week 5: capitalism, globalization & GEP Flashcards
What is a political economy approach to GEP? What are the core questions?
Seeks to “understand the complex relationships between the environment and the structures of power and wealth”
Core questions: How are power and resources distributed (and contested) and with what effects? Who wins and who loses?
What is globalization?
Globalization as a dynamic, ongoing and accelerating process, “restructuring and integrating” economies, institutions and civil society
Globalization is about shrinking the distance of the planet
- Geographical distance is less important because its about finding cheaper ways to produce goods
What are the drivers for globalization?
New and faster communications technologies (phone, fax, email) = efficiency and transmission belt for ideas and knowledge + decreasing transportation costs (e.g., air travel)
Dominance of capitalism > rise of neoliberal capitalism
An extension of colonialism: globalization capitalism and colonization are all linked - colonization has been extended through globalization
What is neoliberal capitalism AKA late-stage capitalism?
An economic system and a way of organizing relations (humans and nature) over distance.
- Capitalism’s ecology of complex systems
Features: dominance of finance; obsession with growth and efficiency; fixation/confidence in markets; minimal state intervention; private ownership
- Little regulation from the state, private ownership and not state ownership of resources
Why did neoliberal capitalism emerge?
Post WWII economic boom, lots of spending by the US government for the Vietnam war, expansion/investment of social programs, competitiveness issues (esp. automotive manufacturing), crowded labour market (lower wages, less purchasing power).
Explain the implications of the emergence of neoliberal capitalism.
Emergence of neoliberal capitalism and related shifts in the 1970s laid the foundations for understanding climate action through a market lens, which has failed to address the root causes of the crisis (e.g., fossil fuel production, economic growth coupled with emissions growth).
What is the green growth/capitalism argument?
“A model which squares capitalism’s need for economic growth with substantial shifts away from carbon-based industrial development” i.e., decoupling (economic growth or GDP without emissions growth), enabled by carbon markets.
We can have capitalism and continued economic growth but while shifting away from carbon-based growth.
Is decoupling viable?
Little evidence of ‘absolute decoupling’ (moving in different directions) over time. It is hard to decouple environmental degradation from economic growth.
What is Jevon’s paradox? How does it relate to decoupling?
Jevon’s paradox = more efficiency = more consumption + cost shifting (trade). Although we can become more efficient in using energy, this wont actually lead to a net decrease in energy/emissions but we will just consume more of it.
Decoupling can’t work because of cost shifting. Some countries like in europe have become efficient in energy and less emissions - but they may still be drawing on fossil fuels from other places.
What are the contradictions encountered in green capitalism?
Even though there is a growth and demand for sustainability, there is often a limit to what companies are willing to do before it impacts their bottom line.
