Strengthening Regionalism
The role of the state in Southern Africa
Amongst many other analyses and debates, the more extensive awareness of the active role of the state and of states in the purportedly highly successful 'market economies' in East Asia and South East Asia is bringing discussion of the role of state back into quite mainstream development discourse.
After years of deliberate ideological discrediting of the role of the state in development, and the active dismantling of the state in Africa, even the World Bank is gradually coming around to the recognition of the necessary role of the state; on their argument that this is essential under conditions of underdevelopment and – as yet -weak market forces in most Africa countries. The belated awakening of the World Bank, and its own interpretation as to what 'the role of the state' should be, actually deepen the challenges to independent critical analysts as to their own approaches to the revival of discussions on "the need for a developmental state in Africa" and the long-overdue need to "re-discuss the developmental paradigm of the 1960s and 1970s.
Recent publications from Alternative Regionalisms
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Occupy the left or ignore it?Why the traditional Left needs to understand, be willing to be challenged, and fully embrace the Occupy and Indignado movements. |
Financial Governance Beyond the CrisisDr. Pedro Paez talks about the creation of a new financial architecture in Latin America, based on principles of redistribution, environmental sustainability and social cohesion rather than market principles that dominated the old architecture. |
The impact of free trade on the financial crisis … and vice versaBehind the currency wars and the worsening global economic crisis lies a largely unquestioned free trade model that both contributed to the crisis and, without radical reform, is a major obstacle to overcoming it. |
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