Reimagining Capitalism: Applying Negative Dialectics for a Better Future

David M. Atkinson, York St John University

The Covid-19 pandemic reinforced the perception that capitalism is in crisis, that the future is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, and that, increasingly, our thinking about it and ability to manage and organize ourselves within it, are challenges we are ill-equipped for. Despite the efforts of many writers, and a surfeit of manuscripts concerning the need to rethink capitalism, questions concerning the struggle for social and economic justice remain unanswered. While some suggest that with corrective action, businesses can save the world, there is an acceptance that they cannot do so alone. However, while governments might strengthen their institutions, enacting more effective policies, the challenge is simply laid bare at the feet of industry and commerce. Is the challenge to confront the establishment just too big to face? Government institutions and the barons of industry and commerce are but interrelated, interconnected, interplaying components in one socio-economic system. This book offers readers a progressive, radical and academic provocation of that system; it also proposes a field of Applied Negative Dialectics. In 'Reimagining Capitalism', Atkinson confronts the need to rethink capitalism and presents an integrated range of thinking through a lens of applied negative dialectics, questioning how and why things might have occurred, and where and how we might begin to improve them.

Florentine Ariosto Jones: A Yankee in Switzerland and the Early Globalization of the American System of Watchmaking

Frank Jacob, Nord University, Norway

This book recounts the story of Florentine Ariosto Jones, who after the Civil War decided to manufacture watches. Combining the cheap labor available at the time in Switzerland with US manufacturing technologies, Jones embarked on his venture to produce affordable watches for the American market. Consequently, he became a pioneer in the business of outsourcing labor for economic purposes through his contracting of labor to Europe. While the company still exists today, very little is known about Jones. The present book will undoubtedly change this by telling the fascinating story of an American adventurer and his pursuit to globalize American watchmaking at the end of the 19th Century.

Florentine Ariosto Jones: A Yankee in Switzerland and the Early Globalization of the American System of Watchmaking

Frank Jacob, Nord University, Norway

This book recounts the story of Florentine Ariosto Jones, who after the Civil War decided to manufacture watches. Combining the cheap labor available at the time in Switzerland with US manufacturing technologies, Jones embarked on his venture to produce affordable watches for the American market. Consequently, he became a pioneer in the business of outsourcing labor for economic purposes through his contracting of labor to Europe. While the company still exists today, very little is known about Jones. The present book will undoubtedly change this by telling the fascinating story of an American adventurer and his pursuit to globalize American watchmaking at the end of the 19th Century.

Rethinking Territorial Development Policies: A new framework for territorial stakeholders

Theory, methods and implementations

Michel Felix, Skema Business School and Philippe Vaesken, Lille University, France

This book provides an analytical framework and toolkit for anyone involved — theoretically or practically — with the economic, social, ecological or cultural development of a territory. This work provides an overview of the various territorial development processes, inclusive of both individual and collective actions. In pursuance of its objectives, the book re-examines the classical concepts of governance and regulation in order to position them in an integrative model of the initiatives which contribute dynamically to territorial development. According to this model, the concepts of governance and regulation become two axes, revealing four main reference situations which differentiate between the local initiatives (ground-up) and public actions (top-down) that coexist in a territory. The model emphasizes the need to consider the place of territorial stakeholders in regulatory processes. The book enriches this concept, familiar in a legislative context, and describes it as an area of influence of and negotiation with stakeholders. It contributes to a territorial governance system which encourages development offers. It reveals the inseparable link between influence and development processes that lead to value creation. The logic of governance specifies the various sources of value creation, while the logic of regulation seeks to maximize the acceptability of such value creation by making it into an attractive proposition for stakeholders.

Liberty & Prosperity: Liberal economics for achieving universal prosperity

Gopi Krishna Suvanam

‘Liberty & Prosperity: Liberal Economics for Achieving Universal Prosperity’ aims to illuminate alternative policy framework using liberal economic policies. The evolution of this book is grounded in the author’s personal and professional experience investigating economies around the world and therefore takes a global view. The ideas discussed are intended for countries currently under different stages of development and are not restricted to only developed countries or emerging economies. This book examines what we as a society can do to achieve universal prosperity with the recurring topic of the intertwining nature of liberty and prosperity; without prosperity, man cannot have true liberty, and the best way to achieve universal prosperity is by providing liberty to all. It identifies the appropriate measures from existing liberal theories that could help achieve this long-term goal, while also introducing contrarian ideas, including the elimination of income tax, denationalization of money, and the reduction in the role of central banks. The central theme is that liberty in all aspects of economic activity, coupled with universal basic income, could create universal prosperity. This book will particularly appeal to those with a general interest in the economy and business, as well as students who seek an overview of classical macroeconomic principles; however, the book’s innovative ideas may also be of interest to professional economists.