The ‘wicked trinity’ of late capitalism: Governing in an era of stagnation, surplus humanity, and environmental breakdown

Alami, Ilias; Copley, Jack; Moraitis, Alexis B.

doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103691

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Similar policy trends can also be identified in many other state-enhanced and state-permeated capitalisms, most importantly China (Meckling and Nahm 2019). Some even identify an emergent (if geographically-uneven) forms of 'state capitalism'; a governance response to the 'wicked trinity' of economic stagnation, labour surpluses and ecological breakdown (Alami et al 2023).…”

Section: Variegated Sustainability Transitions In the Global Economymentioning

confidence: 70%

The Comparative Political Economy of Sustainability Transitions: Varying Obstacles, Accelerants and Power in National Capitalisms

Bailey

2023

Preprint

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Section: Variegated Sustainability Transitions In the Global Economymentioning

confidence: 70%

The Comparative Political Economy of Sustainability Transitions: Varying Obstacles, Accelerants and Power in National Capitalisms

Bailey

2023

Preprint

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“…These contradictions of decarbonizing the downturn create a powerful tendency towards inertia in the face of unprecedented catastrophe. Confronted with this paralysis, states are increasingly likely to violate liberal governance norms, intervening to accelerate decarbonization and manage the fall-out of environmental disasters (Alami et al, in progress). The outlines of this political playbook can be detected in central banks’ permanent-emergency measures post-2008 and in states’ forceful responses to the early COVID-19 pandemic (Tooze, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These interventions do not point towards a lasting solution to the climate crisis – they represent ad hoc efforts to repair the tears in the socio-environmental fabric created by capital accumulation while reproducing capital accumulation all the same. Yet they may prove productive insofar as they break the spell of the liberal worldview, creating space to imagine how decarbonization could be achieved in a planned and democratic manner (Alami et al, in progress).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decarbonizing the downturn: Addressing climate change in an age of stagnation

Copley

2022

Competition & Change

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Meeting the Paris climate goals requires the global economy’s urgent decarbonization. States and intergovernmental bodies insist that this should be pursued via a tremendous spike in private investment in renewable power – encouraged and coordinated by states. However, this renewable investment boom will have to swim against the current of the stagnation of the world economy since the 1970s, characterized by weak rates of investment and growth. Undertaking decarbonization in this context presents unique political economy dilemmas. Firstly, although slow growth helps to reduce carbon emissions by lowering energy use, it simultaneously impedes energy efficiency gains. Secondly, the stagnant state of global industry militates against its adoption of expensive decarbonized industrial processes. Thirdly, while most renewable power sources have failed to attract sufficient investment, those that have expanded rapidly – particularly solar photovoltaic – have tended to exhaust their growth potential due to falling prices and profitability. Finally, economic stagnation has destabilized political institutions, exerting pressures on governments to stimulate growth regardless of the environmental implications. States must navigate these intractable dilemmas as they strategize to decarbonize the downturn.

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“…Understanding these evolving uneven decommodification geographies is particularly important as neoliberal capitalism appears to be moving from its ‘zombie’ (Peck, 2010) to ‘moribund’ form. Initial responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the decommodification measures discussed in this article, suggest the unravelling of neoliberal capitalism will take a long time to play out (Babic, 2020; see also Alami et al, 2023; Saad-Filho, 2021; Streeck, 2016). Echoing Polanyi’s analysis in The Great Transformation , the twenty-first century might well follow a ‘conservative twenties, revolutionary thirties’ trajectory, as desperate attempts to maintain the neoliberal capitalist order eventually give way to political-economic transformation on a global scale.…”

Section: Conclusion: Decommodification Crisis and Transformationmentioning

confidence: 95%

Uneven decommodification geographies: Exploring variation across the centre and periphery

Goodwin

2024

Environ Plan A

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The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed significant variation in the scale and form of decommodification across the capitalist world economy. To explore these uneven decommodification geographies this article develops a new conceptual framework that combines a critical Polanyian reading of decommodification with Latin American insights into centre-periphery structures and relations. The decommodification of land and labour in Britain (centre) and Ecuador (periphery) are then analysed from this conceptual perspective. The comparative analysis reveals significant variation in the scale and form of decommodification between the two countries during the pandemic. However, some important similarities are also observed, especially in relation to the (de) commodification of land. Here, the article draws on the corporate food regime literature to better understand similarities and differences between Britain and Ecuador. By revealing the uneven and shifting terrain of decommodification, this article makes a novel contribution to wider debates about the capitalist conjuncture and the intensifying crises of neoliberal capitalism.

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The ‘wicked trinity’ of late capitalism: Governing in an era of stagnation, surplus humanity, and environmental breakdown

Cited by 11 publications

References 80 publications

The Comparative Political Economy of Sustainability Transitions: Varying Obstacles, Accelerants and Power in National Capitalisms

The Comparative Political Economy of Sustainability Transitions: Varying Obstacles, Accelerants and Power in National Capitalisms

Decarbonizing the downturn: Addressing climate change in an age of stagnation

Uneven decommodification geographies: Exploring variation across the centre and periphery

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