FALL-WINTER 2013 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

Constructing NeoliberalismEconomic Transformation in Anglo-American DemocraciesJonathan SwartsConstructing Neoliberalism presents a rich analysis of the shift to neoliberal economic policiesin four Anglo-American democracies – Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand – over thecourse of the 1980s and 1990s. This period witnessed a dramatic shift away from traditionalpost-war consensus policies of active state economic intervention, public ownership, andfull employment toward those informed by an ideological commitment to deregulation,privatization, entrepreneurialism, and freer trade.Jonathan Swarts argues that this transformation was not simply a marginal adjustmentin existing economic policies, but rather the result of political elites seeking to reshape whathe calls their societies’ “political-economic imaginaries.” Swarts demonstrates that thisshift cut across traditional party lines, and that in all four cases, the result was a new setof intersubjective norms about appropriate economic policies, the role of the state in theeconomy, the expectations and aspirations of citizens, and the very nature of an advancedindustrial democracy in a globalizing world.Jonathan Swarts is an associate professor of Political Science in the Department of SocialSciences at Purdue University North Central.POLITICAL SCIENCECONSTRUCTINGNEOLIBERALISMECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION INANGLO-AMERICAN DEMOCRACIESJONATHAN SWARTSApprox. 304 pp / 6 x 9 / September 20132 figures, 15 tablesCloth 978-1-4426-4646-9$70.00 (£48.99) EeBook 978-1-4426-6579-8 $70.00Political Science / Political Theory/ Public PolicyPolitics as Radical CreationHerbert Marcuse and Hannah Arendt on Political PerformativityChristopher HolmanPolitics as Radical Creation examines the meaning of democratic practice through the criticalsocial theory of the Frankfurt School. It provides an understanding of democratic politics asa potentially performative good-in-itself, undertaken not just to the extent that it seeks toachieve a certain extrinsic goal, but also in that it functions as a medium for the expression ofcreative human impulses. Christopher Holman develops this potential model through a criticalexamination of the political philosophies of Herbert Marcuse and Hannah Arendt.Holman argues that, while Arendt and Marcuse’s respective theorizations each ultimatelyrestrict the potential scope of creative human expression, their juxtaposition – which has notbeen previously explored – results in a more comprehensive theory of democratic existence, onethat is uniquely able to affirm the creative capacities of the human being. Yielding importanttheoretical results that will interest scholars of each theorist and of theories of democracy moregenerally, Politics as Radical Creation provides a valuable means for rethinking the nature ofcontemporary democratic practice.Christopher Holman is a SSHRC postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Philosophyat Stony Brook University.CHRISTOPHER HOLMANHerbert Marcuse& Hannah Arendton PoliticalPerformativityApprox. 272 pp / 6 x 9 / September 2013Cloth 978-1-4426-4488-5$75.00 (£52.99) EeBook 978-1-4426-6789-1 $75.00Political Theoryutppublishing.com21