Will the Right Basic Income Please Stand Up?

NEWS RELEASE

27 September 2007

On Wednesday 10 October, the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, in association with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford University, hosts a Keynote Address by Amitai Etzioni on guaranteed basic income (GBI).

As Gordon Brown imposes a pay ceiling on public sector workers well below the rate of inflation, Etzioni will provide a timely response from his unique perspective as founder of the Communitarian movement. Etzioni will explore the question of whether everyone is entitled to a basic minimum income, and if so, would a GBI supplement or replace existing welfare systems. The lecture will also confront the controversial and topical question in light of recent high-profile, multi-million pound pay rises awarded to City CEOs: whether, in a free market economy, the floor that GBI provides should be accompanied by a ceiling on income and assets.

For more information on this and other events in the Foundation’s ‘Social Contract Revisited’ programme, please visit: http://www.fljs.org/569

Amitai Etzioni
A Holocaust survivor who fled to Palestine from Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Amitai Etzioni served as Professor of Sociology at Columbia University, before becoming Senior Advisor to the White House in 1979-80.

He is President of the American Sociological Association and founder of both the international Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics and the Communitarian Network. Outside of academia, his voice is frequently heard in the media. In 1991, the press began referring to Etzioni as the 'guru' of the communitarian movement, and in 2002, Richard Posner listed him as one of the top 100 American intellectuals.

Etzioni is the author of twenty-four books, including his latest, Security First: For A Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy.

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Notes for editors

The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society is a socio-legal think tank affiliated to Oxford University’s Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.

Founded in 2005, the mission of the Foundation is to study, reflect on, and promote an understanding of the role that law plays in society. This is achieved by analysing issues of contemporary interest and importance through our three programmes:

• The Social Contract Revisited
• Courts and the Making of Public Policy
• Rule of Law in China: Chinese Law and Business

The Foundation draws on the work of scholars and researchers, and aims to influence policy by making its work easily accessible to practitioners and professionals, whether in government, business, or the law.

The Foundation is a registered charity (Charity registration no:1111842).

http://www.fljs.org

Reviews for Etzioni’s latest book, Security First: For a Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy

"An important, must-read book for the rising leadership in the United States, as it prepares for the crucial 2008 elections, time for a change in the status quo, and for America's friends around the world."
Shuja Nawaz, former Division Chief, International Monetary Fund

“Given the present debate in the US on withdrawal from Iraq, the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and the continuing determination of the Bush government to foster democracy in the region, this is an important and timely book.
This book is valuable not least because of the hard lessons now being learned in Iraq."
John Bruton, EU Ambassador to the United States

For more information, please contact Phil Dines on:

01865 284433 (day)

07809 219 543 (mobile)

01865 209163 (evening)

Phil.dines@fljs.org (email)