Desparately seeking democracy
August 04th, 2021
Former executive director of the BC Co-operative Association, John Restakis has written Civilizing the State: Reclaiming Politics for the Common Good (New Society $19.99) chronicling the history of the liberal state from the enabler of capitalism to protector of citizen welfare, to its hollowing out and capture by corporate and elite interests. He argues that in its current state, the liberal state is unfit to deal with contemporary crises of inequality, injustice and ecological collapse. He then explores citizen-powered alternatives and experiments in co-operation, deep democracy, solidarity economics and ‘commoning’ from Spain, India, the global peasant movement, and the emerging stateless democracy of Rojava rising from the wreckage of the Syrian civil war. Finally, Restakis looks at the opportunity to reimagine the state as a “partner state” that promotes equity, economic democracy and human thriving — a fully sovereign civil society. 9780865719439
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