How to Change Course
The Principles of Ecological Planning
$61.47
- Paperback
256 pages
- Release Date
16 February 2027
Summary
This book looks back at the history of this notion in the 20th century, between war economies, developmental catch-up, and socialist experiments. It revisits the classic debates between the proponents of the “price signal” and those of “calculation in kind,” and shows how the current situation offers new possibilities for planning. The cautious deployment of digital tools, innovative accounting techniques, and the deepening of institutions of collective deliberation can give rise to a needs-based government of production. As long as they remain trapped in the straitjacket of the “free market,” consumer eco-gestures will prove powerless. Beyond growth, ecological planning offers a realist, transformative path toward a balanced human ecological footprint by deepening economic democracy.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781836741497 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1836741499 |
| Author: | Cédric Durand, David Broder |
| Publisher: | Verso Books |
| Imprint: | Verso Books |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 256 |
| Release Date: | 16 February 2027 |
| Weight: | 300g |
| Dimensions: | 140mm x 210mm |
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Critics Review
This new book by Cedric Durand and Razmig Keucheyan is a brilliant
contribution to the urgent need for an economic, social and ecological
alternative to capitalism : as the authors show, we must “change course”,
and, with the help of ecological planning, move towards a new, democratic
and federalist ecological polity. – Michael Löwy, author of Ecosocialism: A radical alternative to the capitalist catastrophe
Economics often seems more of a pseudoscience than a science, but not in book. Starting from the science of climate change and planetary boundaries, Cédric Durand and Razmig Keucheyan set out the foundations and principles of a new and necessary economic form: democratic ecological planning. Their arguments are grounded in history, deep understanding and real-world examples. This book is visionary as well as grounded - and ultimately very hopeful. – Julia Steinberger, Professor in Societal Challenges of Climate Change, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
Who decides what we produce, where we invest, and what technology is for? Durand and Keucheyan answer with ecological planning as a democratic space, not a technocratic calculation: experimentation from below, a state that holds the direction, digital infrastructure as a public good, not a private monopoly. In Barcelona I saw that people deciding together choose differently from Big Tech. This book shows how to make that the rule. In a decade of climate emergency, tech oligarchy and authoritarian drift, it is the radical, realistic course we need. – Francesca Bria, Director, Special Project on European Digital Sovereignty, CEPS; Honorary Professor, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
Cédric Durand
Cédric Durand is Professor of political economy at the University of Geneva and the author of several books, including Fictitious Capital: How Finance is Appropriating our Future and How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-Feudalism: The Making of the Digital Economy. He regularly contributes to the New Left Review.
Razmig Keucheyan is Professor of sociology at Paris Cité University and the author of several books, including The Left Hemisphere: Mapping Critical Theory Today, and Nature is a Battlefield: Towards a Political Ecology. He regularly contributes to Le Monde diplomatique.
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