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A New Social Evolutionism?
“Neo-Darwinism is one of the most dynamic and successful research programmes in contemporary science. New developments in theory and method—including molecular biological investigations of genetic structures and processes, and computer-simulations of the competitive interactions of organisms within an environment—have greatly increased the scope and power of evolutionary explanations. . . .” read more
No Exit from Capitalism
“Francis Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man is the book of its historical moment, of Western triumph, as Paul Kennedy’s Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (1988) was of a slightly earlier phase of American self-doubt. Its thesis, that capitalist democracy is the final . . .” read more
Citizenship and Charter 88
“The great written constitutions, from which the idea of constitutional reform unavoidably borrows some of its aura, have set out to redefine the fundamental relationships of citizens, society and government as these were perceived at the time of their writing. The American Declaration of Independence asserted the rights . . .” read more
The Politics of Post-Fordism: Or, The Trouble with 'New Times'
“The ‘post-Fordist’ hypothesis concerning the development of a new ‘mode of regulation’ of modern capitalism is a fertile and important one. It was developed, following Gramsci’s key early understanding of the significance of mass production and consumption, by Michel Aglietta and other members of the ‘regulation school’ in . . .” read more
Post-Kleinian Psychoanalysis and the Post-Modern
“In a number of papers written in the early 1980s, I attempted to explore the social and political affiliations of Kleinian psychoanalysis in Britain. I characterized some of the leading themes, both implicit and explicit, of Kleinian work, and suggested some connections between these and the social preoccupations . . .” read more
Restructuring the State
“This article contrasts two strategic options for the Labour Party and the Left in the approach to the next election in Britain. One, the option chosen by the Labour leadership, is to seek to recapture the votes lost to the Alliance parties since 1981 by occupying their political . . .” read more
Lessons of the London Industrial Strategy
“In the past few difficult years for the Left in Britain, the greatest cause for hope has been the initiatives of the new ‘city socialism’ of the metropolitan county councils such as the glc. They have succeeded in demonstrating the positive value of public provision—in transport and . . .” read more
A Statutory Right to Work
“It was widely believed after the Second World War in Britain that the ‘right to work’ had been generally won; the greatest economic evil of the prewar years seemed to have been overcome through reforms. Yet now, again, unemployment has returned in a seemingly permanent form and there . . .” read more
A Socialist Consideration of Kleinian Psychoanalysis
“This article may be best introduced autobiographically, since the general project it touches, the relationship between psychoanalytic and political theory, isn’t one that I think has often been very fruitfully pursued from the point of view in which I am interested, and may seem unpromising at the outset. . . .” read more
Different Conceptions of Party: Labour’s Constitutional Debates
“The Constitution of the Labour Party has for some years been the chosen terrain for an intensifying battle between left and right, over the issues of mandatory reselection of mp’s by their constituency parties, the determination of the party’s election manifesto, and the method of electing the . . .” read more
The New Left and the Present Crisis
“This paper is a reflection on the present condition of the Left, and on its recent history. It is meant to address our current situation, and indeed to suggest action, but I have not found it possible to do this without thinking about previous initiatives of the earlier . . .” read more
The Relevance of Mills' Sociology
“C. Wright Mills’ sociology attempted to explain the structure and main drift of American society in the twentieth century, and with that some of the main trends in all industrialized societies. It was a huge aim, in the central tradition of sociology and social thought. His main theses, . . .” read more
Young Socialists
“the first Young Socialist Conference, this Easter, can give only limited encouragement to those who hope for a movement of young people carrying into broader socialist terms the activity and idealism of CND. The Conference was dominated by a violent confrontation of left and right wingers, over . . .” read more
Oxford Opinions
“two articles “reviewing” university lectures in the Oxford student magazine Isis have aroused considerable and much publicised controversy. The University Proctors (a special disciplinary body peculiar to Oxford and Cambridge) banned further lecture reviews, and the Isis editor’s indignant, but gleeful protests won a considerable sympathetic response, . . .” read more