Oligarchy

Politics has never been more unpredictable. Radical populists and insurgents have turned politics-as-usual on its head. Rebel explores how we got here, where we are heading and what we can do about it.

Radical Transformation is a story about industrial civilization’s impending collapse, and about the possibilities of averting this fate. Human communities first emerged as egalitarian, democratic groups that existed in symbiotic relationship with their environments. Increasing complexity led to the emergence of oligarchy, in which societies became captive to the logic of domination, exploitation, and ecological destruction. The challenge facing us today is to build a movement that will radically transform civilization and once more align our evolutionary trajectory in the direction of democracy, equality, and ecological sustainability.

This short book describes the role big banks played in the financial crisis of 2008 while denouncing the financial oligarchy’s seizing of power and the dangers it represents for democracy today. There have been many books since the financial crisis that have considered historical events leading up to the crisis but few that consider a solution. Ten years after the great financial crash, this book synthesises the historical developments and introduces a proposal aimed at rebalancing the economy and society at large. The author presents a novel solution that would change current tax systems in the developed world, in their entirety.

This book explores the continuity of oligarchic rule in the Americas of the modern period, with a focus on the variable compatibility of oligarchic rule and democratic government. This focus sets the terms for a comparative inquiry that creates a novel perspective on the politics of Latin America and the United States alike.