Rebuilding local economies: a shift in priorities
Article / 20th October 2010The grassroots movement for economic localisation represents a positive and practical response to the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, peak oil and financial instability. Governments should support this alternative vision for sustainable, human-scale development, writes Anna White.
‘Health for all’: the second dawn
Article / 22nd July 2010It may seem that the goal of universal primary health care – in which state capacities are strengthened to ensure the rapid expansion of free publicly-provided health services – is further away than ever before. But there are many signs that the ideal of ‘health for all’ is making a second resurgence, writes Adam Parsons.
In defence of downshifting and work sharing
Article / 4th June 2010The proposal for fewer and more evenly shared work hours seems counter-intuitive in the current economic framework. Only by removing the structural bias towards overwork and hyper-consumerism can we build lasting prosperity within ecological limits, argues Anna White.
Overcoming free market apathy
Article / 13th May 2010Despite the oft-repeated claim that ‘there is no alternative’, today’s market society is neither natural nor inevitable. Acknowledging and exploring other forms of economic organisation may be the most powerful form of resistance to the status quo, argues Alexia Eastwood.
Why local economies matter
Article / 10th May 2010‘Going local’ currently remains a fringe, grassroots process made up of small-scale initiatives. The real question is how to steer government priorities away from big business and global finance, and to gain political and popular support for an economy geared toward localisation, writes Anna White.