{"title":"Richard Westra","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"economics-science-and-capitalism-book-richard-westra-9780367610432","title":"Economics, Science and Capitalism","description":"\u003cp\u003eVarious strains of heterodox economics have sought, and largely failed, to dismount orthodoxy from its dominant position. This book critiques the criticizers, explaining why heterodox economics challenges have faltered, and then presents a coherent alternative paradigm of its own. This simultaneously exposes the vacuousness of neoclassical economics, the limitations of heterodox critique and the subverting of Karl Marx’s revolutionary economic thought by his own disciples.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book draws in particular on two key intellectual traditions in making its arguments: critical realism and Marxism. From the refounding of critical realist philosophy of science in the hands of Roy Bhaskar, emphasis is placed upon the position that the ontological nature of the object of study determines the form of its possible science. However, in their theoretical constructions, neither orthodox economics nor heterodox economics problematizes the unique ontology of capitalism to the detriment of knowledge about the social world. The book maintains that a century of misthinking over Marx’s corpus has resulted in a missed opportunity to construct a paradigmatic alternative to orthodox economics. Drawing upon the tradition of the Japanese Uno approach to Marxism, and supported by Bhaskar’s development of critical realism as underlaborer for science, the book defends Marx’s writing in his monumental \u003ci\u003eCapital \u003c\/i\u003eas founding an economic science adequate to its ontological object of study. It then elaborates upon how Marxian economic theory exposes the hidden scourges of capitalism and what is required to unleash the potential of this theory for comprehensive analysis of capitalist vicissitudes, the study of economic life in precapitalist societies and the design of a desperately needed postcapitalist social order.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBroadening its appeal as it sets out to reclaim Marx’s revolutionary legacy, this original volume critically traverses writings in mainstream and heterodox economics, cutting edge philosophy of science and Marxian political economy and introduces readers to a reconstruction of Marx’s \u003ci\u003eCapital \u003c\/i\u003eengineered in Japan. This provocative book is essential reading for everyone interested in heterodox economics, critical realism, Marxian economics and critiques of capitalism.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51001615122705,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51001617973521,"sku":"NIN9780367610432","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52334579745041,"sku":"NLS9780367610432","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0367610434.jpg?v=1786091300"},{"product_id":"economics-science-and-capitalism-book-richard-westra-9780367610425","title":"Economics, Science and Capitalism","description":"Various strains of heterodox economics have sought, and largely failed, to dismount orthodoxy from its dominant position. 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Foci of this literature ranges from questions of financial system and technological change through evidence of shifting class contours metastasizing a more predatory constellation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn exposing the dire consequences for humanity of capitalist unravelling, Westra remedies the lacunae of current writings which leave fundamental questions of what precisely capitalism is or was and the historical delimitations of capitalism unanswered. He not only critically analyzes the arguments over capitalisms passing under key rubrics of financialization, globalization, intangible assets and social class, but grounds determinations over the existence of capitalism in a novel synthetic definition of it drawn from Marx. While capitalism has always been an exploitative, asymmetric wealth distributive, alienating, class divisive, crises ridden society, Westra explains how current economic transmutations undermine what coherence capitalism had historically maintained.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book, written in a clear and compelling fashion, is a clarion call for social change. It will be of interest to academics and students across fields of economics, political economy, economic history, political science and sociology as well as to progressive policymakers and social activists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51090952552721,"sku":"NIN9781032603575","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52586852417809,"sku":"NLS9781032603575","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1032603577.jpg?v=1786441592"},{"product_id":"exit-from-globalization-book-richard-westra-9781138195097","title":"Exit from Globalization","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eExit from Globalization \u003c\/em\u003emoves from theory to practice: from questions of where incorrigible knowledge of substantive economic life derives and how that knowledge is put towards making a progressive, redistributive, eco-sustainable future of human flourishing. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWestra discards at the outset views that the root of current economic ills is the old devil we know, capitalism. Rather, he maintains the neoliberal decades spawned a \"Merchant of Venice\" economic excrescence bent upon expropriation and rent seeking which will scrape all the flesh from the bones of humanity if not stopped dead in its tracks. En route to providing a viable design for the human future in line with transformatory demands of socialists and Greens, Westra exorcizes both Soviet demons and ghosts of neoliberal ideologues past which lent support to the position that there is no alternative to \"the market\". \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eExit from Globalization\u003c\/em\u003e shows in a clear and compelling fashion that while debates over the possibility of another, potentially socialist, world swirl around this or that grand society-wide scheme, the fact is that creative future directed thinking has at its disposal several \u003cem\u003eeconomic principles\u003c\/em\u003e that transformatory actors may choose from and combine in various ways to remake human economic life. The book concludes with an examination of the various social constituencies currently supporting radical change and explores the narrowing pathways to bring change about. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51212107088145,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51212109480209,"sku":"NIN9781138195097","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52617254895889,"sku":"NLS9781138195097","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/113819509X.jpg?v=1786111166"},{"product_id":"political-economy-of-eco-sustainable-alternatives-book-richard-westra-9781032628851","title":"Political Economy of Eco-sustainable Alternatives","description":"\u003cp\u003eWestra recounts how the unceremonious collapse of Soviet-style socialism, coupled with mounting awareness of unfolding environmental destruction and irreversible climate change opened the door to a new, wide-ranging, social change literature. In this exciting book, he begins by tracing out the case for the Anthropocene. He then provides an unparalleled, inclusive critical exploration of the plurality of progressive designs on offer. These include the Green New Deal, “nowtopias” of cooperative, solidarity and commoning economies, ecofeminism, Degrowth society as well as ecosocialism and democratic socialism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWestra firstly explains why the Green New Deal program to sustainably develop capitalism is unworkable given the boundedness of resources necessary to generalize the advanced economy “way of life” it seeks to maintain. Secondly, while he concurs with much that the new social change literature offers, his concern is with the way it abandons a major caution that had been leveled at so-called “utopian socialists” in the past. To be sure, the problem does not reside with bursts of creative, future-directed thinking in themselves. Rather, where difficulties arise is over the paucity of attention devoted to questions of economic coordination and principles of economic viability. Westra explains how only by combining several economic principles, each operating at a determinate scale and devoted to specific elements of human social and material reproduction, will the promise of an equitable, eco-sustainable human future be realized.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis unique volume will be of interest to academic specialists and students of political economy, economics, environmental sustainability, sociology and political science. Progressive policymakers and social activists will also find its arguments refreshing and compelling.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51598521696529,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51598521860369,"sku":"NGR9781032628851","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52474577977617,"sku":"NLS9781032628851","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1032628855.jpg?v=1786105659"},{"product_id":"future-of-capitalism-after-the-financial-crisis-book-richard-westra-9781138226784","title":"The Future of Capitalism After the Financial Crisis","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Future of Capitalism After the Financial Crisis: The Varieties of Capitalism Debate in the Age of Austerity contains thirteen world leading political economists writing from within eight different countries who critically analyze the current crisis tendencies of capitalism both globally and in particular countries. Given the likelihood of an increasingly crisis prone future for capitalism, it is important not only to rethink capitalism in its current manifestations or varieties. It is also important to rethink research methods and conceptual frameworks in preparation for understanding an increasingly rocky future in which capitalism itself could go the way of the many species that in the past were endangered only to become extinct. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore and more titles of books and articles are suggesting that capitalism or perhaps civilization itself is endangered if we do not make radical changes in the near future. This book breaks with academic path dependency and attempts to open new vistas of political economy and of multidisciplinary analysis that are crucially important if our thought processes are to be effective in a world in jeopardy. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe varieties of capitalism (VoC) debate itself came into being as the Soviet Union unraveled. It drew in scholarship from a cross-section of Marxian and heterodox political economy. The key argument of VoC was that if capitalism was the only global option then those on the Left must get involved in policy discussions on how capitalist economies can be fashioned to become competitive as well as progressive. However, the financial crisis has seen policy across the advanced economies veer toward competitiveness coupled with austerity. The lesson for the Left is that alternatives to capitalism must be sought in the here and now.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52120138121489,"sku":"NLS9781138226784","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781138226784.jpg?v=1786106504"},{"product_id":"political-economy-and-globalization-book-richard-westra-9780415470223","title":"Political Economy and Globalization","description":"This book provides an analysis of capitalisms world historic phases of development, a critique of the globalization literature and a re-examination of Marxian debates over the rise of capitalism.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52427384586513,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52427385438481,"sku":"NLS9780415470223","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780415470223.jpg?v=1786110700"},{"product_id":"exit-from-globalization-book-richard-westra-9780415835343","title":"Exit from Globalization","description":"Exit from Globalization moves from theory to practice: from questions of where incorrigible knowledge of substantive economic life derives and how that knowledge is put towards making a progressive, redistributive, eco-sustainable future of human flourishing.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52456339177745,"sku":"NLS9780415835343","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53013889614097,"sku":"NIN9780415835343","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780415835343.jpg?v=1786078030"},{"product_id":"political-economy-of-emerging-markets-book-richard-westra-9781138121225","title":"The Political Economy of Emerging Markets","description":"\u003cp\u003eRapid and sustained growth in the twenty-first-century global economy of large developing economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has captivated policy-makers and popular business press pundits alike. The coining of the new acronym BRICS and widespread adoption in international economics discourse of the designation \"emerging markets\" is symptomatic of that interest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Political Economy of Emerging Markets situates the BRICS phenomena in the global economic context of advanced economies continuing to languish in recession and hovering over a deflationary abyss several years after the meltdown. A key question this volume seeks to answer is whether the BRICS and so-called \"emerging market\" phenomenon is really the new miracle it is presented as, offering new or modified varieties of reloaded capitalist development to the world, or yet another mirage. Written by ten leading global experts, this book answers the tough questions over BRICS and emerging markets potentially realizing new varieties of reloaded capitalism. It is not only international and interdisciplinary but uniquely multiperspectival. Theories framing chapters are not of one genre, but generate theoretical debate at the frontier of knowledge in political economy along with nuanced empirical analysis which flows from it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is of great importance to those who study political economy, development economics and international political economy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52475231011089,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52475232157969,"sku":"NLS9781138121225","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781138121225.jpg?v=1786102161"},{"product_id":"future-of-capitalism-after-the-financial-crisis-book-richard-westra-9780415722841","title":"The Future of Capitalism After the Financial Crisis","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Future of Capitalism After the Financial Crisis: The Varieties of Capitalism Debate in the Age of Austerity contains thirteen world leading political economists writing from within eight different countries who critically analyze the current crisis tendencies of capitalism both globally and in particular countries. 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Foci of this literature ranges from questions of financial system and technological change through evidence of shifting class contours metastasizing a more predatory constellation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn exposing the dire consequences for humanity of capitalist unravelling, Westra remedies the lacunae of current writings which leave fundamental questions of what precisely capitalism is or was and the historical delimitations of capitalism unanswered. He not only critically analyzes the arguments over capitalisms passing under key rubrics of financialization, globalization, intangible assets and social class, but grounds determinations over the existence of capitalism in a novel synthetic definition of it drawn from Marx. 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Most literature produced heretofore has focused on the surface causes of these crises without much attention given to the sorts of major societal changes needed in order to deal with the crises we face.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book moves the debate beyond the critiques and the false or not fully realised alternatives, to focus on what can be termed \"practical utopias\". The contributors to this book outline a range of practical proposals for constructing pathways out of the global economic, ecological and social crisis. \u003ci\u003eVarieties of Alternative Economic Systems\u003c\/i\u003e eschews a single blueprint but insists on dealing directly with the deep structural problems and contradictions of contemporary global capitalism. 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