Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie

Prof. Andrew Cumbers at the Think&Drink-Colloquium

Montag, 13.07.2015, Think&Drink-Colloquium Prof. Andrew Cumbers, Professor of Urban and Regional Political Economy, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow Montag, 13.07.2015 Prof. Andrew Cumbers, Professor of Urban and Regional Political Economy, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy
  • Prof. Andrew Cumbers at the Think&Drink-Colloquium
  • 2015-07-13T18:00:00+02:00
  • 2015-07-13T20:00:00+02:00
  • Montag, 13.07.2015, Think&Drink-Colloquium Prof. Andrew Cumbers, Professor of Urban and Regional Political Economy, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow Montag, 13.07.2015 Prof. Andrew Cumbers, Professor of Urban and Regional Political Economy, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy
  • Wann 13.07.2015 von 18:00 bis 20:00
  • Wo Raum 002: Universitätsstr. 3b, 10117 Berlin
  • iCal

Montag, 13.07.2015

 

Prof. Andrew Cumbers,

Professor of Urban and Regional Political Economy, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow

currently on a ‘DAAD Research Stay’ at  the Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS)

 

Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy

 

 

The twentieth century was dominated by two contrasting utopias: one, a vision of centralised state ownership that could overthrow capitalism and deliver the fruits of their labour to the masses; and the other, Hayek’s market-driven nirvana of individualism, democracy and freedom underpinned by private ownership. Ultimately, both visions ushered in centralising dystopias in the form totalitarian command economies in the former socialist countries and a corporate driven elite project of globalisation and privatisation.

 

As the twenty first century unfolds - with a financial crisis, economic recession and reheated neoliberal regime of fiscal austerity - there is an urgent need for a more democratic, egalitarian and participatory political economy that reclaims the public realm from its appropriation by elite interests. Yet, whilst private ownership is largely discredited, so too are older models of public ownership.

In this talk, I argue that a revitalised model of decentred and diverse public ownership is essential to this task.[*] I set out a series of principles for rethinking public ownership and consider recent examples that hold the promise of democratising the economy.



[*] Argued for at greater length in a recent book (Cumbers A 2012 Reclaiming Public Ownership: Making Space for Economic Democracy, Zed).