STWR - Share The World's Resources

Markets reinvented the world, and nobody intended – or even envisaged – the outcome. Now the role of the left in an era of declining state power is to ensure that the structures of governance are directed towards protecting all equally.

The ideology of neoliberal globalization was not in fact a new idea in the history of the modern world-system, although it claimed to be one. It was rather the very old idea that the governments of the world should get out of the way of large, efficient enterprises in their efforts to prevail in the world market.

Is there an alternative to plundering the earth? Is there an alternative to making war? Is there an alternative to destroying the planet?

Our cult-like devotion to a healthy economy leads us to ignore the effect it has on our society - and to blame human nature for its ravages.

Given that the crises of inequality is the predictable effect of the dismantling of public services and the deregulation of business and financial markets, given that it damages the interests of nearly everyone, how has neoliberalism come to dominate public life?

The consequences of an economy based upon the principles of selfish individualism and brute competitiveness have now been exported to almost every country of the world. A return to the human values beyond economic theory has never been such an intimidating but tremendous possibility.

The pursuit of economic growth as a sole measure of national success is not, despite the dogmas of the World Bank, a foregone conclusion or an inevitable assumption. A paradigm shift in thinking is required if our obsession with outmoded orthodox economics is ever to be overcome.

The fight against free trade is a fight for the right to politico-economic democracy, public services, and a social wage, the right not to be completely at the mercy of big capital.

What are the real trends of global economic growth, and how widely are the benefits of global trade shared? A close look at the evidence casts doubt on conventional optimism, writes Robert Wade.

Fifteen years after the prophesied borderless, stateless international economy, globalization has in fact reached its high water mark - and is receding.