Common Alternatives

Sep42018 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

The Routledge Handbook of Transformative Global Studies

The Routledge Handbook of Transformative Global Studies Editors: S. A. Hamed Hosseini, Barry K. Gills, James Goodman, Sara Motta Corresponding Editor Address/Affiliation: Dr. S. A. Hamed Hosseini F., School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia. Aims and Approach In recent years, the fields of global studies and globalization studies have faced serious challenges as the result of deepening interrelated global crises and remarkably complex structural changes with highly diversifying impacts on different localities. There are many challenges: from the escalation of inter- and intra- national socio-economic disparities to growing gaps in access to technological advancements, from regional financial collapses and persisting economic stagnations to the greater polarization of global power structures, from the subordination of democratic institutions as well as mounting sectarian conflicts…

Feb162018 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Alternative Futures and Regional Prospects Symposium Working across Differences, beyond Carbon, Capital and Commodity

Events

22-23- Nov 2018 Venue: TBA Alternative Futures and Regional Prospects Symposium Working across Differences, beyond Carbon, Capital and Commodity 22-23- Nov 2018; Venue: TBA Full Symposium Program and Abstracts (TBA) Organizers: The University of Newcastle, University of Technology Sydney, Common Alternatives Network A two-day symposium including roundtable discussions, to cross-fertilize between several game-changing communal responses, pioneering workable policy agendas and ‘real utopian’ visions in the current era of economic uncertainties The post-mining boom era has already started, and it has posed serious challenges to the Australian economy in general and to the Hunter region communities in particular. Among the most important challenges commonly acknowledged by the entrepreneurs, small business owners and workers in the region are: prospects of rising under/un- employment especially among the youth, environmental degradations, unconstructive competitions (between…

Oct212017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Work councils could be the future of Australian industrial democracy in an ABCC world

Analyses

Eugene Schofield-Georgeson, University of Technology Sydney Work councils are one model of industrial relations that could potentially fill the enormous gap in Australian industrial democracy left by precarious employment and the decline of the union movement. Canberra was once again the scene of further blows against construction workers and their union when the federal government this week passed legislation to hasten the onset of laws linked to the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). In something of a one-two combination for the Australian union movement, the ABCC’s return accompanies reports that national union coverage has dwindled to its lowest ebb. Union membership now stands at around 15%. In Australia, the growth of casual jobs outstrips the creation of permanent jobs by nearly two to one. Such precarious employment…

Oct102017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

10th Anniversary Wheelwright Lecture: Manufacturing the Future: Cultures of Production for the Anthropocene

Events, Katherine Gibson

Invitation About the lecture Debates about the future of manufacturing in Australia return to prominence every few years, prompted by the latest downturn in employment or closure of a plant. The overarching narrative of change is one of decline. Since the heyday of protectionism when 30% of the workforce was employed in manufacturing, today only 8% are employed in the sector and union membership has sunk to an all-time low of just over 12%. The prognosis of decline has intensified with recent plant closures in the foreign owned automotive industry and the shedding of 20 per cent of the manufacturing workforce between 2008 and 2015. Yet, there is strong popular support for maintaining and strengthening a manufacturing base in this country and, according to the promos for the 2017 National…

Sep302017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Theorizing the Rise of Right Wing Populism in the Post-Globalist Era: Toward an Integrative Approach

Events, Lawrence J. Saha, S A Hamed Hosseini

Seyed A. HOSSEINI FARADONBEH, The University of Newcastle, Australia and Lawrence SAHA, Australian National University, Australia Abstract Text (Abstract ID: 101047): Populism, as a concept, generally implies a mobilized support for the political, cultural and economic preferences of the populace as opposed to those of the elite, foreigners, intellectuals, media, government, corporations, scientific bodies, ethnic minorities, immigrants/refugees, or any other social group or community whose identity or interest differs from the widely-idealized image of a typical countryperson. However, populism does not always appear in society as a well-articulated doctrine or a coherent group attitude with a number of detectable rigid principles. It normally emerges in the form of popular rhetoric that taps into the populations’ emotions, and advocates quick solutions without a proper understanding of the root causes of the problems…

Sep272017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Researching Collective Action and Social Change: Extending Michael Burawoy’s Extended Case Method

Events, Thomas Muhr

Author: Thomas MUHR and Susana MELO, Habib University Karachi, Pakistan Abstract Text: This paper proposes a socio-spatial ethnographic methodology to research projects and processes of neoliberal mainstream contestation. We build on Michael Burawoy’s extended case method and the notion of ‘global ethnography’, which we put in dialogue with theorisations of place, space and scale. We argue that a case can socio-spatially extend out beyond a particular place-bound ‘site’ or ‘case’ in order to account for multiple interconnected places at different geographical scales. This approach allows for empirically sustaining how neoliberalism as a project and as a process of social transformation is being counteracted and displaced in different geopolitical configurations. Muhr’s spatial ethnography of the construction of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America Peoples Trade Agreement (ALBATCP), as a distinct post-neoliberal democratic project, illustrates the deployment of our methodological…

Sep272017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

The Future of Capital and Its Alternatives in 21st Century: The Essentiality of Economic Democratization

Barry K. Gills, Events, S A Hamed Hosseini

Seyed A. HOSSEINI FARADONBEH, The University of Newcastle, Australia and Barry GILLS, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract Text: In 21st century, “Capital” requires a more comprehensive and applicable definition than merely a social process where money makes more money through production relations. Capital, in its material manifestation, is a socially organized ‘process’, through which surplus value is produced and controlled by 'unsustainable' and 'un-sovereign' ways of exploiting labour (both manual and intellectual), land (and other commons), nature (non-renewable sources of energy and the earth's bio-capacity including the climate). It is, however, important to equally emphasize, and theorize how Capital can also immaterially but objectively colonize and depoliticize societal/communal solidarities (from the level of household, to the level of world community).Thus, a critical analysis of Capital/ist relations requires the theorization of not only…

Sep182017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Democratic Eco-Socialism as a Real Utopia: Transitioning to an Alternative World System

Books, Hans Baer

A/Prof. Hans Baer As global population growth continues to skyrocket, increasingly strained resources have made one thing clear: the desperate need for an alternative to capitalism. In Democratic Eco-Socialism as a Real Utopia, Hans Baer outlines the urgent need to reevaluate historical definitions of socialism, commit to social equality and justice, and prioritize environmental sustainability. Democratic Eco-socialism, as he terms it, is a system capable of mobilizing people around the world, albeit in different ways, to prevent on-going human socio-economic and environmental degradation, and anthropogenic climate change. Order a copy (more…)

Sep142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Researching the Emergence of Right-Wing Populism in the 21st Century

Events

RC42 Social Psychology (host committee) Populism is both a political and academic concept which varies widely in its use. As found within the social sciences, it is generally regarded as a mobilized support for the political, cultural and economic preferences of the mainstream populous as opposed to those of the elite, intellectuals, media, governments, public institutions, and scientific and civic organizations. There are populists of the left, center and the right on the political spectrum, but currently attention has focused on right-wing populism as an increasingly transformative force. The social psychological and sociological accounts of populism are much related to the research traditions of studies of authoritarianism, dogmatism, Fascism and closed-mindedness, and the social conditions which facilitate their emergence. How perceptive/effective is this legacy for understanding today’s populist resurgence? For this…

Sep142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Future(s) of Democracy in the Post-Neoliberal Era: Problems, Protests, and Prospects

Events

RC48 Social Movements, Collective Actions and Social Change (host committee) Globally, neoliberalism is no longer the mobilising tool it once was. The neoliberal mainstream has been displaced, initially from the radical Left, but increasingly, and simultaneously, from the far Right. From anti-austerity to left nationalism, from solidarity economy to the eco-social commons, democratic alternatives to market rule have gained considerable ground, but have faltered with the emergence of new forces for autocracy and ethno-populism. This panel addresses the major challenges faced by these post-neoliberal democratic movements, in the current context of authoritarian populist resurgence, rising ethno-nationalism and global geopolitical polarizations., How are these democratic alternatives emerging, surviving, or evolving through social movements, and where are they gaining ground or declining? How may they be converging? How may they respond to…

Sep142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Globalization, Resource Extraction, and Social Movement Mobilization

Events

RC24 Environment and Society (host committee) The colonization of the Americas and other regions has gone hand in hand with natural resource extraction, which has included economies built on minerals, forestry resources, fisheries, and – more recently - oil and gas. Shifts towards globalization and knowledge-based economies within the urban centres of the global north have not resulted in moving away from resource extractivism. Rather, we see a reconfiguration of the commodification and extraction of earth resources that underlies contemporary lifestyles of overconsumption for the affluent of the world. This reconfiguration of natural resource extraction has often involved reaching further and further into new sites in remote and rural areas, including extensive “land use change” in biomes such as the Amazon Basin, Boreal forests and the Arctic. It has also involved…

Sep142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Carbon Capitalism, Climate Capitalism, Energy Democracy

Events

RC02 Economy and Society (host committee) Although the scientific consensus on causes and implication of global warming is well established, the climate crisis has provoked three distinct political-economic projects, rooted in differing class fractions and social interests, which currently vie for hegemony at different levels and regions of the world-system. Carbon capitalism is a project of ‘business as usual’ (in the Stern report’s terminology), with efficiency improvements (and possible sunsetting of coal) but no major changes to the political ecology of contemporary capitalism. Climate capitalism proposes the ecological modernization of the energy base of capitalism, by redirecting flows of capital away from fossil fuels, and toward more climatically benign sources of energy including hydropower, solar, wind and nuclear. The first two projects are capital-centric: they leave the class structure of capitalism untouched, including the…

Sep142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Reorganizing Globalization

Events

RC07 Futures Research (host committee) How do the major political changes of 2016 (Brexit, election of Trump) fit into the larger transformations of globalization? What are the features of 21st century globalization compared to 20th century globalization? What are pattern changes in the roles of advanced economies and emerging economies (such as China and the BRICS)? Session Organizers: Jan P. NEDERVEEN PIETERSE, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA, jnp@global.ucsb.edu Barry GILLS, University of Helsinki, Finland, barry.gills@helsinki.fi

Sep142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Social Movement Theory Beyond Developmentalism

Events

RC48 Social Movements, Collective Actions and Social Change (host committee) This session debates developmentalism in social movement theory. Social movement theory, implicitly or otherwise, defines the movement by its developmental epoch. Periodisation commonly constructs ‘leading edge’ movements in the socio-economic heartlands, as ‘new’, relegating the rest. With the globalization of development crises – from climate crisis to financial crisis – development ideology has become politicized, for all societies. The ‘developed’ world has itself become the key site of global development problems, while late industrialisers now claim a role as drivers for alternative social models. Increasingly, social movements can gain a key role in challenging and transforming developmentalist models and ideologies. In this context, movement projects can circulate and find new traction across global divides – from occupy the squares, to climate justice.…

May142017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

2017 Students of Sustainability Annual Conference

Events

Friday 30 June - Tuesday 4 July 2017 - Students of Sustainability is an annual environmental and social justice conference which brings together activists, students, educators and artists from around Australia for a week of education, culture, networking, celebration, delicious food and camping. In 2017, SOS will be held in Newcastle, New South Wales on Awabakal and Worimi Country.

May42017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Rethinking Capitalism: From Ineffective to Effective ‘Alternative’ Solutions to Climate Crisis

Essays

Reviewed Essay by: Elizabeth Murphy-May (University of Newcastle, Australia) Accepted on 4 May 2017 The intensification of the global economy, such as neoliberal capitalism, has caused a severe climate crisis in which the world faces today. More specifically, the foundations and values of what capitalism is built from have caused a destructive ecological trajectory, therefore limiting the sustainability of capitalism. As a result, not only has the adverse impacts of the environment been affected, but also contribute to the growing social, political and economic inequalities faced by some of the world’s poorest communities in both majority and minority worlds. In this connection, these ecological changes are directly associated with, if not, then a mutual relationship, with the neoliberal globalization and has therefore affected the capacity for those most affected by…

Feb132017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Global Civil Society and Transversal Hegemony

Books, Karen Buckley

Karen Buckley This book provides a conceptual history of global civil society and a critical examination of the politics of resistance in the global political economy. It uses a dialectical method of analysis to illustrate the conceptual stasis of mainstream approaches to questions of globalization and contestation, while demonstrating the potential of a Gramscian approach to reconstitute hegemony as a key analytical and explanatory tool. Buckley offers insight to the movements of transversal hegemony and existent and anticipated modes of social relation through the case studies of the World Social Forum and the World People's Conference on Climate Change. Order a copy (more…)

Feb82017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Alternative Globalizations

Books, S A Hamed Hosseini

S A Hamed Hosseini Are the growing oppositions to neoliberal market globalism (especially in the aftermath of global economic meltdown) able to develop meaningful alternative ideologies? Is there any substantial alternative to the world capitalist system on the horizon? How would the ideologies and ideas address the dire dilemmas of economy vs. ecology, redistribution vs. recognition, global vs. local, reform vs. revolution etc.? This book answers such important questions by examining the intellectual structure of the so-called ‘anti-globalization’ or ‘global justice’ movement. It explores the formation and transformation of ideas, identities, and solidarities in the movement. The book also develops an analytical model to explain the movement’s ideational novelties and continuities in terms of both activist social experiences and global social changes. Order a copy (more…)

Feb82017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Climate Action Upsurge The Ethnography of Climate Movement Politics

Books, James Goodman, Stuart Rosewarne

Stuart Rosewarne, James Goodman, Rebecca Pearse In the late 2000s climate action became a defining feature of the international political agenda. Evidence of global warming and accelerating greenhouse gas emissions created a new sense of urgency and, despite consensus on the need for action, the growing failure of international climate policy engendered new political space for social movements. By 2007 a ‘climate justice’ movement was surfacing and developing a strong critique of existing official climate policies and engaging in new forms of direct action to assert the need for reduced extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Climate Action Upsurge offers an insight into this important period in climate movement politics, drawing on the perspectives of activists who were directly engaged in the mobilisation process. Order a copy

Feb82017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Modes of Cognitive Praxis in Transnational Alternative Policy Groups

Journal Articles, William K Carroll

William K. Carroll Transnational alternative policy groups (TAPGs) are networks and centres within and around which counter-hegemonic knowledge is produced and mobilized among subaltern communities and critical social movements. Based on in-depth interviews with practitioners at 16 TAPGs, this article presents eight modes of cognitive praxis and discusses how they appear in the work of alternative policy groups. The eight modes are not sealed off from each other, but overlap and interpenetrate. In combination, these modes of cognitive praxis strive to produce transformative knowledge concomitantly with knowledge-based transformation. The analysis evidences tracings of a double dialectic in the cognitive praxis of alternative policy groups: a dialectic of theory and practice, and one of dialogue. It is in a forward movement—fostering solidaristic dialogue among counterpublics in combination with the iterative integration…

Feb82017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Pursuing happiness: it’s mostly a matter of surviving well together

Analyses, Jenny Cameron, Katherine Gibson, Stephen Healy

Katherine Gibson, Western Sydney University; Jenny Cameron, University of Newcastle, and Stephen Healy, Western Sydney University This article is part of a series, On Happiness, examining what it means and how it might be achieved in the 21st century. Understandings of happiness are shifting. More and more research is finding that we cannot spend our way to happiness. Increasing incomes do not necessarily lead to increasing happiness. Even in a country such as China, average incomes have increased fourfold since the 1990s while life satisfaction has decreased over the same period. Research is also finding that happiness is less an individual matter and more a collective endeavour. The quality of our relationships with others is pivotal. These others include those closest to us (our immediate family and friends) as well…

Feb82017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Take Back the Economy An Ethical Guide for Transforming Our Communities

Books, Jenny Cameron, Katherine Gibson

J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron, and Stephen Healy Take Back the Economy dismantles the idea that the economy is separate from us and best comprehended by experts, demonstrating that the economy is the outcome of the decisions and efforts we make every day. Full of exercises and inspiring examples from around the world, it shows how people can implement small-scale changes in their own lives to create ethical economies. Purchase a copy

Feb82017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Eco-sufficiency and Global Justice Women Write Political Ecology

Ariel Salleh, Books

Ariel Salleh (Editor) As the twenty-first century faces a crisis of democracy and sustainability, this book attempts to bring academics and alternative globalisation activists into conversation. Through studies of global neoliberalism, ecological debt, climate change, and the ongoing devaluation of reproductive and subsistence labour, these uncompromising essays by internationally distinguished women thinkers expose the limits of current scholarship in political economy, ecological economics, and sustainability science. The book introduces groundbreaking theoretical concepts for talking about humanity-nature links and will be a challenging read for activists and for students of political economy, environmental ethics, global studies, sociology, women's studies, and critical geography. Order a copy (more…)

Feb62017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Modern Monetary Theory and Practice: An Introductory Text

Books, William F. Mitchell

Prof W F Mitchell (Author), Prof L R Wray (Contributor), Prof M J Watts (Contributor) The Global Financial Crisis demonstrated beyond any doubt the poverty of the mainstream, free-market economic approach that is almost universally taught in university courses around the world. The failure of the system to self-regulate exemplified what Marx, Keynes, Kalecki and other heterodox economists have known for a long time - that the Capitalist system is inherently unstable and requires strong government oversight. This text goes further though because it is the first teaching program based on what is now known as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which has emerged over the last two decades and now presents itself as the only viable body of macroeconomic thought that can not only detail the operational realities of the…

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Constructing Twenty-First Century Socialism in Latin America: The Role of Radical Education

Books, Sara Motta

Authors: Motta, S., Cole, M. Motta and Cole explore the role of the politics of knowledge and pedagogy in the reinvention of socialism for the twenty-first century. Through a critical analysis of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela they deconstruct the mechanisms of neoliberal control as an epistemological project of monologue, closure, and violence against all 'others'. The authors develop an affirmative engagement with the traditions, practices, and politics which seek to challenge this closure through the policies of the counter-hegemonic government of Venezuela, the struggles of social movements in Brazil and Colombia, and the daily resistance of critical educators working in formal educational settings in all three countries. This mapping and analysis not only contribute to struggles for alternatives to capitalism in Latin America, but are translatable to other contexts. Order…

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

The Great Eurozone Disaster From Crisis to Global New Deal

Books, Heikki Patomaki

Heikki Patomaki (Translated by James O'Connor) With Greece, Portugal and Ireland already driven to the brink of economic catastrophe, and the threat that a number of other EU countries are soon to follow, the consequences for the global economy are potentially dire. In The Great Eurozone Disaster, Heikki Patomäki dissects the current crisis, revealing its origins lie in the instability that has driven the process of financialisation since the early 1970s. Providing a captivating narrative about how Europe ended up in its present predicament, Patomäki presents a radical new vision for 'global economic democracy' as the only viable way out of the current crisis. Order a copy (more…)

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Rising Powers and South-South Cooperation

Barry Gills, Books

Edited by Kevin Gray, Barry K Gills This book examines the extent to which a space has opened up in recent years for the so-called "rising powers" of the global South to offer an alternative to contemporary global economic and political governance through emergent forms of South-South cooperation. Contributions to this volume address the question of whether such engagement, particularly on a "South-South" basis, can be categorised as a "win-win" relationship, or whether we are already seeing the emergence of new forms of competitive rivalry and neo-dependency in action. What kind of theoretical approaches and conceptual tools do we need to best answer such questions? Order a copy (more…)

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Commoning as a Post-capitalist Politics

Jenny Cameron, Journal Articles, Katherine Gibson

J.K. Gibson-Graham, Jenny Cameron and Stephen Healy, 2016. “Commoning as a postcapitalist politics.” In Releasing the Commons: Rethinking the Futures of the Commons, edited by Ash Amin and Philip Howell, Chapter 12, Routledge. In this chapter we explore how the process of commoning offers a politics for the Anthropocene. To reveal the political potential of commoning, however, we need to step outside of the ways that the commons have generally been understood. We argue that commons can be conceived of as a process—commoning—that is applicable to any form of property, whether private, or state-owned, or open access. Read Full Text

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

South–South Cooperation and the Geographies of Latin America–Caribbean Integration and Development: A Socio-Spatial Approach Authors

Journal Articles, Thomas Muhr

Thomas Muhr Structured around the case of South–South cooperation in the construction of “complementary economic zones” among the member states of the ALBA-TCP, Petrocaribe, CARICOM and MERCOSUR, this article argues for a socio-spatial approach to the study of the Latin America–Caribbean integration and development ... While this South–South cooperation space is not per se non-capitalist, a socio-spatial analysis also facilitates “seeing” the production of a socialist “counter-space” within this South–South cooperation structure. Read Full Text

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Building Other Possible Worlds The 99% and the 2015 Tunisian World Social Forum

Journal Articles, Karen Buckley

Karen Buckley The World Social Forum 2015 being held in Tunis may not present a welcome prospect for those who await the immediate consolidation of an alter-globalization agenda. However it does suggest that the process of resistance may yet be as important as any outcome. Read full text

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Climate, Water, and Livelihood Skills: A Post- Development Reading of the SDGs

Ariel Salleh, Journal Articles

Ariel Salleh Did the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agree to the recommended carbon emissions target of 1.58C? No: citizens and activists observing the December 2015 Paris meeting simply encountered business as usual. But climate politics will go nowhere as long as peoples’ movements remain locked into debates over arithmetic. It is time to reset the start line for climate struggles in a place that transcends silo thinking and its reductionist episteme. (read more)

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Theorizing Alternatives to Capital: Towards a Critical Cosmopolitanist Framework

Barry Gills, James Goodman, Journal Articles, S A Hamed Hosseini

Barry K. Gills, James Goodman, S A Hamed Hosseini We are living in an era of multiple crises, multiple social resistances, and multiple cosmopolitanisms. The post-Cold War context has generated a plethora of movements, but no single unifying ideology or global political program has yet materialized. The historical confrontation between capital and its alternatives, however, continues to pose new possibilities for social and systemic transformations. (read more) Download the Full Text

Feb52017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Toward Transversal Cosmopolitanism: Understanding Alternative Praxes in the Global Field of Transformative Movements

Barry Gills, James Goodman, Journal Articles, S A Hamed Hosseini

S A Hamed Hosseini, Barry K. Gills, James Goodman This article critically reflects on theoretical dilemmas of conceptualizing recent ideological shifts and contention among global transformative movements. Some studies conceptualize these movements as ideologically mature and coherent, while other inquiries highlight disorganization, fragmentation, disillusion, and dispute. (read more)

Feb42017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Five cities that could change the future of Antarctica

Analyses, Paul James

Juan Francisco Salazar, Western Sydney University; Elizabeth Leane, University of Tasmania; Liam Magee, Western Sydney University, and Paul James, Western Sydney University Antarctica is at a crossroads. This frozen continent at the bottom of our planet has the potential to either become one of the most fiercely contested zones in the world, or the most collaborative. Antarctica is one of four internationally recognised global commons along with the atmosphere, the high seas and outer space. These are all areas that have historically been guided by the principle of the common heritage of humankind. The continent is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, a complex set of arrangements developed to regulate relations between states with interests and territorial claims in the region. As of today, 29 states are “consultative parties” to…

Feb42017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Student school elections and political engagement: A cradle of democracy?

Journal Articles, Lawrence J. Saha

Lawrence J. Saha, Murray Print Studies have found that prior involvement in student politics while in school seems to be a good predictor of adult political engagement. While most studies of adults have obtained retrospective data on participation in school elections, there have been few studies of students about this activity. We contribute to this latter relatively unexplored area by reporting the results from a national survey of Australian secondary school students about the relationship between participation in school elections and future intended political engagement activities. We found that voting in school elections is positively related to feeling prepared to vote as an adult, to being committed to vote when 18, to political knowledge, and to engagement in forms of peaceful activism. Running for student government office is related to…

Jan222017 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

After capitalism, what comes next? For a start, ethics

Analyses, Capital, Jenny Cameron, Katherine Gibson, Stephen Healy

Jenny Cameron, University of Newcastle; Katherine Gibson, Western Sydney University, and Stephen Healy, Western Sydney University If the comments generated by the recent publication of excerpts from Paul Mason’s forthcoming book, Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future, are anything to go by, its release at the end of the month should kick up a storm. Mason’s book is about a seismic economic shift already underway, one that is as profound as the transformation from feudalism to capitalism. In the excerpts, Mason observes that: … whole swaths of economic life are beginning to move to a different rhythm. The shift is evidenced by developments such as collaborative production and the sharing economy. Mason attributes this economic transformation to advances in information technology, particularly the global networks of people and ideas that…

Dec192016 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Alternative Capitalisms vs. Alternatives to Capitalism

Multimedia

https://youtu.be/e7a3KaAVDA0

Dec162016 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Capital and Its Alternatives

Analyses, S A Hamed Hosseini

Why capital in 21st century needs a better definition? By S A Hamed Hosseini David Harvey in his short criticism of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in 21 Century, rightfully questions Piketty’s definition of ‘capital’ as one of his central difficulties: “Capital is a process not a thing. It is a process of circulation in which money is used to make more money often, but not exclusively through the exploitation of labor power. Piketty defines capital as the stock of all assets held by private individuals, corporations and governments that can be traded in the market no matter whether these assets are being used or not. This includes land, real estate and intellectual property rights as well as my art and jewelry collection. How to determine the value of all of these…

Apr142016 by hamedhosseiniNo Comments

Social Movements for Global Alternatives: Livelihood, Collaboration, Transformation

Events

2016 - Conference Presentations - Thursday, 14 July 2016: 09:20 Location: Hörsaal II (Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG)) 3rd ISA FORUM OF SOCIOLOGY, VIENNA Seyed A. HOSSEINI FARADONBEH, The University of Newcastle, Australia Barry GILLS, University of Helsinki, Finland Abstract We live in a neoliberal era of multiple crises, social upheavals and political flux. Yet the continuing confrontation between neoliberalism and its alternatives creates new possibilities for social and systemic transformation. Critical analysis of ideological divisions among today’s alternative projects/initiatives – via examining the historical, ideational, and practical roots of these differences – is important to understand past and present shortcomings and the continuing difficulties in creating coherent solutions. How do such projects construct alternative livelihood and social agency, beyond market-based individuation? To what extent do alternative initiatives engage collaboratively, and work across different approaches? The main…

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