The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (45 page)

 
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(1889–1959)
Prolific writer of politics, philosophy, economics, social history, and fiction, collaborating, for some purposes, with his wife, Margaret. He is chiefly remembered for those early writings which developed the idea of
guild socialism
, a variant of syndicalism in which workers control their own lives through a democratic workplace and in which the state has a much smaller role than in many other socialist proposals. Cole's early work is of abundant interest because of its development of ideas of pluralism and of industrial democracy.
LA 

 
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(1772–1834)
Born in Devon, educated at Christ's Hospital and intermittently at Jesus College, Cambridge, which he left in 1794 without a degree. Coleridge was ‘myriad-minded’, to borrow his own phrase about Shakespeare , making significant contributions not just to poetry, but also
inter alia
to theology, philosophy, psychology, political theory, and criticism. His initial political sympathies were to radical dissent and anarcho-communism. And there was a strong, if not permanent, attachment to the ‘pantisocratic’ schemes of Robert Southey : small communities dedicated to the equal government of all. Events in revolutionary France and the extremes of Jacobinism gave Coleridge a more favourable view of both government and property, as well as a strong antipathy to natural rights doctrines, which he thought were harmful abstractions from national culture. His main philosophic enemy, however, was Godless materialism, a crude and dangerous habit of mind, which he associated with radicals such as Paine and Godwin , and utilitarians such as
Bentham
. And one of Coleridge's most enduring beliefs was that only the grand tradition of Christian Platonism was an adequate antidote to both materialism and rationalism. The ‘Lay Sermons’ in particular explore this very theme. The last published statement of his political philosophy.
On the Constitution of the Church and State
, 1830, avoided the prevailing platitudes of Anglicanism, while advancing the notion of a
clerisy
and arguing strongly for a positive end for government to develop all of man's powers.
JH 

 
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Any situation in which the uncoordinated actions of each player may not result in the best outcome he or she can achieve. Two famous examples are
Chicken
and
Prisoners' Dilemma
, another class of collective action problem is the Assurance Game. In a typical Assurance game, you and I have agreed to meet in London tomorrow, but we have forgotten to specify where and when. So each of us must try to think what the other is likely to be thinking (which of course includes my thinking what you are thinking that I am thinking, and so on). If each of us thinks that the other thinks (that the other thinks …) that the likeliest venue is, say, in front of the National Gallery at twelve noon, then the collective action problem is optimally solved; otherwise not.
Assurance games can be solved very easily once the parties can communicate; other collective action problems including both Chicken and Prisoners' Dilemma may be harder to solve. These often involve free-riding dilemmas which are important in politics (should I voluntarily pay taxes, clean up the environment, vote …?) It would be best if everybody did, but each individual is usually better off to try to free-ride and let others provide the good. However, if all or most people free-ride, the good is not provided. See also
public good
.

 
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Historically, this was asserted within the Soviet party hierarchy immediately after the General Secretary's death or ouster; thus, after Lenin's death in 1924, after Stalin's death in 1953, and after the removal of Khrushchev in 1964. The pre-eminence of the new General Secretary, however, was soon re-asserted.
SWh 

 
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