Disintegrative Tendencies in Global Political Economy: Exits and Conflicts by Heikki Patomaki

Author:Heikki Patomaki [Patomaki, Heikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351660617
Google: TwA7DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 36761309
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

4

Trumponomics and the logic of global disintegration

Like Brexit, the election of Donald Trump can be tentatively explained using Polanyi’s double movement (Pettifor 2017). The US has been leading the project of liberal globalization since World War II and was largely responsible in the 1970s for the unilateral shift from Bretton Woods embedded liberalism (Ruggie 1982) to neoliberalism. Subsequent decades have had far-reaching effects on income, wealth and power distributions in the US, enriching a “1%”. Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that the US has become less democratic and its political system increasingly captive to powerful business interests (e.g. Putnam 2001; APSA Task Force 2004; Palast 2004; Wolin 2010; Stiglitz 2013). These developments have resonated with systematic attempts to detach markets and corporations from democratic regulation.

In this reading, Trump emerged as the leader of those left behind, attracting supporters from all social classes. Ordinary US wage-earners are anxious to sustain what they consider to be the normal standard of living. They are working significantly longer and are more involved in debt than their parents previously were (e.g. Chernomas and Hudson 2017, 36–44). One indicator is the spread of anxiety disorders and depression. Image and status anxiety are closely related to what and whom people appear to be and think they are in a society of materialist values that judges by looks, position, wealth and social background.1

Larger differences in material circumstances create greater social distances, increasing feelings of superiority and inferiority. This is one of the key reasons why mental illness and drug abuse correlate strongly with the level of inequality (Pickett and Wilkinson 2010, 63–72). Unemployment seems especially important in explaining class-based differences in mental illness (Richards and Paskov 2016). This accords with the hypothesis that there is an intrinsic relation between uncertainty generated by labour market uncertainties and anxiety. Predictably, after the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, “many experienced the economic system as threatening to their life chances, their incomes, their futures, and their way of life.” (Pettifor 2017, 44) Citing Polanyi’s contention that modern nationalism is a protective reaction, Ann Pettifor explains that

As Karl Polanyi predicted, these societies, in a ‘counter-movement’ to globalisation and recognising the failure of democratic governments to protect societies from the depredations of self-regulating markets, have reacted by electing ‘strong men’ (and women) that do offer protection. Donald Trump posed as a strong protector, and won the support of those Americans ‘left behind’ by globalisation.

(Pettifor 2017, 53)

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