For a New West

At a recent meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, it was reported that a ghost was haunting the deliberations of the assembled global elite - that of the renowned social scientist and economic historian, Karl Polanyi. In his classic work, The Great Transformation, Polanyi documented the impact of the rise of market society on western civilization and captured better than anyone else the destructive effects of the economic, political and social crisis of the 1930s. Today, in the throes of another Great Recession, Polanyi’s work has gained a new significance. To understand the profound challenges faced by our democracies today, we need to revisit history and revisit his work. In this new collection of unpublished texts - lectures, draft essays and reports written between 1919 and 1958 - Polanyi examines the collapse of the liberal economic order and the demise of democracies in the inter-war years. He takes up again the fundamental question that preoccupied him throughout his work - the place of the economy in society - and aims to show how we might return to an economy anchored in society and its cultural, religious and political institutions. For anyone concerned about the danger to democracy and social life posed by the unleashing of capital from regulatory control and the dominance of the neoliberal ideologies of market fundamentalism, this important new volume by one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century is a must-read.

Preface by Kari Polanyi Levitt Introduction by Giorgio Resta I. Economy, technology and the problem of freedom 1. For a new West 2. Economic and freedom to shape our social destiny 3. Economic history and the problem of freedom 4. New frontiers of economic thinking II. Institutions matter 5. The contribution of institutional analysis to the social sciences 6. The nature of International understanding 7. The meaning of peace 8. The roots of pacifism 9. Culture in a democratic England of the future 10. America III. How to make use of the social sciences 11. How to make use of the social sciences 12. On political theory 13. Public opinion and statesmanship 14. General economic history 15. Market elements and economic planning in antiquity IV. Crisis and transformation 16. What matters now. A reply. 17. Conflicting philosophies in modern society 18. The eclipse of panic and the outlook for socialism 19. The passing of 19th century civilization 20. The trend towards an integrated society Postface by Mariavittoria Catanzariti