Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism

Scott G. Nelson and Joel T. Shelton's book Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism explores the dynamics of advanced capitalism to understand the fate of equality, community, and solidarity. It presents statecraft as a conceptual lens to rearticulate public action in response to changing economic, social, and political conditions, highlighting the well-being of all people, especially the most vulnerable. The book reintroduces the creative and purposive aspects of governing to the study and practice of Political Economy.

Format: Hardback
Length: 190 pages
Publication date: 02 January 2023
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG

The defining crises of our time include rising inequality, the advance of far-right populism, ecological and climatic catastrophe, and the scourge of global pandemic disease. To address these challenges, we need a more expansive vision of the scope and possibilities of state action than political scientists and economists have provided to date. In Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism, political economists Scott G. Nelson and Joel T. Shelton examine several key social and political dynamics of advanced capitalism for insights into the fate of equality, community, and solidarity. Statecraft is presented as a conceptual lens through which the art and practice of public action are continually rearticulated in response to the shifting economic, social, and political conditions of a given epoch. The authors examine several consequential moments in the long tradition of political economy in relation to the governing predicaments of the present day, highlighting those predicaments that bear upon the well-being of all people, especially societies most vulnerable. The book thus reintroduces the creative and purposive aspects of governing to the study and practice of Political Economy, a field that has been too preoccupied with technical, institutional, and procedural aspects of economic management. Framing problems of governing national and global economies in relation to the craft of the state means searching out continuities between capitalism's early promise and present peril.

Rising inequality, the advance of far-right populism, ecological and climatic catastrophe, and the scourge of global pandemic disease are among the defining crises of our time. To address these challenges, we need a more expansive vision of the scope and possibilities of state action than political scientists and economists have provided to date. In Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism, political economists Scott G. Nelson and Joel T. Shelton examine several key social and political dynamics of advanced capitalism for insights into the fate of equality, community, and solidarity. Statecraft is presented as a conceptual lens through which the art and practice of public action are continually rearticulated in response to the shifting economic, social, and political conditions of a given epoch. The authors examine several consequential moments in the long tradition of political economy in relation to the governing predicaments of the present day, highlighting those predicaments that bear upon the well-being of all people, especially societies most vulnerable. The book thus reintroduces the creative and purposive aspects of governing to the study and practice of Political Economy, a field that has been too preoccupied with technical, institutional, and procedural aspects of economic management. Framing problems of governing national and global economies in relation to the craft of the state means searching out continuities between capitalism's early promise and present peril.

Weight: 400g
Dimension: 216 x 154 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783031159701
Edition number: 1st ed. 2023