Our societies are growing more unequal, more hierarchical, meaner and less human every year.

Voters appalled by the direction of current politics respond to leaders that articulate a cohesive and genuine progressivism. This book provides the framework for politicians and activists to deliver that vision, organised around the themes of cooperative solutions to social problem-solving and a social contract centred on rights and the equal dignity of all people.

Drawing on contemporary Australian examples, 'Politics for the New Dark Age: Staying Positive Amidst Disorder' shows how the partisan divide recurs in policy debates from civil rights, to inequality, to economic growth, to the environment and foreign policy. It argues that we should recommit to fighting for our democracy in order to manage these social differences and channel them into opportunities for social progress.

As a former Australian diplomat with ten years' experience writing political analysis for government, Anthony Skews is well placed to provide a comprehensive introduction to left-wing thought for the contemporary 'post-fact', politically polarised era.

Above all, this book argues for an alternative future.