A free market economy is characterized by an unequal distribution of income, wealth, and opportunities, to the extent that a considerable part of the population does not enjoy the wellbeing which an affluent society can offer. Recent studies have shown that excessive inequality is bad not only...

This book expounds the idea of a disenchanted world composed of nation states and global functional systems. The nation state is losing some of its regulatory prerogatives and, at the same time, extending its legitimacy base in 'chains of legitimacy' to transnational institutions. There is...