Prelims

Half Title Page

BUILDING THE GOOD SOCIETY

Title Page

BUILDING THE GOOD SOCIETY

The Power and Limits of Markets, Democracy and Freedom in an Increasingly Polarized World

LLOYD J. DUMAS

University of Texas at Dallas, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

© Lloyd J. Dumas, 2020

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-83867-632-2 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-629-2 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83867-631-5 (Epub)

About the Author

Lloyd J. Dumas is Professor of Political Economy, Economics and Public Policy at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dumas' eight books include The Peacekeeping Economy: Using Economic Relationships to Build a More Peaceful, Prosperous, and Secure World (Yale University) and The Technology Trap: Where Human Error and Malevolence Meet Powerful Technologies (Praeger). He has published over 120 articles in 11 languages in books and journals of seven disciplines, and periodicals such as New York Times and International Herald Tribune. He has been quoted in Business Week, the Financial Times, and Barron's, and he has appeared on more than 300 TV and radio programs in the US and around the world.

Foreword

With the defeat of fascism in the middle of the twentieth century and the peaceful ending of the Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation a few decades later, there was a great deal of optimism that the world was becoming a more peaceful place. With the success of a series of pro-democracy nonviolent “people power” revolutions in overthrowing brutal dictatorships in Eastern Europe and elsewhere in the mid-1980s and the initially spectacular success of the pro-democracy nonviolent “people power” revolutions that overthrew dictatorial regimes in North Africa during the “Arab Spring” a few decades later, there was a great deal of optimism that the spread of democracy throughout the world was just around the corner. By the second decade of the twenty-first century, that optimism was rapidly fading. Yet we cannot afford to lose the hope or give up the dream.

This book is written in the spirit of trying to make it plain that a better world – a world in which we can finally realize the persistent vision of more peaceful, prosperous, democratic, and free societies – is not only a possible but also an eminently practical and achievable goal. It is not a blueprint for or a road map to such a world, but a guide to more effectively modifying and combining the elements of that world we have already put in place.

L. J. Dumas

Acknowledgments

In one way or another, the elements of the various analytical essays in this book are the product of a decades-long process of learning, thinking, and teaching. In any enterprise of this kind, there are many people to thank for their contribution, stimulation, and encouragement. As my teacher, colleague, and friend, Seymour Melman was always a source of encouragement to take on challenging problems, think broadly, and not be constrained by the boundaries of the conventional wisdom. Many long conversations with my friend and colleague Bob Karasek, after we finished teaching our night classes at Columbia University, taught me to think much more deeply about the impact of the work environment on worker's lives. Talking to and reading the work of the Albert Einstein Institution's leader Gene Sharp convinced me of the potential power of civil disobedience and other forms of nonviolent resistance. One Sunday morning in Northern California, my friend and minister of the United Church of Christ, Carolyn Roberts, gave an inspired sermon that deepened my understanding of the social and psychological impact of language, particularly sexist language. And many discussions with international lawyer Burns Weston helped me to more fully understand the role and importance of laws and norms, even in an international realm where there is no overriding political authority to enforce them.

From childhood, my parents, Edith and Marcel Dumas, were always a source of encouragement. They taught me the importance of empathy and gave me the confidence that I had something to say. Many old and new friends motivated and encouraged this work, among them Kenneth Boulding, Peggy Herrman, Janine Wedel, Dana Dunn, Warren Davis, Yolanda Eisenstein, Jonas Bunte, Anthony Cummings, Magnus Kpakol, Brett Cease, Julia Besser Cease, Alba Halili, Katie Sadorro, Antoinette White, Abigail Durden, and Nick Wolterman, my always supportive and enthusiastic editor at Emerald. My intellectual partner and soul mate, Teresa Nelson Dumas, contributed to this project in more ways than I can say. Her sharp intellect, good heart, and gentle touch helped to shape nearly every aspect of this work. And her love and support carried me through one of the most difficult and challenging times of my life.