{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/9a03fe9e-1ff0-4dcc-b3f6-50bd1f016ea4/a537b2d2-ef93-4b7e-80b3-5b0b9e060941?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"Thomas Piketty: Three Years On","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/6195701f2eacc3a36070252a/619570bccb3c660012e3cf1d.jpg?height=200","description":"<p>We revisit our interview with the economist Thomas Piketty recorded the week Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency and David and Helen ask what we have learned since.&nbsp;Where does Macron fit on the left/right political spectrum?&nbsp;What has his cult of personality done to French politics?&nbsp;And are we anywhere nearer knowing how to tackle the problem of inequality?&nbsp;The last in our series of updates from the Talking Politics archive.</p><p><br></p><p>Show Notes:</p><p><br></p><p>Why isn’t inequality having a more primary effect on our politics?&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Are ethnic and nationalist divisions trumping class divisions?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Piketty’s research shows that nothing is pre-ordained, but it often takes a crisis to reorient politics.</p><ul><li>In the 20th century, war plays this role. If you take war out of it, what happens?</li><li>Can democracies deal with inequality without a crisis?&nbsp;</li><li>Is there a democratic path to redress inequality?&nbsp;</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Macron relatively quickly became a politician of the centre-right.</p><ul><li>This shouldn’t have been a surprise.&nbsp;</li><li>What was harder to anticipate was the nature of the opposition, in particular, the Gilets Jaunes.</li><li>Macron has become more preoccupied with the geopolitical than reforming the Eurozone.</li><li>It’s easy to forget how contingent Macron’s rise was.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Macron’s rise blew apart the French party system.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>The failings predated Macron, but he did inject something much more personalized into French politics.</li><li>Macron created a movement that could win a majority in the French legislature.&nbsp;</li><li>During lockdown, however, he lost his absolute majority in the lower house because various people on the left defected.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>The larger story about economic choices, especially macroeconomic choices, being taken out of the hands of democratic politics took a particular shape in France.</p><ul><li>Can we see Macron’s rise as an answer to France’s problems in the euro?</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Has COVID moved Europe any closer to answering questions about what engenders solidarity?</p><ul><li>Piketty has been an advocate of quite radical institutional reforms towards a more centralised European project.</li><li>Clearly the crisis has changed notions about common European borrowing.&nbsp;</li><li>If you have debt, what kind of political solidarity sustains that debt?&nbsp;</li><li>For there to be meaningful solidarity where debt is concerned, you need to see meaningful taxes. So far, this has not happened.</li><li>Nor has there been any institutional reform in the last few months. That part of the Piketty project seems as far off as ever.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Mentioned in this Episode:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780674979857?gC=5a105e8b&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwkJj6BRA-EiwA0ZVPVur_O4JWUjMoGV9sV4eNs4pBTAx3XNP98k07mJM9OtuiLkAY_1UGeRoCvroQAvD_BwE\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Capital in the Twenty-First Century&nbsp;</em></a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2020/272-has-covid-rescued-europe\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Last week’s episode with Lucia and Hans</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Further Learning:&nbsp;</p><ul><li><a href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/book/capital-and-ideology/thomas-piketty/arthur-goldhammer/9780674980822\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Piketty’s most recent book, <em>Capital and Ideology</em></a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/12/will-coronavirus-lead-to-fairer-societies-thomas-piketty-explores-the-prospect\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Will coronavirus lead to fairer societies? Thomas Piketty explores the prospect for <em>The Guardian</em></a></li><li><a href=\"https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/thomas-piketty-interview-inequality-book-covid/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">An interview with Piketty in <em>The Nation</em> about the virus and his...","author_name":"David Runciman and Catherine Carr"}