A Political Science Manifesto for the Age of Populism
Challenging Growth, Markets, Inequality and Resentment

Modern capitalism, incorporating creative destruction, creates economic losers and winners. This produces the anger and resentment that generates populist politics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

David M. Ricci (Author)

9781108743051, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 19 March 2020

204 pages
21.5 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.34 kg

'This is a book addressed, like Ricci's earlier books, to his professional colleagues, to the political scientists of the world's universities - especially America's. But his message is actually wider. Every engaged citizen, every political activist living in our times, which are bad times, needs to read this book. It describes where we are and tells us what has to be done. (And the rif on driverless cars is wonderful.)' Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, New Jersey

Populism and authoritarian-populist parties have surged in the 21st century. In the United States, Donald Trump appears to have become the poster president for the surge. David M. Ricci, in this call to arms, thinks Trump is symptomatic of the changes that have caused a crisis among Americans - namely, mass economic and creative destruction: automation, outsourcing, deindustrialization, globalization, privatization, financialization, digitalization, and the rise of temporary jobs - all breeding resentment. Rather than dwelling on symptoms, Ricci focuses on the root of our nation's problems. Thus, creative destruction, aiming at perpetual economic growth, encouraged by neoliberalism, creates the economic inequality that fuels resentment and leads to increased populism. Ricci urges political scientists to highlight this destruction meaningfully and substantively, to use empirical realism to put human beings back into politics. Ricci's sensible argument conveys a sense of political urgency, grappling with real-world problems and working to transform abstract speculations into tangible, useful tools. The result is a passionate book, important not only to political scientists, but to anyone who cares about public life. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Preface
1. The age of populism
2. The temple of science
3. Mainstream economics
4. Creative destruction
5. Targetting neoliberalism
6. Humanism
7. A story for political science.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], Sociology [JHB], History of the Americas [HBJK], European history [HBJD]