The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.

Anti-System Politics: the crisis of market liberalism in rich democracies

Jonathan Hopkin

Oxford University Press, 2020

Available as an eBook.

February’s book of the month was selected by Jo Gardner, Bodleian Social Science Librarian and Subject Consultant for Politics and International Relations

Why was it chosen?

It was chosen because it has been described as a book deserving serious engagement and discussion by anyone interested in politics, philosophy and economics.

Book Overview

The author focuses on the political counter-movements that have arisen on the Left and the Right since the 2008 financial crisis, positioning these as forms of ‘anti-system politics’. He discusses anti-system politics within the larger history of the open antagonism between capitalism and democracy, and he concludes that the current free-market model cannot deliver prosperity and security. If this is to change, political authority must be asserted over the market.

Reviews

“Hopkin has produced one of the most compelling reads of 2020, a book deserving of serious engagement and discussion by anyone interested in politics, philosophy and economics.”
Scott Timcke, LSE Review of Books

“Jonathan Hopkin offers a well-researched book which identifies connections between the anti-system politics in the United States, Britain, Greece, Spain and Italy. He finds there is a clear divide in how Northern and Southern Europe express their forms of anti-system politics. But he demonstrates how they both have common threads which tie them into a common zeitgeist which has affected the Western political tradition. This is quite an accomplishment.”
Jonathan Hopkin, Democracy Paradox

How can I access it?

This title is available as an eBook via SOLO. Oxford University staff and students can access eBooks remotely by logging into SOLO with their SSO.

What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.