STWR - Share The World's Resources

Adam W. Parsons is the Editor of Share The World's Resources. All his articles and reports are listed below and he can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The economic freedom promised through the liberalisation of market forces has, in reality, resulted in a freedom for the very few and a contradiction of the promise that increased wealth will be shared - demanding a reframing of the concepts of 'democracy' and 'human rights', says Adam W. Parsons.

The following talk by Adam W. Parsons was given at a seminar hosted by World Goodwill on the theme "Human Rights, Spiritual Responsibilities - A Crisis for Democracy?", held in London on the 1st November 2008.

Unlike the crisis of 1970s stagflation that signalled the end for the Keynesian social-democratic model, the food crisis of 2008 could be marked down in history for setting in motion an opposite trend, writes Adam W. Parsons.

The inability of world leaders to face up to the root causes or policy contradictions of a food crisis is nothing new, but the resultant crisis of faith in neoliberal economic orthodoxy is a sign that the world direction is changing course, writes Adam W. Parsons.

The World Bank's revised international poverty line of .25, which on many counts reveals a negligible difference in reducing poverty since 1981, raises legitimate questions about the assumed success of globalisation, writes Adam W. Parsons.

The World Bank's latest poverty figures underline the fact that globalisation has been largely ineffective at either reducing the burgeoning ranks of the world's poor, or including this vast swathe of the global population into the mainstream economy, writes Adam W. Parsons.

The only enduring cause for hope, despite the continued antipathy of the international community in questioning the systemic causes of global warming, is for climate change to become the world’s greatest equaliser by forcing an admission of the failure of globalised market forces.

Mass protests and demonstrations, the trademark and personification of the global justice movement, must take place outside the systems of power and hope to make themselves ‘heard’; world opinion, on the other hand, is an unmitigated force of consensual mass agreement that holds no party allegiances or crystallised form. 

An investigation into the common denominators behind the escalating environmental, financial and political crises, and an examination of how greater economic sharing can lead to a more sustainable world. 

A detailed examination of the global justice movement as a representation of public opinion through the activities and objectives of the World Social Forum movement, whose ubiquitous slogan is'another world is possible'.

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.

Until the existing profit-driven system is replaced by a more cooperative, equitable framework, more doomsday reports, more fearful warnings of Armageddon, and further predictions of a polarised ‘new world order’ can be expected in the newspapers.

The latest overseas aid figures are no suprise to the developing world, writes Adam Parsons. Broken promises will continue to make newspaper headlines until the deeper contradictions and biases of the current economic approach are addressed.