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Drawing on over four decades of research and writing on the political economy of the UK and United States, David Coates offers a masterly account of the Anglo-American condition and the social and economic crisis besetting both countries. Charting the rise and fall of the social settlements that have shaped and defined the postwar years, Coates traces the history of the two economies through first their New Deal and then their Reaganite periods - ones labelled differently in the UK, but similarly marked by the development first of a Keynesian welfare state and then a Thatcherite neoliberal one.

In Flawed Capitalism, David Coates draws on his vast experience of economy and society in both the US and the UK to examine the economic and social problems currently besetting each. Building an argument around the rise and fall of important social settlements, Flawed Capitalism traces the history of the two economies through first their New Deal and then their Reaganite periods - ones labelled differently in the UK, but similarly marked by the development first of a Keynesian welfare state and then a Thatcherite neoliberal one. It is with the weaknesses and downsides of the Reagan/Thatcher years that Flawed Capitalism is primarily concerned, showing how the underlying fragility of a settlement based on the weakening of organized labour and the extensive deregulation of business culminated in the financial crisis of 2008. The legacies of that crisis haunt us still - a squeezed middle class, further embedded poverty, deepened racial divisions, an adverse work-life balance for two-income families, and a growing crisis of housing and employment for the young. Flawed Capitalism deals with each in turn, and makes the case for the transatlantic creation of a new social settlement - a less flawed capitalism - one based on greater degrees of income equality and social justice

Introduction / David Coates -- The political economy of an anti-rent-seeking equality agenda / Dean Baker -- Towards a new paradigm for the Left in the United States / Fred Block -- Trawling the past as a guide to the future / David Coates -- A new politics from the Left: the distinctive experience of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party / Hilary Wainwright -- Social democracy in a dangerous world / Colin Crouch -- Whose side are we on? Liberalism and socialism are not the same / Wolfgang Streeck -- Class, party and the challenge of state transformation / Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin -- Closing thoughts / Matthew Watson.

What is the future for progressive politics in advanced capitalism? With its political fortunes so low, how might the Left move forward? These essays from leading left intellectuals - Dean Baker, Fred Block, David Coates, Hilary Wainwright, Colin Crouch, Wolfgang Streeck, Leo Panitch, Sam Gindin and Matthew Watson - reflect on the scale and nature of the task that the Left now faces and consider the following questions: (1) What in modern capitalism has brought the Left to this impasse?; (2) What role has the Left played in its own failings?; (3) What lessons can be learnt for progressive politics going forward?; and (4) What are the immediate options and how can they best be pursued? The views and opinions expressed vary, but all offer searching insights into the task the Left now faces. All point to the intellectual and practical experience on which the Left now needs to draw as it deals with its contemporary challenges. These essays represent a major statement on the future for centre-left politics and offer a frank appraisal of the Left's current capacity to keep conservatism at bay and to strengthen radical politics again.

"America is in trouble at home. Difficulties abound: unemployment and poverty for many, financial pressure for most, opulence for just a privileged few. Yet America is also active abroad, in a role that is equally troubling and difficult. The book explores the relationship between problems at home and challenges abroad, to see if by reducing the latter we can improve the former.. It does so by examining the fate of economies and societies that have also briefly enjoyed global dominance. The premise of the book is that, by looking back at what went wrong for them, we might go forward avoiding similar mistakes. The empires that preceded us - and left the greatest imprint upon us - are the ones chosen for particular attention here: the empires of Rome, Spain, Britain and Russia (both Tsarist and Soviet). They ultimately fell. Must America follow suit, or can we learn from their mistakes how best to avoid our own?"--

"America is in trouble at home. Difficulties abound: unemployment and poverty for many, financial pressure for most, opulence for just a privileged few. Yet America is also active abroad, in a role that is equally troubling and difficult. The book explores the relationship between problems at home and challenges abroad, to see if by reducing the latter we can improve the former. It does so by examining the fate of economies and societies that have also briefly enjoyed global dominance. The premise of the book is that, by looking back at what went wrong for them, we might go forward avoiding similar mistakes. The empires that preceded us - and left the greatest imprint upon us - are the ones chosen for particular attention here: the empires of Rome, Spain, Britain and Russia (both Tsarist and Soviet). They ultimately fell. Must America follow suit, or can we learn from their mistakes how best to avoid our own?"--

Answering Back presents the conservative and liberal arguments on eight key policy issues: trickle-down economics, welfare, social security, health care, immigration control, religion, the war in Iraq, and economic prosperity. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction, followed by conservative views and a point-by-point progressive response. Each stage of each argument is labeled for easy memorization, and the language used is deliberately jargon free, to make the material as accessible as possible. The sources of both conservative and progressive arguments (and their supporting evidence)

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1. A Call to Arms -- Chapter 2. Clearing the Decks -- Chapter 3. The Wonders of "Trickle-Down Economics -- Chapter 4. Cutting "Welfare" to Help the Poor -- Chapter 5. Reforming Social Security -- Chapter 6. Bringing Health to the Health Care System -- Chapter 7. Immigration Control in a Land of Immigrants -- Chapter 8. Is God Necessarily Conservative? -- Chapter 9. The Wisdom of the War in Iraq -- Chapter 10. Is Prosperity Safest in Republican Hands? -- Chapter 11. Steps to a Better Future -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Index.

The Labour landslide of 1997 and the excitement that accompanied the dawning of a new era in British politics are largely forgotten and overshadowed by the reality of two terms in office, but what has Labour achieved since its historic election victory? David Coates offers a balanced assessment of New Labour's domestic record and interrogates the problems that it inherited and the progress that the Party has made in tackling Britain's social and economic problems