The Public Policy Unit has collaborated with a range of other organizations to produce a new e-book, Revisiting Associative Democracy. Edited by Andrea Westall, the e-book is free to download at http://lwbooks.co.uk/ebooks/AssociativeDemocracy.html
The e-book takes as its focus the work of the political theorist, Paul Hirst, who argued for an associative democracy based on: greater democracy and localism in the UK state; a devolution of welfare provision to civil society associations but with the state retaining its role as chief financer of provision; and greater mutuality, co-operativism and industrial democracy in the economy.
Contributors include Anthony Barnett, Rosemary Bechler, Ian Christie, Maurice Glasman, Su Maddock, Samantha Mauger, Jonathan Michie, Graham Smith, Penny Shepherd, Andrea Westall, and Stuart White. They discuss Hirst's ideas and use the discussion to engage critically with today's debates over the so-called 'Big Society', 'mutualism' and the role of the state.
The book is based on a conference on associative democracy supported by the Public Policy Unit, openDemocracy.net, the JRSST Charitable Trust, and Coin St Community Builders. A transcript of the conference is also available.