April 12, 2018
Posting…. (3) The Limits of Labour Party Electoralism and the Requirements of Hegemonic Politics
Across global capitalism as a whole, left-wing forces have become far too accustomed down the years to both impotence and failure. Through the long twentieth century, in country after country and decade after decade, power was invariably something that other political forces possessed and exercised, and that the Left did not. It was power […] read more »
April 12, 2018
Postings… (2) Standard Dilemmas of Centre-Left Politics
On a day-to-day basis, it is hard to break free of a mindset dominated in the UK by the details of the Brexit negotiations or in the United States by the tweeting of an emotionally volatile president. But in both political systems, the normal rhythm of elections fortunately persists – and because it does, […] read more »
April 12, 2018
Postings to Mark the Publication of ‘Flawed Capitalism’ (1) The Four Central theses of Flawed Capitalism
THE FOUR CENTRAL THESES OF FLAWED CAPITALISM To better grasp the nature of our contemporary condition, David Coates’s Flawed Capitalism offers the following four central theses – placing contemporary politics in the space between dominant social and economic settlements and arguing the case for the creation of a new settlement, more progressive and socially […] read more »
September 18, 2017
The Anglo-American Centre-Left and the Problem of Agency
(first posted on speri.comment) Re …. The primary problem faced by the Centre-Left in both the US and the UK is not ultimately one of programme. Adequate policy proposals abound. The problem lies rather in the lack of electoral support for such proposals, and in the internal weaknesses of the political parties available for their […] read more »
July 10, 2017
Taking Comfort from the Success of Others
With the wisdom of hindsight, it is now clear that the sheer quality of the Obama intellect, and the solid integrity of his character, lulled many of those who twice voted for him into a false sense of security. It was as though we forgot, with too great an ease and for too long a […] read more »
June 11, 2017
American Lessons from a British Election – Progressives, take heart!
The focus of most American commentary on the results of the general election held in the UK last Thursday is likely to be on the potential instability of Theresa May’s now much weakened Conservative Government, and on any impact that instability will have on the UK’s divorce negotiations with the European Union. Much ink is […] read more »
November 15, 2016
Second Thoughts on the Victory of Donald Trump
(First posted on the blog site of the UK Political Studies Association) You were good enough to let me share with you my first thoughts on the Trump victory, and I am hoping that you might be equally kind a second time. But this time, I want to share thoughts not about those who supported […] read more »
November 10, 2016
First thoughts on the Trump Victory
(First posted on the SPERI blog site, in the UK) There are times when being right is a luxury too far. This is one of those times. It was possible to see Trump coming,i but it was also possible – until about midnight on November 8th – to hope that his coming would be aborted. […] read more »
July 9, 2016
Tony Blair’s Day of Reckoning
The very long (and indeed very long awaited) report of the Chilcot Inquiry was finally published in London on July 6th. Set up in 2009, its much-delayed arrival allows us one last large-scale public examination of the key event that so profoundly destabilized the modern Middle East – namely the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. It […] read more »
June 9, 2016
History Once as Tragedy, Twice as Farce? American lessons from a British referendum
The United States is not alone in being in campaign mode. The United Kingdom is as well. Not for the British a general election in November, as here. Rather, a June 23rd referendum on whether to remain, or whether to leave, the European Union – the 28 member economic-political union headquartered in Brussels. But though […] read more »
