Frank Stilwell

Proposals for development of ‘green jobs’ emerged when environmentalists, labour organisations and political economists recognised the need for economic restructuring to reduce climate change. Current proposals for a Green New Deal go further by putting additional emphasis on fiscal stimulus, ‘just transition’, reducing socio-economic inequalities, and political empowerment. This article analyses the development of this more comprehensive policy approach, its rationale, the constraints it would face and its prospects in the Australian context. JEL Codes: B50, H12, L78, P18, Q58

A political economic perspective on preparing for peace emphasises these aspects: reallocation: shifting resources from military to peaceful purposes; redistribution: redressing the material economic inequalities that underpin so many social conflicts; and revival: harmonising economic, environmental and social goals to enable more fulfilling lives in a peaceful society.IntroductionThat matters of war and peace have an economic dimension is widely recognised. Would the USA and its allies, including Australia, have invaded Iraq in 2003 if Iraq's main export was asparagus or bananas, rather than oil? Whether the military intervention was 'all about oil' is debatable, as Doran (2012) emphasises, but there is little doubt that it has been a major factor in the awful sequence of events that is still unfolding in the region.The political dimension of conflict is even more obvious. Indeed, where there are economic interests there is always politics. Powerful people seeking personal advantages - such as 'corporate welfare' or low tax rates on high incomes - commonly influence the political institutions and policy processes. That influence can take many forms, ranging from the funding of political parties and 'think tanks' to outright corruption of politicians. The democratic political system of which modern societies boast is thereby subverted. The connection between capitalism and democracy, commonly posited by ideologues of the political right, looks ever more shaky. The formally egalitarian political principle of 'one person, one vote' becomes subordinated to the market economic principle of 'one dollar, one vote'. It also bodes ill for peace because, wherever powerful sectional interests dominate over broader public interests, social conflict and its manifestations, including violence, are endemic.Bringing together these economic and political considerations takes us onto the terrain of political economy. It gives us a lens - or multiple lenses - through which we can understand how societies use their resources for better or worse, for war or peace. It gives us a basis for understanding the inequalities of wealth and power that underpin so many ongoing social problems. Further, it gives us tools for considering different political economic arrangements that would be conducive to creating a more equitable, sustainable and peaceful society. It gives us another avenue for preparing for peace.This article develops these themes by looking briefly at three political economic dimensions of the challenges that we currently face in a dangerous world - reallocating our resources to more peaceful purposes, creating greater social cohesion through the redistribution of wealth and fostering harmony between economic, environmental and broader social goals. These three political economic challenges may be summarised as (1) reallocation, (2) redistribution and (3) revival. As a prelude to their consideration in this article, we need to recognise the flaws in the ideological underpinning of the current arrangements, particularly the economic ideas that are used to defend the status quo.Challenging Conventional TheoriesPeople whose primary concern is with promoting peace may be forgiven for shying away from the study of economics. Understandably, they may regard that subject as not directly relevant to the necessary personal and social transformations. It may even be dismissed as part of the problem, not part of the solution. This is a view with which I have some empathy, based on seeing how economics is normally taught and applied. University research studies show that young people who are predisposed to selfish, competitive and materialistic behaviours are those most likely to be attracted to the study of economics. Other evidence shows that these personal behaviours - the characteristics of homo economicus -become yet more pronounced as a result of studying the subject. A mutually reinforcing process of selection and inculcation is evident - chicken and egg - irrespective of the intentions of the teachers and students. …

Review(s) of: The passion of politics: The role of ideology and political theory in Australia, by Lindy Edwards, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2013, pp.244, $35; We built this country: Builders' labourers and their unions 1787 to the future, by Humphrey McQueen, Ginninderra Press, Adelaide, 2011, pp.362, $30; Evaluating economic research in a contested discipline, by Frederic Lee and Wolfram Elsner (eds), Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, 2010, pp.314, $37; Tax havens and sovereignty in the pacific islands, by Anthony van Fossen, University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 2012, pp.411, $21; Take back the economy: An ethical guide for transforming our communities, by J.K. Gibson-Graham, J. Cameron and S. Healy, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2013, pp.222, $25; Australia's unintended cities: The impact of housing on urban development, by Richard Tomlinson (ed), CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, 2012, pp.194, $89.95; Rebel cities: From the right to the city to the urban revolution, by David Harvey, Verso, London, 2012, pp.187, $22.95; Bank behaviour and resilience: The effect of structures, institutions and agents, by Caner Bakir, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013, pp.214, $109; The problem with banks, by Lina Rethel & Timothy J. Sinclair, Zed Books, London, 2012, pp.147, $21.80; Remaking scarcity: From capitalist economic inefficiency to economic democracy, by Costas Panayotakis, Pluto Press, London, 2011, pp. 209, $44; The macroeconomics of finance-dominated capitalism - and its crisis, by Eckhard Hein, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2012, pp.232, $33.60.

Christopher Doran Making the World Safe for Capitalism: How Iraq threatened the US Economic Empire and had to be Destroyed. Pluto Press, London, 2012, pp. 288, $30. When the USA led the invasion of Iraq in 2003, world opinion was divided. The US administration headed by George W. Bush emphasised the need to quickly locate the alleged 'weapons of mass destruction' held by Saddam Hussein's regime. Then, when these weapons could not be found, it promoted a more general case for 'regime change'. Cynical observers said that it was 'all about oil', pointing out that the invasion would never have occurred if Iraq's main export had been broccoli or bananas! This book by Christopher Doran provides a carefully argued third view, emphasizing that the motivation for the invasion and subsequent occupation of the country was 'to eliminate the threats a post-UN sanctions Iraq could have posed to American economic hegemony' (p.4). From this perspective, the 2003 invasion was not the start of the war but a continuation of policies put in place after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. That bizarre and ill-fated attempt to annex Kuwait had led the UN Security Council, under US leadership, to initiate UN Resolution 687 which imposed severe economic sanctions on Iraq. By the early 2000s, however, there was increasing international pressure to remove or reduce those sanctions because of humanitarian concerns about their adverse effects on Iraqi citizens and their failure to produce regime change. Why was this prospective post-sanctions situation in Iraq of such concern to the US Administration? According to Doran, it is because Iraq, freed from sanctions, would have been capable of challenging the political economic dominance of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East which could then have undermined the capacity of the USA to continue its global hegemony. Saudi Arabia, as the leading oil producer in the region, was generating a massive petrodollar surplus that was crucial to financing the US economy. The Saudi-originated petrodollars flowing into the USA estimated at about $1 trillion between 1973 and 2000--were necessary for the US economy, particularly for the US government's ability to manage recurring budget deficits. An independent Iraq, free to develop its own oil resources unimpeded, could have upset that arrangement. The status quo, based on a cosy relationship between Saudi Arabia and the USA, needed to be defended against the possibility of an economically resurgent Iraq. According to Doran's book, then, oil is a key part of the story, but not in the simple sense of direct control over oil supply. The military invasion was not simply a matter of capturing Iraqi oil reserves to serve US interests: it was also part of a strategic geopolitical process of maintaining US global political economic dominance. Concurrent with these strategic concerns was the quest to extend the reach of neoliberalism, as an economic ideology and political practice, in the Middle East region. Doran quotes Paul Bremen, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that was set up to manage Iraq post-invasion, bluntly describing US intentions: 'It's a full scale economic overhaul. We're going to create the first real free market economy in the Arab world' (p.9). For a state institution--particularly one formed by invading state powers--to set up the 'free market' may seem somewhat contradictory from a purist liberal perspective. But no matter, purity has never been the strong suit of neoliberalism anyway: in pursuit of the goal of creating more opportunities for profit and capital accumulation, anything goes. …

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Contents: 1. Introduction: Understanding Neoliberalism Beyond the Free Market Lindy Edwards, Damien Cahill and Frank Stilwell PART I: INTERPRETING NEOLIBERALISM 2. Neoliberalism, Interrupted Jamie Peck, Neil Brenner and Nik Theodore 3. The Crisis of Neoliberalism as a Stepwise Process: From the Great Contraction to the Crisis of Sovereign Debts Gerard Dumenil and Dominique Levy 4. Neoliberalism and the State Martijn Konings PART II: EXAMINING (IN)COHERENCE 5. Free Economy, Strong State Mitchell Dean 6. Neoliberalism through the Lens of 'Embeddedness' Joy Paton 7. The Embedded Neoliberal Economy Damien Cahill PART III: EXPLORING NEOLIBERAL PRACTICE 8. Still Stalled on the Road to Neoliberal Globalization? The Endurance of National Varieties of Capitalism John Mikler 9. The Australian Variant of Neoliberal Capitalism Lynne Chester 10. Ideas and Industrial Governance: Has the Influence of Neoliberalism been Overstated? Elizabeth Thurbon 11. Markets with Equity? Lessons from Australia's Third Way Response to Neoliberalism Benjamin Spies-Butcher PART IV: LOOKING BACK, LOOKING FORWARD 12. The Strange Death of Neoliberalism: The Case of the Missing Corpse Bill Dunn 13. The Future of Neoliberalism J.E. King Index

Richard Tomlinson (ed) Australia's Unintended Cities: the Impact of Housing on Urban Development CSIRO publishing, Melbourne, 2012, pp. 194, $89.95. David Harvey Rebel Cities: from the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution Verso, London, 2012, pp. 187, $22.95. Looking at political economic issues through a spatial lens necessarily directs attention to distributional inequalities. It also directs our attention to the physical form of the built environment, including housing, transportation systems and other physical infrastructure. The management of cities and regions--whether 'top-down' neoliberalism or 'bottom-up' participatory social democracy--comes into view, as do the challenges thrown up by urban social movements. These two recent books interpret and develop spatial analysis in quite different ways, both of interest to political economists seeking a better understanding of the tensions generated by contemporary capitalism. The book edited by Richard Tomlinson covers an array of topics that are relevant to the quality of life of people living in Australian cities. It puts particular focus on the problem of unaffordable housing, with chapters provided by leading contributors to the field of housing studies such as Terry Burke, Judith Yates, Vivienne Milligan and Tony Gilmour. Chapters written by other urban researchers look at how the physical form of the cities compounds housing difficulties, particularly in suburbia, and the problems arising from inadequacies of metropolitan planning and urban governance. Two concluding chapters look at the need to reduce energy and carbon footprints and at the effects of urban form on human capital and productivity (albeit with, in the latter case, a somewhat uncritical acceptance of the conventional notion of 'labour productivity'). There is a wealth of empirical data in each chapter. The editor seeks overall coherence through the 'unintended cities' theme that is signaled by the title of the book, stating right at the outset that 'federal and state governments would be more likely to achieve their policy goals if they remedied the unintended structure of incentives and disincentives that emerges from existing policies, governance practices and programs' (p9). Readers of this journal will not be surprised that David Harvey's book takes a more radical tack, emphasising problematic tendencies deeply embedded in capital accumulation processes and class relations rather than the 'unintended' consequences of government policies. …