[PEN-L:4323] Re: Re: civil society
At 02:20 PM 3/12/99 -0800, Jim Devine wrote: >>Louis Proyect wrote: >>>Isn't it time that we placed this nebulous term "civil society" on the >>>shelf until we define what it means more clearly? > >Doug answered: >>Ain't dat da troot, as we say in NYC. > >I think it's okay to use the phrase "civil society." Marx used it (it's a >translation of "burgerlicte gesellschaft" of course he spelled it >correctly). After all, and he was right once and awhile. > >But it's important to be extremely clear to be clear what we mean by it. >"Civil society" ideas come from folks like John Locke, referring to the >consensus in bourgeois society in favor of the property system. > >That's basically what it means today. There is also a more "progressive" strand of theorists who are interested in rescuing the term from those who would exclusively use it as a term reflecting the non-state area of society. Benjamin Barber approaches the debate from the theme of his 1982 book, Strong Democracy. He posits a strong democratic view of civil society which stands in contrast to the libertarian view, which he sees as ignoring the importance of the public nature of civil society, and the communitarian view, which Barber suggests gives too little attention to the voluntary nature of civil society. "... In a civil society that is the true domain of church, family, and voluntary association, 'belonging' is not a surrogate for freedom but its condition and training ground. Civil society's middling terms can potentially mediate between the state and private sectors, and offer women and men a space for activity that is voluntary and public. When the government appropriates the term 'public' exclusively for affairs of state, the real public (you and me) ceases to be able to think of itself as public (as an 'us'), and politicians and bureaucrats become the only significant 'public officials.' Then politics is professionalized and citizenship is transformed into a private occupation. It is hardly surprising that under such circumstances people withdraw into themselves, grow angry at politicians and cynical about democracy, and fall easily to the seductions of narcissistic consumerism or exclusionary tribalism." [Benjamin R. Barber, _A Place for Us_ (New York: Hill and Wang, 1998), p. 44.] One of the central points Barber attempts to draw out of his conception of civil society is the implications for citizenship: "... The strong democratic idea allows civil society to reemerge as a mediating, civic republican domain between the overgrown governmental and the metastasizing private sectors, between the thin liberal conception of citizenship (which 'cannot inspire the sense of community and civic engagement that liberty requires,' as Sandel puts it) and the thick but dense and suffocating comunitarian identity (which endangers liberty and equality)." [Ibid, p. 63.] Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ncesa.org
[PEN-L:4238] New Web Site: WWW.NCESA.ORG
One-Time Announcement: NEW WEB SITE OFFERS A WEALTH OF COMMUNITY BUILDING, NONPROFIT, AND DISARMAMENT RESOURCES, RESEARCH & LINKS Please visit the new online home of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives, an independent, progressive, nonprofit research institute at: At launch, this new site contains more than 100 pages of articles, case studies, scores of links and other material on two areas of national and international concern: Community Building and Security and Disarmament. The site is fully searchable. (Please note: the site will be continually updated as we build our database of innovations in community economic development, nonprofit impact, international models, and more.) COMMUNITY BUILDING The site features models and innovations, theory, and policy-focused information about community building and community-based economic development alternatives. Of particular interest are initiatives focused on building locally-anchored assets, capturing and rooting capital, and democratizing ownership of wealth. Among the material that is now or will soon be available: Models & Innovations: community development corporations (CDCs); consumer, producer, and worker cooperatives; worker-owned firms (ESOPs); municipal enterprises; nonprofit enterprise; community development financial institutions (CDFIs); urban land trusts; local currency and barter systems; and community supported agriculture programs. Policy: a comprehensive range of actual or proposed policies at the local, state, federal, and international levels that can substantially contribute to the goal of stabilizing communities in the United States. Theory: We explore questions such as: What do we mean by a "good society"? What institutional arrangements can best express values such as democracy, liberty, equality, and ecological sustainability? Can there be a healthy national "Democracy" if the experience of "democracy" in the nation's communities is weak or non-existent? SECURITY AND DISARMAMENT The site also features information about the National Center's new Program on General Disarmament. The purpose of the program is to increase the visibility and viability of the concept of general disarmament. This program will incorporate international networking, public education, training, research, and analysis. E-MAIL NEWSLETTER Our content-rich web site will be continually updated and we are now preparing major additions which will be available by the end of March. Because we think you will be interested in the areas covered by this web site, we have subscribed you to our FREE e-mail newsletter. The newsletter will periodically up-date you on new developments, publications, etc. Within a week, you will receive a brief welcome e-mail from the newsletter. If you do not wish to receive the newsletter, you can easily unsubscribe by following the instructions in the message. If this announcement has been forwarded to you and you would like to subscribe to the newsletter, you can do so by sending an empty e-mail message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or you may subscribe on our home page at: WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS We seek to have this site be a resource for people throughout the U.S. and around the world. We welcome your comments and input -- particularly your suggestions for additional models, innovations, readings, and other material which can be added. Please e-mail your comments to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or use the convenient Interact form on the web site. If you find this site of interest, we hope you will forward this message to others. * This is a one-time message. You will not receive any similar announcements from us in the future. Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ncesa.org
[PEN-L:4212] Re: LEFT WING THINK TANKS?
The Natinal Center for Economic and Security Alternatives is now on the web also, at: www.ncesa.org At 11:27 AM 3/5/99 -0500, david dorkin wrote: >What would the list of left (or at least left of center) think tanks be? >I count: > >Economic Policy Institute >Institute for Policy Studies >Jerome Levy Economics Institute ? >Preamble Center >Center for Economic Policy Analysis >Transnational Institute >The Century Foundation ? >Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ? > >Any info on these and others I may have left out is greatly appreciated > > ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ncesa.org
[PEN-L:3244] pledge of allegiance
Michael Yates wrote: >Would it been too much to expect her to >have seen the hypocrisy of the pledge of allegiance with its propaganda >of "liberty and justice for all"? How could any black person believe >this, let alone pledge allegiance to it? Jennifer Hochschild, in _Facing up to the American Dream_, poses some interesting answers to this question. Through quite extensive survery data, she shows a _stronger_ faith in the American Dream (her operationalization of the dominant ideology) among the impoverished black community than among middle class black folk. She explains this seeming contradiction as due, in part, to the psychological needs of people at the lower end of the socio-economic scale: The relative invisibility of white domination compared with the constant pressure of poverty, danger, and degrading surroundings works in an odd way to reinforce poor African Americans' belief in the American dream. The United States has never had a robust socialist tradition that teaches people to understand poverty as a structural phenomenon in which they happen to be caught. ... Thus someone for whom poverty fells like a more severe day-to-day problem than racism has almost no ideological choices boeyond the American dream that plausibly offer a way our of immediate grinding necessity. And the paucity of extant ideological alternatives is reinforced by the lack of enough money, organizational connections, and emotional space to develop an alternative of one's own. In such a context, faith in the American dream is intelligible, even wise. After all, the dream does have some real virtues. Its commitment to individual autonomy, equality, and rights has pushed our nation far from the slavery and serfdom of a century ago, and its emphasis on hope has deep psychological resonance. Furthermore, many African Americans have succeeded according to its precepts -- certainly more than have succeeded by the precepts of nationalism, republicanism, or socialism. ... Even the internal contradictions of the American dream can make it easier rather than harder for poor African Americans to believe in it. By submerging structural reasons for failure ... makes it appear that the reasons for failure really are individual, and thus subject to conquest by any one individual, or even all individuals. ... Thus even if (or because) the American dream fails as a description of American society, it is a highly seductive prescription for succeeding in that society to those who cannot see the underlying flaw. (pp. 216-18) She argues that along with schools, the major institutions helping to sustain faith in the dominant system, are: churches, community groups, television, family, ... and "sheer stubborn determination." Now, Prof. Yates points out these teachers have clearly won real gains and entry into the middle class. But entry into the middle class is not what Hochschild finds really turns the middle class against the dominant system, but the persistent racism that they continue to encounter after they reach it. ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:3197] Schumpeter quote: chivying the bourgeoisie
Does anyone have any idea where I might find a quote like this? In one of his essays Joseph Schumpeter remarks that if socialists would just stop "chivvying the Bourgeoisie" for a moment they would realize a great advantage of their system was that it did not depend upon taxation. He meant that social ownership of capital, whatever other problems it presented, offered direct public title to economic surpluses (whether they be called profits, dividends, interest, rents or whatever.) ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:2262] searching for a Schumpeter quote
Joseph Schumpeter, not in his big books, but in one of his essays on something like the fiscal aspects of the state-- "If radicals would only stop chivvying the Bourgeoisie they would realize that one of the great advantages of their system is it would not need to tax anyone..." or something like that... Does anyone have any suggestions? ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:532] war and overproduction
Louis Proyect wrote>>> Excess capacity must be liquidated. There are redundant human beings (variable capital) and redundant buildings and machines (fixed capital). That problem was solved in WWI and WWII quite neatly. Millions of workers got killed and lots of factories got blown to bits.< James Devine responded>>Half of this (or a little less than half) makes sense to me: destroying fixed capital gets rid of excess capacity neatly, while the spending on war raises demand. It may take some sort of war (between whom and whom?) to get world capital off its duff and engineer a world boom. Two key historical questions: How much of the post WWII boom can we attribute to the "real" (but indirectly caused by war) demand created by the destruction of Europe's industrial machine??? How much by military build up in Cold War not only in U.S. Bbut in Europe??? Has anyone written on this? I'D APPRECIATE ANY REFERENCES OR LEADS... Thanks, Alex ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: sayles movie
At 10:44 PM 5/2/98 -0400, Mike Yates wrote: >>Sayles seems to put the soldiers and the guerillas on the same footing.<< I didn't find Sayles nearly as critical of the guerillas as of the military... There was at least some discussion of the motivation of the guerillas (starvation in the villages, peasants being pushed into wage slavery) and the truly horrific acts were committed by soldiers. Anyway, isn't one of the great tragedies of _some_ rural revolutionary movements, I think of the SP in Peru most particularly, that they also find themselves terrorizing elements of the population (whether out of desperation / bad strategy / or necessity)? I agree whole-heartedly that the movie was powerful. ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20036 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
New Publication: _What Comes Next? Proposals for a DifferentSociety_
The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives announces the publication of "What Comes Next? Proposals For a Different Society", a 190 page annotated bibliography which assembles and critically assesses over 75 recently proposed alternatives to the current political-economic regime. Authored by NCESA research associate Thad Williamson, the book discusses contemporary American liberalism and the response to "globalization"; proposals for market socialism, participatory planning, and semi-planned economies; ecological visions; utopian fiction writers; as well as proposals to reform or reconstruct society from political theorists, theologians, feminist thinkers, and independent writers. The book will serve as a valuable guide and introduction to current discussions of long-term political and economic alternatives, and is suitable for classroom use. "What Comes Next?" is available at $15 a copy (plus $3 for postage); to order write to Alex Campbell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; or write to: The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2000 P Street, NW Suite 330 Washington, DC 20010 Review copies are available upon request; discounted rates for bulk orders are also available. ~~~~ Alex Campbell Assistant to the President, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2317 Ashmead Place, NW Washington, DC 20009 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: economics students' attitudes
J. of Economic Perspectives Winer 1996 Volume 10 No. 1 "Does Studying Economics Discourage Cooperation?" Yeser, Goldfarb and Poppen with coment by Robert H. Frank, Gilovich, and Regan Cheers!! Alex At 06:41 AM 10/7/97 -0700, Thad Williamson wrote: >Dear Pen-L'rs, > >Does anyone have handy references or the actual data from studies showing >that students who major in economics or in economics grad programs develop >personal attitudes that mirror the theory of the rational calculating >economic actor they are studying? > >For an upcoming presentation relevant to pomo stuff, I would like to make >point that studying postmodernism can lead to self-reinforcing effects on >outlook to world (despair, depoliticization, etc.) and use the economics >stuff as parallel. > >Thanks, > >Thad >Thad Williamson >National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives (Washington)/ >Union Theological Seminary (New York) >212-531-1935 >http://www.northcarolina.com/thad > > Alex Campbell Research Associate, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2317 Ashmead Place, NW Washington, DC 20009 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:11019] Recent French political theory
I'm working on a bibliography of recent French political theory with Thad Williamson here at the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives. Looking for recent (1990s, preferably) books and articles by French authors, subject: progressive or left-wing political theory. In the vein of Rene Dumont or Allan Michaud. Thank you for your attention. Alex Alex Campbell Research Associate, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2317 Ashmead Place, NW Washington, DC 20009 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:10901] Seeking Intern: Impact of War on the U.S. Economy
The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives is seeking an intern for the fall to examine the impact of war on the U.S. economy in the 20th Century. Key questions to be examined include: > What role has military spending played in providing a "stabilizing" effect to the economy, especially maintaining / increasing aggregate demand? > What role have military conflicts had in justifying a greater role for the government in ecnomic planning / management? > What was the impact of these trends on U.S. income distribution? > Which means of financing military expansion have been most beneficial to the economy? > What is the relation of military expansion to inflation? Which methods for controlling the inflationary effects have been most effective? We are seeking applicants with at least some graduate level experience in macro-economics. If you or students you know are interested, please send me an e-mail, or give me a call at 202 986 1373. (Our internships are unpaid, but we can offer some part-time employment doing clipping, filing, and other administrative tasks.) Sincerely, Alex Campbell Research Associate Background on the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives was established in 1977 as a non-profit corporation providing research, education and consultation on innovative solutions to problems that face the American economy. Over the years the National Center has broadened its work to include global issues ranging from the capacity of traditional reforms to alter destructive ecological and other long-term trends, to international security concerns related to arms control, nuclear weaponry, ethnic violence and the general tendency of existing political-economic systems to lead to greater conflict and divisiveness. Since 1992, the National Center has given increasing emphasis to the relationship of affirmed values to system-wide problems, as illustrated in its current lead project, Toward a Sustainable Democratic Society -- and to the history and ongoing dangers presented by nuclear weapons. The services and expertise of the National Center and its professional staff based in Washington, D.C. have been used by federal agencies, state governments, unions, nongovernmental organizations, local municipalities, foundations and others concerned with community-based development. Early activities of the Center included directing a $2 million evaluation of Title VII community development corporations, and intense involvement with the attempt to establish a worker-owned steel plant in Youngstown, Ohio. More recently, a number of the Center's reports -- including "A Third Way: Innovations in Community-Owned Enterprises" and "The Index of Environmental Trends" -- have broken new ground in offering fresh approaches to economic and environmental challenges. The results of subsequent research findings have been publicized in articles in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, MIT's Technology Review, Sojourners and Social Policy magazine. The President of the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives, Gar Alperovitz, is a political-economist and historian. He is Harrison Research Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park's Department of Government and Politics and a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. Dr. Alperovitz is also an expert in issues associated with the development of nuclear weapons and arms control. ____ Alex Campbell Research Associate, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2317 Ashmead Place, NW Washington, DC 20009 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:10084] Impact of War on the U.S. Economy
The National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives is beginning a major reassesment of the impact of war on the U.S Economy throughout the 20th Century. We are seeking references, information on people working in this area, graduate theses being contemplated, etc. We will also be accepting one or two interns to work on the subject in the coming period. We would appreciate it if those with information would please send it to me, at: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. My name is Alex Campbell. I'm a Research Associate with the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives, attempting to fill at least one of Thad Williamson's shoes here. I was previously working with several peace and environmental advocacy groups here in Washington, DC. I've been enjoying the debates and discussions on this list very much for the past couple months. So thanks to you all! Alex ~~~~ Alex Campbell Research Associate, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2317 Ashmead Place, NW Washington, DC 20009 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:9671] long-range projections
Could anyone point me to where I might find good long-range projections on the percentage of the economy (both employment and GNP) the manufacturing sector will comprise. (I know Bur. of Labor Statistics does projections -- but they only go to 2005). Thanks in advance. Alex Campbell Alex Campbell Research Associate, National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives 2317 Ashmead Place, NW Washington, DC 20009 202 986 1373 (voice)/ 202 986 7938 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
