Democratic capitalism in developed countries has been facing an unprecedented crisis since 2008. Its political manageability is declining sharply. Both democracy and capitalism now involve crucial risks that are significantly more serious than those observed in earlier periods. The notion of policy regimes has gained new significance in analysing the possibilities for a post-neoliberal alternative. Policy innovations directed towards an economic breakthrough require both political leadership and a new economic theory. The processes of political decision making have become quite distant from the public realm, and a limited number of economic and political elites exert influence on public policy. This book examines, from a policy regime perspective, how developed countries attempt to achieve such a breakthrough at critical junctures triggered by economic crises. It initially assesses the nature of the present crisis and identifies the actors involved. Thereafter, it provides an analytical definition of a crisis, stressing that most crises contain within them the potential to be turned into an opportunity. Finally, it presents a new analytical design in which we can incorporate today’s more globalized and fluid context.

An incisive history of the changing relationship between democracy and capitalism The twentieth century witnessed the triumph of democratic capitalism in the industrialized West, with widespread popular support for both free markets and representative elections. Today, that political consensus appears to be breaking down, disrupted by polarization and income inequality, widespread dissatisfaction with democratic institutions, and insurgent populism. Tracing the history of democratic capitalism over the past two centuries, Carles Boix explains how we got here—and where we could be headed. Boix looks at three defining stages of capitalism, each originating in a distinct time and place with its unique political challenges, structure of production and employment, and relationship with democracy. He begins in nineteenth-century Manchester, where factory owners employed unskilled laborers at low wages, generating rampant inequality and a restrictive electoral franchise. He then moves to Detroit in the early 1900s, where the invention of the modern assembly line shifted labor demand to skilled blue-collar workers. Boix shows how growing wages, declining inequality, and an expanding middle class enabled democratic capitalism to flourish. Today, however, the information revolution that began in Silicon Valley in the 1970s is benefitting the highly educated at the expense of the traditional working class, jobs are going offshore, and inequality has risen sharply, making many wonder whether democracy and capitalism are still compatible. Essential reading for these uncertain times, Democratic Capitalism at the Crossroads proposes sensible policy solutions that can help harness the unruly forces of capitalism to preserve democracy and meet the challenges that lie ahead.

Democratic capitalism in developed countries has been facing an unprecedented crisis since 2008. Its political manageability is declining sharply. Both democracy and capitalism now involve crucial risks that are significantly more serious than those observed in earlier periods. The notion of policy regimes has gained new significance in analysing the possibilities for a post-neoliberal alternative. Policy innovations directed towards an economic breakthrough require both political leadership and a new economic theory. The processes of political decision making have become quite distant from the public realm, and a limited number of economic and political elites exert influence on public policy. This book examines, from a policy regime perspective, how developed countries attempt to achieve such a breakthrough at critical junctures triggered by economic crises. It initially assesses the nature of the present crisis and identifies the actors involved. Thereafter, it provides an analytical definition of a crisis, stressing that most crises contain within them the potential to be turned into an opportunity. Finally, it presents a new analytical design in which we can incorporate today’s more globalized and fluid context.

Fundamentalist capitalism offers nothing to many Americans, who have little or no control over their futures and are underrepresented or not represented at all in the political sector. Only Democratic Capitalism offers them much hope. The book is extremely critical of those on the right who have brought on our monumental debt with their outdated and flawed notions. The United States of America has many problems; some real and serious, others phony and distracting. But some Americans blame government for being out of touch with them while they themselves remain out of touch with government. Americans have created the nationOCOs problems themselves through their collective will and/or actions and it is up to them to make the necessary decisions to get out of that mess. Americans had a chance to cut short the massive federal debtOCoonly to ignore the warnings. George H. W. Bush told the American public in 1980 that the economic proposals of Ronald Reagan amounted to OC Voodoo economicsOCO. Walter Mondale said in the 1984 campaign that the growing debt was a danger that should be addressed with taxes. President Reagan, who campaigned OC to stay the course, OCO offered what at best could be termed a fairy tale. Politicians will always give what it appears the people want, and the people spoke loud and clear for more fiscal recklessness which future generations may have to pay for. There is a way to a new-and-improved America that may not be as painful or require as much sacrifice as some mainstream pundits believe, but it will require much more than many politicians claim or most Americans want. Politicians on the right continue to tell Americans all will be okay and an economic paradise will bloom if taxesOCousually their taxesOCoare lowered and government simply spends less, except for the military, and to pay interest to those persons and institutions which spent years loading up on Treasury bills, notes and bonds. That is the most-irresponsible position any person can take. The solution, this book intends to show, is to reject the desire to return to the robber-baron pastOCofundamentalist capitalismOCoand to recommit the nation to a path toward Democratic Capitalism begun under Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat the Great Depression, but which has been under attack since the days of the Vietnam Conflict."

Wolfgang Streeck has written extensively on comparative political economy and institutional theory. In this book he addresses some of the key issues in this field: the role of history in institutional analysis, the dynamics of slow institutional change, the limitations of rational design and economic-functionalist explanations of institutional stability, and the recurrent difficulties of restraining the effects of capitalism on social order. In the classification of the 'Varieties of Capitalism' school, Germany has always been taken as the chief exemplar of a 'European', coordinated market economy. Streeck explores to what extent Germany actually conforms to this description. His argument is supported by original empirical research on wage-setting and wage structure, the organization of business and labor in business associations and trade unions, social policy, public finance, and corporate governance. From this evidence, Bringing Capitalism Back In traces the current liberalization of the postwar economy of democratic capitalism by means of an historically-grounded approach to institutional change. This is an important book in comparative political economy and key reading across the social sciences for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Political Economy, Sociology, comparative business systems.

This book is about justice and, especially, what justice requires of us in the organization of our economy. It has particular things to say about personal interactions and the structure and functioning of the political process, but those probably aren't especially controversial. Regarding the latter, any changes required in it would hardly make it distinguishable from political democracy as we know it. That justice requires democratizing capitalism is presumably a very controversial conclusion.

As of the latest national elections, it costs approximately $1 billion to become president, $10 million to become a Senator, and $1 million to become a Member of the House. High-priced campaigns, an elite class of donors and spenders, superPACs, and increasing corporate political power have become the new normal in American politics. In Capitalism v. Democracy, Timothy Kuhner explains how these conditions have corrupted American democracy, turning it into a system of rule that favors the wealthy and marginalizes ordinary citizens. Kuhner maintains that these conditions have corrupted capitalism as well, routing economic competition through political channels and allowing politically powerful companies to evade market forces. The Supreme Court has brought about both forms of corruption by striking down campaign finance reforms that limited the role of money in politics. Exposing the extreme economic worldview that pollutes constitutional interpretation, Kuhner shows how the Court became the architect of American plutocracy. Capitalism v. Democracy offers the key to understanding why corporations are now citizens, money is political speech, limits on corporate spending are a form of censorship, democracy is a free market, and political equality and democratic integrity are unconstitutional constraints on money in politics. Supreme Court opinions have dictated these conditions in the name of the Constitution, as though the Constitution itself required the privatization of democracy. Kuhner explores the reasons behind these opinions, reveals that they form a blueprint for free market democracy, and demonstrates that this design corrupts both politics and markets. He argues that nothing short of a constitutional amendment can set the necessary boundaries between capitalism and democracy.