Current speculation about a global shift in power away from the US is misleading. As economic globalisation continues, multinational corporations and financial institutions remain the “principal architects” of government policy around the world, says Noam Chomsky.
Evolutionary theory has been used by
free market fundamentalists to glorify competitiveness as central to human
survival. But biologists also point out that we are group animals: intensely
social, interested in fairness and highly cooperative, argues Frans de Waal.
Those advocating for a ‘steady state’ economic model are vastly
outnumbered in mainstream policy circles. Yet there are signs that scepticism about the single-minded pursuit of economic growth may finally be catching on, reveals Susan Arterian Chang.
Of all the crises that afflict today's
world, the growing democratic
deficit may be the most severe. Only through dismantling the market
fundamentalism that drives public decision-making can true democracy be
restored, writes Noam Chomsky.
Rather than economic growth, waste is the most serious threat to the environment.
In switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the global economy could grow larger and sustainably feed an increasing population - without destroying the earth's ecosystems, argues Garry Lipow.
The present economic crises do not call for a "new
capitalism," but they do demand a new understanding of older ideas,
such as those of Adam Smith and Arthur Pigou - many of which
have been sadly neglected, argues Amartya Sen.
The logic of free-market capitalism states that the economy must grow continuously or face an unpalatable collapse. With the environmental situation reaching crisis point, however, it is time to stop pretending that mindlessly chasing economic growth is compatible with sustainability, argues Tim Jackson.
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, writes Nigel Harris.
Is there an alternative to plundering the earth? Is there an alternative to making war? Is there an alternative to destroying the planet?
By Prof. Claudia von Werlhof.
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, says Michael Parenti.
