Challenging Power

Cynthia Kaufman is the Director of the Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action at De Anza College, USA, where she also teaches Philosophy. She is the author of two books on social change Getting Past Capitalism: History, Vision, Hope (2012) and Ideas for Action: Relevant Theory for Radical Change (2003). She is a lifelong activist for social change and has worked on issues such as tenants' rights, police abuse, union organizing, international politics, and most recently climate change.

• Introduction1. States of Irresponsibility: Rana Plaza, Accountability, and Power2. The Ethics of Accountability Democracy3. The Politics of Accountability Democracy 4. The Powers that need to be held to Account 5. Accountability6. Developing Effective Accountability Mechanisms 7. Building Accountability Democracy8. Acting Well in a Traumatized WorldIndex

Everyone with a conscience should read Holding Power to Account. In this short book, Cynthia Kaufman provides both an ethics and a politics for today’s interdependent world. To live a responsible life, we must work together to create systems of “accountability democracy” to constrain those with economic and political power.