UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Policy Brief series (IIPP PB 16)., Sep 1, 2021
Communities worldwide are faced with huge challenges that require systems change only possible th... more Communities worldwide are faced with huge challenges that require systems change only possible through significant transformation. The impacts of COVID-19 have helped reveal that to solve complex societal challenges requires us to address questions of power and participation, from the details of service provision to the underlying structures of society itself. Yet we have also learned that it is possible to take on short-and long-term innovation to equitably address societal 'grand challenges' by organising around bold, ambitious missions; to 'flatten the curve', not only on COVID-19, but on the fundamental crises of climate change, social justice and poverty. To tackle the fissures exposed by COVID-19 and pursue public value, it is critical to recognise that markets will not find sustainable, inclusive, green and innovationled economic growth on their own. Rather, direction is needed from both the public and private sectors working together to co-create and co-shape markets to foster societal change. The role of finance is vital in helping to move us from the infrastructure of today's economy to an infrastructure that is ready to take on grand challenges, notably climate change and global decarbonisation. Finance, however, is not neutral; the type of finance available can affect both the investments made and the type of activity that occurs. This brief can be referenced as follows: Marois, T. (2021). Opinion on The Finnish Climate Fund (Ilmastorahasto) Strategy. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Policy Brief series (IIPP PB 16).
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Books by Thomas Marois
ISBN: 9781108839150
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.
Eschewing economistic interpretations, The Political Economy of Financial Transformation in Turkey underscores both the quantitative significance of exponential growth in financial flows and investments, and the qualitative importance of the state’s institutional restructuring around financial imperatives. The book presents today’s reality as historically rooted. By understanding the choices made under the new Republic (from 1923 onwards), one can better locate the changes launched as a newly liberalizing society (since 1980). Likewise, the decisions made in response to Turkey’s 2001 financial crisis spurred a tectonic break in state–market–society financial relations. The waves of change have reached far and wide: from corporate strategies of accumulation and growth to small- and medium-sized enterprises’ strategies of financial survival; from how finance has penetrated the provisioning of housing to how households have become financialized. Put together, one grasps the complexity and historicity of the power of contemporary finance. One also sees that the changes made have not been class-neutral, but have entailed elevating the interests of major capital groups, particularly financial capital, above the interests of the poor and workers in Turkey. Nor are these changes constrained to its national borders, as what transpires domestically contributes to the making of a financialized world market. Through this ‘Made in Turkey’ approach the contributions in this volume thus challenge dominant understandings of financialization, which are derived from the advanced capitalisms, by sharing the specificity of emerging capitalisms such as Turkey.
While leading to a timely analysis of the impact of the Great Recession on Mexico and Turkey, the major contribution of States, Banks and Crisis is in its account of emerging finance capitalism. This is defined as the current phase of accumulation wherein the interests of financial capital are fused in the state apparatus as the institutionalized priorities and overarching social logic guiding the actions of state managers and government elites, often to the detriment of labor.
This interdisciplinary and accessible study on banking and development will prove to be an important resource for upper-level undergraduates, graduates, and scholars in economics, development studies, political science, political economy, development finance, sociology, international relations and international political economy.
Endorsement:
‘Financialization is as financialization does. It is a mix of the universal characteristics of finance within capitalism, its contemporary powerful hold over, even defining feature of, the neoliberal age, and the myriad of specific global markets and countries into which it has penetrated. In a stunning work of comparative political economy, Marois brilliantly weaves together these aspects of finance drawing on both innovative theoretical insights and primary case study evidence from Turkey and Mexico to furnish what will become a classic and original contribution to the understanding of financialization in the developing world, highlighting both the role of the state in the era of putatively free markets and the possibility, indeed, necessity of alternatives.’
– Ben Fine, University of London, UK"
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
Radical alternatives, moreover, are only rarely debated. And if they are, such alternatives are reduced to new Keynesian and new developmental agendas, which fail to address existing class divisions and imperialist relations of domination.
This collection of essays polarizes the debate between radical and reformist alternatives by exploring head-on the antagonistic structure of capitalist development. The contributors ground their proposals in an international, non-Eurocentric and Marxian inspired analysis of capitalism and its crises. From Latin America to Asia, Africa to the Middle East and Europe to the US, social and labour movements have emerged as the protagonists behind creating alternatives.
This book’s new generation of scholars has written accessible yet theoretically informed and empirically rich chapters elaborating radical worldwide strategies for moving beyond neoliberalism, and beyond capitalism. The intent is to provoke critical reflection and positive action towards substantive change.
Contents
Foreword vii
Polarising Development – Introducing Alternatives to Neoliberalism
and the Crisis
1 Thomas Marois and Lucia Pradella
Part I: Alternative Themes
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
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
Bu makaleler derlemesi, kapitalist kalkınmanın çelişkili yapısını irdeleyerek radikal ve reformist alternatifler arasındaki tartışmayı kutuplaştırmaktadır. Yazarlar önerilerini, kapitalizme ve krizlerine dair Avrupa merkezci olmayan, enternasyonal ve Marksist bir analize oturtmaktadırlar. Latin Amerika'dan Asya'ya, Afrika'dan Orta Doğu'ya ve Avrupa'dan ABD'ye kadar, alternatif yaratan başoyuncular olarak birtakım toplum ve işçi hareketleri belirmiştir.
Bu kitaba katkı sağlayan yeni akademisyenler kuşağı, neoliberalizmin ve kapitalizmin ötesine geçmek için dünya çapındaki radikal stratejileri inceleyerek hem anlaşılır hem de teorik açıdan donanımlı ve deneysel açıdan zengin makalelere imza atmışlardır. Derlemenin amacı, elle tutulur bir değişime yönelik eleştirel görüşlerin ve pozitif eylemlerin ateşini harlamaktır.
Bu derleme, neoliberalizme ve ona karşı alternatiflere dair son söz olmasa da, en iyilerden biri olmaya adaydır. Politik iktisatla yüklü analitik derinliği ve kapsama alanı coğrafi, tarihsel ve tematik olarak benzerlerini geride bırakmaktadır.
Kutuplaştıran Kalkınma, neoliberal tahakkümün çeşitli tezahürlerini ve küresel kapitalizm içindeki ulusal alanlarda süren direnişi anlamak isteyenler için bir başucu kaynağıdır. Derleme, hem Küresel Güney'de hem de Küresel Kuzey'de neoliberalizme karşı uygulanabilir alternatifler arayışındaki gündelik ve elle tutulur mücadeleleri ele alması bakımından benzersizdir.
-Profesör Susanne Soederberg, Kanada Queen's Üniversitesi Küresel Politik İktisat Bölümü-
(Tanıtım Bülteninden)
Thomas Marois’in eseri, Meksika ile Türkiye’de bankacılık, kalkınma ve finans kapitalizminin yükselişine ilişkin etkileyici ve titiz bir çalışma. Çalışma Marksizm’den ilham alan ve devletlerle bankaların toplumsal ilişkiler ve kriz ile işgücünün bugün finans açısından hayati öneme haiz olarak anlaşılması üzerine kurulu bir çerçeveye oturtuyor. Yenilikçi bir tarihsel materyalizm merceğinden bakan Marois, gelişmekte olan finans kapitalizmini “kurumsallaşmış öncelikler ve kapsayıcı toplumsal mantık, devlet yöneticilerinin ve yönetim elitlerinin eylemlerine çoğunlukla işgücünün aleyhine yön verirken; yerli ve yabancı finans sermayesinin çıkarlarının devlet aygıtında birleştiği mevcut birikim safhası” şeklinde tanımlıyor. Meksika ile Türkiye’yi kuramsal ve tarihsel anlamda derinlemesine tartışırken, neoliberal deneyimlerinin mükemmel bir analizini sunuyor. İki “gelişmekte olan kapitalizm”, Meksika ile Türkiye bağlamında devlet, finans sermayesi ve emek arasındaki ilişkileri ayrıntılı bir şekilde irdeleyen Marois eleştirel siyasi iktisat geleneğine önemli bir katkı sağlıyor.
Papers by Thomas Marois
But can they do more to help deliver finance at the right pace and scale and on the terms appropriate for catalyzing global green and just transitions? What potential roles might enhanced cooperation between multilateral and national development banks play in achieving green and just transitions?
This paper contributes to our understanding of the potential of public development banks by mapping out the inter-relations between nine MDBs and select NDBs in four regions. The analysis finds that MDBs are lending to NDBs in their regions, but unevenly so; that MDB reporting of cooperation with NDBs is uneven; that MDBs see multiple barriers to lending to NDBs; and that, with a few exceptions, MDBs are not aligning or tracking SDG financing systematically.
https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/multi-national-and-back-again-realizing-sdg-potential-public-development-banks
ISBN: 9781108839150
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.
Eschewing economistic interpretations, The Political Economy of Financial Transformation in Turkey underscores both the quantitative significance of exponential growth in financial flows and investments, and the qualitative importance of the state’s institutional restructuring around financial imperatives. The book presents today’s reality as historically rooted. By understanding the choices made under the new Republic (from 1923 onwards), one can better locate the changes launched as a newly liberalizing society (since 1980). Likewise, the decisions made in response to Turkey’s 2001 financial crisis spurred a tectonic break in state–market–society financial relations. The waves of change have reached far and wide: from corporate strategies of accumulation and growth to small- and medium-sized enterprises’ strategies of financial survival; from how finance has penetrated the provisioning of housing to how households have become financialized. Put together, one grasps the complexity and historicity of the power of contemporary finance. One also sees that the changes made have not been class-neutral, but have entailed elevating the interests of major capital groups, particularly financial capital, above the interests of the poor and workers in Turkey. Nor are these changes constrained to its national borders, as what transpires domestically contributes to the making of a financialized world market. Through this ‘Made in Turkey’ approach the contributions in this volume thus challenge dominant understandings of financialization, which are derived from the advanced capitalisms, by sharing the specificity of emerging capitalisms such as Turkey.
While leading to a timely analysis of the impact of the Great Recession on Mexico and Turkey, the major contribution of States, Banks and Crisis is in its account of emerging finance capitalism. This is defined as the current phase of accumulation wherein the interests of financial capital are fused in the state apparatus as the institutionalized priorities and overarching social logic guiding the actions of state managers and government elites, often to the detriment of labor.
This interdisciplinary and accessible study on banking and development will prove to be an important resource for upper-level undergraduates, graduates, and scholars in economics, development studies, political science, political economy, development finance, sociology, international relations and international political economy.
Endorsement:
‘Financialization is as financialization does. It is a mix of the universal characteristics of finance within capitalism, its contemporary powerful hold over, even defining feature of, the neoliberal age, and the myriad of specific global markets and countries into which it has penetrated. In a stunning work of comparative political economy, Marois brilliantly weaves together these aspects of finance drawing on both innovative theoretical insights and primary case study evidence from Turkey and Mexico to furnish what will become a classic and original contribution to the understanding of financialization in the developing world, highlighting both the role of the state in the era of putatively free markets and the possibility, indeed, necessity of alternatives.’
– Ben Fine, University of London, UK"
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
Radical alternatives, moreover, are only rarely debated. And if they are, such alternatives are reduced to new Keynesian and new developmental agendas, which fail to address existing class divisions and imperialist relations of domination.
This collection of essays polarizes the debate between radical and reformist alternatives by exploring head-on the antagonistic structure of capitalist development. The contributors ground their proposals in an international, non-Eurocentric and Marxian inspired analysis of capitalism and its crises. From Latin America to Asia, Africa to the Middle East and Europe to the US, social and labour movements have emerged as the protagonists behind creating alternatives.
This book’s new generation of scholars has written accessible yet theoretically informed and empirically rich chapters elaborating radical worldwide strategies for moving beyond neoliberalism, and beyond capitalism. The intent is to provoke critical reflection and positive action towards substantive change.
Contents
Foreword vii
Polarising Development – Introducing Alternatives to Neoliberalism
and the Crisis
1 Thomas Marois and Lucia Pradella
Part I: Alternative Themes
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
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
Bu makaleler derlemesi, kapitalist kalkınmanın çelişkili yapısını irdeleyerek radikal ve reformist alternatifler arasındaki tartışmayı kutuplaştırmaktadır. Yazarlar önerilerini, kapitalizme ve krizlerine dair Avrupa merkezci olmayan, enternasyonal ve Marksist bir analize oturtmaktadırlar. Latin Amerika'dan Asya'ya, Afrika'dan Orta Doğu'ya ve Avrupa'dan ABD'ye kadar, alternatif yaratan başoyuncular olarak birtakım toplum ve işçi hareketleri belirmiştir.
Bu kitaba katkı sağlayan yeni akademisyenler kuşağı, neoliberalizmin ve kapitalizmin ötesine geçmek için dünya çapındaki radikal stratejileri inceleyerek hem anlaşılır hem de teorik açıdan donanımlı ve deneysel açıdan zengin makalelere imza atmışlardır. Derlemenin amacı, elle tutulur bir değişime yönelik eleştirel görüşlerin ve pozitif eylemlerin ateşini harlamaktır.
Bu derleme, neoliberalizme ve ona karşı alternatiflere dair son söz olmasa da, en iyilerden biri olmaya adaydır. Politik iktisatla yüklü analitik derinliği ve kapsama alanı coğrafi, tarihsel ve tematik olarak benzerlerini geride bırakmaktadır.
Kutuplaştıran Kalkınma, neoliberal tahakkümün çeşitli tezahürlerini ve küresel kapitalizm içindeki ulusal alanlarda süren direnişi anlamak isteyenler için bir başucu kaynağıdır. Derleme, hem Küresel Güney'de hem de Küresel Kuzey'de neoliberalizme karşı uygulanabilir alternatifler arayışındaki gündelik ve elle tutulur mücadeleleri ele alması bakımından benzersizdir.
-Profesör Susanne Soederberg, Kanada Queen's Üniversitesi Küresel Politik İktisat Bölümü-
(Tanıtım Bülteninden)
Thomas Marois’in eseri, Meksika ile Türkiye’de bankacılık, kalkınma ve finans kapitalizminin yükselişine ilişkin etkileyici ve titiz bir çalışma. Çalışma Marksizm’den ilham alan ve devletlerle bankaların toplumsal ilişkiler ve kriz ile işgücünün bugün finans açısından hayati öneme haiz olarak anlaşılması üzerine kurulu bir çerçeveye oturtuyor. Yenilikçi bir tarihsel materyalizm merceğinden bakan Marois, gelişmekte olan finans kapitalizmini “kurumsallaşmış öncelikler ve kapsayıcı toplumsal mantık, devlet yöneticilerinin ve yönetim elitlerinin eylemlerine çoğunlukla işgücünün aleyhine yön verirken; yerli ve yabancı finans sermayesinin çıkarlarının devlet aygıtında birleştiği mevcut birikim safhası” şeklinde tanımlıyor. Meksika ile Türkiye’yi kuramsal ve tarihsel anlamda derinlemesine tartışırken, neoliberal deneyimlerinin mükemmel bir analizini sunuyor. İki “gelişmekte olan kapitalizm”, Meksika ile Türkiye bağlamında devlet, finans sermayesi ve emek arasındaki ilişkileri ayrıntılı bir şekilde irdeleyen Marois eleştirel siyasi iktisat geleneğine önemli bir katkı sağlıyor.
But can they do more to help deliver finance at the right pace and scale and on the terms appropriate for catalyzing global green and just transitions? What potential roles might enhanced cooperation between multilateral and national development banks play in achieving green and just transitions?
This paper contributes to our understanding of the potential of public development banks by mapping out the inter-relations between nine MDBs and select NDBs in four regions. The analysis finds that MDBs are lending to NDBs in their regions, but unevenly so; that MDB reporting of cooperation with NDBs is uneven; that MDBs see multiple barriers to lending to NDBs; and that, with a few exceptions, MDBs are not aligning or tracking SDG financing systematically.
https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/multi-national-and-back-again-realizing-sdg-potential-public-development-banks
towards bailing out struggling businesses, households or governments. Rather, governments and public banks have charted the path to recovery. There are good reasons for this, and the future of stable, sustainable and equitable societies will depend on building on the lessons now being learned.
$6 trillion annually in climate infrastructure investments needed – without having to turn to private financiers. Public banks can operate indefinitely without a profit-maximization imperative if given a public mandate to do so. They are better equipped than their private counterparts to finance priority economic sectors and geographic regions; to fill the gaps left open by the private sector; to promote economic stability by lending at times of economic instability; and to improve financial standards by insisting on social, environmental or human rights safeguards. But the potential of public banking ultimately depends on the social struggle to reclaim public banks in the public interest. This will define their future viability.
Our argument in this chapter is that the historically shifting complexities of public banks in general, and Turkey’s in particular, are best understood from a social content point of view. We start with a brief historical summary of public banking, followed by a discussion of three competing theoretical models for understanding bank ownership. We opt for what we call a social content perspective and illustrate why we think this helps to overcome otherwise static and polarized approaches to banking. We then turn to the case of Turkey to interpret the evolving class-based and sometimes contradictory functions of public banks in concrete terms. Although problematic, we nevertheless point to the potentiality of public banking as an alternative to neoliberal financing norms and highlight possible ways to enhance their ‘public’ character.
02 September 2014
Montevideo, Uruguay
ANTEL, II Seminario de Empresas Públicas
04 Febrero 2015
Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica
This is a shame. Much more could be done with them. In many parts of the world, public banks play a critical role in addressing major social, economic and environmental challenges (such as Germany’s transition to renewable energy), offering everything from retail services in remote communities to multi-billion-dollar financing for transformative projects.
As if the Greek tragedy of Syriza’s thrashing by the European Troika wasn’t enough, we’ve just witnessed direct overrule of a popular vote by the President of Portugal who refuses to accept a resounding public vote for governmental change. “The bondholders must be served!” reflects his declaration and the predicament citizens of the world face in reclaiming control of their money and their governments from Supra-national Finance. This week Ellen talks with Dr.Thomas Marois about how public banking is working despite the anti-democratic developments in other nations of the world and how the future of public banking will depend on social and political movements, and she looks at some of the current monetary issues headlining in the US with co-host Walt McRee. Bernie Sander’s support for postal banking is another headline grabber, as reported by Matt Stannard on the Public Banking Report.
Thomas Marois, Senior Lecturer in Development Studies argues that until people regain control of money and credit, we will not be able to stop economic and ecological crises. Most people don't know that fortunately there is untapped potential in public banks, that make up a quarter of all banks worldwide. Drawing on his research on public banks in Turkey, Costa Rica and elsewhere, Marois points to the potential and problems of public banks and how we might harness them to deliver social and environmental justice.
Four decades of neoliberal market fundamentalism and its relentless assault on the public sector and our understandings of publicness have generated a profound crisis of social reproduction and environmental sustainability. Private sector financial solutions and market signals have not tackled climate change at the speed and magnitude required, often instead magnifying our social, economic, political, and environmental challenges.
This paper discusses the rediscovery of public banks and their potential—to finance low- carbon, climate-resilient development, and as a public sector alternative that can overcome the shortcomings of the private sector and market approaches mentioned above . The paper suggests an ideal-type public bank that would be needed for a green transformation that is also in the public interest. The ideal type is crafted around five central features: mandated role; financial sustainability; operational strategy; democratization of governance; and integral integration of workplace and community. The defining characteristics of each feature can be found in existing public banks.
Putting forward an alternative conceptualization that focuses on the public interest, sustainability and social equity concerns, this paper contributes important insights to the current debates on sustainable development and a just and equitable green transformation.
But can they do more to help deliver finance at the right pace and scale and on the terms appropriate for catalyzing global green and just transitions? What potential roles might enhanced cooperation between multilateral and national development banks play in achieving green and just transitions?
This paper contributes to our understanding of the potential of public development banks by mapping out the inter-relations between nine MDBs and select NDBs in four regions. The analysis finds that MDBs are lending to NDBs in their regions, but unevenly so; that MDB reporting of cooperation with NDBs is uneven; that MDBs see multiple barriers to lending to NDBs; and that, with a few exceptions, MDBs are not aligning or tracking SDG financing systematically.
https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/multi-national-and-back-again-realizing-sdg-potential-public-development-banks