Reading Unger.
Review of Democracy Realized by Anne Kornhauser on Roberto Unger is up for grabs: the future of the welfare state; the shape of post-Cold War military policy; the structure of the global economy; and the organization of emerging democracies. [remember the issue of republics]existing institutional and political arrangements could be thoroughly revolutionized and in the process made considerably more democratic
-bu actual revolution.
. A post-welfare-state democratic politics.
. Jnger does not, however, reject the basic goals of the welfare state: greater equality and personal autonomy. Rather, he significantly complicates the picture as t
. There is no reason, for example, that we cannot simultaneously increase government activism and free enterprise
.: a virtual manifesto for "deepening democracy," which for him means breaking down existing hierarchies and social roles, reducing economic inequality, enhancing people's imaginative and critical capacities, and increasing popular political participation.
He rejects the revolutionary and deterministic vision of Marxism and liberalism's reliance on a neutral state and neutral institutions. Politics always has a purpose and therefore must promote a particular way of life
. Politics must also be relentlessly pluralist. "No one should have to live in a society in which public policy and institutional arrangements express the outlook of a particular part of the people against other parts."
.
.
It too often reads as if the practical suggestions are grafted onto his theory.
"progressives" must look beyond "the established institutional framework
.The corollary of this is that significant institutional change can be practical and achievable, rather than simply wide-eyed utopianism.
. The very process of institutional experimentation is crucial to democracy as it empowers individuals by providing an important source of knowledge about the possibilities for arranging political and social life to decentralize existing institutions and create new ones at the local level. But at adding huge structures to the central government, such as a new, quasijudicial branch of government that would enforce social and economic rights, including at the local level and in civil societywithout fully grappling with the problems that centralized mechanisms may pose for his populist vision. (Another example of centralization in his program is his proposal for the automatic unionization of all workers. What sort of structure, if any, would coordinate this sort of labor organization?)
. Rather than jettisoning redistnbutionist policies altogether, Linger wishes to supplement them with structural changes in the economy. These include the virtual banning of private inheritance in favor of social inheritance mechanisms into which the rich pay; the
Much of Unger's attention is directed toward increasing access to what he calls the "vanguard," or advanced sectors of the economy, which are to be found, in varying degrees, in both older industrial democracies and emerging democracies. These sectors are characterized by greater degrees of capital investment; a higher premium on knowledge or skill; unionization; and full-time work, often with the opportunity for advancement. Unger contrasts the "vanguard" with the "rearguard," those economic sectors characterized by low- or unskilled work, part-time jobs, little or no unionization, id a lack of protection and investment by the by the government and private sector alike
But they are only farfetched, Unger would be quick to tell us, if we're looking through the lenses of extant institutions and of assumptions about what is politically possible.
