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134-536: (Redirected from Red-green ) Red green or Red Green may refer to: Politics [ edit ] Eco-socialism , an ideology merging aspects of Marxism, socialism, green politics, ecology and alter-globalization Islamo-leftism , a political alliance of leftist (red) and Islamist (green) political movements Red-green alliance , an alliance of "red" social democratic or democratic socialist parties with "green" environmentalist parties Red-Green Alliance (Denmark) ,
268-489: A financial infrastructure of money and investment that makes possible credit and debt , entrepreneurship , commodification , voluntary exchange , wage labor , production of commodities and services , and a strong emphasis on innovation and economic growth . In a market economy , decision-making and investments are determined by owners of wealth, property, or ability to maneuver capital or production ability in capital and financial markets —whereas prices and
402-444: A post-capitalist , post-statist world. Contrary to the depiction of Karl Marx by some environmentalists, social ecologists and fellow socialists as a productivist who favoured the domination of nature, eco-socialists have revisited Marx's writings and believe that he "was a main originator of the ecological world-view". Eco-socialist authors, like John Bellamy Foster and Paul Burkett , point to Marx's discussion of
536-487: A " metabolic rift " between man and nature, his statement that "private ownership of the globe by single individuals will appear quite absurd as private ownership of one man by another" and his observation that a society must "hand it [the planet] down to succeeding generations in an improved condition". Nonetheless, other eco-socialists feel that Marx overlooked a "recognition of nature in and for itself", ignoring its "receptivity" and treating nature as "subjected to labor from
670-406: A "second contradiction" of underproduction, to complement Marx's "first" contradiction of capital and labor. While the second contradiction is often considered a theory of environmental degradation, O'Connor's theory in fact goes much further. Building on the work of Karl Polanyi, along with Marx, O'Connor argues that capitalism necessarily undermines the "conditions of production" necessary to sustain
804-477: A broader and expanding money-based economy. The system put pressure on both landlords and tenants to increase the productivity of agriculture to make profit; the weakened coercive power of the aristocracy to extract peasant surpluses encouraged them to try better methods, and the tenants also had incentive to improve their methods in order to flourish in a competitive labor market . Terms of rent for land were becoming subject to economic market forces rather than to
938-423: A citizens income scheme, regulate against social and environmental malpractice and encourage environmental good practice through state procurement. At the same time, economic and political power should be devolved as far as is possible through co-operatives and increased local decision making. By putting political and economic power into the hands of the people most likely to be affected by environmental injustice, it
1072-490: A concept in radical politics. In 1968, he founded another group that published the influential Anarchos magazine, which published that and other innovative essays on post-scarcity and on ecological technologies such as solar and wind energy, and on decentralization and miniaturization. Lecturing throughout the United States, he helped popularize the concept of ecology to the counterculture . Post-Scarcity Anarchism
1206-544: A decrease in sales that led to falling profits, which, due to stock market conditions, translated into a drop in share values. The depreciation of share value made many shareholders sell their stock, weakening the company and leading to cost-cutting measures that eroded the safety procedures and mechanisms at the Bhopal site. Though this did not, in Kovel's mind, make the Bhopal disaster inevitable, he believes that it illustrates
1340-585: A formal property system where ownership and transactions are clearly recorded. According to de Soto, this is the process by which physical assets are transformed into capital, which in turn may be used in many more ways and much more efficiently in the market economy. A number of Marxian economists have argued that the inclosure acts in England and similar legislation elsewhere were an integral part of capitalist primitive accumulation and that specific legal frameworks of private land ownership have been integral to
1474-423: A large middle class were good for democracy. He also argued that a market economy provided a substitute for government control of the economy, which reduces the risks of tyranny and authoritarianism. In his book The Road to Serfdom (1944), Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) asserted that the free-market understanding of economic freedom as present in capitalism is a requisite of political freedom . He argued that
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#17327809880571608-505: A large number of sellers nor to a market in final equilibrium . Competition is widespread throughout the market process . It is a condition where "buyers tend to compete with other buyers, and sellers tend to compete with other sellers". In offering goods for exchange, buyers competitively bid to purchase specific quantities of specific goods which are available, or might be available if sellers were to choose to offer such goods. Similarly, sellers bid against other sellers in offering goods on
1742-631: A less protectionist policy, with the 1846 repeal of the Corn Laws and the 1849 repeal of the Navigation Acts . Britain reduced tariffs and quotas , in line with David Ricardo's advocacy of free trade . Broader processes of globalization carried capitalism across the world. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, a series of loosely connected market systems had come together as a relatively integrated global system, in turn intensifying processes of economic and other globalization. Late in
1876-428: A new and malignant variation of fascism ". They echo Rosa Luxemburg 's "stark choice" between "socialism or barbarism", which was believed to be a prediction of the coming of fascism and further forms of destructive capitalism at the beginning of the twentieth century (Luxemburg was in fact murdered by the proto-fascist Freikorps in the revolutionary atmosphere of Germany in 1919). With individuals now declaring
2010-474: A result of the Industrial Revolution. The accumulation of capital is the primary mechanism through which capitalist economies promote economic growth . However, it is a characteristic of such economies that they experience a business cycle of economic growth followed by recessions. The term "capitalist", meaning an owner of capital , appears earlier than the term "capitalism" and dates to
2144-735: A revolutionary socialist and environmentalist political party in Denmark Red-Green Coalition , a centre-left coalition of Norwegian left-wing and environmentalist parties Red-Greens (Sweden) , a cooperation of red (leftist) and green (environmentalist) political parties in Sweden People [ edit ] Red Green (ice hockey) (1899–1966), Canadian professional ice hockey left winger Steve Smith (comedian) (born 1945), Canadian comedian who portrayed his Red Green alterego on The Red Green Show See also [ edit ] Red–green color blindness ,
2278-576: A safe environment for investment and capitalism. Similarly, Suharto 's authoritarian reign and extirpation of the Communist Party of Indonesia allowed for the expansion of capitalism in Indonesia . The term "capitalism" in its modern sense is often attributed to Karl Marx . In his Das Kapital , Marx analyzed the " capitalist mode of production " using a method of understanding today known as Marxism . However, Marx himself rarely used
2412-489: A separate ideology which incorporates what he saw as the most beneficial elements of Anarchism, Marxism, syndicalism, and radical ecology. Politically, Communalists advocate a network of directly democratic citizens' assemblies in individual communities/cities organized in a confederal fashion. This method used to achieve this is called libertarian municipalism which involves the establishment of face-to-face democratic institutions which are to grow and expand confederally with
2546-686: A small scale for centuries in the form of merchant, renting and lending activities and occasionally as small-scale industry with some wage labor. Simple commodity exchange and consequently simple commodity production, which is the initial basis for the growth of capital from trade, have a very long history. During the Islamic Golden Age , Arabs promulgated capitalist economic policies such as free trade and banking. Their use of Indo-Arabic numerals facilitated bookkeeping . These innovations migrated to Europe through trade partners in cities such as Venice and Pisa. Italian mathematicians traveled
2680-528: A social system cannot be said to have existed before that date". England began a large-scale and integrative approach to mercantilism during the Elizabethan Era (1558–1603). A systematic and coherent explanation of balance of trade was made public through Thomas Mun 's argument England's Treasure by Forraign Trade, or the Balance of our Forraign Trade is The Rule of Our Treasure. It was written in
2814-426: A system that met human needs, in contrast to the capitalist system of created wants. A key development in the 1980s was the creation of the journal Capitalism, Nature, Socialism (CNS) with James O'Connor as founding editor and the first issue in 1988. The debates ensued led to a host of theoretical works by O'Connor, Carolyn Merchant , Paul Burkett and others. The Australian Democratic Socialist Party launched
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#17327809880572948-655: A system that satisfies their greed and personal desires. Instead, eco-socialists suggest that the very system itself is self-perpetuating, fuelled by "extra-human" or "impersonal" forces. Kovel uses the Bhopal industrial disaster as an example. Many anti-corporate observers would blame the avarice of those at the top of many multi-national corporations , such as the Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal, for seemingly isolated industrial accidents . Conversely, Kovel suggests that Union Carbide were experiencing
3082-491: Is a collection of essays written by Murray Bookchin and first published in 1971 by Ramparts Press. It outlines the possible form anarchism might take under conditions of post-scarcity . It is one of Bookchin's major works, and its radical thesis provoked controversy for being utopian and messianic in its faith in the liberatory potential of technology . Bookchin argues that post-industrial societies are also post-scarcity societies, and can thus imagine "the fulfillment of
3216-416: Is a fundamental threat to repressive political leaders and greatly diminishes their power to coerce. Some of Friedman's views were shared by John Maynard Keynes , who believed that capitalism was vital for freedom to survive and thrive. Freedom House , an American think-tank that conducts international research on, and advocates for, democracy, political freedom and human rights , has argued that "there
3350-649: Is a high and statistically significant correlation between the level of political freedom as measured by Freedom House and economic freedom as measured by the Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation survey ". In Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics asserted that inequality is the inevitable consequence of economic growth in a capitalist economy and
3484-452: Is an ideology merging aspects of socialism with that of green politics , ecology and alter-globalization or anti-globalization . Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansion of the capitalist system is the cause of social exclusion , poverty , war and environmental degradation through globalization and imperialism , under the supervision of repressive states and transnational structures. Eco-socialism asserts that
3618-491: Is capable of spreading out its economic supports so widely that it can afford to destroy one ecosystem before moving onto another, he and many other eco-socialists now fear that, with the onset of globalization, the system is running out of new ecosystems. Kovel adds that capitalist firms have to continue to extract profit through a combination of intensive or extensive exploitation and selling to new markets, meaning that capitalism must grow indefinitely to exist, which he thinks
3752-588: Is governed by stable economic laws of its own. In the English language , the term "capitalism" first appears, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), in 1854, in the novel The Newcomes by novelist William Makepeace Thackeray , where the word meant "having ownership of capital". Also according to the OED, Carl Adolph Douai , a German American socialist and abolitionist , used
3886-507: Is impossible on a planet of finite resources. Capitalist expansion is seen by eco-socialists as being "hand in glove" with "corrupt and subservient client states" that repress dissent against the system, governed by international organisations "under the overall supervision of the western powers and the superpower United States", which subordinate peripheral nations economically and militarily. Kovel further claims that capitalism itself spurs conflict and, ultimately, war. Kovel states that
4020-427: Is known as globalization", which was "a deliberate response to a serious accumulation crisis (in the 1970s) that had convinced the leaders of the global economy to install what we know as neoliberalism." Furthermore, Ramachandra Guha and Joan Martinez Alier blame globalization for creating increased levels of waste and pollution , and then dumping the waste on the most vulnerable in society, particularly those in
4154-662: Is less likely that the injustice will take place. Eco-socialists criticise many within the Green movement for not being overtly anti-capitalist, for working within the existing capitalist, statist system, for voluntarism , or for reliance on technological fixes. The eco-socialist ideology is based on a critique of other forms of Green politics, including various forms of green economics , localism , deep ecology, bioregionalism and even some manifestations of radical green ideologies such as eco-feminism and social ecology . As Kovel puts it, eco-socialism differs from Green politics at
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4288-477: Is no competition. A monopoly occurs when a firm has exclusivity over a market. Hence, the firm can engage in rent seeking behaviors such as limiting output and raising prices because it has no fear of competition. Governments have implemented legislation for the purpose of preventing the creation of monopolies and cartels. In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act became the first legislation passed by
4422-422: Is no profit in making an article, it is a sign that the labor and capital devoted to its production are misdirected: the value of the resources that must be used up in making the article is greater than the value of the article itself". Socialist theorists note that, unlike mercantilists, capitalists accumulate their profits while expecting their profit rates to remain the same. This causes problems as earnings in
4556-588: Is to say the appropriation of capital by some to the exclusion of others") and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1861 ("Economic and social regime in which capital, the source of income, does not generally belong to those who make it work through their labor"). Karl Marx frequently referred to the " capital " and to the "capitalist mode of production" in Das Kapital (1867). Marx did not use the form capitalism but instead used capital , capitalist and capitalist mode of production , which appear frequently. Due to
4690-720: The Green Left Weekly newspaper in 1991, following a period of working within Green Alliance and Green Party groups in formation. This ceased when the Australian Greens adopted a policy of proscription of other political groups in August 1991. The DSP also published a comprehensive policy resolution, "Socialism and Human Survival" in book form in 1990, with an expanded second edition in 1999 entitled "Environment, Capitalism & Socialism". The 1990s saw
4824-576: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union . The "pre-revolutionary environmental movement", encouraged by the revolutionary scientist Aleksandr Bogdanov and the Proletkul't organisation, made efforts to "integrate production with natural laws and limits" in the first decade of Soviet rule, before Joseph Stalin attacked ecologists and the science of ecology and the Soviet Union fell into
4958-763: The Red-Green Alliance was formed as a coalition of numerous radical parties. Within the European Parliament , a number of far-left parties from Northern Europe have organized themselves into the Nordic Green Left Alliance . Red Greens feature heavily in the Green Party of Saskatchewan (in Canada but not necessarily affiliated to the Green Party of Canada ). In 2016, GPUS officially adopted eco-socialist ideology within
5092-644: The Victor Serge Library and opposing war in Chechnya , states that it believes "that capitalism has brought life on the planet near to the brink of catastrophe, and that a form of ecosocialism needs to emerge to replace capitalism before it is too late". Merging aspects of Marxism, socialism, environmentalism and ecology, eco-socialists generally believe that the capitalist system is the cause of social exclusion , inequality and environmental degradation through globalization and imperialism under
5226-763: The World Bank and the IMF ), large institutional investors and a well-funded banking system . A significant managerial class has emerged and decides on a significant proportion of investments and other decisions. A different future than that envisioned by Marx has started to emerge—explored and described by Anthony Crosland in the United Kingdom in his 1956 book The Future of Socialism and by John Kenneth Galbraith in North America in his 1958 book The Affluent Society , 90 years after Marx's research on
5360-592: The capitalist economic system is fundamentally incompatible with the ecological and social requirements of sustainability. Thus, according to this analysis, giving economic priority to the fulfillment of human needs while staying within ecological limits, as sustainable development demands, is in conflict with the structural workings of capitalism. By this logic, market-based solutions to ecological crises (such as environmental economics and green economy ) are rejected as technical tweaks that do not confront capitalism's structural failures. Eco-socialists advocate for
5494-500: The commons . Eco-socialists are critical of many past and existing forms of both green politics and socialism . They are often described as " Red Greens" – adherents to Green politics with clear anti-capitalist views, often inspired by Marxism (red greens are in contrast to eco-capitalists and green anarchists ). The term "watermelon" is commonly applied, often pejoratively, to Greens who seem to put " social justice " goals above ecological ones, implying they are "green on
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5628-421: The environment . He echoes much of eco-socialist thought, attacking international "environmental inequality", refusing to focus on technological fixes and arguing for the construction of "a harmonious, resource-saving and environmentally-friendly society". He also shows a knowledge of eco-socialist history, from the convergence of radical green politics and socialism and their political "red-green alliances" in
5762-612: The environmental policies of what can be called "existing socialist" regimes, notably the People's Republic of China. Pan Yue , deputy director of the PRC's State Environmental Protection Administration , has acknowledged the influence of eco-socialist theory on his championing of environmentalism within China, which has gained him international acclaim (including being nominated for the Person of
5896-410: The neoliberal global economy would have been impossible without the fall of communism . Harvard Kennedy School economist Dani Rodrik distinguishes between three historical variants of capitalism: The relationship between democracy and capitalism is a contentious area in theory and in popular political movements. The extension of adult-male suffrage in 19th-century Britain occurred along with
6030-484: The pseudo-science of the state biologist Trofim Lysenko , who "set about to rearrange the Russian map" in ignorance of environmental limits. Social ecology is closely related to the work and ideas of Murray Bookchin and influenced by anarchist Peter Kropotkin . Social ecologists assert that the present ecological crisis has its roots in human social problems, and that the domination of human-over-nature stems from
6164-506: The socialist feminists Mary Mellor and Ariel Salleh address environmental issues within an eco-socialist paradigm. With the rising profile of the anti-globalization movement in the Global South , an environmentalism of the poor , combining ecological awareness and social justice, has also become prominent. David Pepper also released his important work, Ecosocialism: From Deep Ecology to Social Justice , in 1994, which critiques
6298-416: The transatlantic cable , the radiotelephone , the steamship and railways allowed goods and information to move around the world to an unprecedented degree. In the United States, the term "capitalist" primarily referred to powerful businessmen until the 1920s due to widespread societal skepticism and criticism of capitalism and its most ardent supporters. Contemporary capitalist societies developed in
6432-766: The "capitalization of nature". He labels the notion on voluntarism "ecopolitics without struggle". Technological fixes to ecological problems are also rejected by eco-socialists. Saral Sarkar has updated the thesis of 1970s ' limits to growth ' to exemplify the limits of new capitalist technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells , which require large amounts of energy to split molecules to obtain hydrogen. Furthermore, Kovel notes that "events in nature are reciprocal and multi-determined" and can therefore not be predictably "fixed"; socially, technologies cannot solve social problems because they are not "mechanical". He posits an eco-socialist analysis, developed from Marx, that patterns of production and social organisation are more important than
6566-454: The "largest 'players' ... substantial control over the whole 'game ' ". In addition, Kovel criticises the "defeatism" of voluntarism in some local forms of environmentalism that do not connect: he suggests that they can be "drawn off into individualism " or co-opted to the demands of capitalism, as in the case of certain recycling projects, where citizens are "induced to provide free labor" to waste management industries who are involved in
6700-449: The "paving over" of the "remainder of nature". In the modern world, Kovel considers the supposed efficiency of new post-industrial commodities is a "plain illusion", as miniaturized components involve many substances and are therefore non-recyclable (and, theoretically, only simple substances could be retrieved by burning out-of-date equipment, releasing more pollutants ). He is quick to warn "environmental liberals " against over-selling
6834-405: The ' War on Terror ', between Islamist extremists and the United States, is caused by "oil imperialism", whereby the capitalist nations require control over sources of energy , especially oil, which are necessary to continue intensive industrial growth - in the quest for control of such resources, Kovel argues that the capitalist nations, specifically the United States, have come into conflict with
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#17327809880576968-422: The 1620s and published in 1664. European merchants , backed by state controls, subsidies and monopolies , made most of their profits by buying and selling goods. In the words of Francis Bacon , the purpose of mercantilism was "the opening and well-balancing of trade; the cherishing of manufacturers; the banishing of idleness; the repressing of waste and excess by sumptuary laws; the improvement and husbanding of
7102-464: The 16th and 18th centuries. The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century established capitalism as a dominant mode of production , characterized by factory work and a complex division of labor . Through the process of globalization , capitalism spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially before World War I and after the end of the Cold War. During the 19th century, capitalism
7236-643: The 18th-century decisively shaped globalization. After the First and Second Opium Wars (1839–60) and the completion of the British conquest of India by 1858, vast populations of Asia became consumers of European exports. Europeans colonized areas of sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific islands. Colonisation by Europeans, notably of sub-Saharan Africa, yielded valuable natural resources such as rubber , diamonds and coal and helped fuel trade and investment between
7370-402: The 20th century, capitalism overcame a challenge by centrally-planned economies and is now the encompassing system worldwide, with the mixed economy as its dominant form in the industrialized Western world. Industrialization allowed cheap production of household items using economies of scale , while rapid population growth created sustained demand for commodities. The imperialism of
7504-527: The European imperial powers, their colonies and the United States: The inhabitant of London could order by telephone, sipping his morning tea, the various products of the whole earth, and reasonably expect their early delivery upon his doorstep. Militarism and imperialism of racial and cultural rivalries were little more than the amusements of his daily newspaper. What an extraordinary episode in
7638-658: The Global South. Others have also noted that capitalism disproportionately affects the poorest in the Global North as well, leading to examples of resistance such as the environmental justice movement in the United States, consisting of working-class people and ethnic minorities who highlight the tendency for waste dumps, major road projects and incinerators to be constructed around socially excluded areas. However, as Wall highlights, such campaigns are often ignored or persecuted precisely because they originate among
7772-575: The Mediterranean talking to Arab traders and returned to popularize the use of Indo-Arabic numerals in Europe. The economic foundations of the feudal agricultural system began to shift substantially in 16th-century England as the manorial system had broken down and land began to become concentrated in the hands of fewer landlords with increasingly large estates. Instead of a serf -based system of labor, workers were increasingly employed as part of
7906-470: The United Kingdom (1979–1990). Public and political interest began shifting away from the so-called collectivist concerns of Keynes's managed capitalism to a focus on individual choice , called "remarketized capitalism". The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union allowed for capitalism to become a truly global system in a way not seen since before World War I . The development of
8040-503: The United States Congress to limit monopolies. Wage labor, usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labor, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labor power under a formal or informal employment contract . These transactions usually occur in a labor market where wages or salaries are market-determined . In exchange for
8174-595: The United States" and elected a steering committee featuring representatives from Britain, the United States, Canada, France, Greece, Argentina, Brazil and Australia, including Joel Kovel, Michael Löwy, Derek Wall, Ian Angus (editor of Climate and Capitalism in Canada) and Ariel Salleh. The Committee states that it wants "to incorporate members from China, India, Africa, Oceania and Eastern Europe". EIN held its second international conference in January 2009, in association with
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#17327809880578308-543: The West from 1950 to the present and this type of system continues throughout the world—relevant examples started in the United States after the 1950s , France after the 1960s , Spain after the 1970s , Poland after 2015 , and others. At this stage most capitalist markets are considered developed and characterized by developed private and public markets for equity and debt, a high standard of living (as characterized by
8442-504: The Year Award 2006 by The New Statesman , a British current affairs magazine). Yue stated in an interview that, while he often finds eco-socialist theory "too idealistic" and lacking "ways of solving actual problems", he believes that it provides "political reference for China's scientific view of development", "gives socialist ideology room to expand" and offers "a theoretical basis for the establishment of fair international rules" on
8576-529: The business of a third party by offering the most favourable terms". It was described by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776) and later economists as allocating productive resources to their most highly valued uses and encouraging efficiency . Smith and other classical economists before Antoine Augustine Cournot were referring to price and non-price rivalry among producers to sell their goods on best terms by bidding of buyers, not necessarily to
8710-412: The capitalist system innovates new technologies that overcome existing problems but introduce new ones. O'Connor cites nuclear power as an example, which he sees as a form of producing energy that is advertised as an alternative to carbon-intensive , non-renewable fossil fuels , but creates long-term radioactive waste and other dangers to health and security. While O'Connor believes that capitalism
8844-527: The choice is "ecosocialism or ecofascism ". Reflecting tensions within the environmental and socialist movements, there is some conflict of ideas. However, in practice a synthesis is emerging which calls for democratic regulation of industry in the interests of people and the environment, nationalisation of some key environmental industries, local democracy and an extension of co-ops and the library principle. For example, Scottish Green Peter McColl argues that elected governments should abolish poverty through
8978-543: The current approach of many within Green politics, particularly deep ecologists. In 2001, Joel Kovel , a social scientist , psychiatrist and former candidate for the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) presidential nomination in 2000, and Michael Löwy , an anthropologist and member of the Reunified Fourth International , released "An Ecosocialist Manifesto", which has been adopted by some organisations and suggests possible routes for
9112-578: The development of capitalism. Private property rights are not absolute, as in many countries the state has the power to seize private property, typically for public use, under the powers of eminent domain . In capitalist economics, market competition is the rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix : price, product, distribution and promotion. Merriam-Webster defines competition in business as "the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure
9246-754: The development of industrial capitalism and representative democracy became widespread at the same time as capitalism, leading capitalists to posit a causal or mutual relationship between them. However, according to some authors in the 20th-century, capitalism also accompanied a variety of political formations quite distinct from liberal democracies, including fascist regimes, absolute monarchies and single-party states . Democratic peace theory asserts that democracies seldom fight other democracies, but others suggest this may be because of political similarity or stability, rather than because they are "democratic" or "capitalist". Critics argue that though economic growth under capitalism has led to democracy, it may not do so in
9380-634: The distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services markets. Economists, historians, political economists, and sociologists have adopted different perspectives in their analyses of capitalism and have recognized various forms of it in practice. These include laissez-faire or free-market capitalism , anarcho-capitalism , state capitalism , and welfare capitalism . Different forms of capitalism feature varying degrees of free markets , public ownership , obstacles to free competition, and state-sanctioned social policies . The degree of competition in markets and
9514-513: The domination of human-over-human. In 1958, Murray Bookchin defined himself as an anarchist , seeing parallels between anarchism and ecology. His first book, Our Synthetic Environment , was published under the pseudonym Lewis Herber in 1962, a few months before Rachel Carson 's Silent Spring . The book described a broad range of environmental ills but received little attention because of its political radicalism. His groundbreaking essay "Ecology and Revolutionary Thought" introduced ecology as
9648-408: The economic progress of man was that age which came to an end in August 1914. From the 1870s to the early 1920s, the global financial system was mainly tied to the gold standard . The United Kingdom first formally adopted this standard in 1821. Soon to follow were Canada in 1853, Newfoundland in 1865, the United States and Germany ( de jure ) in 1873. New technologies, such as the telegraph ,
9782-511: The effect market forces can have on increasing the likelihood of ecological and social problems. Eco-socialism focuses closely on Marx's theories about the contradiction between use values and exchange values. Kovel posits that, within a market , goods are not produced to meet needs but are produced to be exchanged for money that we then use to acquire other goods; as we have to keep selling in order to keep buying, we must persuade others to buy our goods just to ensure our survival, which leads to
9916-430: The endless accumulation of capital. These conditions of production include soil, water, energy, and so forth. But they also include an adequate public education system, transportation infrastructures, and other services that are not produced directly by capital, but which capital needs in order accumulate effectively. As the conditions of production are exhausted, the costs of production for capital increase. For this reason,
10050-399: The era of merchant capitalism and mercantilism as the origin of modern capitalism, although Karl Polanyi argued that the hallmark of capitalism is the establishment of generalized markets for what he called the "fictitious commodities", i.e. land, labor and money. Accordingly, he argued that "not until 1834 was a competitive labor market established in England, hence industrial capitalism as
10184-493: The expense of another state. During the Industrial Revolution , industrialists replaced merchants as a dominant factor in the capitalist system and effected the decline of the traditional handicraft skills of artisans , guilds and journeymen . Industrial capitalism marked the development of the factory system of manufacturing, characterized by a complex division of labor between and within work process and
10318-522: The following: In free market and laissez-faire forms of capitalism, markets are used most extensively with minimal or no regulation over the pricing mechanism. In mixed economies, which are almost universal today, markets continue to play a dominant role, but they are regulated to some extent by the state in order to correct market failures , promote social welfare , conserve natural resources , fund defense and public safety or other rationale. In state capitalist systems, markets are relied upon
10452-406: The forms of technology used within a given configuration of society. Under capitalism, he suggests that technology "has been the sine qua non of growth"; thus he believes that even in a world with hypothetical "free energy" the effect would be to lower the cost of automobile production, leading to the massive overproduction of vehicles, "collapsing infrastructure", chronic resource depletion and
10586-477: The future as authoritarian régimes have been able to manage economic growth using some of capitalism's competitive principles without making concessions to greater political freedom . Political scientists Torben Iversen and David Soskice see democracy and capitalism as mutually supportive. Robert Dahl argued in On Democracy that capitalism was beneficial for democracy because economic growth and
10720-459: The goal of eventually replacing the nation-state. In the 1970s, Barry Commoner , suggesting a left-wing response to The Limits to Growth model that predicted catastrophic resource depletion and spurred environmentalism, postulated that capitalist technologies were chiefly responsible for environmental degradation , as opposed to population pressures . East German dissident writer and activist Rudolf Bahro published two books addressing
10854-908: The growth of eco-socialist consciousness. Kovel's 2002 work, The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? , is considered by many to be the most up-to-date exposition of eco-socialist thought. In October 2007, the International Ecosocialist Network was founded in Paris. Currently, many Green Parties around the world, such as the Dutch Green Left Party ( GroenLinks ), contain strong eco-socialist elements. Radical Red-green alliances have been formed in many countries by eco-socialists, radical Greens and other radical left groups. In Denmark,
10988-475: The idea that if all participants focus on their own goals, society's well-being will be water under the bridge, Smith maintains that despite the concerns of intellectuals, "global trends will hardly be altered if they refrain from pursuing their personal ends." He insisted that the actions of a few participants cannot alter the course of society. Instead, Smith maintained that they should focus on personal progress instead and that this will result in overall growth to
11122-436: The inability to perceive differences between some of the colors that others can distinguish The Red Green Show (1991–2006), a Canadian television comedy RG color space , a color space that uses only two colors, red and green Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Red green . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
11256-524: The inside", while also citing "socialist political leanings", reflecting the use of the term "liberal" to describe the political left in many English-speaking countries. Red Greens are often considered " fundies " or "fundamentalist greens", a term usually associated with deep ecology even though the German Green Party "fundi" faction included eco-socialists, and eco-socialists in other Green Parties , like Derek Wall , have been described in
11390-643: The least corrupt, operates largely under a one-party rule. Furthermore, it does not vigorously defend freedom of expression as evidenced by its government-regulated press , and its penchant for upholding laws protecting ethnic and religious harmony, judicial dignity and personal reputation. The private (capitalist) sector in the People's Republic of China has grown exponentially and thrived since its inception, despite having an authoritarian government. Augusto Pinochet 's rule in Chile led to economic growth and high levels of inequality by using authoritarian means to create
11524-406: The least, with the state relying heavily on state-owned enterprises or indirect economic planning to accumulate capital. Competition arises when more than one producer is trying to sell the same or similar products to the same buyers. Adherents of the capitalist theory believe that competition leads to innovation and more affordable prices. Monopolies or cartels can develop, especially if there
11658-556: The likelihood of famine ; furthermore, forests are increasingly cleared and enclosed to produce cash crops that separate people from their local means of production and aggravate poverty . Wall shows that many of the world's poor have access to the means of production through "non-monetised communal means of production", such as subsistence farming, but, despite providing for need and a level of prosperity, these are not included in conventional economics measures, like GNP . Wall therefore views neo-liberal globalization as "part of
11792-489: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_green&oldid=1194327762 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Eco-socialism Eco-socialism (also known as green socialism , socialist ecology , ecological materialism , or revolutionary ecology )
11926-476: The long struggle of the state and commercial interests to steal from those who subsist" by removing "access to the resources that sustain ordinary people across the globe". Furthermore, Kovel sees neoliberalism as "a return to the pure logic of capital" that "has effectively swept away measures which had inhibited capital's aggressivity, replacing them with naked exploitation of humanity and nature." For Kovel, this "tearing down of boundaries and limits to accumulation
12060-403: The market mechanism is the only way of deciding what to produce and how to distribute the items without using coercion. Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan also promoted this view. Friedman claimed that centralized economic operations are always accompanied by political repression . In his view, transactions in a market economy are voluntary and the wide diversity that voluntary activity permits
12194-428: The market, competing for the attention and exchange resources of buyers. Competition results from scarcity , as it is not possible to satisfy all conceivable human wants, and occurs as people try to meet the criteria being used to determine allocation. In the works of Adam Smith, the idea of capitalism is made possible through competition which creates growth. Although capitalism had not entered mainstream economics at
12328-651: The means of production by "freely associated producers" with all forms of domination eclipsed, especially gender inequality and racism . This often includes the restoration of commons land in opposition to private property , in which local control of resources valorizes the Marxist concept of use value above exchange value . Practically, eco-socialists have generated various strategies to mobilise action on an internationalist basis, developing networks of grassroots individuals and groups that can radically transform society through nonviolent "prefigurative projects" for
12462-434: The mid-17th century. "Capitalism" is derived from capital , which evolved from capitale , a late Latin word based on caput , meaning "head"—which is also the origin of " chattel " and " cattle " in the sense of movable property (only much later to refer only to livestock). Capitale emerged in the 12th to 13th centuries to refer to funds, stock of merchandise, sum of money or money carrying interest. By 1283, it
12596-424: The money paid as wages (usual for short-term work-contracts) or salaries (in permanent employment contracts), the work product generally becomes the undifferentiated property of the employer. A wage laborer is a person whose primary means of income is from the selling of their labor in this way. The profit motive , in the theory of capitalism, is the desire to earn income in the form of profit. Stated differently,
12730-608: The most fundamental level because the ' Four Pillars ' of Green politics (and the 'Ten Key Values' of the US Green Party ) do not include the demand for the emancipation of labour and the end of the separation between producers and the means of production. Many eco-socialists also oppose Malthusianism and are alarmed by the gulf between Green politics in the Global North and the Global South. Eco-socialists are highly critical of those Greens who favour "working within
12864-476: The most marginalized in society: the African-American radical green religious group MOVE , campaigning for ecological revolution and animal rights from Philadelphia , had many members imprisoned or even killed by US authorities from the 1970s onwards. Eco-socialism disagrees with the elite theories of capitalism, which tend to label a specific class or social group as conspirators who construct
12998-549: The necessity to build a transnational ecosocialist movement as one of the critical challenges facing ecosocialists. Later in 2007, it was announced that attempts to form an Ecosocialist International Network (EIN) would be made and an inaugural meeting of the International occurred on 7 October 2007 in Paris. The meeting attracted "more than 60 activists from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and
13132-609: The next World Social Forum in Brazil. The conference released The Belem Ecosocialist Declaration. International networking by eco-socialists has already been seen in the Praxis Research and Education Center , a group on international researchers and activists. Based in Moscow and established in 1997, Praxis, as well as publishing books "by libertarian socialists , Marxist humanists , anarchists, [and] syndicalists ", running
13266-466: The outside but red on the inside". The term is common in Australia and New Zealand, and usually attributed to either Petr Beckmann or, more frequently, Warren T. Brookes , both critics of environmentalism . The term is also found in non-English speaking political discourse. The Watermelon , a New Zealand website, uses the term proudly, stating that it is "green on the outside and liberal on
13400-587: The party. The Green Party of England and Wales has an eco-socialist group, Green Left , founded in June 2006. Members of the Green Party holding a number of influential positions, including former Principal Speakers Siân Berry and Derek Wall, as well as prominent Green Party candidate and human rights activist Peter Tatchell have been associated with the grouping. Many Marxist organisations also contain eco-socialists, as evidenced by Löwy's involvement in
13534-555: The post-Soviet era. This focus on eco-socialism has informed in the essay On Socialist Ecological Civilisation , published in September 2006, which according to China Dialogue "sparked debate" in China. The current Constitution of Bolivia , promulgated in 2009, is the first both ecologic and pro-socialist Constitution in the world, making the Bolivian state officially ecosocialist. In 2007 biologist David Schwartzman identified
13668-647: The predominantly Muslim nations where oil is often found. Eco-socialists believe that state or self- regulation of markets does not solve the crisis "because to do so requires setting limits upon accumulation", which is "unacceptable" for a growth-orientated system; they believe that terrorism and revolutionary impulses cannot be tackled properly "because to do so would mean abandoning the logic of empire ". Instead, eco-socialists feel that increasing repressive counter-terrorism increases alienation and causes further terrorism and believe that state counter-terrorist methods are, in Kovel and Löwy's words, "evolving into
13802-406: The press as fundies. Eco-socialists also criticise bureaucratic and elite theories of self-described socialism such as Maoism , Stalinism and what other critics have termed bureaucratic collectivism or state capitalism . Instead, eco-socialists focus on imbuing socialism with ecology while keeping the emancipatory goals of "first-epoch" socialism. Eco-socialists aim for communal ownership of
13936-484: The previous stage of mercantilism, invested capital in the East India Companies and other colonies, seeking a return on investment . In the mid-18th century a group of economic theorists, led by David Hume (1711–1776) and Adam Smith (1723–1790), challenged fundamental mercantilist doctrines—such as the belief that the world's wealth remained constant and that a state could only increase its wealth at
14070-599: The previous stagnant system of custom and feudal obligation. The economic doctrine prevailing from the 16th to the 18th centuries is commonly called mercantilism . This period, the Age of Discovery , was associated with the geographic exploration of foreign lands by merchant traders, especially from England and the Low Countries . Mercantilism was a system of trade for profit, although commodities were still largely produced by non-capitalist methods. Most scholars consider
14204-536: The production of goods with no previous use that can be sold to sustain our ability to buy other goods. Such goods, in an eco-socialist analysis, produce exchange values but have no use value. Eco-socialists like Kovel stress that this contradiction has reached a destructive extent, where certain essential activities such as caring for relatives full-time and basic subsistence are unrewarded, while unnecessary commodities earn individuals huge fortunes and fuel consumerism and resource depletion. James O'Connor argues for
14338-491: The reason for a business's existence is to turn a profit. The profit motive functions according to rational choice theory , or the theory that individuals tend to pursue what is in their own best interests. Accordingly, businesses seek to benefit themselves and/or their shareholders by maximizing profit. In capitalist theoretics, the profit motive is said to ensure that resources are being allocated efficiently. For instance, Austrian economist Henry Hazlitt explains: "If there
14472-488: The relationship between socialism and ecology – The Alternative in Eastern Europe and Socialism and Survival – which promoted a 'new party' and led to his arrest, for which he gained international notoriety. At around the same time, Alan Roberts , an Australian Marxist, posited that people's unfulfilled needs fuelled consumerism . Fellow Australian Ted Trainer further called upon socialists to develop
14606-435: The rest of society do not increase in the same proportion. The relationship between the state , its formal mechanisms, and capitalist societies has been debated in many fields of social and political theory, with active discussion since the 19th century. Hernando de Soto is a contemporary Peruvian economist who has argued that an important characteristic of capitalism is the functioning state protection of property rights in
14740-517: The resulting concentration of wealth can destabilize democratic societies and undermine the ideals of social justice upon which they are built. States with capitalistic economic systems have thrived under political regimes deemed to be authoritarian or oppressive. Singapore has a successful open market economy as a result of its competitive, business-friendly climate and robust rule of law. Nonetheless, it often comes under fire for its style of government which, though democratic and consistently one of
14874-436: The reunified Fourth International and Socialist Resistance , a British Marxist newspaper that reports on eco-socialist issues and has published two collections of essays on eco-socialist thought: Ecosocialism or Barbarism? , edited by Jane Kelly and Sheila Malone , and The Global Fight for Climate Justice , edited by Ian Angus with a foreword by Derek Wall. Eco-socialism has had a minor influence over developments in
15008-613: The role of intervention and regulation , as well as the scope of state ownership, vary across different models of capitalism. The extent to which different markets are free and the rules defining private property are matters of politics and policy. Most of the existing capitalist economies are mixed economies that combine elements of free markets with state intervention and in some cases economic planning . Capitalism in its modern form emerged from agrarianism in England , as well as mercantilist practices by European countries between
15142-486: The routine of work tasks; and eventually established the domination of the capitalist mode of production . Industrial Britain eventually abandoned the protectionist policy formerly prescribed by mercantilism. In the 19th century, Richard Cobden (1804–1865) and John Bright (1811–1889), who based their beliefs on the Manchester School , initiated a movement to lower tariffs . In the 1840s Britain adopted
15276-408: The second contradiction generates an underproduction crisis tendency, with the rising cost of inputs and labor, to complement the overproduction tendency of too many commodities for too few customers. Like Marx's contradiction of capital and labor, the second contradiction therefore threatens the system's existence. In addition, O'Connor believes that, in order to remedy environmental contradictions,
15410-499: The sensuous vitality of nature to the cold exchangeability required for the accumulation of capital ", while submerging "the majority of the world's people to a mere reservoir of labor power" as it penetrates communities through "consumerism and depoliticization". Other eco-socialists like Derek Wall highlight how in the Global South free-market capitalist structures economies to produce export-geared crops that take water from traditional subsistence farms , increasing hunger and
15544-431: The social and cultural potentialities latent in a technology of abundance". The self-administration of society is now made possible by technological advancement and, when technology is used in an ecologically sensitive manner, the revolutionary potential of society will be much changed. In 1982, his book The Ecology of Freedom had a profound impact on the emerging ecology movement, both in the United States and abroad. He
15678-652: The soil; the regulation of prices...". After the period of the proto-industrialization , the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company , after massive contributions from the Mughal Bengal , inaugurated an expansive era of commerce and trade. These companies were characterized by their colonial and expansionary powers given to them by nation-states. During this era, merchants, who had traded under
15812-824: The start" in an "essentially active relationship". William Morris , the English novelist, poet and designer, is largely credited with developing key principles of what was later called eco-socialism. During the 1880s and 1890s, Morris promoted his eco-socialist ideas within the Social Democratic Federation and the Socialist League . Following the Russian Revolution , some environmentalists and environmental scientists attempted to integrate ecological consciousness into Bolshevism , although many such people were later purged from
15946-440: The state of capitalism in 1867. The postwar boom ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s and the economic situation grew worse with the rise of stagflation . Monetarism , a modification of Keynesianism that is more compatible with laissez-faire analyses, gained increasing prominence in the capitalist world, especially under the years in office of Ronald Reagan in the United States (1981–1989) and of Margaret Thatcher in
16080-459: The succession of capitalism by eco-socialism—an egalitarian economic/political/social structure designed to harmonize human society with non-human ecology and to fulfill human needs—as the only sufficient solution to the present-day ecological crisis, and hence the only path towards sustainability. Eco-socialists advocate dismantling capitalism, focusing on social ownership of the means of production by freely associated producers, and restoring
16214-468: The supervision of repressive states and transnational structures. In the "Ecosocialist Manifesto" (2001), Joel Kovel and Michael Löwy suggest that capitalist expansion causes "crises of ecology" through the "rampant industrialization" and "societal breakdown" that springs "from the form of imperialism known as globalization". They believe that capitalism's expansion "exposes ecosystems " to pollutants , habitat destruction and resource depletion , "reducing
16348-433: The system". While eco-socialists like Kovel recognise the ability of within-system approaches to raise awareness, and believe that "the struggle for an ecologically rational world must include a struggle for the state", he believes that the mainstream Green movement is too easily co-opted by the current powerful socio-political forces as it "passes from citizen-based activism to ponderous bureaucracies scuffling for 'a seat at
16482-453: The table ' ". For Kovel, capitalism is "happy to enlist" the Green movement for "convenience", "control over popular dissent" and "rationalization". He further attacks within-system green initiatives like carbon trading , which he sees as a "capitalist shell game" that turns pollution "into a fresh source of profit". Brian Tokar has further criticised carbon trading in this way, suggesting that it augments existing class inequality and gives
16616-420: The term "capitalism" by many authors as "mainly rhetorical, functioning less as an actual concept than as a gesture toward the need for a concept". Scholars who are uncritical of capitalism rarely actually use the term "capitalism". Some doubt that the term "capitalism" possesses valid scientific dignity, and it is generally not discussed in mainstream economics , with economist Daron Acemoglu suggesting that
16750-418: The term "capitalism" should be abandoned entirely. Consequently, understanding of the concept of capitalism tends to be heavily influenced by opponents of capitalism and by the followers and critics of Karl Marx. Capitalism, in its modern form, can be traced to the emergence of agrarian capitalism and mercantilism in the early Renaissance , in city-states like Florence . Capital has existed incipiently on
16884-525: The term "capitalism" while it was used twice in the more political interpretations of his work, primarily authored by his collaborator Friedrich Engels . In the 20th century, defenders of the capitalist system often replaced the term "capitalism" with phrases such as free enterprise and private enterprise and replaced "capitalist" with rentier and investor in reaction to the negative connotations associated with capitalism. In general, capitalism as an economic system and mode of production can be summarized by
17018-458: The term "private capitalism" in 1863. There is no universally agreed upon definition of capitalism; it is unclear whether or not capitalism characterizes an entire society, a specific type of social order, or crucial components or elements of a society. Societies officially founded in opposition to capitalism (such as the Soviet Union ) have sometimes been argued to actually exhibit characteristics of capitalism. Nancy Fraser describes usage of
17152-466: The term in his first work, What is Property? (1840), to refer to the owners of capital. Benjamin Disraeli used the term in his 1845 work Sybil . Alexander Hamilton used "capitalist" in his Report of Manufactures presented to the United States Congress in 1791. The initial use of the term "capitalism" in its modern sense is attributed to Louis Blanc in 1850 ("What I call 'capitalism' that
17286-414: The time of Smith, it is vital to the construction of his ideal society. One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition. Smith believed that a prosperous society is one where "everyone should be free to enter and leave the market and change trades as often as he pleases." He believed that the freedom to act in one's self-interest is essential for the success of a capitalist society. In response to
17420-747: The virtues of renewable energies that cannot meet the mass energy consumption of the era; although he would still support renewable energy projects, he believes it is more important to restructure societies to reduce energy use before relying on renewable energy technologies alone. Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit . The defining characteristics of capitalism include private property, capital accumulation , competitive markets , price systems , recognition of property rights , self-interest , economic freedom , meritocracy , work ethic , consumer sovereignty , economic efficiency , profit motive ,
17554-410: The word being coined by socialist critics of capitalism, economist and historian Robert Hessen stated that the term "capitalism" itself is a term of disparagement and a misnomer for economic individualism . Bernard Harcourt agrees with the statement that the term is a misnomer, adding that it misleadingly suggests that there is such a thing as " capital " that inherently functions in certain ways and
17688-520: Was a principal figure in the Burlington Greens in 1986–1990, an ecology group that ran candidates for city council on a program to create neighborhood democracy. Bookchin later developed a political philosophy to complement social ecology which he called " Communalism " (spelled with a capital "C" to differentiate it from other forms of communalism). While originally conceived as a form of social anarchism , he later developed Communalism into
17822-560: Was largely unregulated by the state, but became more regulated in the post– World War II period through Keynesianism , followed by a return of more unregulated capitalism starting in the 1980s through neoliberalism . The existence of market economies has been observed under many forms of government and across a vast array of historical periods , geographical locations , and cultural contexts. The modern industrial capitalist societies that exist today developed in Western Europe as
17956-763: Was used in the sense of the capital assets of a trading firm and was often interchanged with other words—wealth, money, funds, goods, assets, property and so on. The Hollantse ( German : holländische ) Mercurius uses "capitalists" in 1633 and 1654 to refer to owners of capital. In French, Étienne Clavier referred to capitalistes in 1788, four years before its first recorded English usage by Arthur Young in his work Travels in France (1792). In his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), David Ricardo referred to "the capitalist" many times. English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge used "capitalist" in his work Table Talk (1823). Pierre-Joseph Proudhon used
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