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A new social project for a new political era

In the past two decades, conflict has resurfaced in politics. Phenomena such as the 2008 crisis, the pandemic, climate change, and the new Cold War have dismantled the naive belief in the definitive triumph of liberal democracy and market economy. All the optimistic promises that built the utopia of the new millennium have collapsed, to the point where young people now assume they will live worse than their parents.

In this context of disillusionment and citizen indignation, economist and former politician Jordi Sevilla has compiled a series of reform proposals for a time dominated by fear of the future and nostalgia for a non-existent past, where unleashed economic deregulation has given way to the return of the state.

This book traces the origins of populism and identity politics that erode the present through the social divides that liberal democracy has failed to heal. Sevilla proposes to refound the social contract and advance towards a new conception of democracy, one that is radical or reinforced. Only a political alternative that rectifies past mistakes and is prepared to tackle new challenges can reverse the polarization and social fragmentation.

Manifesto for a Radical Democracy calls for an improvement in democratic quality that leaves behind the concepts of left and right from the last century. It also advocates for recovering and uniting the best aspects of the two great ideologies that have shaped the West, which are now sidelined: liberalism and social democracy.

Jordi Sevilla served as the Minister of Public Administrations in the Government of Spain from 2004 to 2007. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Valencia and is a member of the Senior Corps of State Commercial Technicians and Economists.

In 2009, he joined the private sector as part of the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, a position he resigned in 2015 to return to politics as the economic coordinator for the PSOE. He was part of the expert group for the PSOE’s Secretary General, Pedro Sánchez, and served as an advisor on economic programs until his resignation in October 2016. He later became the president of the Red Eléctrica Group and is currently working for the consulting firm Llorente & Cuenca.

Additionally, he teaches courses on the economic environment and country analysis at IE Business School and contributes to the “Mercados” supplement of El Mundo.