After an apparent temporary relief, the financial crisis is back full steam. Thedouble dip has turned into a full-blown meltdown of financial markets, public budgets and, by and large, democratic accountability. This global crisis is a fundamental wake-up call: a signal that our conventional political economy and, perhaps, the very foundations of our societies need a serious rethink. Currently, the spotlight is on the role of political elites and economic agents (especially the investors included in the vague notion ofmarkets ) and their strategies to stabilize or destabilize countries, from North America to the Eurozone. Regrettably, the actual and potential role of civil society is hardly mentioned in public debate. Yet, it is exactly within civil society that important responses to the crisis may emerge. It is within civil society that an alternative paradigm and a fundamental rethinking of conventional wisdom may be fostered. Citizens vs. Markets is the first book to unpack the transformative role of civil society in a sector in which it has traditionally been less proactive, in order to reflect on possible forms of social transformation that are not merely remedial but also constructive in nature. This is the most important struggle of our times.This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Civil Society.

The freer the markets people live in, the better they flourish. Free Our Markets explains why, in terms of foundational economic principles. Dr. Baetjer aims to show readers that liberty, not the force of government, is the means to achieve the goals we all have for humanity-high and rising standards of living, increasing security and abundance for all. In this book Baetjer presents the principles of spontaneous economic order and explains why, for practical economic reasons, free markets produce better results than even the best intended and most carefully crafted government interventions.

"Offers a vivid portrait of a global economy that overproduces goods and targets children as consumers ... where the primary goal is no longer to manufacture goods but needs." - cover.

This open access book asks whether cash-transfer programs for very low-income households promote social and economic citizenship and, if so, under what conditions. To this end, it brings together elements that are too often considered separately: the transformation of social and economic citizenship rights in a market-centered context, and the increasing popularity of cash transfer as an instrument both of social policy and humanitarian action. We link these by juxtaposing theoretical treatment of citizenship and inclusion with concrete policy case studies set in contemporary Turkey. Cases are taken both from domestic social policy and international relief efforts aimed at Syrian refugees. Theoretical discussion and case studies lead to the conclusion that cash transfer programs can promote economic and social inclusion – if deployed at an appropriate scale; if sufficient financial, technical, and social resources are available; and if program design and implementation promotes market inclusion of beneficiaries both as consumers and workers.

As the neo-liberal marketization of citizenship and the resulting processes of individualization proceed, debates on citizenship tend to flounder in outmoded ideological oppositions. By examining concrete cases and processes that accompany contemporary practices of citizenship, this volume brings analytical clarity to contemporary debates about citizenship. The state, the market and the forum are analysed as competing fields of citizenship practice, and it is their complex relationship which helps us to understand the role and function not only of the debate on citizenship, but of the institutions and practices of citizenship itself in the contemporary world.

In What Money Can't Buy, renowned political philosopher Michael J. Sandel rethinks the role that markets and money should play in our society. Should we pay children to read books or to get good grades? Should we put a price on human life to decide how much pollution to allow? Is it ethical to pay people to test risky new drugs or to donate their organs? What about hiring mercenaries to fight our wars, outsourcing inmates to for-profit prisons, auctioning admission to elite universities, or selling citizenship to immigrants willing to pay? In his New York Times bestseller What Money Can't Buy, Michael J. Sandel takes up one of the biggest ethical questions of our time: Isn't there something wrong with a world in which everything is for sale? If so, how can we prevent market values from reaching into spheres of life where they don't belong? What are the moral limits of markets? Over recent decades, market values have crowded out nonmarket norms in almost every aspect of life. Without quite realizing it, Sandel argues, we have drifted from having a market economy to being a market society. In Justice, an international bestseller, Sandel showed himself to be a master at illuminating, with clarity and verve, the hard moral questions we confront in our everyday lives. Now, in What Money Can't Buy, he provokes a debate that's been missing in our market-driven age: What is the proper role of markets in a democratic society, and how can we protect the moral and civic goods that markets do not honor and money cannot buy?

A wide-ranging analysis of a powerful but controversial new economic tool that has rapidly eclipsed the size of the hedge fund market In 2006, Chile teemed with protesters after finance minister Andrés Velasco invested budget surpluses from the nation's historic copper boom in two Sovereign Wealth Funds. A year later, when prices plummeted and unemployment soared, Chile's government was able to stimulate recovery by drawing on the funds. State-owned investment vehicles that hold public funds in a wide range of assets, Sovereign Wealth Funds enable governments to access an unprecedented degree of wealth. Consequently, more countries are seeking to establish them. Looking at Chile, China, Australia, Singapore, and numerous other examples, including a comparative analysis of Britain and Norway's use of oil revenues, Angela Cummine tackles the key ethical questions surrounding their use, including: To whom does the wealth belong? How should the funds be managed, invested, and distributed? With sovereign funds--and media attention--continuing to grow, this is an invaluable look at a hotly debated economic issue.