State of Crisis

Today we hear much talk of crisis and comparisons are often madewith the Great Depression of the 1930s, but there is a crucialdifference that sets our current malaise apart from the 1930s:today we no longer trust in the capacity of the state to resolvethe crisis and to chart a new way forward. In our increasinglyglobalized world, states have been stripped of much of their powerto shape the course of events. Many of our problems are globallyproduced but the volume of power at the disposal of individualnation-states is simply not sufficient to cope with the problemsthey face. This divorce between power and politics produces a newkind of paralysis. It undermines the political agency that isneeded to tackle the crisis and it saps citizens' belief thatgovernments can deliver on their promises. The impotence ofgovernments goes hand in hand with the growing cynicism anddistrust of citizens. Hence the current crisis is at once a crisisof agency, a crisis of representative democracy and a crisis of thesovereignty of the state. In this book the world-renowned sociologist Zygmunt Bauman andfellow traveller Carlo Bordoni explore the social and politicaldimensions of the current crisis. While this crisis has beengreatly exacerbated by the turmoil following the financial crisisof 2007-8, Bauman and Bordoni argue that the crisis facing Westernsocieties is rooted in a much more profound series oftransformations that stretch back further in time and are producinglong-lasting effects. This highly original analysis of our current predicament by two ofthe world's leading social thinkers will be of interest to awide readership.