William Mitchell & Thomas Fazi 
Reclaiming the State 
A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World

The crisis of the neoliberal order has resuscitated a political idea widely believed to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the neo-nationalist, anti-globalisation and anti-establishment backlash engulfing the West all involve a yearning for a relic of the past: national sovereignty.



In response to these challenging times, economist William Mitchell and political theorist Thomas Fazi reconceptualise the nation state as a vehicle for progressive change. They show how despite the ravages of neoliberalism, the state still contains resources for democratic control of a nation’s economy and finances. The populist turn provides an opening to develop an ambitious but feasible left political strategy.



Reclaiming the State offers an urgent, provocative and prescient political analysis of our current predicament, and lays out a comprehensive strategy for revitalising progressive economics in the 21st century.

Table of Content

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Make the Left Great Again

Part I: The Great Transformation Redux: From Keynesianism to Neoliberalism – and Beyond

1. Broken Paradise: A Critical Assessment of the Keynesian ‘Full Employment’ Era

2. Destined to Fail: Understanding the Crisis of Keynesianism and the Rise of Neoliberalism

3. That Option No Longer Exists: How Britain, and the British Labour Party, Fell into the Monetarist Trap

4. The Paris Consensus: The French Left and the Creation of Neoliberal Europe

5. The State Never Went Away: Neoliberalism as a State-driven Project

6. Après Elle, le Déluge: Are We Entering a Post-Neoliberal Age?

Part II: A Progressive Strategy for the Twenty-First Century

7. Towards a Progressive Vision of Sovereignty

8. A Government is Not Like a Household: An Introduction to Modern Monetary Theory

9. I Have a Job for You: Why a Job Guarantee is Better than a Basic Income

10. We Have a (Central) Plan: The Case of Renationalisation

Conclusion: Back to the State

Notes

Index

About the author

Thomas Fazi is a writer, journalist, translator and researcher. His articles have appeared in numerous publications. He is the author of The Battle for Europe (Pluto, 2014) and Reclaiming the State (Pluto, 2017), co-authored with William Mitchell.