Democratic Society and Human Needs
Author | : Jeff Noonan |
Publisher | : McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |
Total Pages | : 637 |
Release | : 2006-10-25 |
ISBN-10 | : 9780773577466 |
ISBN-13 | : 0773577467 |
Rating | : 4/5 (66 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: In Democratic Society and Human Needs Noonan examines the moral grounds for liberalism and democracy, arguing that contemporary democracy was created through needs-based struggles against classical liberal rights, which are essentially exclusionary. For him, a democratic society is one in which human beings collectively control necessary life-resources, using them to promote the essential human value of free capability realization. His critique of globalization and liberal-capitalism vindicates radical social and economic democratization and provides an essential step towards understanding the vast discrepancies between rich and poor within and between democratic countries.