Date:
July 7th, 6 PM – 8 PM (CET)
Facilitation:
Andreas Novy (IKPS & WU Vienna)
Participants:
Julia Eder (PhD Candidate in Sociology, Johannes Kepler University Linz),
Sarah McKinley (Director for European Programs for The Democracy Collaborative and the European Representative for the Next System Project),
Heikki Patomäki (Professor of Political Science, University of Helsinki)
In search of alternatives, globalists, from the right to the left, stress the necessity to solve global problems via global solutions, even acknowledging that they are improbable, while others insist on local and grassroots solutions, even at a time of increased exclusionary policies. The best way to leave behind related futile strategic debates is to overcome spatial fetishism, especially the temptation to privilege, either politically or morally, a certain spatial scale. However, policy space differs according to scale and according to the specific insertion into the transnational division of labor. Therefore, in order to formulate a socially and ecologically sustainable development strategy, the socio-spatial context needs to be critically reflected. This is valid for any national or European industrial policy strategy but especially if the stimulation of local development is the main objective. Community Wealth Being represents an innovative example of the latter that seeks to strengthen self-reliance by increasing local policy space. Like the foundational economy and New Municipalism it offers alternatives “from below” against the turmoil caused by neoliberal globalization.
“In order to formulate a socially and ecologically sustainable development strategy, the socio-spatial context needs to be critically reflected”
In the basic reading for this evening’s debate, Andreas Novy proposes planetary co-existence as a strategy in times of social-ecological transformation that uses the potential of different levels of intervention, while being aware of related dangers and traps. Facing the urgent need for protection, he stresses the prime objective of organizing the livelihood by means of a vivid foundational economy. In line with Polanyi, he stresses the necessity of territorial sovereignty and a proper policy space and explores the potentials of regionalization. 1964, at the end of his life, Karl Polanyi was co-founder together with his wife Ilona Ducyznska of a quarterly journal called Co-existence, in an attempt to contribute to overcoming the then Cold War. Today, faced with profound transformations and a re-emergence of diverse geopolitical tensions the debates on a future world order have identified. While climate crisis and the Covid-pandemic show our mutual interdependency and vulnerability, locational competition and military tensions make international cooperation increasingly difficult.
DETAILS
Date:
July 7th, 6 PM – 8 PM (CET)
Facilitation:
Andreas Novy (IKPS & University of Economics and Business, Vienna)
Participants:
Julia Eder, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Johannes Kepler University Linz;
Sarah McKinley, Director for European Programs for The Democracy Collaborative and the European Representative for the Next System Project;
Heikki Patomäki, Professor of Political Science, University of Helsinki
Further Reading
Organised by:
Department for Political Science (University of Vienna);
EuroMemo Group;
FH des BFI-Wien;
Institute for Multilevel-Governance and Development (WU Vienna);
Institute of Sociology (Johannes Kepler University Linz);
Mattersburger Kreis für Entwicklungspolitik an den österreichischen Universitäten;
ÖFSE
In cooperation with:
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Brussels