The author and contributors posit the theory that democracy, ethical as well as Marxist, is now in crisis, threatened by the remorseless re-penetration of the public sector by market and quasi-market principles. Can the tide be turned? The book answers questions such as: How do we answer the challenge of the twenty-first century to make poverty history? How can ethical socialism best work in a prosperous country? How can poverty exist alongside ostentatious riches? Can we rely on education alone to demonstrate the advantage of collective effort over individual calculation? Is democracy at odds with efficiency? Is citizenship at war with class, gender or ethnicity in the making of an ethical socialist country? This timely and important book will provide much food for thought for all interested in the fundamental problems facing the world in the twenty-first century.