Capitalism, Democracy & Inequality

This was our inaugural, semester-long series about one of the oldest questions in political economy: can democracy and capitalism live together, and on whose terms? It began with the big picture, examining the forces reshaping the world economy and the ways different countries generate growth. It then turned to democracy itself, from the hollowing out of parties and representation to the class politics that once gave the left its strength, and ended with the institutions that decide how wealth and security are shared.

• Political Economy of Our Times: Is the age of globalization over, and what kind of capitalism is taking its place? Starting from Wolfgang Streeck's case for returning power to the nation-state and Branko Milanovic's account of capitalism's global triumph, this workshop examined how finance, technology and industrial policy are reshaping the world economy.

  • Guests: Mario Pianta (Scuola Normale Superiore)

• Politics of Growth - Comparative Institutions, Theories & Coalitions: Why do wealthy countries grow in such different ways, some by selling to the world and others by spending at home? This workshop worked through the growth models approach, from its break with the Varieties of Capitalism tradition to national cases around the world and the parties, unions and employers that keep each model in place.

  • Guests: Lucio Baccaro (Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies) and Mark Blyth (Brown University)

• Current Politics of Neoliberalism: Elections still take place, but have the real decisions moved elsewhere? Through Colin Crouch's Post-Democracy and Peter Mair's Ruling the Void, this workshop explored how global firms gained power, why mass parties declined, and how citizens and elites drifted apart.

  • Guests: Colin Crouch (University of Warwick) and Pepper Culpepper (University of Oxford)

• Between Labor and Capital - Cleavages and Politics in Democratic Capitalism: How did workers become a political force, and what did it cost them to win power through the ballot box? Moving from the classic theory of social cleavages to Adam Przeworski's Capitalism and Social Democracy, this workshop examined the dilemmas of the left, from building a class to striking a compromise with capital.

  • Guests: Donatella della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore), Paolo Gerbaudo (Complutense University of Madrid) and Jonas Pontusson (University of Geneva)

• Institutions and Inequality in Advanced Capitalism: Why are some rich societies so much more equal than others? Through Gøsta Esping-Andersen's Politics against Markets and the debate on wage bargaining and corporatism, this workshop closed the series by showing how unions, parties and welfare states shape the distribution of income and security.

  • Guests: Guglielmo Meardi (Scuola Normale Superiore) and Jonas Pontusson (University of Geneva)