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There's Life Beyond There’s Life Beyond GDP Ulrich Markus A CRITIQUE OF Brand Wissen Rafael Sara THE PATTERNS Domínguez Caria OF ACCUMULATION Alicia Puyana AND DEVELOPMENT Álvaro Cálix APPROACHES Henry IN LATIN AMERICA Mora There’s Life Beyond gdp SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION LIBRARY There’s Life Beyond gdp Ulrich Markus Brand Wissen A CRITIQUE OF Rafael Sara THE PATTERNS Domínguez Caria Alicia OF ACCUMULATION Puyana AND DEVELOPMENT Álvaro Cálix APPROACHES Henry Mora IN LATIN AMERICA SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION LIBRARY There’s Life Beyond gdp - A Critique of the Patterns of Accumulation and Development Approaches in Latin America © Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Social-Ecological Transformation Regional Project Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Yautepec 55, Col. Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, P.C. 06140, Mexico City Telephone: +52 (55) 5553 5302 FES Social-Ecological Transformation @fes_tse Proyecto Regional Transformación Social-Ecológica To request publications, please contact: [email protected]. Editors Christian Denzin Álvaro Cálix Translator Lindsay Walsh www.transcultural.mx Copy Editor Susie Jackson www.sjlanguageservices.com Design Buró Público www.buropublico.com ISBN: 978-607-8642-28-1 First edition: November 2019 The commercial use of all materials edited and published by Friedrich-Ebert- Stiftung (FES) is prohibited without prior written authorization from FES. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of FES. TABLE OF CONTENTS Prologue —christian denzin 9 Introduction —antonina ivanova 13 CHAPTER I The Imperial Mode of Living and Working: Domination, Crisis, and the Continuity of Societal Relationships with Nature —ulrich brand —markus wissen 25 CHAPTER II The Latin American Roots of Another Development: Development Styles and Human Scale Development —rafael domínguez —sara caria 55 CHAPTER III Neo-extractivism in Latin America: A New Direction or Rent Extraction Through Globalization? —alicia puyana mutis 105 CHAPTER IV Development Approaches in Latin America: Towards Social-Ecological Transformation —j. álvaro cálix r 159 CHAPTER V Utopia and Alternative Projects: A “Categorial Framework” for Social-Ecological Transformation in Latin America —henry mora 213 Biographies 261 PROLOGUE Since 1973, when the publication of the now-infamous The Limits to Growth: Report to the Club of Rome first alerted humanity to the social and ecological consequences, risks, and threats presented by the global economy, thousands of published scientific studies have supported the concerns first posed by Dennis and Donella Meadows almost 50 years ago. Despite the significant progress made in terms of recognizing the Anthropocene and the harmful and fatal impact that humanity’s patterns of production and consumption have caused and continue to cause for the planet,1 governments around the world have done little to limit their CO2 emissions. Based on the follow-up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (unfccc), the nationally determined contributions (ndc) through the end of 2017 indicate that there will be a 3°C increase in global temperatures by the year 2100, which will lead to irreversible and literally fatal consequences for the planet’s ecosystems. Now an official United Nations publication is sounding the alarm once again. The recently published Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°, presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc), indicates that countries must change their development styles drastically and immediately if the world plans to 1 Including the 1987 Brundtland Report, the 1992 Rio Declaration, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and the 2015 Paris Agreement, to mention a few. 9 PROLOGUE achieve the stated goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°. Achiev- ing this goal would preserve the lives of millions of people, particu- larly those that live in coastal and island areas in the global South, along with various ocean and terrestrial ecosystems. In order to keep the average global temperature from exceeding a 1.5° increase, CO2 emissions must be reduced by 45% of their 2010 levels by the year 2030 and be nonexistent by 2050, while renewable energy must account for between 75% and 80% of electricity production by the same year. Although our current environmental crisis goes beyond the impact and data associated with climate change, the magnitude of this impact has facilitated a more profound critique of today’s dom- inant visions—particularly in terms of economic development. The relationship between humanity and nature has been conditioned by utilitarianism, encouraging economic benefit at the cost of long-term environmental balance. The omnipresent mantra of economic growth expressed through gdp and the establishment of this metric as the objective of every development agenda has destroyed the answer to the question of what kind of world we want to live in. The inevita- ble changes that must occur in our relationship with nature—and, therefore, in our forms of production and consumption of energy, transportation systems and industries, and agriculture, among oth- er areas—force us to rethink our conception of the status quo and promote other trajectories for the future. Considering the above, we are proud to present There’s Life Beyond gdp: A Critique of the Patterns of Accumulation and Development Approaches in Latin America. This is the second title published as part of the Transformation Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Regional Project on Social-Ecological Transformation in Latin Amer- ica. Using a network of experts, the creation of spaces for dialog and debate, and the implementation of research studies, the Regional Project seeks to support critical analysis and discussions of develop- ment alternatives and transformation trajectories that are socially just and ecologically sustainable. 10 CHRISTIAN DENZIN We hope that the essays contained within this volume contribute to conversations to question the changes that must be made to the current economic trajectories and orientations of Latin American societies. — christian denzin Director of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Regional Project on Social-Ecological Transformation in Latin America 11 INTRODUCTION There’s Life Beyond GDP: A Critique of the Patterns of Accumulation and Development Approaches in Latin America is the second book published as part of the Transformation Library. This new publication is the result of discussions and reflections that have occurred as part of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Regional Project on Social-Ecological Transformation. The first book,The Waters Ahead for Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities for Social-Ecological Transformation, analyzed the region’s international, economic, and political conditions. This second publication of the Transformation Library focuses on the conceptual debate regarding patterns of accumulation in Latin America and the need for inclusive and sustainable transformation. The objective of this publication is to question the hegemonic focuses and practices regarding development and economic performance that have imposed themselves on the conversation about the meaning and orientations of public policies meant to generate well-being. To vary- ing degrees and through different approaches, the essays published as part of this volume profoundly critique the models that position economic growth as the end rather than the means of satisfying authentic needs. The five well-founded and well-structured chapters presented here contribute valuable analysis of past and present patterns of accumulation in Latin America. No less importantly, they suggest a reconfiguration of the concept of utopia in order to shift towards new 13 INTRODUCTION paths that encourage transformation and focus on the well-being of all human beings and respect for nature and its different ecosystems. The first chapter, “The Imperial Mode of Living and Working: Domination, Crisis, and the Continuity of Societal Relationships with Nature,” written by Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen, presents a critique of the unsustainable global model of production and con- sumption, which substantially conditions the dynamics of production and consumption in Latin America. The authors analyze how the concept of the imperial mode of living is suitable to emphasize the con- nection between hegemonic everyday practices, state and business strategies, the ecological crisis, and increasing imperial tensions in international politics. This term allows the authors to describe the he- gemonic nature and condition of society, as well as to measure the lim- ited scope available to develop emancipatory strategies in times of “great crisis.” The imperial mode of living restructured and intensified access to global resources and the global workforce via the global market. Fossil-based consumption patterns, founded on fossil fuels and typical of Fordism, survived the crisis of Fordism without undergoing any sig- nificant change; in fact, they emerged even stronger than before. The economies of two-thirds of humanity are still in transition, and their modes of living are fundamentally based on agriculture and industry. Additionally, middle and upper classes are being established in countries such as China and India. Known as the so-called “new con- sumers,” members of these newly formed social classes have adopted the “Western” mode of living as a model. In fact, economic dynamics in countries such as China and India—as well as in parts of Latin America—are the result of the increasing
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