Álvaro de Regil - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Uploads

Videos by Álvaro de Regil

Actual slides presentation of the conference delivered at the Lundring Center of California Luthe... more Actual slides presentation of the conference delivered at the Lundring Center of California Lutheran University in October 2019.

1 views

A presentation organised by the School of Management of California Lutheran University on the roo... more A presentation organised by the School of Management of California Lutheran University on the root causes of immigration from Mexico to the US, by Álvaro de Regil, Executive Director of The Jus Semper Global Alliance on 24 October 2019 —Lundring Center

Books by Álvaro de Regil

La Alianza Global Jus Semper, 2021

Este documento expone el hecho de que la narrativa tradicional de la democracia y la sostenibilid... more Este documento expone el hecho de que la narrativa tradicional de la democracia y la sostenibilidad es un engaño. El estudio examina la trayectoria que ha seguido el mundo desde que el neoliberalismo se impuso a la humanidad hace medio siglo y muestra cómo y por qué estamos siguiendo una trayectoria completamente insostenible, tanto social como ambientalmente. El estudio evalúa las motivaciones ulteriores—y sus consecuencias para la humanidad y el planeta en su conjunto—de grupos e individuos clave de la élite global con poderosa influencia en los gobiernos e instituciones multilaterales del mundo. Este documento plantea las preguntas y encuentra las respuestas a los acontecimientos críticos a los que estamos asistiendo—incluyendo de forma destacada la pandemia de COVID, la Cuarta Revolución Industrial y el Gran Reinicio—y la necesidad de realizar una transición hacia un paradigma radicalmente diferente para el bienestar de las personas y del planeta y no del mercado. El objetivo principal de este documento es concienciar a la población para que la salvación de nuestra especie y de nuestro planeta sea la cuestión fundamental y la piedra angular por excelencia de nuestro esfuerzo de transición hacia un nuevo paradigma sostenible. No puede ser una de las muchas cuestiones vitales, sino el elemento único que impulsa nuestra visión para lograr la sostenibilidad que determina fundamentalmente cómo diseñamos nuestro nuevo paradigma.

The Jus Semper Global Alliance, 2021

This paper exposes the fact that the traditional narrative for democracy and sustainability is a ... more This paper exposes the fact that the traditional narrative for democracy and sustainability is a hoax. The study examines the trajectory that the world has been following since neoliberalism was imposed on humanity half a century ago and shows how and why we are following a completely unsustainable trajectory, both socially and environmentally. It assesses the ulterior motivations—and their consequences on humanity and the planet as a whole—of key groups and individuals of the global elite with powerful influence on the world’s governments and multilateral institutions. This paper raises the questions and finds the answers to critical events that we are witnessing—including prominently the COVID pandemic, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Great Reset—and the need to transition to a radically different paradigm for the welfare of the people and the planet and not the market. The primary goal of this paper is to raise awareness to make us saving our species and our planet the fundamental issue and the overarching and quintessential cornerstone of our effort to transition to a new sustainable paradigm. It cannot be one of many vital issues, but the single element that drives our vision to achieve sustainability that fundamentally determines how we draft our new paradigm.

Io ne ho viste cose che voi umani non volete immaginarvi: l'ambiente in fiamme al largo dell'avid... more Io ne ho viste cose che voi umani non volete immaginarvi: l'ambiente in fiamme al largo dell'avidità umana, e ho visto la forbice sociale divaricarsi sì tanto da divenire tornante […]. 2 La libera interpretazione del celeberrimo monologo di Roy in Blade Runner mi è utile per introdurre Filoponìa-uscire dal paradigma del denaro, il saggio con il quale partecipo al libro "Il lavoro e il valore al tempo dei robot-Intelligenza artificiale e non-occupazione". 3 Filoponìa, una Definizione Concisa Prima di iniziare, qualche parola su filoponìa; operosità, nella lingua, e nel lessico, di Platone; e declinata nel testo non solo come attitudine al fare ma, cavalcando l'accento sullo sforzo, sulla fatica-πόνος-, giungendo al concetto di impegno, di mettersi in gioco, sia personalmente sia per la collettività. Un gioco letterario di parole dell'autore riferito al titolo di Pink Floyd "The Dark Side of the Moon".

NEW EDITION OF TLWNSI'S WORKING DRAFT! The idea of The Living Wages North and South Initiative (... more NEW EDITION OF TLWNSI'S WORKING DRAFT!

The idea of The Living Wages North and South Initiative (TLWNSI)It was conceived to address a very conspicuous question: why do workers in Southern countries, who work for global corporations, earn a miserable wage by any standard, whilst their counterparts in Northern countries earn a living wage for doing the same job, of equivalent market value, for the same corporation?

Our work drew a first certainty: the wages paid to workers in the South have nothing to do with the cost of living differentials between economies; rather, they have to do with the logic of comparative advantages that puts supply and demand arguments to work on behalf of a global market system that practices labour exploitation as a core strategic asset of its global operations model.

Nevertheless, contrary to what we envisioned, when the first decade of the current century came to an end, we saw an ever more entrenched fixation with supply-side neoliberal economics both among governments and markets, and a much less than expected opposition from the part of people, both as citizens and consumers, despite their substantial and exponentially growing dissatisfaction. This despite the dramatic and evident systemic crises of the current undemocratically imposed market-driven ethos.

This has moved us to redefine our focus and variables. That is, our living wage concept and argumentation to support it remains exactly the same, but our strategy and tactics have been redesigned to have a full bearing on the marketocratic ethos in which we are living. We go about this through an approach that address the logic of the market in such a way that –in sync with a wide global movement of civil society organisations– we can realistically expect to gradually transition from the current market-driven paradigm into the new true-democracy paradigm in the term of thirty years or about one generation.

The final essay presents a concrete program to attain wealth redistribution at the micro-level by... more The final essay presents a concrete program to attain wealth redistribution at the micro-level by working with multinational corporations to gradually increase the compensation of their Third World workers. The Author opens by calling on Civil Society to get involved in the practical path towards social justice, by implementing a consorted and permanent effort to redistribute wealth in capitalistic societies.

Summary
 Public and Private Global Public Goods
 Global Public Goods
 Fair Labour Endowments: The Private Global Public Good
 The Targets
 The Concept
 The Approach and the Leverage
 The Benefits
 The Players
 The Civil Society Global Alliance
 Criteria and Benchmarks
 The Global Civil Society Program
 The advocacy process with MNCs
 The advocacy process with governments, BWIs and other organizations
 The Awareness Program
 Results, Expectations and Time Span
 Truly Democratic Capitalism or Unimaginable Conflict

The essay presents the actual proposal to achieve a sustainable and democratic global Capitalism.... more The essay presents the actual proposal to achieve a sustainable and democratic global Capitalism. It proposes to place Civil Society in the driver's seat and strike a balance between social prerogatives and market efficiencies with the common good above all. The Assault begins by stating that the right way is to build a balanced model with the need to redistribute wealth as the most transcendental action.

Summary
 Balancing Acts
 Curving Powers and Revamping Multilateral Institutions
 Neutralizing the BWIs Neoliberal Financial Architecture
 Global Civil Society Taking Control
 The Path to Social Justice is Wealth Redistribution
 A Realistic Endeavour

This is the first essay proposing a solution. It develops the concept of a new Global Civil Socie... more This is the first essay proposing a solution. It develops the concept of a new Global Civil Society as the central element of a new global democratic capitalist system. The objective is to argue that a truly democratic and participatory ethos is absolutely necessary to change the current paradigm, and that, in order for this to occur, a Global Civil Society must emerge. The author opens explaining that the essay presents the concept for the emergence of a long-term sustainable economic paradigm to achieve social justice.

Summary
 Social Justice Through Equitable Global Progress
 A High Moral Ground
 The New Ethos

The purpose of the essay is to show how the lack of democracy allowed a corrupt government to gov... more The purpose of the essay is to show how the lack of democracy allowed a corrupt government to govern the fifteenth-largest economy in the world for the benefit of its partners -the owners of both foreign and domestic capital- imposing an economic ethos that is ideal for them to thrive whilst impoverishing the majority of the Mexican population and placing it in one of the worst social conditions experienced throughout the history of Mexico. The author begins by stating that the last three administrations of the PRI concentrated exclusively on staying in power by protecting the interests of the local oligarchic class and the international centres of economic power while completely abandoning their most basic responsibility. In this way, he then discusses the current dire economic situation, emphasizing the dramatic deterioration of real wages.

Summary
 Manic Neoliberalism
 Labour Peonage and Neo-Colonization
 The Bitter Fruits of Mexico’s Neoliberalisation
 Real Solutions

The essay's purpose is to show how autocracy and corruption combined with economic neoliberalisat... more The essay's purpose is to show how autocracy and corruption combined with economic neoliberalisation to deliver the worst collapse in the history of modern Mexico. The author begins by explaining that, after the 1982 collapse, things were going to be much different for the majority of Mexicans. From an era of stability and marginal improvement in the welfare of the people, a new era of pauperization of the masses, the shrinking of the middle class and the substantial loss of sovereignty gradually took hold.

Summary
 Structural Adjustment and Neoliberalisation
 Laissez-Faire Imposition
 Consolidation and Pledge of Allegiance
 Crony Deregulation and Privatization
 The Worst Collapse

This is the first of three essays about Mexico. The Assault executes a detailed analysis, using M... more This is the first of three essays about Mexico. The Assault executes a detailed analysis, using Mexico as an emblematic case, of the dire consequences of the imposition of Neoliberalism in the Third World. In this essay, The Assault discusses the roots of Mexico's social injustice and explains the development path followed after Mexico's 1910 civil war until the first economic debacle in the mid-1970s. The Assault starts by stating that, after forty years of relative development, this nation has moved to insert roughly one-fifth of its population in the global economy, whilst the rest are being totally or partially marginalised.

Summary
 The Roots
 The Only Progressive Era
 Import-Substitution and Mixed Economy
 Mixed Economy and Social Justice
 The First Debacle
 Mixed Economy and Redistribution

The essay discusses the effect of The Neo-Capitalist Assault on the Third World and the social po... more The essay discusses the effect of The Neo-Capitalist Assault on the Third World and the social polarization that it has generated because of the extreme inequalities that have emerged. In this way, the goal of the essay is to establish that Neoliberalism has not been of any benefit to the welfare of the majority of the population in the Third World. The essay opens by stating that poverty in the Third World has been exacerbated because the dies are loaded in favour of those who control economic and political power.

Summary
 An Ocean of Inequality
 Foreign Debt
 The New Global Division of Labour
 Unequal Terms of Trade in Commodities
 Privatization with Top Down Democracy
 FDI and Deregulation
 Short-term Financial Capital
 Globalisation Trends
 The Small-Minded View of the Washington Consensus

This essay completes the analysis of the neoliberal assault by discussing two fundamental assault... more This essay completes the analysis of the neoliberal assault by discussing two fundamental assault actions perpetrated by Neoliberalism: the privatization of the economy, which has succeeded, and the complete liberalization of investment rights, which has largely failed. The author also discusses the dire situation of Russia, to illustrate the predatory nature of untrammelled Capitalism, and the reaction that Civil Society is showing to contain this assault on true freedom. The author opens by commenting on the central focus of the essay.

Summary
 Neoliberal Privatization
 The MAI: Free reign to Foreign Direct Investment and to Stock Market Speculation
 The Plight of Russia
 The Stance of Civil Society and its NGOs

This is the first of two essays discussing the actual neo-capitalist assault in the last twenty y... more This is the first of two essays discussing the actual neo-capitalist assault in the last twenty years. Its purpose is to explain how MNCs have overtaken democracy and dictate the policies of governments for their benefit. The essay opens by asserting that the change of economic paradigm in the U.S. was not intended to be a domestic policy but, rather, an instrument of foreign policy to recover the U.S. imperial lustre and enable its corporations to increase and consolidate U.S. power into the new century.

Summary
 Market Democracy and its Corporate Citizen
 Beggar-Thy-Neighbour Democracy
 A Power no Longer Behind the Throne
 A Culture of Individualism
 Global Oligopolisation to Increase Shareholder Value
 No Pledge of Allegiance
 The New Map of the Neoliberal Global System
 The Global Society
 Inequality and Poverty
 The Wonders of the New Economy

This essay formally analyzes The Neo-Capitalist Assault in theory and practice and its consequenc... more This essay formally analyzes The Neo-Capitalist Assault in theory and practice and its consequences. The author describes the new business mentality that is based on maximum profitability and deprived of any social responsibility and discusses the theoretical framework. The author opens by discussing the exhaustion of the Fordist Method and the move to the new flexible production ethos with management concepts such as just-in-time-inventory, total quality, zero defects, global sourcing and global access to labour markets, all critical elements for achieving maximum profitability.

Summary
 Towards a New Global Economic Architecture
 A New Global Business Strategy for Maximum Profits
 Towards an Economic Dogma for the Wealth
 Neoliberal Mercantilism: “liberalize to globalize”
 Neoliberalism and its Dogmatic Postulates - The Theoretical Framework
 The fallacies of Friedman’s eulogy: “Free to Choose"
 The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

The essay explains that the centres of economic power have corrupted the democratic institutions ... more The essay explains that the centres of economic power have corrupted the democratic institutions of nations everywhere and, as a consequence, governments have abandoned their main responsibility to procure the welfare of all ranks of society, and they are now effectively working to procure the welfare of their very private interests and of the owners of capital. This essay opens by arguing that the Welfare State was the first to be assailed by the new emerging monetarist paradigm because it is in direct conflict with the supply-side economics of Neoliberalism where supply generates its own demand.

Summary
 The End of the Welfare State and Social Development
 Bastard Monetarism
 Globalization Begins
 Recanting its Social Responsibility
 Reaching the End of History

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the stagnation of the capitalist system with the end of t... more The purpose of this essay is to discuss the stagnation of the capitalist system with the end of the recovery of the developed economies and the subsequent collapse of Third World development and the unilateral abandonment of the gold pattern by the U.S., effectively breaking with Keynesian economics -not because of its failure but because of the lack of U.S. fiscal discipline and its geopolitical interests- and replacing it with the current Neoliberal ethos. The essay opens by briefly describing the strong growth of the developed economies in the sixties, which then fall into stagnation and inflation in the seventies.

Summary
 The Dependencies of the System
 The Decline of the Empire
 Oil Crises and Third World Indebtedness
 Developmental Collapse
 A New Economic Thought
 Reaganomics and the Third World
 Debt Restructuring by Economic Restructuring

The essay is of fundamental importance in relating the unequal economic relations between North a... more The essay is of fundamental importance in relating the unequal economic relations between North and South and the need to change the current order. It focuses on the Third World, especially on Iberian America and Asia, on the various development strategies followed, the results obtained and the obstacles encountered in the process. The author identifies and analyzes the external and internal factors that have jeopardized Third World development. The objective is to show the realities of Third World development and how, despite all the hurdles and because governments were committed, there was true social progress during the thirty years that followed World War II. The essay opens by stating that, after World War II, democratic values embodied in the UN charter moved to centre stage as the guiding principle in the management of world relations.

Summary:
 Democracy and Economic Development
 The New Imperialist Recolonisation – the Exogenous Factor
 An Asymmetric Economic Order
 The North-South Asymmetry in the
Factor Endowments
 Industrialization through import- substitution: Seizing the Chance
 The North’s Approach Towards Import Substitution
 Results of Import-Substitution  Factor Endowments: the Key to
Economic Development
 Underdeveloped Democracy – the Endogenous Factor

The author explains in detail the emergence of the new Keynesian economic paradigm as a consequen... more The author explains in detail the emergence of the new Keynesian economic paradigm as a consequence of the experience of the Great War and the Great Depression and the results obtained through government intervention during the New Deal.

The goal here is to show how the post-war era, with the government in the driver's seat of the economy, provided the greatest period of progress in the welfare of both rich and poor nations, in spite of the very powerful interests that continuously moved in the opposite direction. The essay opens by stating that the war economy pulled the capitalist world out of depression.

Summary
 War Economics
 Keynesian Economics. Thirty Years of Reconstruction and Development. The United States and its World Hegemony
 The Keynesian Paradigm
 The Birth of the Bretton Woods Institutions
 The Actual Agreement of the Bretton Woods Conference
 The United Nations Umbrella
 Keynesian Economics in Practice and the Consolidation of the Welfare State
 The Collapse of Bretton Woods as Originally Chartered

1 views

La Alianza Global Jus Semper, 2021

The Jus Semper Global Alliance, 2021

NEW EDITION OF TLWNSI'S WORKING DRAFT! The idea of The Living Wages North and South Initiative (... more NEW EDITION OF TLWNSI'S WORKING DRAFT!

Summary
 Social Justice Through Equitable Global Progress
 A High Moral Ground
 The New Ethos

Summary
 Manic Neoliberalism
 Labour Peonage and Neo-Colonization
 The Bitter Fruits of Mexico’s Neoliberalisation
 Real Solutions

Summary
 Structural Adjustment and Neoliberalisation
 Laissez-Faire Imposition
 Consolidation and Pledge of Allegiance
 Crony Deregulation and Privatization
 The Worst Collapse

Summary
 The Roots
 The Only Progressive Era
 Import-Substitution and Mixed Economy
 Mixed Economy and Social Justice
 The First Debacle
 Mixed Economy and Redistribution

Summary
 Neoliberal Privatization
 The MAI: Free reign to Foreign Direct Investment and to Stock Market Speculation
 The Plight of Russia
 The Stance of Civil Society and its NGOs

Summary
 The End of the Welfare State and Social Development
 Bastard Monetarism
 Globalization Begins
 Recanting its Social Responsibility
 Reaching the End of History

This is the narration of the increasing conflict of opposing economic interests between the Europ... more This is the narration of the increasing conflict of opposing economic interests between the European empires that caused the Great War of 1914 and of the excesses of the Gilded Age and of money speculation that gave way to the Great Depression in the U.S.

Its purpose is to further explain the process of economic theory and show how the excess of Capitalism finally gave birth to the Keynesian paradigm that puts emphasis on the responsibility of governments to balance the economy to procure the general welfare of society. The essay opens stressing that, despite the tremendous economic progress in Europe, the structure that caused the impoverishment of workers remained; for the accumulation of wealth, which relied on the exploitation of labour, dominated the view of governments and economic centres of power.

Summary
 The Great War of 1914 and the End of Economic Progress. The European scenario
 The U.S. Scene Prior to the Great War
 The U.S. and Europe in the Aftermath of the Great War
 The Road to the Great Crash
 The Economic Devastation of the United States and the Gradual Change of Paradigm
 The Birth of a New Paradigm
 A New Philosophy of Government
 The Consequences in Europe
 In Retrospective

In a narrative and analytic style, the essay describes the historical roots of modern economic th... more In a narrative and analytic style, the essay describes the historical roots of modern economic thought with European Liberalism and its laissez faire ideology as a reaction to the era of monopolistic Mercantilism. The objective in the essay is to describe the development of liberal economic thought and establish the great differences between its philosophical postulates and its actual application.

While a true spirit of freedom and the pursuit of the common good imbued economic liberalism, the actual application of the Industrial Revolution was of laissez faire for the owners of money and of dire exploitation for labour. The period covered goes from the time of the merchant empires, Adam Smith, the French Physiocrats and the development of XIX century classical economic thought to the brink of the Great War of 1914. The essay opens by stating that the birth of economic thought began with the enunciation of the concept of laissez faire, laissez-passer in its search for a model that would produce optimum results.

Summary

 The Liberal Paradigm in Formation and the Idea of the Common Good. The initiation of liberalism
 The Pursuit of Individual Self-Interest as the Best Way to Bring Prosperity to All Levels of Society
 Adam Smith and the Pursuit of the Common Good
 The Classical School and the Principle of the Common Good
 A Refreshment of Mercantilism
 John Stuart Mill, Social Justice, and His Social Liberalism
 Classic Economic Theory, Applied
 The Struggle for Social Justice Begins
 A Parallel in Views. A Gap Between Theory and Practice

This essay argues that the new GRI's "G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines" fails, once again, ... more This essay argues that the new GRI's "G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines" fails, once again, to address the critical issue of living wages and relies on the same old multilateral norms that condone the corporate practice of paying misery wages in most countries in the South, despite the fact that a living wage has long been declared a human right. There is an implicit missing link in the world's pursuit of true sustainability.

Living, Feb 1, 2012

Mexico and living wages: the utmost epitomization of social darwinism as a systemic public policy... more Mexico and living wages: the utmost epitomization of social darwinism as a systemic public policy The policies undemocratically imposed by the governments entrenched in power for the past thirty years provide irrefutable testimony of their deliberate transformation of Mexican workers into labour-bondage disposable items Álvaro J. de Regil

followed a tortuous yet keenly distinctive road to achieve sustained growth and drastically reduc... more followed a tortuous yet keenly distinctive road to achieve sustained growth and drastically reduce inequality. What did it do differently from other countries? It eschewed the now discredited mantra of the Washington Consensus, to grow with a good degree of equity. Yet, the market's unrelenting necessity for sheer consumerism is now generating such inequality that it demands from Korea and everywhere the urgent need of replacing it for being absolutely unsustainable. Álvaro J. de Regil After the Korean War, South Korea (hereafter Korea) was an extremely poor country. It is also a resource scarce nation given that most natural resources are in the North. Yet almost immediately after the war Korea immersed itself in a national effort to carve a developmental path of very fast and sustained economic growth and it succeeded. From a country with the vast majority of the population in a state of dire poverty, with a GDP per capita of $155 in 1960, and with a shortage of food and heavily dependent on aid, 1 it is now one of very few economies that has managed to escape the never ending stage of a developing economy, in the context of a sheer marketocratic paradigm controlled by the international institutional investors. In this way, Korea

VI.(f) Processes for applying concepts and norms within a market context VI.(g) Conclusions and E... more VI.(f) Processes for applying concepts and norms within a market context VI.(g) Conclusions and Expectations of the BLIHR: VI.(h) Assessment of the BLIHR VI.(h1) Market context VI.(h2) Legal or voluntary VI.(h3) HR Assessment Framework VI.(h4) Delimitation of the responsibilities of States and enterprises VI.(h5) Human Rights Standards VI.(h6) Vision of the Norms VI.(h7) Vision of the processes VI.(h8) Democracy, sustainability and pre-eminence for determining criteria VI.(i) Conclusions on the assessment of the BLIHR's project VII. Towards a new human rights paradigm concerning the social responsibilities of .

From time to time TJSGA will issue essays on topics relevant to The Living Wages North and South ... more From time to time TJSGA will issue essays on topics relevant to The Living Wages North and South Initiative (TLWNSI). This paper is the Ninth in the series "The Neo-Capitalist Assault"-a collection in development about Neoliberalism. This is the first of two essays discussing the actual neo-capitalist assault in the last twenty years. Its purpose is to explain how MNCs have overtaken democracy and dictate the policies of governments for their benefit. The essay opens by asserting that the change of economic paradigm in the U.S. was not intended to be a domestic policy but, rather, an instrument of foreign policy to recover the U.S. imperial lustre and enable its corporations to increase and consolidate U.S. power into the new century. With the change of economic paradigms during the Reagan administration, the U.S. sought to recover the lustre that it had lost with the defeat of its foreign policy and army in Vietnam and the prolonged recession that prevailed in the 1980s. The promotion of Neoliberalism was not at all intended to be a domestic economic policy. Since inception, it was seen as the policy that would restore U.S. imperialism around the world. The deregulation of industries domestically was intended to promote the formation of oligopolies in all major industries. This was seen as a necessary step in order to expand competitively around the world. Multinational corporations effectively became the sole constituents of the Reagan Era. They constituted the power, no longer behind the throne that could increase and consolidate the predominance of U.S. imperialism for the rest of the Twentieth Century and into the Third Millennium. Market Democracy and its Corporate Citizen Since the Nineteenth Century, with the formation of the U.S. industrial structure and the trusts of the Gilded Age, U.S. democracy became increasingly used to be co-opted by the needs of specific interest groups that had the sole objective of advancing their economic interests. These are the corporations that gradually sequestered the rights that originally belonged to individual persons; and, as Chomsky argues, they undermine the real objective of democratic principles. These groups, both in government and in the private sector, have made of the political system a "top-down" democracy designed for the benefit of the

After the complete economic debacle of 2002, Argentina is enjoying a substantial recovery and rea... more After the complete economic debacle of 2002, Argentina is enjoying a substantial recovery and real wages are at their best level ever. Yet, they still have considerable ground to cover before becoming of a living-wage kind; a goal that is realistically attainable in less than a decade if Argentina is able to sustain the current trend and control inflation Álvaro J. de Regil Argentina traditionally enjoyed the highest standard of living in Iberian America for most of the XX century. It had the most literate and well fed population, vast agricultural and mineral resources and a large immigration force eager to thrive in this new land. In the first part of the century, although the economy was heavily dependant for foreign exchange on the export of agricultural products, Argentina was considered one of the richest countries in the world. Real wages had a very favourable gap visa -vis real wages in many countries in Europe, a factor that attracted millions of European immigrants to populate much of its, until then, scarcely populated territory. However, during the second part of the century, despite its focus on industrialisation through import substitution, Argentina experienced a long period of recurring political and economic crises, with high inflation rates becoming a permanent feature of its economy. Military coups, deteriorating terms of trade for its agricultural exports and an inconclusive import substitution strategy did not allow Argentina to become a developed economy and instead descended into a middle income economy with a deteriorated standard of living and increased inequality. At the end of the eighties, and in line with the global trend, particularly radical in Iberian America, Argentina adopted the recipes of the so-called Washington Consensus. This entailed the imposition of the supply-side neoliberal mantra through trade liberalisation, privatisation and the reduction of the State to its minimum expression. Under the new paradigm Argentina experienced a short bout of economic boom at the end of the century. But in 2001, the laissez-faire opening of Argentina's economy actually resulted in its complete collapse due to the sheer speculative and predatory basis upon which it was anchored. With "el corralito"-the actual freezing of all bank deposits due to lack of funds provoked by massive capital flight-Argentina was forced to declare a credit default of its large and mostly securitised foreign debt. As a consequence, since 2003, Argentina has moved from sheer laissez-faire to far more cautious economic policies-with some measure of regulation, and a less privatised and a more demand-side economic approach.

The Jus Semper Global Alliance, A TLWNSI Issue …, 2005

This essay envisions the future of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the mid and long term... more This essay envisions the future of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the mid and long term. The author delves into the distant future, parting from a recent exercise of exploring CSR, ten years from now, that Allen White 1 offers us in his essay "Fade, Integrate or Transform?-The Future of CSR." The author first establishes that the future of market societies is not sustainable, for governments, which are suppose to be democratic, have partnered with big capital to pursue their very private interests and have abandoned their responsibility to procure the welfare of all ranks of society. Today, the goal of this partnership is to obsessively pursue, with a very short-term vision, the greatest possible shareholder value, regardless of the social, economic and environmental impact. Thus, the author foresees that this ethos will be radically transformed by society to build a new paradigm that, coinciding with White's third scenario, redefines the purpose of business. Yet, the author considers that redefining the end of business will require the complete redefinition of the purpose of democracy and its societies. The author argues that, given the pressing social and environmental decay, society will not allow the current ethos to prevail, and it is already seeking to build an ethos of real and direct democracy, participative and bottom up, that places social welfare above the private interest. In this way, the future of CSR, as such, will disappear to assimilate itself to the para-1 Senior Advisor to Business for Social Responsibility, Senior Fellow at the Tellus Institute and co-founder of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Jus Semper, 2023

In the last two years, the full report on Mitigation of Climate Change prepared by the IPCC scien... more In the last two years, the full report on Mitigation of Climate Change prepared by the IPCC scientists, as well as research from other centres, such as the Stockholm Resilience Centre, have consistently confirmed that we are following a trajectory of doom. Unless we veer fast in the opposite direction, the odds that we will be facing planetary catastrophes that will put at great risk the existence of life in our planet on the next twenty years are realistic and likely.

Not surprisingly, we continue to see that such existential threat— the direct result of the dominant socioeconomic structures of capitalism—continue to fall on the indifferent ears of those in power, particularly in the Global North, the overwhelming precursor of the planetary rift we face. Instead, these elites persist on a narrative that makes most people think that all we need to do is to decrease our carbon dioxide emissions to address climate change (which is only one of the nine planetary boundaries that we are on the verge of or have already transgressed) without changing the consumeristic lifestyle systems required for capitalism to sustain itself. They push, explicitly and implicitly, the idea that Promethean technological prowess will solve our problems, such as the fact that we are well underway of the Sixth Mass Extinction, so that we can confidently continue to pursue our consumeristic impulses in our quest for happiness.

Based on the track record delivered by the centers of power, it is evident that humans and nonhumans will surely reach our demise in the next few decades unless the common people rid themselves of the delusional and Promethean narrative advanced by the centers of power that has captured public opinion. To accomplish this, we must debunk this narrative and set the record straight. There is no possibility of future generations enjoying a sustainable and dignified life unless we radically change our culture and lifestyle habits and learn to live in harmony with our home, planet Earth. We must treat our planet with great care, as we would a friend we depend on for our lives. Hence, we must wake up, mobilise, and organise in order to force the replacement of the structures of unrelenting growth, endless consumption, and enormous inequality at the same time that we change our values and daily habits if we want to bequeath to future generations a life with dignity and joy.

The great challenge is to provoke awareness and critical thinking among the common people. The market reigns supreme, transforming people into consumer units, alienating and depriving them of their dignity and making them believe that success and happiness lie in having things, so that we can consume and feel happy through instant gratification. Consequently, replacing the deeply embedded culture of consumerism that is instrumental for capitalism to sustain itself is a colossal challenge. Yet, people must become conscientious and internalise that the only way to save humans and nonhumans, and the resources required from nature for both to survive and prosper, is by drastically radically cutting consumption in order to diminish our ecological footprint, replacing our structures and steering our trajectory towards a transition of consumption degrowth until we reach a sustainable steady state of production and consumption. We must embark on a sustainable transition that is safe and just for all living things and the planet.

Furthermore, because capitalism’s nature requires endless growth, the only way to accomplish this is through an ecosocial Geocratic Paradigm, or “Government by the Earth”. In this paradigm, humankind lives to take good care of its home as its friend, the planet. In Geocratia, instead of vying to possess and consume to survive, people enjoy a dignified life without all of the excesses of consumerism. In Geocratia, many basic needs, such as health care, education, and water—currently rendered as mere merchandise—are universal rights with guaranteed access to all people to live comfortably but frugally. There is no choice if we want to avoid the catastrophic trajectory of doom that we are rapidly undergoing, unless we prefer to ensure reaching our final demise in the next few decades.

Jus Semper, 2023

En los últimos dos años, el informe completo sobre la Mitigación del Cambio Climático elaborado p... more En los últimos dos años, el informe completo sobre la Mitigación del Cambio Climático elaborado por los científicos del IPCC, así como las investigaciones de otros centros, como el Centro de Resiliencia de Estocolmo, han confirmado sistemáticamente que seguimos una trayectoria fatal. A menos que viremos rápidamente en la dirección contraria, las probabilidades de que nos enfrentemos a catástrofes planetarias que pongan en grave riesgo la existencia de vida en nuestro planeta en los próximos veinte años son realistas y probables.

No es sorprendente que sigamos viendo que tal amenaza existencial—resultado directo de las estructuras socioeconómicas dominantes del capitalismo—continúe cayendo en los oídos sordos de quienes detentan el poder, particularmente en el Norte Global, precursor abrumador de la fractura planetaria a la que nos enfrentamos. En su lugar, estas élites persisten en una narrativa que hace creer a la mayoría de la gente que todo lo que tenemos que hacer es disminuir nuestras emisiones de dióxido de carbono para abordar el cambio climático (que es sólo uno de los nueve límites planetarios que estamos a punto de traspasar o que ya hemos traspasado) sin cambiar los sistemas de estilo de vida consumista necesarios para que el capitalismo se sostenga. Impulsan, explícita e implícitamente, la idea de que las proezas tecnológicas prometeicas resolverán nuestros problemas—como el hecho de que estamos bien encaminados hacia la Sexta Extinción Masiva—para que podamos seguir confiadamente persiguiendo nuestros impulsos consumistas en nuestra búsqueda de la felicidad.

Basándonos en el historial de los centros de poder, es evidente que los humanos y los no humanos seguramente llegaremos a nuestra desaparición en las próximas décadas a menos que la gente común se libere de la delirante y prometeica narrativa avanzada por los centros de poder que ha atrapado a la opinión pública. Para lograrlo, debemos desacreditar esta narrativa y dejar las cosas claras. No hay posibilidad de que las generaciones futuras disfruten de una vida sostenible y digna a menos que cambiemos radicalmente nuestra cultura y nuestros hábitos de vida y aprendamos a vivir en armonía con nuestro hogar, el planeta Tierra. Debemos tratar a nuestro planeta con sumo cuidado, como lo haríamos con un amigo del que dependemos para vivir. De aquí que debamos despertar, movilizarnos y organizarnos para forzar la sustitución de las estructuras de crecimiento infinito, consumo sin fin y enorme desigualdad, al mismo tiempo que cambiamos nuestros valores y hábitos cotidianos si queremos legar a las generaciones futuras una vida con dignidad y alegría.

El gran reto es provocar la toma de conciencia y el pensamiento crítico entre la gente común. El mercado impera, transformando a las personas en unidades de consumo, enajenándolas y privándolas de su dignidad y haciéndoles creer que el éxito y la felicidad residen en tener cosas, de modo que podamos consumir y sentirnos felices mediante la gratificación instantánea. En consecuencia, sustituir la cultura del consumismo, profundamente arraigada y que es esencial para que el capitalismo se sostenga, es un reto colosal. Empero, la gente debe concienciarse e interiorizar que la única manera de salvar a los humanos y a los no humanos, y los recursos que ambos necesitan de la naturaleza para sobrevivir y prosperar, es reduciendo drásticamente y de forma radical el consumo para disminuir nuestra huella ecológica, sustituyendo nuestras estructuras y dirigiendo nuestra trayectoria hacia una transición de decrecimiento del consumo hasta que alcancemos un estado estable sostenible de producción y consumo. Tenemos que embarcarnos en una transición sostenible que sea segura y justa para todos los seres vivos y el planeta.

Además, dado que la naturaleza del capitalismo requiere un crecimiento sin fin, la única forma de lograrlo es mediante un Paradigma Geocrático ecosocial, o "Gobierno por la Tierra". En este paradigma, la humanidad vive para cuidar bien de su hogar como su amigo, el planeta. En Geocracia, en lugar de competir por poseer y consumir para sobrevivir, la gente disfruta de una vida digna sin todos los excesos del consumismo. En Geocracia, muchas necesidades básicas, como la salud, la educación y el agua—actualmente convertidas en meras mercancías—son derechos universales con acceso garantizado a todas las personas para que vivan cómoda pero frugalmente. No hay alternativa si queremos evitar la catastrófica trayectoria de exterminio que estamos experimentando rápidamente, a menos que prefiramos asegurarnos alcanzar nuestra desaparición final en las próximas décadas.

Jus Semper, 2022

La visión de la mayoría de los defensores del decrecimiento es la de disminuir gradual pero radic... more La visión de la mayoría de los defensores del decrecimiento es la de disminuir gradual pero radicalmente el consumo de energía y de todos los recursos de la Tierra hasta que alcancemos un ethos de estado estacionario/estable verdaderamente sostenible. En ese estado, los niveles de consumo de los habitantes del planeta permitirían a nuestro "hogar" reponer lo que necesitamos para asegurar y preservar unas condiciones dignas en nuestra existencia, permitiendo a todos los seres vivos reproducirse y disfrutar de nuestras vidas de forma sostenible. Para lograrlo, los seres humanos necesitan embarcarse en una transición de decrecimiento queconstruya un paradigma radicalmente diferente que sustituya a su opuesto exacto, el capitalismo.

Una transición segura y justa hacia un paradigma sostenible, que he llamado Geocracia ("Gobierno por la Tierra"), desde mi ensayo sobre el tema de 2020, sólo puede tener éxito disminuyendo drásticamente nuestra huella ecológica, disminuyendo nuestro consumo de energía y las .emisiones de CO2. Esto implica inevitablemente una reducción drástica de nuestro consumo de los recursos de la Tierra. Para lograrlo, no sólo debemos sustituir el sistema capitalista de extrema producción/consumo, sino reducir la población humana, que equivale a millardos de personas que el capitalismo utiliza como millardos de unidades de consumo para satisfacer su naturaleza.

La mayoría de los defensores del decrecimiento tienden a evitar el factor poblacional, muchos de ellos temerosos de ser percibidos como maltusianos. Esto no es el caso. Empero, en el contexto de un ethos genuinamente democrático, debemos incorporar el decrecimiento de la población en el núcleo de cualquier imaginario de decrecimiento, ya que somos la fuente preeminente del consumo insostenible de nuestro planeta. Si la gente toma conciencia del peligro existencial al que nos enfrentamos, esperamos que muchos opten por embarcarse en una transición que incluya como motor clave de nuestra trayectoria el decrecimiento gradual de la población. Si la mayoría se niega, siempre estará en su derecho. En tal caso, tendremos que afrontar las consecuencias de reducir signiﬁcativamente las posibilidades de lograr una transición segura y justa -ecológicamente segura para todas las especies y socialmente justa para las personas, especialmente en el Sur Global- para evitar la evidente amenaza existencial a la que nos enfrentamos.

Jus Semper, 2022

The vision of most degrowth proponents is to gradually yet radically decrease energy consumption ... more The vision of most degrowth proponents is to gradually yet radically decrease energy consumption and all earth’s resources until we reach a truly sustainable stationary/steady-state ethos. In such a state, the consumption levels by the planet’s inhabitants would enable our “home” to replenish what we need to secure and preserve dignified conditions in our existence, allowing all living things to reproduce and enjoy our lives sustainably. To succeed, humans need to embark on a degrowth transition that builds a radically different paradigm that replaces its exact opposite, capitalism.

A safe and just transition to a sustainable paradigm, which I have called Geocratia (“Government by the Earth”), since my paper on the subject of 2020, can only succeed by drastically decreasing our ecological footprint, by decreasing our consumption of energy and CO2 emissions. This inevitably entails drastically reducing our consumption of the Earth’s resources. To achieve this, we must not only replace the capitalistic system of sheer production/consumption but reduce the human population, tantamount to billions of people that capitalism utilises as billions of consumer units to fulfil its nature.

Most degrowth proponents tend to avoid the population factor, many afraid of being perceived as Malthusian, which is not the case. But in the context of a genuinely democratic ethos, we must incorporate population degrowth at the core of any degrowth imaginary, for we are the preeminent source of the unsustainable consumption of our planet. If people become conscientious of the existential danger we are facing, we hope that many will opt to embark on a transition that includes as a key driver in our trajectory the gradual degrowth of population. If the majority refuse, that will always be their right. In such a case, we will have to face the consequences of significantly reducing the chances of accomplishing a safe and just transition—ecologically safe for all species and socially just for people, particularly in the Global South—to avoid the evident existential threat that we are facing.