The Crisis of Global Capitalism

This collection of essays outlines a new?political economy. Twenty years after the demise of Soviet communism, the global?recession into which free-market capitalism has plunged the world?economy?provides a unique opportunity to chart an?alternative path. Both the left-wing adulation of centralized statism and the?right-wing fetishization of market liberalism are part of a secular logic?that?is collapsing under the weight of its own inner contradictions. It is?surely?no coincidence that the crisis of global capitalism occurs at the same time as?the crisis of secular modernity.?Building?on the tradition of Catholic social teaching since the groundbreaking?encyclical?Rerum Novarum?(1891), Pope?Benedict XVI's?Caritas in Veritate?is the most radical intervention in contemporary?debates on the future of economics, politics, and society.?Benedict outlines a?Catholic "third way" that combines strict limits on state and market power with?a civil economy centered on mutualist?businesses, cooperatives, credit unions,?and other reciprocal arrangements. His?call for a civil economy also represents?a radical?"middle" position between an exclusively religious and a strictly?secular perspective. Thus, Benedict's vision for an alternative political?economy resonates with people of all faiths and none.

This collection of essays outlines a new?political economy. Twenty years after the demise of Soviet communism, the global'recession into which free-market capitalism has plunged the world?economy?provides a unique opportunity to chart an?alternative path. Both the left-wing adulation of centralized statism and the?right-wing fetishization of market liberalism are part of a secular logic?that?is collapsing under the weight of its own inner contradictions. It is?surely?no coincidence that the crisis of global capitalism occurs at the same time as?the crisis of secular modernity.?Building?on the tradition of Catholic social teaching since the groundbreaking?encyclical?Rerum Novarum?(1891), Pope?Benedict XVI's?Caritas in Veritate?is the most radical intervention in contemporary?debates on the future of economics, politics, and society.?Benedict outlines a?Catholic "third way" that combines strict limits on state and market power with?a civil economy centered on mutualist?businesses, cooperatives, credit unions,?and other reciprocal arrangements. His?call for a civil economy also represents?a radical?"middle" position between an exclusively religious and a strictly?secular perspective. Thus, Benedict's vision for an alternative political?economy resonates with people of all faiths and none.
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