Libertarian Economics and Alternative Model-Building

When one challenges the conventional wisdom —that the current economic and political system is the only possible one—the first reaction you are likely to get is a demand for a detailed blueprint of how an alternative system would work. Historically, this is ridiculous. When has social change ever happened according to someone’s blueprint? But this does not mean that there is something wrong with utopian visions, nor detailed blueprints, for that many libertarian thinkers have built alternative models to capitalism from the 19th century up until this day, yet the main questions remains: what can we really learn from this models and visions?

This course aims to know more about different alternative economic models from the far-left to the far-right in an attempt to assess them by comparing them with each other, looking into the history of their innovation, and analyse their dynamics in a critical manner. The course will discuss the mutualist, collectivist, communist and also capitalist visions in the light of the political compass theory to understand the social characteristics and human conditions that they imply.

We expect from the participants to discuss the nature of these economic models and their philosophical backgrounds and debate for or against the possible alternatives that respond for current economic and social dilemmas in a more holistic approach towards different political tendencies.