Colin Crouch

"Revisiting the now-classical literature on neo-corporatism in light of current research and theory, the contributors illustrate the enormous influence of the 'neo-corporatist debate' on modern political science, political sociology, and political economy. Reflecting on a major part of the recent history of social science, they shed light on some of its current core concepts, such as governance, policy networks, and varieties of capitalism. The book traces the evolution of political conflicts concerning social order; from the class conflicts in Europe in the 1970s to the subsequent Latin American and Eastern European battles over democratization and democratic transition, to the debate on the 'democratic deficit' of the European Union." "Paying tribute to the work of Philippe Schmitter, which bridges the themes discussed in the book and which has provided inspiration to an entire generation of social scientists, The Diversity of Democracy will be invaluable to academics, students and researchers with an interest in political science, democratic theory, European integration and the study of democratic transitions as well as Latin America and Eastern European studies."--Jacket.

The financial crisis seemed to present a fundamental challenge to neo-liberalism, the body of ideas that have constituted the political orthodoxy of most advanced economies in recent decades. Colin Crouch argues in this book that it will shrug off this challenge. The reason is that while neo-liberalism seems to be about free markets, in practice it is concerned with the dominance over public life of the giant corporation. This has been intensified, not checked, by the recent financial crisis and acceptance that certain financial corporations are 'too big to fail'. Although much political debate remains preoccupied with conflicts between the market and the state, the impact of the corporation on both these is today far more important. -- Back cover.

xi, 211 p. : 25 cm

"Globalization, heralded for decades as a harbinger of prosperity, faces a huge backlash. In this incisive book, leading thinker Colin Crouch defends globalization against its critics to the right and left, thus providing a much-needed riposte to the delusions that risk plunging the world back into a zero-sum game of regressive economic nationalism"--