Download or read book Post growth Politics written by Peter Ferguson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-07-06 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book uses a critical political economy approach to develop an historically and politically grounded set of strategies for states to move toward a post-growth, decarbonised global economy. It begins by examining the social and ecological costs of and limits to economic growth and determines that significant decarbonisation of the global economy can only be achieved if conventional growth-based economies are replaced by an alternative post-growth economy. Set apart from many other works in the field by its critical political economy approach to policy development, this book offers the reader three distinctive features. First, it places the analysis in historical context in order to demonstrate how the global political economy is constantly changing with respect to distributions of wealth, power and fundamental norms, and explores how states might harness and transform these contingent patterns in a post-growth direction. Second, the book is not only concerned with developing and advocating post-growth policies, but also with how these measures can be incorporated into the high-level domestic and international strategies pursued by states to ensure their political legitimacy and economic and geopolitical survival. Third, rather than proposing an idealised and politically naïve model of socioecological transformation, the proposed post-growth policy framework is highly cognisant of the geopolitical and international economic pressures facing states and demonstrates how these can be managed in the transition toward a post-growth economy. This book represents an invaluable resource for policymakers, academics, activists and students wishing to study or contribute to the transition to a post-growth, decarbonised economy.

Download or read book The World After GDP written by Lorenzo Fioramonti and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GDP is much more than a simple statistic. It has become the overarching benchmark of success and a powerful ordering principle at the heart of the global economy. But the convergence of major economic, social and environmental crises has exposed the flaws of our economic system which values GDP above all else as a measure of prosperity and growth. In this provocative and inspiring new book, political economist Lorenzo Fioramonti sets out his vision of a world after GDP. Focusing on pioneering research on alternative metrics of progress, governance innovation and institutional change, he makes a compelling case for the profound and positive transformations that could be achieved through a post-GDP system of development. From a new role for small business, households and civil society to a radical evolution of democracy and international relations, Fioramonti sets out a combination of top-down reforms and bottom-up pressures whose impact, he argues, would be unprecedented, making it possible to build a more equitable, sustainable and happy society.

Download or read book Post growth Politics written by Peter Ferguson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-06-19 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book uses a critical political economy approach to develop an historically and politically grounded set of strategies for states to move toward a post-growth, decarbonised global economy. It begins by examining the social and ecological costs of and limits to economic growth and determines that significant decarbonisation of the global economy can only be achieved if conventional growth-based economies are replaced by an alternative post-growth economy. Set apart from many other works in the field by its critical political economy approach to policy development, this book offers the reader three distinctive features. First, it places the analysis in historical context in order to demonstrate how the global political economy is constantly changing with respect to distributions of wealth, power and fundamental norms, and explores how states might harness and transform these contingent patterns in a post-growth direction. Second, the book is not only concerned with developing and advocating post-growth policies, but also with how these measures can be incorporated into the high-level domestic and international strategies pursued by states to ensure their political legitimacy and economic and geopolitical survival. Third, rather than proposing an idealised and politically naïve model of socioecological transformation, the proposed post-growth policy framework is highly cognisant of the geopolitical and international economic pressures facing states and demonstrates how these can be managed in the transition toward a post-growth economy. This book represents an invaluable resource for policymakers, academics, activists and students wishing to study or contribute to the transition to a post-growth, decarbonised economy.

Download or read book The Post growth Project written by John Blewitt and published by London School of Economics and Political Science. This book was released on 2014-10 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges the assumption that it is bad news when the economy doesn't grow.For decades, it has been widely recognised that there are ecological limits to continuing economic growth and that different ways of living, working and organising our economies are urgently required. This urgency has increased since the financial crash of 2007-2008 - but mainstream economists and politicians are unable to think differently. The authors demonstrate why our economic system demands ecologically unsustainable growth and the pursuit of more 'stuff'. They believe that what matters is quality, not quantity - a better life based on having fewer material possessions, less production and less work. Such a way of life will emphasize well-being, community, security, and what Ivan Illich rightly called 'conviviality'. That is, more real wealth. The book will therefore appeal to everyone curious as to how a new post-growth economics can be conceived and enacted. It will be of particular interest to policy makers, politicians, business people, trade unionists, academics, students, journalists and a wide range of people working in the not for profit sector.All of the contributors are leading thinkers on Green issues and members of the new think tank Green House.

Download or read book The Future is Degrowth written by Matthias Schmelzer and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2022-06-28 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic growth isn't working, and it cannot be made to work. Offering a counter-history of how economic growth emerged in the context of colonialism, fossil-fueled industrialization, and capitalist modernity, The Future Is Degrowth argues that the ideology of growth conceals the rising inequalities and ecological destructions associated with capitalism, and points to desirable alternatives to it. Not only in society at large, but also on the left, we are held captive by the hegemony of growth. Even proposals for emancipatory Green New Deals or postcapitalism base their utopian hopes on the development of productive forces, on redistributing the fruits of economic growth and technological progress. Yet growing evidence shows that continued economic growth cannot be made compatible with sustaining life and is not necessary for a good life for all. This book provides a vision for postcapitalism beyond growth. Building on a vibrant field of research, it discusses the political economy and the politics of a non-growing economy. It charts a path forward through policies that democratise the economy, "now-topias" that create free spaces for experimentation, and counter-hegemonic movements that make it possible to break with the logic of growth. Degrowth perspectives offer a way to step off the treadmill of an alienating, expansionist, and hierarchical system. A handbook and a manifesto, The Future Is Degrowth is a must-read for all interested in charting a way beyond the current crises.

Download or read book Towards a Political Economy of Degrowth written by Ekaterina Chertkovskaya and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-10-04 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1970s, the degrowth idea has been proposed by scholars, public intellectuals and activists as a powerful call to reject the obsession of neoliberal capitalism with economic growth, an obsession which continues apace despite the global ecological crisis and rising inequalities. In the past decade, degrowth has gained momentum and become an umbrella term for various social movements which strive for ecologically sustainable and socially just alternatives that would transform the world we live in. How to move forward in an informed way, without reproducing the existing hierarchies and injustices? How not to end up in a situation when ecological sustainability is the prerogative of the privileged, direct democracy is ignorant of environmental issues, and localisation of production is xenophobic? These are some of the questions that have inspired this edited collection. Bringing degrowth into dialogue with critical social theories, covering previously unexplored geographical contexts and discussing some of the most contested concepts in degrowth, the book hints at informed paths towards socio-ecological transformation.

Download or read book Postgrowth and Wellbeing written by Milena Büchs and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-07-20 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a detailed and critical discussion about how human wellbeing can be maintained and improved in a postgrowth era. It highlights the close links between economic growth, market capitalism, and the welfare state demonstrating that, in many ways, wellbeing outcomes currently depend on the growth paradigm. Here the authors argue that notions of basic human needs deserve greater emphasis in debates on postgrowth because they are more compatible with limits to growth. Drawing on theories of social practices, the book explores structural barriers to transitions to a postgrowth society, and ends with suggestions for policies and institutions that could support wellbeing in the context of postgrowth. This thought-provoking work makes a valuable contribution to debates surrounding climate change, sustainability, welfare states and inequality and will appeal to students and scholars of social policy, sociology, political science, economics, political ecology and human geography.

Download or read book Political Economy of Transition and Development written by Nauro F. Campos and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003-11-30 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Political Economy of Transition and Development collects the proceedings of an international conference that brought the leading thinkers in this field to the Center for European Integration Studies of the University of Bonn in May, 2002. The contributions analyze the various interactions between institutions, policy choices, economic developments, and political outcomes in transition and developing countries. The first five chapters give a relatively broad assessment of the various reform paths and outcomes in the transition and developing countries. The remaining eight chapters proceed to analyze important aspects of transition such as voting behavior, political-regime choice, corruption, social capital, growth and inequality, and EU enlargement. The resulting volume thus combines a bird's eye perspective with a relatively narrow focus on selected key issues pertaining to the ongoing transition process in Central and Eastern Europe.

Download or read book Post Growth Living written by Kate Soper and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An urgent and passionate plea for a new and ecologically sustainable vision of the good life. The reality of runaway climate change is inextricably linked with the mass consumerist, capitalist society in which we live. And the cult of endless growth, and endless consumption of cheap disposable commodities isn't only destroying the world, it is damaging ourselves and our way of being. How do we stop the impending catastrophe, and how can we create a movement capable of confronting it head-on? In Post-Growth Living, philosopher Kate Soper offers an urgent plea for a new vision of the good life, one that is capable of delinking prosperity from endless growth. Instead, she calls for a renewed emphasis on the joys of being, one that is capable of collective happiness not in consumption but by creating a future that allows not only for more free time, and less conventional and more creative ways of using it, but also for more fulfilling ways of working and existing. This is an urgent and necessary intervention into debates on climate change.

Download or read book Wellbeing Economy written by Lorenzo Fioramonti and published by Pan Macmillan South africa. This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economic growth is a constant mantra of politicians, economists and the media. Few understand what it is, but they love and follow it blindly. The reality is that since the global financial crisis, growth has vanished in the more industrialised economies and in the so-called developing countries. Politicians may be panicking, but is this really a bad thing? Using real-life examples and innovative research, acclaimed political economist Lorenzo Fioramonti lays bare society’s perverse obsession with economic growth by showing its many flaws, paradoxes and inconsistencies. He argues that the pursuit of growth often results in more losses than gains and in damage, inequalities and conflicts. By breaking free from the growth mantra, we can build a better society that puts the wellbeing of all at its centre. A wellbeing economy would have tremendous impact on everything we do, boosting small businesses and empowering citizens as the collective leaders of tomorrow. Wellbeing Economy is a manifesto for radical change in South Africa and beyond.

Download or read book The Political Economy of Post adjustment written by Hakim Ben Hammouda and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2003. Hammouda's text focuses on modernization experiences in the South which, in the 80s had reached their limits, with the adoption of structural adjustment programmes in most countries. Yet, such Washington Consensus inspired programmes met difficulties in initiating new growth dynamics in these countries and in improving their international insertion. Hence, a new era termed post-adjustment by the author has been ushered in, one which is characterized by a decline of structural adjustment programmes and through dynamic and plural research, is striving to introduce new theoretical practices and development strategies. This book is a contribution to such debate.

Download or read book Gross Domestic Problem written by Doctor Lorenzo Fioramonti and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-01-17 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gross domestic product is arguably the best-known statistic in the contemporary world, and certainly amongst the most powerful. It drives government policy and sets priorities in a variety of vital social fields - from schooling to healthcare. Yet for perhaps the first time since it was invented in the 1930s, this popular icon of economic growth has come to be regarded by a wide range of people as a 'problem'. After all, does our quality of life really improve when our economy grows 2 or 3 per cent? Can we continue to sacrifice the environment to safeguard a vision of the world based on the illusion of infinite economic growth? Lorenzo Fioramonti takes apart the 'content' of GDP - what it measures, what it doesn't and why - and reveals the powerful political interests that have allowed it to dominate today's economies. In doing so, he demonstrates just how little relevance GDP has to moral principles such as equity, social justice and redistribution, and shows that an alternative is possible, as evinced by the 'de-growth' movement and initiatives such as transition towns. A startling insight into the politics of a number that has come to dominate our everyday lives.

Download or read book Fictions of Sustainability written by and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses key aspects of what is increasingly becoming a central international debate: the political contest over competing visions and policies on the future of capitalist economic growth versus the alternative policies and images of post-capitalist, post-growth sustainable societies. The hopes and imagined futures of conservative and reform-orientated defenders of capitalist societies, as well as those held by radical green and socialist critics are subjected to detailed scrutiny. What are the limitations on 'green growth' innovation and why will it only have a marginal impact on inequality and other threatening social and environmental problems? Can new technology decouple economic growth from natural resources and eco-systems in order to sustain capitalist production and high consumption? How feasible are images of 'post-work' or post-capitalist societies based on such things as full automation and a universal basic income? If environmentalists reject capitalist growth as unsustainable, what are the political economic and institutional strengths and weaknesses of green post-growth or degrowth proposals? These and other crucial issues are analysed in a challenging and thought-provoking book covering an extensive range of policy reports, social theories, environmental proposals and political debates and practices across the world. The author also offers a number of positive suggestions to deal with the political economic, social and environmental issues covered in the book.

Download or read book The Case for Degrowth written by Susan Paulson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The relentless pursuit of economic growth is the defining characteristic of contemporary societies. Yet it benefits few and demands monstrous social and ecological sacrifice. Is there a viable alternative? How can we halt the endless quest to grow global production and consumption and instead secure socio-ecological conditions that support lives worth living for all? In this compelling book, leading experts Giorgos Kallis, Susan Paulson, Giacomo D’Alisa and Federico Demaria make the case for degrowth - living well with less, by living differently, prioritizing wellbeing, equity and sustainability. Drawing on emerging initiatives and enduring traditions around the world, they advance a radical degrowth vision and outline policies to shape work and care, income and investment that avoid exploitative and unsustainable practices. Degrowth, they argue, can be achieved through transformative strategies that allow societies to slow down by design, not disaster. Essential reading for all concerned citizens, policy-makers, and students, this book will be an important contribution to one of the thorniest and most pressing debates of our era.

Download or read book Why Nations Fail written by Daron Acemoglu and published by Currency. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brilliant and engagingly written, Why Nations Fail answers the question that has stumped the experts for centuries: Why are some nations rich and others poor, divided by wealth and poverty, health and sickness, food and famine? Is it culture, the weather, geography? Perhaps ignorance of what the right policies are? Simply, no. None of these factors is either definitive or destiny. Otherwise, how to explain why Botswana has become one of the fastest growing countries in the world, while other African nations, such as Zimbabwe, the Congo, and Sierra Leone, are mired in poverty and violence? Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or lack of it). Korea, to take just one of their fascinating examples, is a remarkably homogeneous nation, yet the people of North Korea are among the poorest on earth while their brothers and sisters in South Korea are among the richest. The south forged a society that created incentives, rewarded innovation, and allowed everyone to participate in economic opportunities. The economic success thus spurred was sustained because the government became accountable and responsive to citizens and the great mass of people. Sadly, the people of the north have endured decades of famine, political repression, and very different economic institutions—with no end in sight. The differences between the Koreas is due to the politics that created these completely different institutional trajectories. Based on fifteen years of original research Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin America, England, Europe, the United States, and Africa to build a new theory of political economy with great relevance for the big questions of today, including: - China has built an authoritarian growth machine. Will it continue to grow at such high speed and overwhelm the West? - Are America’s best days behind it? Are we moving from a virtuous circle in which efforts by elites to aggrandize power are resisted to a vicious one that enriches and empowers a small minority? - What is the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity? More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? Or learning the hard-won lessons of Acemoglu and Robinson’s breakthrough ideas on the interplay between inclusive political and economic institutions? Why Nations Fail will change the way you look at—and understand—the world.

Download or read book Diminishing Returns written by and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-01 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A set of state of the art empirical analyses at the country, regional, and global level that work from a new theoretical framework that analyzes the politics of growth and stagnation. As highlighted by the recent debate on 'secular stagnation,' economic growth has slowed down considerably, and this has given rise to a host of new problems, from financial instability to the collapse of mainstream parties. What happens when growththe main mechanism of capitalist legitimationis harder to come by and less broadly shared? And how should we think about capitalist diversity in the context of global stagnation? In Diminishing Returns, Lucio Baccaro, Mark Blyth, and Jonas Pontusson address these questions by bringing together a number of comparative and international political economists with expertise across many different countries and regions. Going beyond the methodological nationalism common in most comparative research, each author departs from a common theoretical framework, the Growth Model Perspective, and contributes to develop it further. The outcome is a new theoretical framework to help social scientists, policymakers, and opinion makers, understand the politics of growth and stagnation, which offers state of the art empirical analyses at the country, regional, and global level.

Download or read book Affluence and Freedom written by Pierre Charbonnier and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this pathbreaking book, Pierre Charbonnier opens up a new intellectual terrain: an environmental history of political ideas. His aim is not to locate the seeds of ecological thought in the history of political ideas as others have done, but rather to show that all political ideas, whether or not they endorse ecological ideals, are informed by a certain conception of our relationship to the Earth and to our environment. The fundamental political categories of modernity were founded on the idea that we could improve on nature, that we could exert a decisive victory over its excesses and claim unlimited access to earthly resources. In this way, modern thinkers imagined a political society of free individuals, equal and prosperous, alongside the development of industry geared towards progress and liberated from the Earth’s shackles. Yet this pact between democracy and growth has now been called into question by climate change and the environmental crisis. It is therefore our duty today to rethink political emancipation, bearing in mind that this can no longer draw on the prospect of infinite growth promised by industrial capitalism. Ecology must draw on the power harnessed by nineteenth-century socialism to respond to the massive impact of industrialization, but it must also rethink the imperative to offer protection to society by taking account of the solidarity of social groups and their conditions in a world transformed by climate change. This timely and original work of social and political theory will be of interest to a wide readership in politics, sociology, environmental studies and the social sciences and humanities generally.