MTU Cork Library Catalogue

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Associative democracy : new forms of economic and social governance / Paul Quentin Hirst.

By: Hirst, Paul Q.
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookPublisher: Cambridge : Polity Press, 1994Description: 222 p. ; 23 cm. + pbk.ISBN: 074560952X ; 0745609511 .Subject(s): Democracy | Associations, institutions, etc | Voluntarism | Bureaucracy | SocialismDDC classification: 321.8
Contents:
A changed conjuncture -- Associative principles and democratic reform -- Associationalist ethics and the logics of collective action -- Associative democracy and economic governance -- Current realities and associative economic reform -- Thick welfare, thin collectivism -- An associational and confederal welfare state.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
General Lending MTU Bishopstown Library Lending 321.8 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 00018616
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

In this book Paul Hirst makes a major contribution to democratic thinking, advocating "associative democracy"; the belief that human welfare and liberty are best served when as many of the affairs of society as possible are managed by voluntary and democratically self-governing associations.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-217) and index.

A changed conjuncture -- Associative principles and democratic reform -- Associationalist ethics and the logics of collective action -- Associative democracy and economic governance -- Current realities and associative economic reform -- Thick welfare, thin collectivism -- An associational and confederal welfare state.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Acknowledgements (p. viii)
  • 1 A Changed Conjuncture (p. 1)
  • 2 Associative principles and Democratic Reform (p. 15)
  • 3 Associationalist Ethics and the Ogics of Collective Action (p. 44)
  • 4 Associative Democracy and Economic Governance (p. 74)
  • 5 Current Realities and Associative Economic Reform (p. 112)
  • 6 Thick Welfare, Thin Collectivism (p. 158)
  • 7 An Associational and Confederal Welfare State (p. 176)
  • Suggestions for Further Reading (p. 203)
  • References (p. 214)
  • Index (p. 218)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

State socialism and economic liberalism, the two competing ideas of social organization of the 20th century, have failed. Hirst (author of Representative Democracy and Its Limits, 1990) offers associative democracy as an alternative that promises to do a better job of solving modern economic problems. Associative democracy represents a fundamental proposition: if people are free to form voluntary associations which perform the main tasks in society, the affairs of that society will be better governed and the outcomes richer than if they are left either to the isolated activities of individuals or to the machinations of a centralized state. Associative theorists do not seek to supplant markets but to supplement them by identifying and promoting the embedded social institutions that make markets work best. Hirst reviews the roots of associationalism in the 19th and early 20th century writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, John Neville Figgis, G.D.H Cole, and Harold J. Laski. He sets out the principles and ethics of his updated version and offers a compelling argument that its form of economic governance would outperform socialism, Keynesianism, or laissez faire markets both in production and in welfare distribution. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Paul Hirst is Professor of Social Theory, Birkbeck College, University of London.

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