Paradigm lost, paradigm gained?

摘要

Progressives cannot cling to the institutional fragments of the 20th century to shore themselves against future ruin. Deep structural changes in capitalism, culture and society are opening up new possibilities and challenges that a political economy forged in the last century can only partly address. What is required is not just a nostalgic project of recreation, but creation itself - the creation of new institutions and forms of organisation that can better disperse and democratise power and reward in the economy. I have suggested that there are immediate possibilities for building coalitions focussed on reforming vocational and skills training, industrial relations and corporate governance which would shift the economy in a democratising direction. More than that, though, it will require new thinking that is less fixated on old debates. Perhaps above all, it will require a politics and a political economy that is alive to the democratising potential of the present moment.