Republican far right, which has tried to make the GOP the first fundamentally religious party in American history. Today's conservatives support the idea of limited government, but they have increased government's size and power to new heights. They believe in balanced budgets, but they have boosted government spending, debt, and pork to record levels. They believe in national security but launched a reckless, ideological occupation in Iraq that has made us tangibly less safe. They have substituted religion for politics and damaged both.In this bold and powerful book, Andrew Sullivan makes a provocative, prescient, and heartfelt case for a revived conservatism at peace with the modern world, and dedicated to restraining government and empowering individuals to live rich and fulfilling lives.

Michelle Goldberg, a senior political reporter for Salon.com, has been covering the intersection of politics and ideology for years. Before the 2004 election, and during the ensuing months when many Americans were trying to understand how an administration marked by cronyism, disregard for the national budget, and poorly disguised self-interest had been reinstated, Goldberg traveled through the heartland of a country in the grips of a fevered religious radicalism: the America of our time. From the classroom to the mega-church to the federal court, she saw how the growing influence of dominionism-the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers-is threatening the foundations of democracy.In Kingdom Coming, Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military retirees pledging to seize the nation in Christ's name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country's social problems.With her trenchant interviews and the telling testimonies of the people behind this movement, Goldberg gains access into the hearts and minds of citizens who are striving to remake the secular Republic bequeathed by our founders into a Christian nation run according to their interpretation of scripture. In her examination of the ever-widening divide between believers and nonbelievers, Goldberg illustrates the subversive effect of this conservative stranglehold nationwide. In an age when faith rather than reason is heralded and the values of the Enlightenment are threatened by a mystical nationalism claiming divine sanction, Kingdom Coming brings us face to face with the irrational forces that are remaking much of America.

The national bestseller, described by Tom Brokaw as the "wake-up call we cannot ignore," with a new preface by the author Acclaimed by all sides of the political spectrum, Peter Peterson's Running on Empty not only traces the deterioration of America's finances but offers solutions. This national bestseller is required reading for everyone concerned with America's long-term economic survival. In clear and concise prose, Peterson offers America not only a vision but the practical steps by which to ensure our children's economic future. Running on Empty is not only a warning, it is also a manifesto calling for the next administration to finally confront a deep and disturbing problem that politicians of all parties have insisted on ignoring for too long.

In this powerful indictment of George W. Bush's White House, environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., charges that the administration has taken corporate favoritism to unprecedented heights -- threatening our health, our national security, and our democracy.Kennedy lifts the veil on how the administration, in order to enrich its corporate paymasters, has eviscerated the laws that protect our nation's air, water, public lands, and wildlife. He describes the White House doling out lavish subsidies and tax breaks to energy barons while allowing the corporations to profit by poisoning the public and eliminating security at the more than 15,000 nuclear and chemical facilities that are prime targets for terrorist attacks. He shows how right-wing White House ideologues have taken the "conserve" out of conservatism and trampled the free-market democracy in favor of a kind of corporate-crony capitalism that is as antithetical to democracy, efficiency, and prosperity in America as it is in Nigeria.Crimes Against Nature is a book for both Democrats and Republicans, people like the traditionally conservative farmers and fishermen whom Kennedy represents in lawsuits against polluters. "Without exception," he writes, "these people see the current administration as the greatest threat not just to their livelihoods but to their values, their sense of community, and their idea of what it means to be American."

One of our most visible, trenchant, and witty political commentators, the author of the bestselling Why Americans Hate Politics, offers a tough critique of President George W. Bush and the Democratic opposition on the eve of a landmark presidential election -- and points to a way out of cynicism and defeatism.With passion, clarity, and humor, E. J. Dionne describes today's political atmosphere as the bitterest he can remember. Never have Democrats been as frustrated by their inability to move the debate. The party of Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Clinton, Dionne says, is lost in pointless feuds, outdated strategies, and old arguments. Democrats have lost track of what they stand for so they don't know what they're fighting for and besides, they've forgotten how to fight back. In describing how Democrats, moderates, and liberals have failed to match Republicans and conservatives in commitment, resourcefulness, and clarity, Dionne invents what is likely to become a popular parlor game among the politically committed. In "The Wrong Stuff," he lists ten futile arguments -- big versus small government, for example -- that Democrats keep having with themselves. "The Right Stuff" focuses on ten arguments they should start making about taxes, business, and the role of government. Dionne zeroes in on how a floundering Bush administration used September 11 to politicize national security issues for partisan advantage. Enraged but intimidated by ruthless opponents, the Democratic party failed to find its voice on security issues and was soundly beaten in 2002. Drawing on some lessons from the 2004 primary campaigns, Dionne argues that anger and frustration have in fact awakened progressives to the need for innovation in organizing, in approaching an increasingly conservative media, and in formulating politically useful and plainly stated ideas. Learning from the conservative movement's successes, liberals have begun the work of reconstruction. The politics of revenge, Dionne argues persuasively, can give way to something better: a progressive patriotism built on hope and optimism about America's role in the world and its capacity to renew social justice at home.

From one of the most internationally admired political thinkers, a controversial polemic on the failures of identity politics and what comes next for the left -- in America and beyond.Following the shocking results of the US election of 2016, public intellectuals across the globe offered theories and explanations, but few were met with such vitriol, panic, and debate as Mark Lilla's. The Once and Future Liberal is a passionate plea to liberals to turn from the divisive politics of identity and develop a vision of the future that can persuade all citizens that they share a common destiny.Driven by a sincere desire to protect society's most vulnerable, the left has unwittingly balkanized the electorate, encouraged self-absorption rather than solidarity, and invested its energies in social movements rather than party politics. Identity-focused individualism has insidiously conspired with amoral economic individualism to shape an electorate with little sense of a shared future and near-contempt for the idea of the common good.Now is the time to re-build a sense of common feeling and purpose, and a sense of duty to one another. A fiercely argued, important book, enlivened by acerbic wit and erudition, The Once and Future Liberal is essential reading for our times.

Translated into 100 languages, winner of the National Book Award, and named one of the 100 Most Influential Books since World War II by the Times Literary Supplement , Anarchy, State and Utopia remains one of the most theoretically trenchant and philosophically rich defences of economic liberalism to date, as well as a foundational text in classical libertarian thought. With a new introduction by the philosopher Thomas Nagel, this revised edition will introduce Nozick and his work to a new generation of readers.

Fukuyama's profound inquiry leads the reader to the question of whether humanity will eventually reach a stable state in which it is at last completely satisfied, or whether there is something about the condition of humans that will always lead them to smash this ultimate equilibrium and plunge the world back into chaos.

I 1990’erne blev neoliberalisme det dominerende økonomiske paradigme, og statsledere som Bill Clinton og Tony Blair tog økonomien til sig. Grundlaget for den neoliberalistiske tankegang blev dog allerede lagt i årtierne inden med Ronald Reagan og Margaret Thatchers økonomiske politik, men også udviklingen af en neoliberal økonomi i diktatoren Augusto Pinochets Chile. Først i 2000’erne blev neoliberalismen for alvor udfordret – og truet – af den globale finanskrise, hvis lige ikke havde været set siden depressionen i 1930’erne.En meget kort introduktion til neoliberalisme undersøger og analyserer neoliberalismens fødsel og udvikling, dens krav og forskellige former. Bogens kapitler handler om:Hvad er det nye ved denne form for liberalisme?Første bølge i 1980’erneAnden bølge i 1990’erneNeoliberalisme og asiatisk udviklingNeoliberalisme i Latinamerika og AfrikaKriser, 2000’erne og hinsidesManfred B. Steger er professor i sociologi ved University of Hawaii, USA. Ravi K. Roy er forsker ved The W. Ed­wards Deming Institute og Claremont Gra­­d­ua­te University i USA og ved ­Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology i Au­stralien.

From Democratic Party rising star Jane Kleeb, an urgent and stirring road map showing how the Democratic Party can, and should, engage rural AmericaThe Democratic Party has lost an entire generation of rural voters. By focusing the majority of their message and resources on urban and coastal voters, Democrats have sacrificed entire regions of the country where there is more common ground and shared values than what appears on the surface.InHarvest the Vote,Jane Kleeb, chair of Nebraskas Democratic Party and founder of Bold Nebraska, brings us a lively and sweeping argument for why the Democrats shouldnt turn away from rural America. As a party leader and longtime activist, Kleeb speaks from experience. Shes been fighting the national party for more resources and building a grassroots movement to flex the power of a voting bloc that has long been ignored and forgotten.Kleeb persuasively argues that the hottest issues of the day can be solved hand in hand with rural people. On climate change, Kleeb shows that the vast spaces of rural America can be used to enact clean energy innovations.And issues of eminent domain and corporate overreach will galvanize unlikely alliances of family farmers, ranchers, small business owners, progressives, and tribal leaders, much as they did when she helped fight the Keystone XL pipeline. The hot-button issues of guns and abortion that the Republican Party uses to wedge voters against one another can be bridged by putting a megaphone next to issues critical to rural communities.Written with a fiery voice and commonsense solutions,Harvest the Voteis both a call to action and a much-needed balm for a highly divided nation.

Curt Sørensen er en af Danmarks førende marxistiske historiker og sociolog og præsenteres her ved en række politiske essays.Bogen er delt i fire hovedafsnit. - Den lange kamp for demokrati, en kamp der ikke har været så let som man i dag almindeligvis tror. Efter 2. Verdenskrig blev demokrati endelig realiseret, men dog i en højst tillempet og beskåret form og i dag er selv denne begrænsede form ved at krakelere. Den foruroligende genopstandelse af højreautoritære og undertiden endda fascistiske holdninger, opfattelser og grupperinger. Formerne er nye og mellemkrigsårenes parti og ideologi eksempler ikke uden videre overførbare til nutidige. Men en række grundlæggende holdninger og opfattelser er dog påfaldende ens. - Den udbredte myte om ’den socialistiske Sovjetunion’, en myte der har været udbredt i såvel den stalinistiske tradition som i den vestlige totalitarismeteori og offentlige diskurs. Myten er i dag så stærk som nogensinde, båret frem af neoliberalismens dominans samt den massive højredrejning i europæisk politik.- Marxismen som en levende forskningstradition og politisk inspiration, en tradition og en inspiration som blev kvalt af stalinismens ideologisering, den efterfølgende kolde krig og kapitalismens enorme magt i forening.

Fra Antikken til Feudalismen og Enevældens tilblivelse udgør to bind af ét samlet værk som i dag regnes for en klassiker inden for Marxistisk historieskrivning Med et imponerende greb om historieskrivningen undersøger Anderson sammenhængen mellem samfundets produktions- og statsformer. Men med Andersons egne ord: Kampen mellem samfundsklasser afgøres i sidste ende ikke på det økonomiske eller kulturelle plan, men derimod på det politiske. I dette første bind viser Anderson hvordan Romerrigets slavebaserede produktion var afhængig af en stadig forsyning af krigsslaver fra kejserstatens krigsførelse. Da dens ekspansion stoppede, meldte krisen sig i den hjemlige produktion. Anderson viser videre hvordan den feudale produktionsform var et resultat af et sammenstød mellem det romerske slavesamfund og den germanske stammeorganisering: den livegne bonde og den feudale herremand opstod som syntese af disse. Det europæiske landkort blev skåret ud i et væld af små domæner, og i sprækkerne mellem disse voksede handelsbyer frem. En stærk, central autoritet havde ingen grobund under disse forhold. Romerriget havde derimod ikke bredt sig til den (nord)østlige ende af kontinentet. Anderson viser hvordan den østeuropæiske udvikling først meget senere—og under Vesteuropæisk indflydelse—fik den feudale dynamik som drev de vestlige samfunds frem. Denne blev tilmed destabiliseret af de store folkevandringer fra Centralasien.

Når vi taler om arbejde, får vi at vide, at vi skal arbejde mere på grund af den globale konkurrence. ”Hvis vi vil bevare velfærdsstaten”.Disse udsagn får oftest følgeskab af tal og statistik, som præsenteres som neutral information. Men argumenterne for en øget arbejdsindsats er ikke nødvendigvis fornuftig realpolitik, de er snarere resultatet af en bestemt ideologi, som tjener nogle grupper i samfundet bedre end andre.Selvfølgelig kan vi som samfund have en normal arbejdsdag på 6 timer, og endda have det godt. Siger den norske feminist og socialist, Linn Stalsberg.