Max Heywood

Max Heywood

@max.eurosky.social

Working on https://eps.institute since Jan 2026. Planet Earth enthusiast. Including its human population.

292 followers1K following174 posts

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

One for @thecounterbalance.bsky.social

LSE Blogs@lseblogs.bsky.social

Why are small business owners more likely to vote for the radical right? Using data from fourteen EU countries, Tommaso Crescioli and Toon Van Overbeke show that exposure to market concentration in their industry helps explain why. blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

blogs.lse.ac.ukRising market power is pushing small business owners towards the radical rightSmall business owners are more likely to vote for the radical right. Their exposure to market concentration in their industry helps explain why.
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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

7. In social movement research, a transformational movement is one where ties between members are maintained over time, even as goals change. For example in Spain the Indignados movement evolved to defend women’s rights and now towards housing issues, with many of the same groups involved. /7

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Overall, there could be a lot of value in building bridges between New Economy initiatives and social movement researchers. E.g. assumptions around large-scale citizen mobilization could be examined and broken down into more detailed theories of change. /ends eps.institute/2026/10/12/7...

eps.institute7 New Economy takeaways on social movements from the ipb research conferenceSupport from citizens and social movements is widely viewed as a necessary condition for a New Economy transition. The Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth, for instance, argues for “&#823…
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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

5. The strength of personal ties in movements is not primarily based on the amount of time spent together, or personal identity factors. Strong ties are built on a sense of shared, common obligation to others i.e. a vulnerable population or those affected by a particular issue. /5

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

6. Individual leaders and organisers are critical, for example in setting up events and maintaining bilateral ties. The most common reason for individual organisers to burn out is infighting within their own movement, more than workload or external pressures e.g. from police surveillance. /6

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

3. For movements to be sustainable, ‘social integration is more important than goal alignment’. Even where citizens strongly support a goal, their engagement will decay over time unless there is a structure to support it. /3

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

4. Bilateral social ties play a key role, specifically whether individual members of a movement have a direct link to at least one other person they can reach out to if they have a question, be it about logistics or broader strategy. /4

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

1. Social movements are not always progressive. Well-funded far-right networks are increasingly effective, online and in person. 2. Despite an interest in positive narratives, New Economy narratives and frameworks like Doughnut Economics have not had much pickup w social movement researchers /2

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

On the day a German state parliament elects the first far-right speaker since WWII, this is tabloid Bild’s homepage this evening: Ronaldo, Messi, a reality show and an article about a Playboy shoot all come before coverage of what the result means…for the ruling party CDU. @okwonga.bsky.social

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Thanks for flagging the paper! Looks like might be one for @eliothiggins.bsky.social too

Bart Verheggen@bverheggen.bsky.social

Democracy depends on shared ground truths. Abandoning evidence as the basis for debate doesn't just distort individual issues — it corrodes the infrastructure of collective decision-making. Misinformation matters. @lewan.uk

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Looking for research about lotteries and political support for capitalism: The dream of becoming rich one day > self-identity as "temporarily disadvantaged millionaire" > parasocial class solidarity with the wealthy ("it could be me paying this wealth tax"). pointers welcome!

Max Heywood reposted

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Replying to @max.eurosky.social

Aaron Benanav’s Beyond Capitalism paper sets out a detailed long-term plan for a systemic transition. Even though it intentionally does not tackle the short-term path to power, it makes a key point about mass mobilization. /2 autonomy.work/portfolio/be...

autonomy.workBeyond capitalism: from design to implementationThe third instalment of Aaron Benanav's 'Beyond capitalism' series turns to the question of transition to a multidimensional economy.
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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Caveats include that there are real limits to national-level action, such as foreign exchange constraints and geopolitical pressures, as the Benanav paper notes. /20

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Prioritising elections means that by definition, the answer to the Where To Play question will be: nationally. In Benanav’s paper, this decision is made explicit: “this plan is formulated at the level of a single country because democratic mandates are typically secured at that level.” /18

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Once a country is chosen, the focus on elections also automatically answers a large number of first “How to win” type questions, including timelines, competition, and potential metrics for success. (More on this in a future thread.) Two data points don’t make a trend, let alone a consensus. /19

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

It also goes some way towards addressing the first essential choice in the Playing to Win framework: Where to Play (WTP). An organisation or campaign has to define where it will focus its efforts, and where it will not. /16

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

A WTP choice doesn’t necessarily have to be geographical. It can also refer to a target audience or a particular market segment. The transition question of where to focus is often defined too broadly (e.g. “we are building a global movement”), or too locally to drive large-scale change. /17

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Lafley and Martin use GM’s “a different kind of business, a different kind of car” strategy statement in the 90s as an example of a goal that doesn’t meet this standard. In transition fields, there is broad agreement around the long-term vision, e.g. “people and planet over profit”. /14

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

There are also many and varied policy proposals. What has been missing is a more specified “winning aspiration” type goal. “Winning elections with a durable mandate from a broad coalition” certainly looks like a good candidate to fill that gap. /15

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Playing to Win also presents strategy as a series of integrated choices. If an organisation’s decisions are not approached as choices, they are by definition not strategic (“Strategy is Choice”). There is much more to say, including that PTW approaches strategy as a hypothesis. /12

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Here I’ll focus only on the first 2 strategy elements in PTW and how they apply to the transition, with more to come later. The first element in the PTW framework is a “winning aspiration”: a goal that already contains within itself the idea of beating the competition. /13

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Playing to Win recognises that in any domain where there are gains to be made, there will be competing interests with their own agency entering the fray. This is why Martin & Lafley propose the purpose of a strategy is to win. /10

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

We’ve already seen that system change will have to repeatedly overcome elite resistance and backlash. That’s the first reason why a strategy framework that centers on beating the competition stood out as potentially of value for a transition strategy. /11

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Playing to Win (PTW) starts by asking what strategy is for, and what it is. All too often, strategies are set as if the organisation is operating in a neutral environment, or gloss over opposing forces as mere contextual elements. /9

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

This emphasis on elections clarifies two open questions in transition strategy: 1) What is the goal and 2) Where to play/focus. It also helps to answer the next strategy question: 3) How to win. These strategic questions are taken (and slightly adapted) from the Playing to Win framework. /6

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Possibly because it started as a framework for business, Playing to Win doesn’t appear to have had much pickup in system change fields yet. First published in 2013, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works by Lafley and Martin continues to stand out among the mass of strategy materials. /7

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

...For that, a political coalition must take power” Given the emphasis throughout the paper on the transition being democratic, it’s clear that by “must take power” Benanav means “a political coalition must win elections”. /4

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

In his thread on the difference between power & agency in climate action, Aaron Thierry also highlights the need for movements capable of “electing representatives committed to climate action & human rights” & “sustaining them in office against incumbent resistance”. /5 bsky.app/profile/thie...

Dr. Aaron Thierry@thierryaaron.bsky.social

1/ A long-ish thread 🧵on the vital difference between power & agency in #climate action. A new paper proposes: locate your agency, pull your levers. Useful, but it leaves out power, & so leaves out strategy.

nature.comLeveraging agency for climate change mitigation - Nature Climate ChangeClimate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems...
Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

While necessary, not least to counteract elite pushback, “Movements cannot legislate, create new public institutions, and coordinate the simultaneous transformations across investment, finance, taxation, and firm governance that the transition requires... /3

Max Heywood reposted

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Thanks for flagging @benbraun.eurosky.social! Great read, the political analysis from @abenanav.bsky.social is also a major contribution. I put some thoughts together on implications for the New Economy field more broadly: paradigmproject3.wordpress.com/2026/05/29/t...

paradigmproject3.wordpress.com“This plan does not specify how power is won”The New Economy and the First Mile Problem For this week I was preparing an introductory post to the Economic & Political Systems Institute (EPSI), to go with the soon to be updated website.&nb…
Benjamin Braun@benbraun.social

Functional finance Suppressing finance Taxing the rich Transforming firms The foreign exchange constraint @abenanav.bsky.social’s transition plan has it all. The most intellectually serious and exciting thing you’ll read this month I promise.

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Thanks for flagging @benbraun.eurosky.social! Great read, the political analysis from @abenanav.bsky.social is also a major contribution. I put some thoughts together on implications for the New Economy field more broadly: paradigmproject3.wordpress.com/2026/05/29/t...

paradigmproject3.wordpress.com“This plan does not specify how power is won”The New Economy and the First Mile Problem For this week I was preparing an introductory post to the Economic & Political Systems Institute (EPSI), to go with the soon to be updated website.&nb…
Benjamin Braun@benbraun.social

Functional finance Suppressing finance Taxing the rich Transforming firms The foreign exchange constraint @abenanav.bsky.social’s transition plan has it all. The most intellectually serious and exciting thing you’ll read this month I promise.

Max Heywood reposted

Aaron Benanav
@abenanav.bsky.social

I'm excited to release part 3 of my series on beyond capitalism with @Autonomy_Inst. The big question people often asked about my recent work is—ok sure, but how do we get there? Please have a look at my first sketch of an answer to that question. autonomy.work/portfolio/be...

autonomy.workBeyond capitalism: from design to implementationThe third instalment of Aaron Benanav's 'Beyond capitalism' series turns to the question of transition to a multidimensional economy.

Max Heywood reposted

Sven Giegold
@sven-giegold.de

Monatelang war diese spannende Studie in den Schubladen von Katherina Reiche verstaubt. Jetzt könnt Ihr sie lesen. "Die Stärkung der regionalen Wertschöpfung durch Erneuerbare Energien" zeigt wie Regionen von Erneuerbaren profitieren. Diese Fakten, die Reiche nicht passen, verdienen Verbreitung!

Max Heywood reposted

Grüne Fraktion Pankow
@gruenebvvpankow.bsky.social

Auch im #Komponistenviertel soll man schlafen können! Unser Antrag auf Tempo 30 nachts in der Indira‑Gandhi‑Straße zwischen Berliner Allee und Chopinstraße war erfolgreich – wir freuen uns! 💪💚 #gemeinsamfuerPankow

Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Great article @quinnslobodian.com - it also indirectly shows why the many callers for a new system or political order need to be more propositional. Any consensus that ‘emerges’ and is featured at places like Harvard is likely to be rebranded, toothless centrism.

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Max Heywood
@max.eurosky.social

Thanks for flagging @freedomforall.net ! Have added to the compilation of calls for a new system at paradigmproject3.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/c...

paradigmproject3.wordpress.comCalls for a new paradigm compiledA periodically updated list of calls for a new paradigm/consensus narrative/political order ‘RECOMMENDATION 5: BUILD AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM THAT PUTS PEOPLE AND THE PLANET FIRST…Given the u…
Matthew Gyamtso (Jee)@freedomforall.net

"How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster." There is nothing inevitable about this - the future is not yet written.

policy-practice.oxfam.orgClimate Plunder: How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster - Oxfam Policy & PracticeAhead of the major international climate conference COP30 in Belem, Brazil, new Oxfam research finds that the high-carbon lifestyles of the super-rich are blowing through the world’s remaining carbon ...