Hilary Wainwright

Hilary Wainwright

Contact details:

Email: wainwright.hilary [at] googlemail.com

Long bio:

hilarywainwright long bio.pdf

Location:

Reino Unido

See map: Google Maps

Hilary Wainwright

Research Director of the TNI New Politics programme

Hilary Wainwright is a leading researcher and writer on the emergence of new forms of democratic accountability within parties, movements and the state. She is the driving force and editor behind Red Pepper, a popular British new left magazine, and has documented countless examples of resurgent democratic movements from Brazil to Britain and the lessons they provide for progressive politics.

As well as TNI fellow, she is also Senior Research Associate at the International Centre for Participation Studies at the Department for Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK and previously research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics. She has also been a visiting
Professor and Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles; Havens Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison and Todai University, Tokyo. Her books include Reclaim the State: Adventures in Popular Democracy (Verso/TNI, 2003) and Arguments for a New Left: Answering the Free Market Right (Blackwell, 1993).

Wainwright founded the Popular Planning Unit of the Greater London Council during the Thatcher years, and was convenor of the new economics working group of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly from 1989 to 1994.

Areas of expertise:

New forms of political agency; Redefining the State; participatory democracy and budgeting; British Politics; Political parties; Social Movements; Civil Society; Social Forums; Brazil under Lula; Venezuela under Chavez; European Left; Trade Unions

Honours/Awards:

Honorary Fellow in Sociology at Manchester University, UK

Languages spoken:

English

Media experience:

Hilary has written for The Guardian, The Nation, New Statesman, Open Democracy, Carta, Il Manifesto and El Viejo Topo, as well as appearing as a commentator on BBC1, BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service.

Selected publications:

Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy (Seagull, 2009)

Public service reform - But not as we know it! (Picnic Publishing, 2009)

Reclaim the State

Arguments for a new left

Recent content by Hilary Wainwright

Social efficiency: reforming public services in 21st Century (28 Jul 2010)

The ideological reasoning behind UK government policies is that the market is the only way to make public services 'efficient'. Isn't it time we talked about social efficiency, maximising public benefit rather than maximising profit?

UK election: No political parties offered "big ideas to match the depth of crises” (14 May 2010)

What we saw in the UK election campaign and the recent coalition deal is the level of opportunism amongst the political parties, and the real absence of politics and ideas on how to deal with major crises in the economy, over climate change and of our political institutions.

Left Forum 2010: Hilary Wainwright (15 Apr 2010)

Is it possible to democratise the capitalist state? Interview with Hilary Wainwright at the Left Forum in New York.

Beyond the casino state (28 Mar 2010)

Still in thrall to neoliberal nostrums, British politicians compete to dismantle the state as a provider of services, leaving its function as primarily a prop to private capital.

Don't blame voters for the low turnout (25 Feb 2010)

Fewer than half of Dutch voters are expected to head for the polls in Wednesday's local elections. Turnout could be better if politicians weren’t afraid to share power with citizens.

Politieke klasse moet burgers leren vertrouwen (23 Feb 2010)

Politici moeten de macht durven delen met burgers. Dat is de boodschap van Hilary Wainwright. „Voor veel mensen is het niet meer voldoende om eens in de zoveel tijd hun stem uit te brengen”, zegt ze tegen

Osborne's airbrushed co-op policy (17 Feb 2010)

For all the Tories' fine talk of empowered workers, their plans would only undermine the public sector's democratic rebirth.

What are the promising new models of democratic participation? (5 Feb 2010)

The institutions that are supposed to reproduce daily life are incapable of acting on behalf of the people any more, so we need to produce our own institutional alternatives based on micro-experiments and universal values.

Rocking the system (4 Feb 2010)

A campaign is mounting for the remutualisation of Northern Rock, the bank whose collapse heralded the financial crisis. A community-owned bank would serve wider social needs, rather than private profits.

Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge launched (19 Nov 2009)

An international coalition has launched Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge as a response to the recent agreement of the European Commission on the “protection” of Internet access, brought under the pressure of the lobbies of the culture industry.