From the Streets to the State: Changing the World by Taking Power

For decades, emancipatory struggles have been deeply influenced by the slogan “Change the world without taking power.” Amid growing social inequalities and the return of right-wing authoritarianism, however, many now recognize the limits of disengaging from government and the state. From the Streets to the State chronicles many diverse and exciting projects to not only take state power but to fundamentally change it. A blend of scholars and activists explore issues like the nonsectarian relationships between new radical left parties, egalitarian social movements, and labor movements in Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey. Contributors discuss municipal campaigns based in popular assemblies, solidarity economies, and independent political organizations fighting for racial, gender, and economic justice in cities such as Jackson, Vancouver, and Newcastle. This volume also studies the lessons learned from the Pink Tide in Latin America as well as the social movements of racialized and gendered workers transforming human rights across the United States. Finally, the book offers case studies from around the world surveying the role of state workers and public sector unions in radically democratizing public administration through coalitions between the providers and users of public services. -- Publisher's description. Contents: Part 1: Changing the World...and Ourselves: The Radical Left and the Problems of State Power. From the streets to the state : a critical introduction / Paul Christopher Gray -- Democratizing the party and the state : transcending the limits of the left / Leo Panitch. Part 2: Confronting Leviathan: Parties, Social Movements, and the Capitalist State. Building "parties of a new type" : a comparative analysis of new radical left parties In Western Europe / Xavier Lafrance and Catarina Príncipe -- Watching over the right to turn left : the limits of state autonomy in pink tide Venezuela and Ecuador / Thomas Chiasson-LeBel -- Casting shadows : Chokwe Lumumba and the struggle for racial justice and economic democracy in Jackson, Mississippi / Kali Akuno -- The radical democracy of the People's Democratic Party : transforming the Turkish state / Erdem Yörük -- Toward a radical politics of rights : lessons about legal leveraging and its limitations / Michael McCann and George I. Lovell. Part 3: In, against, and beyond the Behemoth: Projects for “Democratic Administration.” Market failures, failing states : challenges for democratization projects / Greg Albo -- Forging a "social knowledge economy" : transformative collaborations between radical left governments, state workers, and solidarity economies / Hilary Wainwright -- Femocratic administration and the politics of transformation / Tammy Findlay -- Beyond service, beyond coercion? : prisoner co-ops and the path to democratic administration / Greg McElligott.