STWR - Share The World's Resources

Recession, unemployment and foreclosures represent only the surface level of a deepening global financial crisis. Now, the rise of ethnic strife and civil unrest could characterise a year of social conflict in 2009, says Michael T. Klare. 

Our preference for 'bigger is better' and rapid urbanisation has led to a decline in the importance of small cities. We could use small urban dwellings as the basis for a new economy based on localised energy, sustainable food systems and simple living, argues Catherine Tumber.

The recent successful elections in Bolivia and Venezuela are being heralded as an important step forward for Latin America, signalling the increasing decline of US influence and a further triumph in the region for economic independence, social equality and redistributive policies.

Prior to the G20 meeting in April to revive the world economy, a report from the United Nations has called for a "new global green deal" that goes beyond financial objectives to prioritise the environment, climate change and poverty reduction. 

What is striking about the 'contemporary West' is that its appetite for unbounded consumption fully took off at almost the exact moment that its capacity to pay for it began to diminish - underpinning a global financial crisis and the current transfer of power from West to East, argues Guy Rundle.  

As news of the global economic slump becomes more dire by the day, the latest World Bank statistics suggest that 53 million more people could fall into $2 a day poverty in 2009 as a direct result of the financial crisis - or up to 100 million more people according to the UN Millennium Campaign. 

The financial crisis undermines all the ideological assumptions that have supported political discourse over the past 30 years. Now, with politicians standing 'naked', the crisis could result in profound and diverse changes to our way of structuring the economy, argues Martin Jacques.

The use of economic growth theory as a magic elixir towards 'development' fails to meet social goals such as the eradication of poverty and hunger. Two articles below argue that economic alternatives are both necessary, and possible.

The reliance of Asian countries on debt-financed middle-class spending in the US has left many vulnerable to the financial crisis. Now, Asia's slide into recession may signal the 'end of the export era' and herald unprecedented social revolution, argues Walden Bello.

Decreasing levels of international trade, wildcat strikes in the UK over the use of foreign labour, and a ‘Buy American' campaign in the US Senate all suggest that we may be entering a period of ‘economic nationalism.' Does this process signal the start of ‘de-globalisation', and if so, is this such a bad thing?