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  5. Strident Nationalism, Democratic Decline, War: Quo Vadis, Global Geo-Political Economy?
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Strident Nationalism, Democratic Decline, War: Quo Vadis, Global Geo-Political Economy?

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (CST)

J.W. Marriott New Orleans, Bacchus
Hosted By: Association for Evolutionary Economics
  • Chair: Gary Arthur Dymski, University of Leeds

The Real Causes of Russian Aggression against Ukraine

Olena Baklanova
,
Interregional Academy of Personnel Management and Odessa Institute

Abstract

The large-scale military aggression against Ukraine not only destroyed the relations between the two countries, but also the world system of international security. Attempts to understand the origins of this war have prompted many experts to seek answers exclusively in the political sphere. For example, left-wing proponents accuse NATO of seeking eastward expansion that threatens Russia and forces it to defend itself. The mistake of such reasoning is that the West doesn’t understand the true motives of Russian aggression, which come down to three components: political and economic, geopolitical, cultural.
Firstly, there is a fundamental difference between the Ukrainian and Russian models of relations between government and business, which were built in the countries after the collapse of the USSR. The Russian "vertical of power" contrasts with the “horizontal of power” in Ukraine’s imperfect democracy. The example of Ukraine, which shows Russian society an alternative path of development, poses a direct threat to the Putin regime.
Second, the geopolitical basis of Russian aggression is the desire to expand its borders and strengthen its influence in the international arena. The third reason for encroaching on Ukraine's independence is a common history, Kievan Rus. This is a sacred place, the mother of Russian lands, and therefore it has become a cherished dream of "collector of Russian lands". Related to this are fictional conjectures about artificially created Ukraine, about the lack of ethnic exclusivity and culture. Russia does not give Ukraine the right to own history, giving it the status of its patrimony. The furious destruction of Ukrainian symbols and cultural heritage is a desire to dissolve the Ukrainian nation in the "Russian world".

Gunnar Myrdal and Thomas Piketty on Inequality

John Battaile Hall
,
Portland State University

Abstract

Over a span stretching decades, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal registered as perhaps the most prominent social scientist focused upon advancing insightful approaches for considering income inequality. Starting with research for his doctoral dissertation in the early 1940s, Myrdal considered persistent income inequality as it became fused with racism in American life; described in his book American Dilemma (1944). Building upon these findings, Myrdal introduced a methodological approach in Rich Lands and Poor (1957) based upon a non-equilibrium understanding of circular and cumulative causation, as he expanded his geographical scope to consider inequality across regions and nations. Moving to a grander, intercontinental scale and context, in Asian Drama(1968) Myrdal considered persistent inequality affecting populations across Asia.
Myrdal’s approach contrasts with Thomas Piketty’s that can be found in his Capital in the 21stCentury (2013, 2014). In this book Piketty advances his understanding that income inequality could be reduced and related to capital exhibiting a rate of return “r” that outstrips a rate of economic growth “g” over time. Adding to his perspective, in Capital and Ideology (2019, 2020), Piketty considers different economic systems in distinct and contrasting historical settings. He considers that inequality can be related to the selection of one path over another, suggesting the importance of human agency in deciding and helping to define the character of differing historical epochs plagued by inequality.
Myrdal’s interest in and approaches to persistent inequality appears congruent with advances in Institutionalist Thought. Could we identify places in Piketty’s writings at which an Institutionalist approach might add to his efforts to explain inequality over the course of history? Could we take Piketty’s contributions that consider inequality and suggest how an evolutionary-institutional approach might enrich his perspective?

Globalisation and Sovereignty in the 2020s: The Peak of Contradictions?

Svetlana Kirdina-Chandler
,
Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The paper considers one of the aspects of the complex and, according to some, the catastrophic modern world: the contradiction of globalisation and sovereignty, which reached a peak in the 2020s. Globalisation consists of a process of universalisation of economic, political and ideological institutions, which has a supranational character; it is distinct from internationalisation, which accompanies the development of humankind and means a natural process of growing inter-ethnic ties strengthening the interdependence of changes in different countries. Sovereignty means that an individual state has “the right and power of self-determination, that is, a right and power to determine for and by oneself. The process of globalisation is more successful when it is directed by a world hegemon. With a hegemony crisis, the risks of “global systemic chaos” (Silver and Rayne, 2020) arise and the trend to sovereignty increases, since a weakening hegemon can exert external influence on other states to a lesser extent. We can see it now, strengthened by the upward phase of the sixth wave of the Kondratiev cycle (as of the 2020s), by a change in the leading techno-economic paradigm, and by a change in the cycles of capital accumulation - the American secular cycle is replaced by the Asian one. Such a complex set of factors provokes increasingly harsh forms of contradictions, up to large-scale military conflicts. The prevention the harmful consequences of the growing contradiction may be achieved by creating coalitions. The explicit formation of such coalitions, one hopes, can make it possible to overcome the contradictions of globalisation and sovereignty and save the world from catastrophe.

Choosing between Neoliberalism’s Surface Diversity and a Socially Just Progressive Economy: The Case of State Capitalism in Post-socialist Transition

Anna Klimina
,
University of Saskatchewan

Abstract

In economic literature the recent rise of state capitalism is linked to a government’s intention to restrain Western-led globalization in order to control capital accumulation, increase the state’s power over national resources, and protect domestic markets. This is the economic order now seen in China and Russia, the only post-socialist economies that are characterized as state-capitalist. Political technologists of both countries interpret the increasing strength of Russia's and China’s authoritarian regimes as a meaningful alternative to the supremacy of global neoliberalism and as a welcome manifestation of cultural multiplicity, or particularism.
This paper considers such views problematic. It argues that the nature of state capitalism in transition, despite its state-capitalist façade, is still neoliberal, and demonstrates that in its present form state capitalism does not challenge the logic of capital accumulation nor adequately address issues of steadily high income inequality, increasing militarization of national economy, and aggressive anti-unionism. The paper also asserts that Russia's and China’s advocacy for cultural plurality is in fact a manipulative tool for positioning their authoritarian polities, with control over main civil liberties, as a “meaningful” alternative to the Western system of universal democracy, primacy of human rights, individual freedom, and the rule of law. It thoroughly discusses the risks inherent in too great an emphasis on particularism and unwillingness to recognize the significance of what is not specific but general—above all, the universal humanistic values and principles inherent in democratic institutions. Current Russia’s war against Ukraine is discussed as case in point that illustrates the harmful consequences of President Putin’s policies based on particularistic vision of Russia’s distinct path of development, its ostensibly “special authoritarian path”.
The paper then argues that the regime of state capitalism can be re-imagined, through the lens of institutional economics, to acknowledge its inherent democratic promise.

World at Democratic Crossroads: Seeking Institutionalist Insights

Paolo Ramazzotti
,
University of Macerata

Abstract

A great deal of economic thought takes the notion of democracy for granted. The intuition is that voters choose policy-makers who will act according to economic expertise and some welfare function: the opposition must convince voters otherwise. This argument assumes that, once a welfare function is known, policy can be deduced from theory. It clashes with a view of the economy articulated by Adolph Lowe, wherein complex interactions and an uncertain future preclude economic actors – including policy-makers – from foreseeing the outcome of their strategies.
As Lowe would have foreseen, neoliberal policies have not only structured economies in a “pro-market” fashion but also convinced people that “there is no alternative”. This suggests that democracy may fail because policy often makes people internalize the rules of the world they live in.
However, modern economies include a variety of collective agents such as unions, NGOs, minority organizations, and business associations, that try to direct the economy according to their goals. They interact with and constrain government policy-makers – thus, to some extent, defending democracy. This was termed ‘countervailing power’ by Galbraith.
This raises two issues. At a historical level, why did countervailing power fail? At a more theoretical level, why did economists who opposed neoliberalism fail to provide a successful alternative? The paper’s tentative answer draws on the institutionalist insights outlined above. It suggest that policy cannot just apply “correct” theories. It must defend democracy by creating the economic and social conditions – e.g. distributive and welfare policies – that allow people to assess policies consciously. In order to do so it has to provide people with the knowledge not only of its ends in view but also, despite uncertainty, of its ultimate ends. This type of action conceives of economic theories as nothing but tools in the policy-maker’s toolbox.

Polanyi in Sri Lanka: Corrupted Capitalism, Dis-Embeddness and Public Protests

Kanchana Ruwanpura
,
University of Gothenburg

Abstract

Sri Lanka, a small island nation on the tip of the Indian ocean, is witnessing two unprecedented moments in its contemporary history. On the one hand for the first time in its post-independence history of 74 years, it has defaulted; unable to withstand an unsustainable debt burden. On the other hand, it is witnessing an exceptional mass mobilization – in almost every part of Sri Lanka; 50 days and running. The free and open market economy introduced in 1977 instead of creating vibrant competition has, over the decades, generated a class of politicians, crony capitalists and bureaucrats that have brought the country to the precipice. The intense insecurities, inequalities and austerity is connected to both economic mismanagement and a global economy in meltdown. These conditions have resulted in a reclaiming of citizen's democratic deficit and calls for basic socio-economic security and political rights for all. However, what was a peaceful public protest movement until May 9th 2022 still risks becoming ugly. From a Polanyian perspective (infused by feminist thought), I will explore what dis-embedding capitalist economy from society and polity entails in a 21st century global South context.

Prof. Ruwanpura's presentation celebrates her award as AFEE's 2023 Clarence E. Ayres Scholar.
JEL Classifications
  • F6 - Economic Impacts of Globalization
  • B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches