Capitalism, Globalism, and Democracy

Journalist Robert Kuttner, co-editor of the American Prospect magazine and visiting professor of social policy at Brandeis University’s Heller School, will write a book examining the multiple ways that a liberalized global market influences the welfare state, the income distribution, and democracy itself. The book will address how global liberalization of markets influences the capacity of states to manage a capitalist economy in service of stability, opportunity, and income equality. It assesses the interconnections among economics and politics and feedback loops, and examines the impact of intensified globalization on political democracy.

Kuttner will investigate the extent to which globalization is associated with the deterioration of the welfare state. He will also assess how greater market liberalization on a global level interacts in complex ways with domestic policies and politics, including how problems of inclusion, membership, backlash against outsiders, and lack of basic rights for migrants are implicated in this democratic deterioration.