Verso Books Hardback English
The Master's Tools
How Finance Wrecked Democracy (And a Radical Plan to Rebuild It)
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Why is democracy so broken and how might it be fixed? In <i>The Master's Tools</i>, award-winning author Michael A. McCarthy argues the answer can be found in the flows of credit and investment bound up with finance capital.<br>Today, finance guides and constrains our politics, but there is no reason why this must be so. In this groundbreaking work, McCarthy develops a political and social theory of institutional transformation rooted in the interconnectedness of finance and democracy.<br><br>Inspired by ancient Athens, where small groups chosen by lottery were used to ensure democratic participation, he shows how democracy and working-class power can be strengthened by introducing new forms of financial governance, focusing on the inclusion of historically excluded groups.<br><br>His proposals for democratic financial institutions point the way to imbuing finance with a socio-environmental purpose and the funding of a just green transition, social housing, and other necessary public goods. And these financial institutions might be the first step toward a whole new kind of economy.
Why is democracy so broken and how might it be fixed? In <i>The Master's Tools</i>, award-winning author Michael A. McCarthy argues the answer can be found in the flows of credit and investment bound up with finance capital.<br>Today, finance guides and constrains our politics, but there is no reason why this must be so. In this groundbreaking work, McCarthy develops a political and social theory of institutional transformation rooted in the interconnectedness of finance and democracy.<br><br>Inspired by ancient Athens, where small groups chosen by lottery were used to ensure democratic participation, he shows how democracy and working-class power can be strengthened by introducing new forms of financial governance, focusing on the inclusion of historically excluded groups.<br><br>His proposals for democratic financial institutions point the way to imbuing finance with a socio-environmental purpose and the funding of a just green transition, social housing, and other necessary public goods. And these financial institutions might be the first step toward a whole new kind of economy.