Progressivism in British Politics: Some Revisionist Themes

This article argues that a return to the history of progressive political thought can help us to think afresh about what a renewed centre‐left politics might look like today. The article identifies some significant aspects of this history that attracted little attention in earlier debates over the British progressive tradition—in particular, debates about social ownership, nationalism and distributism. This revisionist history of British progressivism points the way towards some common ideological ground that could provide a starting point for a new dialogue between different ‘progressive’ political parties and interests.     

马克思主义中国化进程中的三个阶段

马克思主义中国化的实质是将马克思主义同中国的具体实践相结合。党的十九大报告提出中华民族从站起来、富起来到强起来的伟大飞跃,是共产党人遵照客观历史主题,将马克思主义中国化完成对实践主题解答的过程,据此将马克思主义中国化进程大致划分为三个阶段。理顺三个阶段之间的关系,有助于正确认识习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想在马克思主义中国化进程中的地位,不断开拓马克思主义在中国发展的新境界。     

Mosca revisited

Abstract. The paper offers a favourable re-assessment of the thought of Gaetano Mosca, a most unfashionable thinker. Three elements of his thought are examined: (1) his 'historical method', (2) his 'unmasking' of the democratic ideal, and (3) his critique of Marxian socialism. It is argued that his model of an objective political science, based on empirical observation, was essentially sound, though he himself did not live up to its rigorous requirements. Whatever the flaws in his methodology, however, his analysis of the parliamentary system seems convincing enough. As for his complaints against marxism and socialism, these cannot be dismissed as the fulminations of a reactionary, for the simple reason that most of them have been echoed, in one form or another, by Marxists and socialists themselves. It is concluded that social critics could learn much from Mosca, in spite of his conservative leanings.     

Fundamentalism revisited

His main interests and professional publications focus on problems in sociological theory, cultural aspects of global change, and various sociocultural movements.     

Meritocracy revisited

Michael Young is author of The Rise of the Meritocracy,reissued in paperback by Transaction. Among his other books is Family and Kinship in East London (with Peter Willmott).He is founder and director of the Institute of Community Studies in London. He is a past chairman of the Social Science Research Council of the United Kingdom and founder of the Open University. He is a member of Parliament as Lord Young of Dartington.     

Species loss revisited

Among his books are The Economics of Population Growth; Effort, Opportunity, and Wealth;and Population Matters: People, Resources, Environment, and Immigration (the latter was published by Transaction).     

Sequential contests revisited

In a past issue of this journal, Morgan (Public Choice 116:1–18, 2003) finds that aggregate effort is greater in sequential than in simultaneous lottery contests. We show that Morgan’s result is incorrect owing to a slip in a proof, and that aggregate effort turns out to be greater in sequential contests only if the contestants are sufficiently homogeneous. Additionally, we discuss the robustness of the corrected result to different specifications of the contest success function, and we partially restore Morgan’s case for sequential contests by showing that these contests are more desirable when maximizing only the effort of the winner, rather than maximizing the aggregate effort.