At present I'm considering submiting proposals to a board at the Uni to get funding to do a research degree and I'm definitely going to focus on empowerment.At present my ideas are proving to be a bit damned motley altogether but in general I'm thinking of investigating the two main varients of political thought that is socialism/collectivism and capitalism/libertarianism (Conservatism has been a historic appendice of either of these with a toxic nostaligia and xenophobic nationalism mixed in), now at the minute I'd be very happy if anyone with a idea threw in their two cents of thought on now either of these two straines of thought have impeeded or assisted empowerment of the individual or social group, prehaps they have directly addressed empowerment or maybe you just have a bitch about having no say in anything and would like to aim an ideological scud at one or the other as the culprit in your disempowerment.
I'd also like references to any libertarian capitalism pages or journals that have a real bitch about democracy as a disempowerer, a real rant about capitalism as the direct empowerer and theories about the corporate state EG every citizens wealth is a vote, the wealthy have more votes than others but we capitalists like autocracies that way.
It's a real, real opportunity for a serious consideration of anarchist or libertarian socialism too, since they where the real proponents of empowerment as opposed to hijack the state and employ some social workers and economists to sort everything out school of thought.
