Overview
What is an economy for? The republican tradition in political thought offers a compelling way of exploring this question. The economy is for the common good, and the people, as the sovereign, properly have democratic authority to design it to satisfy their common good. Recent republican philosophers emphasize the centrality of freedom to the common good, where freedom is 'non-domination': the status of not being subject to another's uncontrolled power of interference. But insight into the common good can also be found in other sources, including liberal egalitarian theories of social justice. The common good provides a standard to evaluate existing institutions and to propose alternatives that, starting in our present context, look likely to make society more just. In this way, it helps to guide the collective political action of republican struggle. The Wealth of Freedom argues for universal basic income and universal capital grants, the fair taxation of inheritances and wealth, participatory democracy in the workplace, in investment, and in the design of public services, and for strong trade unions as key elements in a radical republican economy of the common good. Internationally, a radical republican economy of the common good calls for us to restructure existing systems of transnational governance and to support a major investment programme to address the climate emergency in a fair, reparative way. Focusing on demands for a Green New Deal, Stuart White shows how the book's institutional proposals may help to develop this agenda. The struggle for such a programme is the terrain on which we must now assert creative popular sovereignty over the economy to ensure that it does work for the common good.
Full Product Details
Author: Stuart White (Associate Professor, Associate Professor, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.50cm
, Height: 2.60cm
, Length: 24.00cm
Weight: 0.624kg
ISBN: 9780198868231
ISBN 10: 0198868235
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 17 June 2025
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Author Information
Stuart White is Nicholas Drake Fellow in Politics at Jesus College and Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations, University of Oxford. His research draws on philosophy, intellectual and political history, and engages public policy to explore proposed alternatives to capitalism and democratic renewal. His many books include Radical Republicanism: Recovering the Tradition's Popular Heritage (co-edited with Bruno Leipold and Karma Nabulsi; OUP, 2020).
