Hilary Wainwright

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 Senior Research Associate at International Centre for Participation Studies', Bradford University. 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: Experiments 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 Doctorate from Huddersfield University, UK

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.

Contact

Email: wainwright.hilary [at] googlemail.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hilary.wainwright

English

Recent content by Hilary Wainwright

The day Greece’s TVs went dark

June 2013
Hilary Wainwright reports from Thessaloniki on what happened when the state ordered Greece’s state broadcaster to shut down, and the situation now.

Resist and transform: the struggle for water in Greece

May 2013
A combination of opposing privatisation and putting forward practical alternatives is helping water campaigners mount an effective challenge to austerity in Greece.

Participatory alternatives to privatisation

March 2013
Experience worldwide shows that EC-imposed privatisation on crisis countries will not work. The alternative is not reinforcing the status quo, but using citizen power and labour to reinvigorate public services and democratically transform the state.  

Firenze 10 + 10 and the changing character of power

November 2012
A series of interviews with young activists shows signs of a movement that connects local everyday struggles to a global movement, and one that resists by creating alternatives in the present.

Something rotten in the ANC state

November 2012
The palaces of President Zuma and the massacre of miners at Marikana symbolise how the gulf between rich and poor has grown in the 18 years since the African National Congress came to power in South Africa. Hilary Wainwright reports on how formerly loyal ANC activists are turning against their government

Transformative Power: Political organisation in transition

November 2012
Does the experience of Greek left party Syriza provide lessons on how to structure parties and state in order in challenge neoliberal austerity and provide lasting social transformation?

Unleashing the creativity of labour

September 2012
What would it mean if industrial policies aimed to release workers’ economic creativity – and not just in waged work but beyond? Hilary Wainwright draws inspiration from experiments in Germany, Spain, UK and South Africa.

Syriza shines a light

July 2012
In Greece, a radical left coalition is actively preparing for power in society and in parliament. Hilary Wainwright reports from Athens.

An Excess of Democracy

February 2012
The philosophy and experience of radical movements in the 1960s and 70s are in several ways complementary to the ideas of the direct action movements of today. Hilary Wainwright examines the possibility of forging a new kind of political economy by learning from the best of both of them.

Indignados movement takes root in Barcelona

October 2011
Five months since the launch of the indignados movement, Spain is witnessing the emergence of an experimental movement committed to profound democratisation where leadership is shared and learnt.