It is that time of year. We are not a religious family, yet we attended our local church’s atmospheric Christmas Eve midnight mass, complete with candles and carols, as many do. I was raised as a churchgoer, mostly under protest, yet I became quite religious in my early teens, to the extent that I decided to get confirmed. Before my confirmation, the bishop gave us a pep talk about the fundamental importance of belief in God, so I asked a question – as is my wont – “Why can’t we all just be good without God?”. His response – “That was the mistake Judas made” – set me on a journey culminating in my studies in Philosophy at university. Belief in God didn’t make any sense.
Yet, sitting in that beautiful old church as the half-familiar words washed over me, I reflected on the incredible moral energy Jesus unleashed, which still brings people together some 2,000 years later. For me, he was an activist against exploitation and inequality, overturning the tables of the money lenders in the temple, the centre of the system of financial exploitation at the time. He was then executed as he was seen as a threat to the elite. Since then, the power of elites has not been able to airbrush that dimension from the story of Jesus.
We are now waiting to see how bad Trump 2.0 will turn out to be as political and business leaders seek to disavow past remarks and bend the knee to the returned boss. These leaders agree that Trump is about transactional relationships, and all of them fancy that they can do deals, as isn’t that what they do, too? For me, what sets Trump apart is his brazenness. Perhaps we should thank him for pulling back the curtain of pretty words of economic mutual gain to reveal the real nature of power, politics, and business in the 21st century, where if you are not a winner, you are a loser.
It should be no surprise as since the seventies, spokespeople for neoliberalism have told us that it is all about getting the incentives right. There is no society, so there is no collective morality. People have no reason to do anything unless it benefits them personally. We cannot afford to pay the powerful enough to avoid the ecological crisis. Morality is nothing more than looking after yourself and your family if you have one. This is the ‘science’ of mainstream economics, which has become our creed. Trump is just the logical outcome, the MAGA brand of neoliberal capitalism.
So, where can we find new moral leadership? Where can new moral energy emerge? Interestingly, the far right, while attracted to Trump’s muscular capitalism, is propelled by moral narratives of sacrifice and renewal, albeit distorted by resentment and hate. Neoliberalism taught us that morality does not exist; however, this is incorrect. Morality will always outweigh the meagre rewards of materialism beyond meeting basic needs, which increasingly seems a poor bet as ecological crises threaten to undermine its foundations.
So, my New Year’s resolution, which I hope is yours as well, is to intensify our efforts to create shared moral purposes. I attended a meeting in London a few weeks ago with local food activists, where I truly felt that sense of power and empowerment. Food is something that traditionally has brought us all together. In 2025, as Defra develops a new food strategy in the UK, this may be an area for renewed moral energy. I am sure it has the same potential around the world. So do get involved.
In this issue, we have contributions from around the world on the state of the international political economy and more.
Adam Hanieh talks about the evolving structure of the fossil fuel industry, Anja Mihr explains what China seeks from its Belt and Road Initiative, and Mirjam Muller explores the ethics of sweatshops.
Joan Carling and Phil Bloomer set out how green colonialism can be avoided in the climate transition, and Niko Humalisto looks at the elephant of migration in the climate change room.
Rick Rowden talks to Doug Hellinger about holding the World Bank to account, and Diogo Mazeron considers whether Lula can rescue the Brazilian healthcare system from austerity.
Nat Dyer discusses the limitations of simplistic models in economics invented by Ricardo and Bond Snodgrass considers how selfishness came to be central to economics.
Finally Verity recounts her dramas in the runup to Christmas.
I hope you have a great break over the festive season, ready to return to the fray in 2025.
Best wishes
