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All of nationalism can be understood as a kind of collective narcissism.

Geoff Mulgan

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Geoff Mulgan
Age: 63
Born: 1961
Born: January 1
Economist
Writer
Narcissism
Nationalism
Collectives
Collective
Understood
Kind

More quotes by Geoff Mulgan

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With a fractured sense of self, we come to depend on what people feed back to us - often mediated through social networks - not what we are. We have complex identities but may become less able to act as a subject - confident in what we really are.
Geoff Mulgan
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The City of London has never been known for understanding technology and has never matched Silicon Valley's tradition of knowledgeable investment in technology start-ups, just as the U.K. government has never matched the vast investment made by the U.S. government.
Geoff Mulgan
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Over 5,000 years, states have made surprisingly consistent claims about their duties. They have promised to protect people from threats promote their welfare deliver justice and also, perhaps less obviously, uphold truth - originally truths about the cosmos, and more recently truths drawn from reason and knowledge.
Geoff Mulgan
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Economies are complex beasts that need people to do an extraordinary range of tasks.
Geoff Mulgan
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One of the lessons of history is that even the deepest crises can be moments of opportunity. They bring ideas from the margins into the mainstream.
Geoff Mulgan
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Advisers who think that they are very clever while all around them are a bit thick, and that all the problems of the world would be solved if the thick listened to the clever, are liable to be disappointed.
Geoff Mulgan
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I didn't much like being in Parliament physically. I found it a bit depressing. It's very dark and heavy. I like being out and about.
Geoff Mulgan
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All real capitalisms are impure hybrids, mongrels mixed with other strains.
Geoff Mulgan
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By international standards, many of the U.K.'s policies for civil society are exemplary. However, there are concerns about constraints on civil liberties - particularly restrictions on free assembly and about the rising tide of everyday regulation has seriously impeded community activity - from organising street parties to helping children.
Geoff Mulgan
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The wrongful arrest of tens of thousands of British Muslims after the September 11 attacks can be explained by the very poor intelligence the police had, and, just possibly, excused by the fact that a terrorist action in Britain linked to British Muslims would have been hugely damaging.
Geoff Mulgan
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Societies advance through innovation every bit as much as economies do.
Geoff Mulgan
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The idea of entrepreneurship applies as much in politics, religion, society and the arts as it does in business.
Geoff Mulgan
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The central position of finance capital is going to come to an end, and it's going to steadily move to the sides, the margins of our society, transformed from being a master into a servant, a servant to the productive economy and of human needs.
Geoff Mulgan
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Systems governed by only one set of rules are more vulnerable than those with variety.
Geoff Mulgan
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Cities simply don't have the powers they need to radically innovate in cutting obesity or the number of disaffected teenagers.
Geoff Mulgan
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So is civil society prepared for the future? Probably not. Most organisations have to live hand to mouth, juggling short-term funding and perpetual minor crises. Even the bigger ones rarely get much time to stand back and look at the bigger picture. Many are on a treadmill chasing after contracts and new funding.
Geoff Mulgan
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Britain is rich in radicalism, and anyone who says that our society has drifted into fatalism and apathy should get out more.
Geoff Mulgan
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The biggest barrier to dealing with climate change is us: our own attachment to habits that are hard to shift, and our great ability to park or ignore uncomfortable choices.
Geoff Mulgan
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Democracy isn't solely about polite conversations in parliaments. It needs to be continually refreshed with raw passions, anger and ideals.
Geoff Mulgan
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Democratic nation states remain far more capable of managing the circuit of coercion, taxation and legitimation than any transnational bodies.
Geoff Mulgan