The
crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the
new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid
symptoms appear. (Antonio Gramsci)
by
Jayati Ghosh
Part
2 - A Familiar Question
The question
‘what is your alternative?’ is a familiar one for most
progressives, and too often we are overly defensive or self-critical
about our supposed lack of alternatives. In truth, there are many
economically-viable, socially-desirable alternative proposals in
different contexts. The problem is not their lack of existence but
their lack of political feasibility, and perhaps their lack of wider
dissemination.
But it is
certainly true that the alternative does not consist of one
over-arching theory (or even framework) that can subsume all others,
since there are many good reasons for being sceptical of the days of
the ‘grand theory’ that supposedly could take care of everything.
While
rejecting the totalising theory, it is possible to think of a broad
framework around which there could be much agreement, even among
people who do not necessarily identify themselves as of the ‘left’,
but are nevertheless dissatisfied with current economic arrangements
at both national and international levels.
Much current
discussion on economic strategies for global capitalism is framed
around the financial crisis of 2007/8 and its continuing
repercussions. But it does not really need a crisis to show us that
the past strategy for growth and development has been flawed in most
countries.
Even during
the previous boom, the pattern of growth had too many limitations,
paradoxes and inherent fragilities. Everyone now knows that the
economic boom was unsustainable, based on speculative practices that
were enabled and encouraged by financial deregulation. It also drew
rapaciously and fecklessly on natural resources, and it was deeply
unequal. Contrary to general perception, most people in the
developing world, even within the most successful region of Asia, did
not gain.
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