A programme of institution building and policy reform has to be grounded in the sources of political pluralism: a complex mixed constitution, multiple corporate bodies and the dignity of the person.

The illusion of infinite consumer choice serves to conceal from view the erosion of political, civic and human rights.

Far from being just an appeal to subjective sentiment, Burke’s conception of affective attachment shifts the focus to the ‘principled practice’ of mutual recognition based on human relationality upon which a prosperous market economy and a vibrant democracy depend.

The first development is the fragmenting of the global economy.

deglobalization.

After decades of being told that the new knowledge economy is driven by the professional-managerial class largely composed of bankers and lawyers, we now realize who the essential workers are.

Distrust of the people is shared by authoritarian leaders. Such systems are plutocracies with two complementary classes. One is the class of oligarchs, who tend to dominate extractive industries and are part of power structures via a complex system of state banks and shadow banks.

‘Everything can be measured, and what gets measured gets managed’, as the motto of the management consultancy McKinsey goes. Governance by number extends this from the sphere of economics to the realm of politics and social life. Such a conception fundamentally changes the nature of politics as praxis. If, as the Prussian general and military

It seems that the values divide underpinning the opposition between liberalism and authoritarianism – with populism somewhere on the spectrum – rules out any real prospect for a politics of the good life. In times of ‘culture wars’ and political polarization, appeals to a sphere of shared meaning seem to ring hollow.