Revolutionizing Economic and Democratic Systems

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Introduction: Reinventing the Third Way

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 1-5

3. Revolutionising Economic and Democratic Systems

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 7-58

4. The Case of Ostrobothnia

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 59-84

5. Conclusions: Politics in the Post-Fordist Economy

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 85-90

6. Attempts at Regional Mobilisation in a Unitary State: Two Decades of Learning and Unlearning

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 91-126

7. On the Democracy and Relevance of Governance Networks: The Case of Ostrobothnia, Finland

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 127-155

8. Is There a Need for Transnational Learning? The Case of Restructuring in Small Industrial Towns

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 157-183

9. Enabling Regional Growth in Peripheral Non-university Regions: The Impact of a Quadruple Helix Intermediate Organisation

   • Kenneth Nordberg

   Pages 185-217

10. Back Matter

    Pages 219-227

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This book responds to an increasingly pluricentric, reflexive, and flexible society as a result of globalization and economic liberation from the bureaucratic-political system. The third industrial revolution saw citizens, companies, and the economy acting in functional networks rather than in static ones, making top-down governing ever more difficult. Despite this, society systems created in the wake of the second industrial revolution linger on and must adapt to the globalized, digitized reality in order to stay necessary and relevant. 
Through a theoretical discussion and four empirical cases studying governance and innovation systems, this volume is the first to describe the causes behind the impasse Western society seems to find itself in and suggests inclusive economic and democratic structures working in a bottom-up fashion as a way out. By understanding local circumstances as well as the innovative power of inclusive and participative structures, we can begin to pave the way to legitimate governance and growth. This book adds to the academic literature on democracy, governance, economy, and innovation systems for researchers and scholars of political science, social science, and economics.

• industrial revolution
• globalization
• nation states
• innovation systems
• governance
• political science
• tribalism
• cosmopolitanism
• socialism
• neoliberalism
• democracy

• Åbo Akademi University , Vasa, Finland

  Kenneth Nordberg

Kenneth Nordberg is a Researcher at Åbo Akademi University in Vasa, Finland. He is a scholar of social science and has been engaged in several research projects concerning transnational learning, participative governance processes, business development, innovation systems, and digital participative planning.

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