Can the left’s project of democratic egalitarianism find new moorings in the age of global competitiveness? Despite the dark shadow recently cast on neoliberal governance schemes, there remains an air of doubt about the economic feasibility of leftist hopes and ideals.
This should make political analyst Jean-François Lisée’s book Pour une gauche efficicace (For an Efficient Left) required reading for all the disheartened social democrats out there. As a special advisor to both Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard while they were premiers, Lisée is well positioned to appreciate the real challenges of statecraft. If this has led him to espouse certain neoliberal “imperatives,” his determination and ingenuity have enabled him to develop a persuasive set of proposals on how to renew the classical left’s project of social and democratic equality.
The main premise of Lisée’s program — for this is, in fact, what the book offers us, a program ...
Andrew Gibson has just completed a doctoral dissertation on the Canadian social criticism of philosopher Charles Taylor. He is a councillor for the Quebec section of the New Democratic Party of Canada.
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