Criminalising the Client: Institutional Change, Gendered Ideas and Feminist Strategies (Feminist Institutionalist Perspectives)

Présentation de l'éditeur : "In 1998, Sweden was the first country in the world to criminalise the purchase of sexual services, but not the sale of sex. The law represented a new prostitution regime that problematised power relations in prostitution as inherently gendered and hierarchical and made the male buyers of sexual services responsible for the act of prostitution. The Swedish case is critically important to the study of gendered institutional change and has been of empirical interest and global debate. Using the feminist institutionalism approach to the analysis, this study offers new insights to the Swedish case and provides a new analytical framework for micro-level analysis of institutional change that addresses the struggle for meaning, institutionalization of new gendered ideas, and the (strategic) actions of feminist actors." Contemporary Politics Is Dominated By A Liberal Creed That Champions ‘negative Liberty’ And Individual Happiness. This Creed Undergirds Positions On Both The Right And The Left – Free-market Capitalism, State Bureaucracy And Individualism In Social Life. The Triumph Of Liberalism Has Had The Effect Of Subordinating Human Association And The Common Good To Narrow Self-interest And Short-term Utility. By Contrast, Post-liberalism Promotes Individual Fulfilment And Mutual Flourishing Based On Shared Goals That Have More Substantive Content Than The Formal Abstractions Of Liberal Law And Contract, And Yet Are Also Adaptable To Different Cultural And Local Traditions. In This Important Book, John Milbank And Adrian Pabst Apply This Analysis To The Economy, Politics, Culture, And International Affairs. In Each Case, Having Diagnosed The Crisis Of Liberalism, They Propose Post-liberal Alternatives, Notably New Concepts And Fresh Policy Ideas. They Demonstrate That, Amid The Current Crisis, Post-liberalism Is A Programme That Could Define A New Politics Of Virtue And The Common Good. -- The Metacrisis Of Liberalism -- The Post-liberal Alternative -- The Metacrisis Of Capitalism -- The Civil Economy Alternative -- The Metacrisis Of Democracy -- The Mixed Constitution Alternative -- The Metacrisis Of Culture -- Culture As Formation -- The Metacrisis Of The Nations -- Commonwealth, Culture And Covenant. John Milbank And Adrian Pabst. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contemporary politics is dominated by a liberal creed that champions ‘negative liberty’ and individual happiness. This creed undergirds positions on both the right and the left – free-market capitalism, state bureaucracy and individualism in social life. The triumph of liberalism has had the effect of subordinating human association and the common good to narrow self-interest and short-term utility. By contrast, post-liberalism promotes individual fulfilment and mutual flourishing based on shared goals that have more substantive content than the formal abstractions of liberal law and contract, and yet are also adaptable to different cultural and local traditions. In this important book, John Milbank and Adrian Pabst apply this analysis to the economy, politics, culture, and international affairs. In each case, having diagnosed the crisis of liberalism, they propose post-liberal alternatives, notably new concepts and fresh policy ideas. They demonstrate that, amid the current crisis, post-liberalism is a programme that could define a new politics of virtue and the common good. -- Provided by publisher Présentation de l'éditeur : "In 1998, Sweden was the first country in the world to criminalise the purchase of sexual services, but not the sale of sex. The law represented a new prostitution regime that problematised power relations in prostitution as inherently gendered and hierarchical and made the male buyers of sexual services responsible for the act of prostitution. The Swedish case is critically important to the study of gendered institutional change and has been of empirical interest and global debate. Using the feminist institutionalism approach to the analysis, this study offers new insights to the Swedish case and provides a new analytical framework for micro-level analysis of institutional change that addresses the struggle for meaning, institutionalization of new gendered ideas, and the (strategic) actions of feminist actors." Two expert authors combine a compelling critique of contemporary liberalism with post-liberal alternatives in politics, the economy, culture and international affairs, to provide the fullest account so far of the post-liberal alternative in Western politics.