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Political constitutions alone do not guarantee democracy; a degree of economic equality is also essential. Yet contemporary economies, dominated as they are by global finance and political rent-seekers, often block the realization of democracy. The comparative essays and case studies of this volume examine the contradictory relationship between the economy and democracy and highlight the struggles and visions needed to make things more equitable. They explore how our collective aspirations for greater democracy might be informed by serious empirical research on the human economy today. If we want a better world, we must act on existing social realities.
List of contents
Introduction Keith Hart PART I: ECONOMY VERSUS DEMOCRACY Chapter 1. Habits of austerity: financialization and new ways of dealing with money
Jürgen Schraten Chapter 2. What financial crisis? The global politics of finance: distributional consequences and legitimizing narratives
Horacio Ortiz Chapter 3. Party funding for and against democracy in Zimbabwe and South Africa
Booker Magure PART II: THE STRUGGLE FOR ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY Chapter 4. Women as mediators in post-war Mozambique: pushing lobolo from price to propriety
Albert Farré Chapter 5. Negotiating state and market: the South African HIV/AIDS movement and social change
Theodore Powers Chapter 6. Beyond the market: the case of white workers in Pretoria
John Sharp & Stephan Van Wyk Chapter 7. Waves of unrest: wildcat strikes and possible democratic change in Swaziland
Vito Laterza PART III: VISIONS OF HUMAN ECONOMY AND DEMOCRACY Chapter 8. Solidarity economy in contemporary Greece: 'movementality', economic democracy and social reproduction
Theodoros Rakopoulos Chapter 9. Money for a human economy: a reflection from Argentina
Hadrien Saiag Chapter 10. Human economy: the revolutionary struggle for happiness
Keith Hart Chapter 11. Building a human economy movement: the precedent of transnational feminism
Camille Sutton-Brown Notes on authors
References
Index
About the author
Keith Hart is International Director of the Human Economy Programme at the University of Pretoria. His recent books include The Human Economy: A Citizen's Guide, Economic Anthropology, People, Money and Power in the Economic Crisis and Money in a Human Economy.
Summary
Contemporary economies, dominated by global finance and political rent-seekers, often inhibit the realization of democracy. This volume features comparative essays and case studies to examine the antagonisms between the economy and democracy and the struggles and visions to make things more equitable.
