SCPA 450/A (Winter 2025):
The aim of this course is to explore the increasing reach of neoliberalism as a global ecological phenomenon. Neoliberalism is defined as the privatization of the public sphere, deregulation of the private sector, lowering of income and corporate taxes, the insertion of barriers for labour organizing, and induced scarcity in spending for public services (Naomi Klein, 2014). Global capitalism has come to reflect the hegemony of the Washington Consensus - a set of 10 economic policy prescriptions promoting free-market policies, including trade liberalization and fiscal and monetary reform among others. It also reflects a “There is No Alternative” (TINA) framing, squashing the possibility of alternative social systems and alternative worldmaking visions. As an all-pervasive modus operandi of human interaction with each other and with the living Earth, capitalism is an ecological system of its own. Through showcasing the premise of global(ized) capitalism and its regional flavours, the course will also touch on the response of collective movements for social justice, responding to the social and environmental fallout of a world order that precludes the possibility of alternatives. We will explore global justice movements in the areas of migration, labour, climate, access to land, and food policy, among others. Finally, this course will link the fallout of global capitalism to the rise of far-right populist movements that are both a consequence of globalized neoliberalism and aim to impose an authoritarian neoliberalism that silences dissent and opposition to the TINA frame.
- Teacher: VIJAY KOLINJIVADI
