The Radical Left and Social Transformation

The Radical Left and Social Transformation

Author: Robert Latham

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-21

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 0429656343

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This comprehensive collection draws upon and reengages with a long history of Marxian-anchored thought to analyze the potential for social transformation through a reinvigorated radical Left, all within the context of the ascendance of an increasingly ethnonationalist, patriarchal, and authoritarian far Right worldwide. The authors identify and reflect on strategies, tactics, and possibilities for analyzing and intervening in advanced capitalist societies by increasing and deepening popular participation and support on the far Left. The chapters are framed in terms of conceptualizing the capitalist present, organizing "the people" and reimagining the radical Left. Together, in diverse ways that draw upon both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the authors evaluate the difficulties of augmentation across multiple planes, from the tension between migrants and citizen workers, to the uneasy relationship between sovereignty and class, to the contradictions operating across international versus domestic dynamics. How and why (if at all) should the radical Left reexamine its understanding of political consciousness, identity, ideology, and institutions, as they relate to Marxian analysis and various threads of critical theory? The authors suggest new approaches for understanding what the radical Left is up against and how problematic barriers might be torn down, thus disrupting unhelpful binaries such as state versus capital, national versus international, worker versus migrant, activist versus candidate, and freedom versus necessity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the online journal Global Discourse.


Book Synopsis The Radical Left and Social Transformation by : Robert Latham

Download or read book The Radical Left and Social Transformation written by Robert Latham and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive collection draws upon and reengages with a long history of Marxian-anchored thought to analyze the potential for social transformation through a reinvigorated radical Left, all within the context of the ascendance of an increasingly ethnonationalist, patriarchal, and authoritarian far Right worldwide. The authors identify and reflect on strategies, tactics, and possibilities for analyzing and intervening in advanced capitalist societies by increasing and deepening popular participation and support on the far Left. The chapters are framed in terms of conceptualizing the capitalist present, organizing "the people" and reimagining the radical Left. Together, in diverse ways that draw upon both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the authors evaluate the difficulties of augmentation across multiple planes, from the tension between migrants and citizen workers, to the uneasy relationship between sovereignty and class, to the contradictions operating across international versus domestic dynamics. How and why (if at all) should the radical Left reexamine its understanding of political consciousness, identity, ideology, and institutions, as they relate to Marxian analysis and various threads of critical theory? The authors suggest new approaches for understanding what the radical Left is up against and how problematic barriers might be torn down, thus disrupting unhelpful binaries such as state versus capital, national versus international, worker versus migrant, activist versus candidate, and freedom versus necessity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the online journal Global Discourse.

Educating for Radical Social Transformation in the Climate Crisis

Educating for Radical Social Transformation in the Climate Crisis

Author: Stuart Tannock

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 3030830004

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This book asks how education can be developed to facilitate the radical social, cultural and economic transformations needed to deal with the ongoing climate emergency. The author illuminates important links between the work currently being done in climate change and education and the broader and older theories of radical education: an area of education theory and practice that has long grappled with the question of how to use education to create a more just society. Highlighting both current work and long traditions that include popular, progressive, feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial education, the author draws on interdisciplinary research to make the case for how radical education can help tackle the climate change crisis. It will have direct relevance for scholars of environmental education and radical education as well as activists and practitioners.


Book Synopsis Educating for Radical Social Transformation in the Climate Crisis by : Stuart Tannock

Download or read book Educating for Radical Social Transformation in the Climate Crisis written by Stuart Tannock and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book asks how education can be developed to facilitate the radical social, cultural and economic transformations needed to deal with the ongoing climate emergency. The author illuminates important links between the work currently being done in climate change and education and the broader and older theories of radical education: an area of education theory and practice that has long grappled with the question of how to use education to create a more just society. Highlighting both current work and long traditions that include popular, progressive, feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial education, the author draws on interdisciplinary research to make the case for how radical education can help tackle the climate change crisis. It will have direct relevance for scholars of environmental education and radical education as well as activists and practitioners.

The European Radical Left

The European Radical Left

Author: Giorgos Charalambous

Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)

Published: 2021-09-20

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780745340524

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A historical analysis of radical left parties and movements in Europe spanning the late 1960s to the anti-austerity movements of the late 2000s


Book Synopsis The European Radical Left by : Giorgos Charalambous

Download or read book The European Radical Left written by Giorgos Charalambous and published by Pluto Press (UK). This book was released on 2021-09-20 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A historical analysis of radical left parties and movements in Europe spanning the late 1960s to the anti-austerity movements of the late 2000s

Latin America's Radical Left

Latin America's Radical Left

Author: Steve Ellner

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-03-24

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1442229500

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This timely book explores the unique challenges facing the left in Latin America today. The contributors offer clear and comprehensive assessments of the difficult conditions and conflicting forces that have brought to power the current leftist regimes in Latin American and the Caribbean and are shaping their development. Avoiding the widely accepted but simplistic dichotomy of “good” and “bad” left or democratic and antidemocratic left, the book first sets the theoretical and historical context for understanding the rise of the left in the region. It then provides case studies of the radical left in power in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador and its influence in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Cuba. Thematic chapters consider social and labor movements and debates over problems arising from the democratic transition to socialism. The book points to concrete circumstances in which theoretical issues related to reform and change have played out in nations where the left is in power. These include prioritization of social over economic objectives, the role of the state in the democratic road to socialism, and ecological as opposed to developmentalist strategies. Finally, the book examines the opposition to radical governments in power coming not only from the right but also from movements to their left. With its balanced and thorough assessment, this study will provide readers with a deep and nuanced understanding of the complexity of the political, economic, and sociocultural reality of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean. Contributions by: Marc Becker, Roger Burbach, George Ciccariello-Maher, Héctor M. Cruz-Feliciano, Steve Ellner, Federico Fuentes, Marcel Nelson, Hector Perla Jr., Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, Thomas Purcell, Diana Raby, William I. Robinson, and Kevin Young


Book Synopsis Latin America's Radical Left by : Steve Ellner

Download or read book Latin America's Radical Left written by Steve Ellner and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-03-24 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book explores the unique challenges facing the left in Latin America today. The contributors offer clear and comprehensive assessments of the difficult conditions and conflicting forces that have brought to power the current leftist regimes in Latin American and the Caribbean and are shaping their development. Avoiding the widely accepted but simplistic dichotomy of “good” and “bad” left or democratic and antidemocratic left, the book first sets the theoretical and historical context for understanding the rise of the left in the region. It then provides case studies of the radical left in power in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador and its influence in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Cuba. Thematic chapters consider social and labor movements and debates over problems arising from the democratic transition to socialism. The book points to concrete circumstances in which theoretical issues related to reform and change have played out in nations where the left is in power. These include prioritization of social over economic objectives, the role of the state in the democratic road to socialism, and ecological as opposed to developmentalist strategies. Finally, the book examines the opposition to radical governments in power coming not only from the right but also from movements to their left. With its balanced and thorough assessment, this study will provide readers with a deep and nuanced understanding of the complexity of the political, economic, and sociocultural reality of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean. Contributions by: Marc Becker, Roger Burbach, George Ciccariello-Maher, Héctor M. Cruz-Feliciano, Steve Ellner, Federico Fuentes, Marcel Nelson, Hector Perla Jr., Camila Piñeiro Harnecker, Thomas Purcell, Diana Raby, William I. Robinson, and Kevin Young

Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe

Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe

Author: Myrto Tsakatika

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-09

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1000155617

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Political parties are alleged to be turning their backs to civil society; they are said to discourage the active participation of their members and to distance themselves from the privileged relations to affiliated social organisations they once prized. Instead, parties are broadly believed to be directing their efforts towards capturing government office and the resources that come with it, neglecting linkage to their social roots. Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe questions this widely shared view. Exploring the social linkage strategies of the most relevant radical left parties in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus in depth, this book demonstrates that the members of the European radical left party family continue to prioritise social linkage, despite their increasingly office-seeking orientation. Between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the current economic crisis they have been tirelessly experimenting with diverse new forms of party organisation that have enabled them to return to their social roots. The main lesson drawn from the studies in this book is that party ideology and a party’s position in the national political arena go a long way towards explaining the extent to which political parties prioritise social linkage. This book was published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.


Book Synopsis Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe by : Myrto Tsakatika

Download or read book Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe written by Myrto Tsakatika and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political parties are alleged to be turning their backs to civil society; they are said to discourage the active participation of their members and to distance themselves from the privileged relations to affiliated social organisations they once prized. Instead, parties are broadly believed to be directing their efforts towards capturing government office and the resources that come with it, neglecting linkage to their social roots. Transformations of the Radical Left in Southern Europe questions this widely shared view. Exploring the social linkage strategies of the most relevant radical left parties in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus in depth, this book demonstrates that the members of the European radical left party family continue to prioritise social linkage, despite their increasingly office-seeking orientation. Between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the current economic crisis they have been tirelessly experimenting with diverse new forms of party organisation that have enabled them to return to their social roots. The main lesson drawn from the studies in this book is that party ideology and a party’s position in the national political arena go a long way towards explaining the extent to which political parties prioritise social linkage. This book was published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

The Radical Left Party Family in Western Europe, 1989-2015

The Radical Left Party Family in Western Europe, 1989-2015

Author: Paolo Chiocchetti

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 1317221869

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This book provides an innovative analysis and interpretation of the overall trajectory of the Western European radical left from 1989 to 2015. After the collapse of really existing communism, this party family renewed itself and embarked on a recovery path, seeking to fill the vacuum of representation of disaffected working-class and welfarist constituencies created by the progressive neoliberalisation of European societies. The radical left thus emerged as a significant factor of contemporary political life but, despite some electoral gains and a few recent breakthroughs (SYRIZA in Greece, PODEMOS in Spain), it altogether failed to embody a credible alternative to neoliberalism and to pave the way for a turn to a different developmental model. This book investigates why this was the case, combining aggregate (17 countries), case study (Germany, Italy, and France), and comparative methods. It accurately charts the evolution of the nature, strength, cohesion, and influence of the Western European radical left, offering new insights in explaining its behaviour, success, and limits. It is essential reading for scholars, students, and activists interested in the radical left and in contemporary European politics.


Book Synopsis The Radical Left Party Family in Western Europe, 1989-2015 by : Paolo Chiocchetti

Download or read book The Radical Left Party Family in Western Europe, 1989-2015 written by Paolo Chiocchetti and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an innovative analysis and interpretation of the overall trajectory of the Western European radical left from 1989 to 2015. After the collapse of really existing communism, this party family renewed itself and embarked on a recovery path, seeking to fill the vacuum of representation of disaffected working-class and welfarist constituencies created by the progressive neoliberalisation of European societies. The radical left thus emerged as a significant factor of contemporary political life but, despite some electoral gains and a few recent breakthroughs (SYRIZA in Greece, PODEMOS in Spain), it altogether failed to embody a credible alternative to neoliberalism and to pave the way for a turn to a different developmental model. This book investigates why this was the case, combining aggregate (17 countries), case study (Germany, Italy, and France), and comparative methods. It accurately charts the evolution of the nature, strength, cohesion, and influence of the Western European radical left, offering new insights in explaining its behaviour, success, and limits. It is essential reading for scholars, students, and activists interested in the radical left and in contemporary European politics.

Latin America's Radical Left

Latin America's Radical Left

Author: Aldo Marchesi

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1107177715

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This book examines a generation of leftist militants who in the 1960s advocated revolutionary violence for social change in South America.


Book Synopsis Latin America's Radical Left by : Aldo Marchesi

Download or read book Latin America's Radical Left written by Aldo Marchesi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines a generation of leftist militants who in the 1960s advocated revolutionary violence for social change in South America.

Radical Left Parties in Europe

Radical Left Parties in Europe

Author: Luke March

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-03-12

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 1136578978

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What has happened to the European radical left after the collapse of the USSR? How has it reacted, reformed, even revived? This new volume is one of the first to provide an overview of the main developments in contemporary European radical left parties (those defining themselves as to the left of, and not merely on the left of social democracy), which are now an increasingly visible phenomenon in European party politics. Unlike many of the existing studies it focuses on communist and non-communist parties, addresses their non-parliamentary and international activity, and takes a pan-European perspective, focusing on both Eastern and Western Europe. March focuses on key contemporary left parties, the nature of their radicalism and their ideological and strategic positions, and overall, addresses their current dynamics and immediate electoral prospects. The book argues that radical left parties are still afflicted by existential crises about the nature of ‘socialism’, and the future of communist parties in particular is under threat. The most successful left parties are no longer extremist, but present themselves as defending values and policies that social democrats have allegedly abandoned, focus on pragmatism rather than ideology and increasingly orientate themselves towards government. Providing a significant contribution to existing literature in the field, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, political parties and radical politics.


Book Synopsis Radical Left Parties in Europe by : Luke March

Download or read book Radical Left Parties in Europe written by Luke March and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-12 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What has happened to the European radical left after the collapse of the USSR? How has it reacted, reformed, even revived? This new volume is one of the first to provide an overview of the main developments in contemporary European radical left parties (those defining themselves as to the left of, and not merely on the left of social democracy), which are now an increasingly visible phenomenon in European party politics. Unlike many of the existing studies it focuses on communist and non-communist parties, addresses their non-parliamentary and international activity, and takes a pan-European perspective, focusing on both Eastern and Western Europe. March focuses on key contemporary left parties, the nature of their radicalism and their ideological and strategic positions, and overall, addresses their current dynamics and immediate electoral prospects. The book argues that radical left parties are still afflicted by existential crises about the nature of ‘socialism’, and the future of communist parties in particular is under threat. The most successful left parties are no longer extremist, but present themselves as defending values and policies that social democrats have allegedly abandoned, focus on pragmatism rather than ideology and increasingly orientate themselves towards government. Providing a significant contribution to existing literature in the field, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of comparative politics, political parties and radical politics.

Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left

Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left

Author: Robert Latham

Publisher: Fernwood Publishing

Published: 2020-04-08T00:00:00Z

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1773632302

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What does the future hold for the left? How does the left adapt to, and prepare for, the crises of our time? In moments of crisis it is always important to rethink longstanding assumptions, jettison wishful thinking and dated ideas, and recover wisdom from the past. In so doing, we have the opportunity to plot a new way forward. The authors of this edited collection do just this: putting forward a diversity of approaches and issues to strategize for the work that awaits us in the 2020s, particularly in the struggle against capitalism, climate change and the far right. Working within five major thematic areas, the contributors examine how to engage working class people in anti-capitalist struggles, undermine reactionary currents of ethno-nationalism while supporting anti-colonial movements, strategically build power inside and outside the state apparatus, demand new forms of resistance to address environmental crises, and effectively promote solidarity and ecological responsibility. This book provides suggestions for working with popular disaffection, taking the rich, fragmented, conflicted history of refusals and defeats as a starting point for next steps in the struggle against capitalism and the far right, rather than as the basis for more conflict or defeatism.


Book Synopsis Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left by : Robert Latham

Download or read book Challenging the Right, Augmenting the Left written by Robert Latham and published by Fernwood Publishing. This book was released on 2020-04-08T00:00:00Z with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does the future hold for the left? How does the left adapt to, and prepare for, the crises of our time? In moments of crisis it is always important to rethink longstanding assumptions, jettison wishful thinking and dated ideas, and recover wisdom from the past. In so doing, we have the opportunity to plot a new way forward. The authors of this edited collection do just this: putting forward a diversity of approaches and issues to strategize for the work that awaits us in the 2020s, particularly in the struggle against capitalism, climate change and the far right. Working within five major thematic areas, the contributors examine how to engage working class people in anti-capitalist struggles, undermine reactionary currents of ethno-nationalism while supporting anti-colonial movements, strategically build power inside and outside the state apparatus, demand new forms of resistance to address environmental crises, and effectively promote solidarity and ecological responsibility. This book provides suggestions for working with popular disaffection, taking the rich, fragmented, conflicted history of refusals and defeats as a starting point for next steps in the struggle against capitalism and the far right, rather than as the basis for more conflict or defeatism.

Radical Left Parties and Social Movements

Radical Left Parties and Social Movements

Author: Daniela Chironi

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13:

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Since the 1990s, the progressive transformation of social-democratic parties into catch-all organizations, with a light ideological baggage and lack of social rootedness, has negatively influenced their relationship with the social movements. While losing their traditional institutional reference point, social movements are experiencing new forms of interaction with other party families- e.g. the Greens, the radical left and hybrid parties such as the Italian Five Star Movement. Accordingly, this study examines the 'strategic interactions' between the main 'renewed' (or 'refounded') radical left-wing parties (RLPs) and the left-wing social movements in Italy and Greece from 1999 to the present. The goal is to identify the processes by which the interactions between the two actors take shape, and the factors that contribute to success and failure in building them. To this end, I take into account both the adaptive changes that the RLPs have enacted under the impulse of social movements and the reactions of social movements to those party transformations. First, I distinguish between three party dimensions - organization (structure and internal mechanisms), political culture (values and political issues), and strategies (alliances within the political system) - and verify whether social movements represented a stimulus for RLPs to set in motion a process of change. Second, I consider how movement-oriented party transformations retroact on the movements' perception of RLPs. The analysis shows that movement mobilization was an opportunity for the RLPs to emerge from the sidelines and achieve greater recognition. Nonetheless the changes they implemented differed, nor was their transformation equal in its strength and duration. While variation can be observed even over the same case through time, the macro result is that Greek RLPs adopted greater movement-oriented changes that helped them in cultivating stronger ties to social movements than their Italian cousins. The explanation for these differences is found in the combination of the RLPs' heterodox political culture, higher and constant levels of double membership in both the party and the movements, and social movements' instrumental attitude towards political institutions.


Book Synopsis Radical Left Parties and Social Movements by : Daniela Chironi

Download or read book Radical Left Parties and Social Movements written by Daniela Chironi and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1990s, the progressive transformation of social-democratic parties into catch-all organizations, with a light ideological baggage and lack of social rootedness, has negatively influenced their relationship with the social movements. While losing their traditional institutional reference point, social movements are experiencing new forms of interaction with other party families- e.g. the Greens, the radical left and hybrid parties such as the Italian Five Star Movement. Accordingly, this study examines the 'strategic interactions' between the main 'renewed' (or 'refounded') radical left-wing parties (RLPs) and the left-wing social movements in Italy and Greece from 1999 to the present. The goal is to identify the processes by which the interactions between the two actors take shape, and the factors that contribute to success and failure in building them. To this end, I take into account both the adaptive changes that the RLPs have enacted under the impulse of social movements and the reactions of social movements to those party transformations. First, I distinguish between three party dimensions - organization (structure and internal mechanisms), political culture (values and political issues), and strategies (alliances within the political system) - and verify whether social movements represented a stimulus for RLPs to set in motion a process of change. Second, I consider how movement-oriented party transformations retroact on the movements' perception of RLPs. The analysis shows that movement mobilization was an opportunity for the RLPs to emerge from the sidelines and achieve greater recognition. Nonetheless the changes they implemented differed, nor was their transformation equal in its strength and duration. While variation can be observed even over the same case through time, the macro result is that Greek RLPs adopted greater movement-oriented changes that helped them in cultivating stronger ties to social movements than their Italian cousins. The explanation for these differences is found in the combination of the RLPs' heterodox political culture, higher and constant levels of double membership in both the party and the movements, and social movements' instrumental attitude towards political institutions.