The South African Civil Society Information Service

Roberto Unger on Progressive Politics and Revolutionary Ideas

6 Dec 2013

What exactly is progressive politics? BBC's HARDtalk speaks to political philosopher, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, President Obama's former Harvard law professor who also served as Minister of Strategic Affairs in Brazil under President Lula. Unger who describes himself as a radical democrat, has an ambitious take on what it means to be progressive. He argues, "On the whole, throughout the world today, the progressives have no project. Their project is the project of their conservative adversaries with a humanizing discount -- they seek to put a softer face on the agenda of their conservative opponents.”

“What the world is seeking now, restless as it is, under the dictatorship of no alternatives is an alternative that would give opportunity and instruments to the ordinary man and woman,” contends Unger.

© BBC

Editor’s Note: You might also be interested in this thought provoking lecture given by Unger at the Royal Society for the Arts (RSA) in the UK, under the heading “Freedom, Equality and a Future Political Economy”, where he poses and answers the question, what is structural change and what kind of structural change do we need? Unger argues that nothing is more important than structural change.

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You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1866.