Menu Expand
Expose, Oppose, Propose

Expose, Oppose, Propose

William K. Carroll

(2016)

Additional Information

Abstract

Neoliberal capitalism positions us all as consumers in a hypermarket where money talks. For the majority of people around the globe, this translates as precarity and immiseration. But how can we break from this dominant ideological framework?

Expose, Oppose, Propose details how, since the mid 1970s, transnational alternative policy groups (TAPGs) have functioned as think tanks of a different sort, generating resources for a globalization from below in dialogue with the critical social movements that are protagonists for global justice.

Based on two years of intensive research, William Carroll not only provides a detailed examination of a variety of TAPGs – showing how each group is distinctive and autonomous in its vision, practical priorities, and ways of producing and mobilizing alternative knowledge – but also reveals how TAPGs form a master frame that advocates and envisages global justice and ecological wellbeing.


'With this penetrating study of transnational alternative policy groups, Carroll and his colleagues demonstrate that while they are embedded within a network of hegemonic institutions they can also mediate between movements and media, between counterpublics and general publics, and go beyond resistance into the realm of counter-hegemonic politics and the struggle for global justice.'
Leslie Sklair, London School of Economics

‘In analysing the dual crisis of contemporary capitalism, Carroll skillfully weighs up the strategic dilemmas faced by transnational resistance movements seeking global alternatives - and his sociological scholarship is second to none in its blend of political passion and exemplary empiricism.’
Ariel Salleh, activist and author of Eco-Sufficiency & Global Justice

‘Brilliant and original … He fully recognizes that the global dimensions of the crises will require solutions that are at least partially global and that many of these solutions will be practical utopias in the sense that they will challenge us to face the difficulties of bringing about a post-capitalist world and at the same time present practical strategies that may make this possible.’
Robert Albritton, York University, Toronto

‘Chock-full of insights, William K. Carroll’s latest book is an immensely useful account of how major alternative think-tanks engage in their struggles for global justice. A must-read for anyone interested in developing strategies for a more equitable world.’
Markus S. Schulz, President of the 2016 ISA Forum of Sociology

‘Refusing to be mesmerized by neoliberalism, Carroll has spent years probing the structures and practices of justice globalism.  Careful, concrete investigation of a globally dispersed set of transnational alternative policy groups enables him to offer a sophisticated, synthetic characterization of their shared vision.  Expose, Oppose, Propose is an indispensable guide for anyone trying to create the basis for a just and viable future.’
Peter Evans, University of California, Berkeley

'Carroll successfully shows that TAPGs (transnational alternative policy groups) and their responses to the ongoing crises, move us beyond the defensive politics of resistance and localism to a politics of antipassive revolution and counterhegemony at a global level.'
Mobilization


William K. Carroll teaches at the Sociology Department at the University of Victoria, Canada. His research interests are in the areas of social movements and social change, the political economy of corporate capitalism, and critical social theory and method. His books include The Making of a Transnational Capitalist Class (Zed Books, 2010), Remaking Media (2006), and Organizing Dissent (1997).

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover page Cover
About the Author ii
Title Page iii
Copyright iv
Contents v
Abbreviations vi
Acknowledgements ix
Preface 1
1. Hegemony, Counter-hegemony and Organic Crisis 6
Transnational Policy Groups: Hegemonic and Counter-hegemonic 10
Comparing TAPGs and Neoliberal Think Tanks (NTTs) 15
The Context: Global Organic Crisis 17
Passive Revolution and Anti-passive Revolution 22
TAPGs and the Urgent Need for Justice Globalism 24
Sixteen Key Transnational Alternative Policy Groups 31
2. Alternative Knowledge Projects and Cognitive Praxis 40
KPM Projects, Practices and Constituencies 41
Parting Reflections 60
3. Networks of Cognitive Praxis: Embedding Postcapitalist Alternatives? 65
Counter-hegemony and Global Civil Society: Embedding Postcapitalist Alternatives 66
Collecting the Network Data 67
TAPGS within Global Civil Society: Basic Patterns and Parameters 68
Inter-regional and North-South Integration 74
Embeddedness and Mediation among Movement Domains 78
TAPGs as Embedded Collective Intellectuals 81
4. Challenges and Responses 86
More with Less: TAPGs vs. Mainstream Think Tanks 88
Mainstreaming and Marginalization 98
The Post-2008 Conjuncture 105
5. The Challenge of NGOization 118
NGOs, Foundations and NGOization 121
Parting Reflections 138
6. The Repertoire of alt KPM: Modes of Cognitive Praxis 140
Challenging Hegemonic Knowledge 143
Mobilizing Alternative Knowledge through Engaging with Dominant Institutions 144
Empowering the Grassroots through Participation and Capacity-building 148
Building Solidarities through Dialogical KPM 150
Integrating Theory and Practice 154
Creating Spaces for Reflection and Invention 156
Systematizing and Disseminating Alternative Knowledge 157
Prefiguring Alternative Futures from Present Practices 159
Parting Reflections 161
7. The Repertoire of alt KPM: Key Practices 166
Research and Analysis 167
Pedagogy 168
Networking 170
Action 173
Internal Governance and Organizational Forms 174
Outreach 176
TAPGs, Media and Movements: A Summary Statement 188
Parting Reflections 189
8. Convergent Visions: The Ends of Alternative Knowledge 192
Substantive Fulfillment of the Human Rights Agenda 194
Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Plural Social Forms 194
Diverse Voices in Dialogue 195
Changing the Subject: Decolonizing the Human Spirit and the Spirit of Ubuntu 196
Participatory Democracy 198
Open, Democratic Socialism 199
Reclaiming the Commons 199
Buen Vivir: A Sustainable Society 201
Process Issues 203
Green Transformation 204
Back to Justice Globalism: Concluding Reflections 206
References 215
Index 230