Polarizing Development: Alternatives to Neoliberalism and the Crisis

289 Pages·2014·3.41 MB·English

by  Lucia Pradella

Polarising DeveloPment
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Polarising Development
Alternatives to Neoliberalism and the Crisis
edited by
lucia Pradella
and
thomas marois
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First published 2015 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © editing by Lucia Pradella and Thomas Marois 2015.
The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been
asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3470 7 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 3469 1 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 7837 1181 9 PDF eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1183 3 Kindle eBook
ISBN 978 1 7837 1182 6 EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for.

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained
forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the
environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Curran Publishing Services, Norwich
Text design by Melanie Patrick
Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK
and
Edwards Bros in the United States of America
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Contents
Foreword vii
1 Polarising Development – introducing alternatives to neoliberalism
and the Crisis 1
Thomas Marois and Lucia Pradella
Part I: Alternative Themes 13
2 Beyond impoverishment: Western europe in the World economy 15
Lucia Pradella
3 Banking on alternatives to neoliberal Development 27
Thomas Marois
4 the Political economy of Development: statism or marxism? 39
Benjamin Selwyn
5 the globalisation of Production and the struggle for Workers’
Unity: lessons from Bangladesh 51
John Smith
6 the ‘rise of the south’ 62
Alfredo Saad-Filho
7 Hegemony in Question: Us Primacy, multi-Polarity and global
resistance 74
Jerome Klassen
8 neoliberalism, Crisis and international migration 86
Pietro Basso
9 neoliberalism, social reproduction and Women’s resistance:
lessons from Cambodia and venezuela 98
Sarah Miraglia and Susan Spronk
10 exploding in the air: Beyond the Carbon trail of neoliberal
globalisation 108
Andreas Malm
11 Defend, militate and alternate: Public options in a Privatized
World 119
David A. McDonald
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vi contents
12 Utopian socialism and marx’s Capital: envisioning alternatives 131
Hugo Radice
Part II: Alternative Cases 143
13 Beyond neoliberalism and new Developmentalism in latin
america: towards an anti-Capitalist agenda 145
Abelardo Mariña-Flores
14 Crisis and Class, advance and retreat: the Political economy of
the new latin american left 157
Jeffery R. Webber
15 taking Control: Decommodification and Peasant alternatives to
neoliberalism in mexico and Brazil 169
Leandro Vergara-Camus
16 the rise of east asia: a slippery Floor for the left 180
Dae-oup Chang
17 labour as an agent of Change: the case of China 192
Tim Pringle
18 alternatives to neoliberalism in india 203
Rohini Hensman
19 musical Chairs on the sidelines: the Challenges of social
transformation in neocolonial africa 214
Baba Aye
20 Challenging neoliberalism in the arab World 226
Adam Hanieh
21 socialist Feminist alternatives to neoliberalism in turkey 237
Demet Özmen Yılmaz
22 Uneven Development and Political resistance against eU austerity
Politics 248
Angela Wigger and Laura Horn
23 Crisis, austerity and resistance in the United states 260
David McNally
List of contributors 271
Index 275
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Foreword
this book is the result of a collaborative research project that started in 2011
with a debate on the theoretical premises of development studies. after initially
attempting, but ultimately failing, to organise a research seminar that involved
both marxist and new developmentalist scholars, we thought it more productive
to focus on clarifying our own marxian-inspired approach to development. this
opportunity seemed especially important. ten years had passed since the height
of the alter-globalisation movement and some four years had gone by after the
eruption of the global economic crisis. Yet remarkably little marxist research
had been produced on international and collective strategies to move beyond
neoliberalism and the crisis.
We thus organised two research seminars at soas, University of london –
the first in may 2012 and the second one year later in 2013. Here we discussed
the various aspects of the project, issues of solidarity, and some grounds for our
marxian approaches to alternatives. this book meets our initial objectives to
varying degrees. it is a first and important step in the elaboration of a distinc-
tively marxian-inspired approach that sees labour and social movements as core
determinants of development outcomes and of alternatives to the ravages of capi-
talism. it is for this reason that the book does not want to, nor does it pretend
to, offer a neutral analysis. rather, as a diverse collection inspired by critical and
socially progressive frameworks, the book seeks to provide existing movements
of all shapes and sizes with some tools and lessons for the active transformation
of society.
We would like to thank Ben Fine for his support throughout this project,
beginning with the first seminar, and Benjamin selwyn for his essential role in
bringing forward this initial idea. We are also grateful to Dae-oup Chang, adam
Hanieh, abelardo mariña-Flores, tim Pringle, alfredo saad-Filho and John smith
for their inputs and help during various stages of the project, and to the soas
Department of Development studies for its financial support.
as a final word, we wish to dedicate this book to all those movements that,
by resisting neoliberalism and imperialism, create the conditions for realising
progressive alternatives to capitalism.
lucia Pradella and thomas marois
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chapter one
Polarising Development –
Introducing Alternatives to
Neoliberalism and the Crisis
Thomas Marois and Lucia Pradella
Polarising the Debate on Alternatives
Neoliberal economic policies, with their emphasis on market-led development
and individual rationality, have been exposed as bankrupt not only by the global
economic crisis but also by increasing social opposition and resistance. Social
movements and critical scholars in Latin America, East Asia, Europe and the
United States, alongside the Arab uprisings, have triggered renewed debate on
possible different futures. While for some years any discussion of substantive
alternatives has been marginalised, the global crisis since 2008 has opened up
new spaces to debate, and indeed to radically rethink, the meaning of develop-
ment. Debates on developmental change are no longer tethered to the pole of
‘reform and reproduce’: a new pole of ‘critique and strategy beyond’ neoliberal
capitalism has emerged.
Despite being forcefully challenged, neoliberalism has proven remarkably
resilient. In the first years since the crisis erupted, the bulk of the alternative
literature pointed to continued growth in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa) and in other big emerging market countries to affirm
the necessary role for the state in sustaining capitalist development. New devel-
opmental economists have consequently reasserted themselves. Their proposals
converged into a broader demand for global Keynesianism (Patomäki, 2012) – a
demand that is proving to be less and less realistic in the face of a deepening
global economic crisis.
Advocates of ‘reform and reproduce’ – be they new developmental or
neo-Keynesian – share deep commitments to capitalism and the subordination
of workers to the needs of accumulation. In contrast, this book represents a
collaborative attempt by a group of Marxian-inspired scholars to explore real and
potential alternatives to the exploitative reality of neoliberal capitalism. Despite
varying approaches, contributors to this book understand that neoliberalism
and the ongoing crisis are an expression of the fundamental contradictions of
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