A primer on global economic sharing, part 3

Hold my hand, Holy hands.

“In an increasingly unequal and unsustainable world, governments must urgently move beyond the restrictive political and economic ideologies of the past and embrace solutions that meet the common needs of people in all countries. This primer outlines the extent of the interconnected global crises we face, and points the way towards an alternative approach to managing the world’s resources based upon international cooperation and economic sharing.”

Welcome to the third and final part of our serialization of Share the World’s Resources‘ must-read report, “A primer on global economic sharing“. Today’s section outlines the specific emergency and long term measures UN Member States need to implement to end the spiral of misery and destruction affecting our planet. If you haven’t had the chance to read the previous instalments, here’s part 1 and part 2.


Part 3: How can global sharing work?

At this critical juncture in human history, only a united global public can pressure governments to reorder their distorted priorities, cooperate more effectively, and share the resources of the world more equitably. As outlined in the sections below, a crucial first step is for UN Member States to implement an international program of emergency assistance to end life-threatening deprivation, followed by a longer-term transformation of the global economy in order to secure an adequate standard of living for all within ecological limits.

A programme for survival

Addressing the interlocking crises highlighted above represents the greatest challenge that humanity has faced in its long history, and calls for a thorough restructuring of the world economy as well as far greater understanding, commitment and solidarity between peoples and nations. In order to move beyond national self-interest and aggressive competition over vital resources, a dramatic adjustment is needed in political relations between governments on the basis of international cooperation and genuine economic sharing.

Such fundamental changes to the international economic order can only become a reality if world public opinion is focused upon eliminating poverty and safeguarding the environment as a foremost priority for the 21st Century. Given the current ‘business as usual’ approach to policymaking, it is unlikely that governments will accept the need for economic sharing on a global scale until the crises of inequality, resource scarcity and environmental breakdown reach a dangerous climax. Pressure from the public for change and justice will inevitably mount until such a time, and politicians may eventually have little choice but to rethink their distorted priorities or risk further social, economic and ecological chaos.

It is impossible to predict how a process of world repair and rehabilitation will unfold, but if the necessary economic transformation is to come about by democratic means it will require all-inclusive international dialogue over a period of months, if not years. The purpose of outlining these proposals is not to dictate the terms of global economic reform, but to inspire public engagement and debate on these critical issues and galvanise popular support for a campaign that calls on governments to share the world’s resources.

As outlined in part 1, a reformed and democratised United Nations is the only multilateral institution in existence that can facilitate a coordinated global programme of wholesale economic reform. A broad coalition of civil society must therefore bring pressure to bear on governments to convene an international summit at the UN General Assembly to agree upon a comprehensive agenda for restructuring and cooperatively managing the global economy in the interests of all nations. These negotiations should focus on both the immediate and longer-term measures for mitigating the world’s poverty, environmental and security crises, which will require a radical shift in economic relationships to embrace our collective values and global interdependence.

The sections that follow outline the key pillars of this transformative global agenda, which should include:

1. An international programme of humanitarian relief: By definition, any process of economic sharing between and within countries must prioritise the urgent needs of the very poorest. In light of this imperative, the major concern for the first stage of global negotiations must be to organise and implement an emergency programme of humanitarian relief to prevent life-threatening deprivation and avoidable poverty-related deaths – regardless of where this occurs in the world. Such a programme needs to be agreed and implemented in the shortest possible timeframe, and will require an unprecedented mobilisation of international agencies, resources and expertise over and above existing emergency aid budgets and humanitarian programs.

2. Structural reform of the global economy: The UN General Assembly must also convene a worldwide public consultation with representatives from all countries and all sectors of society to debate, negotiate and implement a strategy for restructuring the global economy. Among the many reforms that these negotiations should consider, particular attention must be placed on guaranteeing access to adequate social protection and adequate public services for all; establishing a just and sustainable global food system; and instituting an international framework for sharing natural resources more equitably and within planetary limits.

Such an aspiration may seem radical to some, but these above two propositions broadly echo those put forward more than 30 years ago by the Report of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues (the Brandt Commission). Today the world’s problems are even more complex and interlinked after three decades of economic globalisation, and the solutions needed to address global crises must go far beyond the proposals of the Commissioners who contributed to the Brandt Report. Despite the disparities that Brandt spoke of now reaching breaking point, however, we’re still far away from his vision of nations coming together in a collective effort to “ensure a sustainable biological environment, and sustainable prosperity based on equitably shared resources”.[54]

It is imperative that world public opinion embraces the understanding that we are in the midst of a civilizational crisis, and there is little time left for governments to implement a ‘programme for survival’ that is our only hope of averting economic and ecological disaster.

An emergency relief programme

Whether from a moral, humanitarian or purely economic perspective, the number one priority for governments in the 21st Century should be the urgent prevention of life-threatening conditions of deprivation across the world. Every day we fail to act an additional 40,000 people are likely to die from avoidable poverty-related causes, almost all of whom live in low- and middle-income countries.[55] If we are serious about putting the principle of sharing at the heart of our response to global crises, the very first step in this process of world reconstruction must surely be an international programme of emergency relief to end all instances of unnecessary deaths due to hunger or poverty.

Government rhetoric may suggest that a great deal is being done already to help prevent extreme deprivation in less-developed countries, but this is far from the reality. Official Development Assistance (ODA) remains linked to financial restrictions and policy ‘conditionalities’ that dramatically reduce its effectiveness, while most donor countries are still failing to live up to the long-agreed pledge of providing a mere 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product in overseas aid.[56] Furthermore, of the comparatively negligible sums that are transferred from rich to poor countries as aid, few people realise that only a small proportion is used to respond to humanitarian emergencies – as little as 8% of all ODA.[57]

It is high time that the international community considered life-threatening poverty to be a global emergency and treated this preventable crisis accordingly. For every person who dies in an emergency such as a natural disaster or conflict, 200 people die from poverty-related causes.[58] Should governments not therefore broaden their conception of what a humanitarian crisis entails, and put arrangements in place at the international level to ensure that people suffering from acute economic deprivation at least have access to the minimum requirements – water, sanitation, food, nutrition, shelter and healthcare – to satisfy their basic right to life and dignity (in accordance with long-agreed international human rights declarations and conventions)?[59]

A global humanitarian crisis

The structural causes of poverty are complex and political in nature, and addressing them will necessitate far-reaching changes to the policies and institutions that govern the global economy. In the longer term, the responsibility for poverty reduction and development rests with national governments who need to develop strong public sectors and redistributive tax systems, and overseas aid should not be a substitute for domestic resource mobilisation. But the least developed countries cannot afford to wait for these structural changes to take place while millions of people are facing a condition of life-threatening poverty. The global community of nations urgently need to take a much bolder step towards saving lives and ending extreme deprivation today – and regardless of the excuses given by world leaders, doing so is eminently practical and affordable.

As STWR’s report Financing the Global Sharing Economy outlines, there are many progressive policy options that could enable governments to rapidly mobilise several trillions of dollars to help mitigate the worst effects of poverty and hunger in the most deprived regions of the world. The institutional structures, capacity and expertise needed to utilise these additional financial resources for essential human needs is already in place, including many UN organisations, thousands of NGOs and numerous humanitarian agencies that are often critically underfunded.[60]

There is no reason why an inter-governmental emergency programme cannot be launched to provide basic necessities for the world’s impoverished as a leading international priority. With sufficient support from UN Member States, such an unprecedented global action plan could be initiated through the UN General Assembly in a relatively short space of time. Moreover, the necessary redistribution of financial resources from rich to poor countries could be organised within the existing political and economic framework, and independent of overseas aid budgets.

Relief efforts could also be coordinated on the basis of universal need, within rich OECD countries as well as less developed nations, even if the inevitable focus is on the poverty belts and urban centres within the Global South. Similarly, any government could provide financial or additional strategic resources to the programme, including military personnel to assist humanitarian agencies in distributing food and providing equipment or technical assistance.

An international aid effort of this nature would clearly not be a comprehensive solution to hunger and poverty, but it could provide a lifeline for the millions of people who subsist without any form of welfare provision, suitable health or working conditions, or adequate purchasing power to meet their basic needs. The necessary political will to implement such a strategy of global economic sharing was sadly lacking in the early 1980s when world leaders were considering the Brandt Commission’s proposal for ‘massive transfers’ of funds from rich to poor countries, but the scale of the humanitarian crisis is even greater today. If governments and civil society are ever to end this moral outrage, we cannot afford the same level of political and public complacency to continue.

Reforming the global economy

An emergency relief programme can only form an initial stage in a broader agenda to overhaul the global economy and address the structural causes of our present social, political, economic and environmental crises. The scale and complexity of such a task is unparalleled; never before have representatives from all nations engaged in an effective dialogue that links the full range of critical global issues – from poverty and environmental protection to world trade and financial reform – and seeks to establish new global rules and institutions that can bring us closer to a more equal world.

In order to achieve an international consensus on how to reform the global economy, an extensive UN-led consultation process must be initiated with input from civil society groups, governments, relevant global agencies and institutions, as well as representatives from the private sector. As outlined in the following sections, the minimum aim of these negotiations should be to agree upon the reformed structural and redistributive arrangements required to:

  • Guarantee access to adequate social protection and essential public services for all people in all countries.
  • Establish a just and sustainable global food system and guarantee universal access to nutritious food as a basic human right.
  • Ensure that all people and nations can access and consume a fair share of the world’s resources without transgressing environmental limits.

Regardless of how nations agree to organise a global framework that enables a more equity-based and sustainable distribution of resources, the implications for existing institutions, policies and financing mechanisms are immense and all-encompassing. A new vision of our global interdependence is called for, with profound changes in international economic relations on the basis of true cooperation and shared sacrifice. A fairer distribution of wealth, power and resources on a worldwide basis will require more inclusive structures of global governance and institutional reforms that go far beyond existing development efforts to reduce poverty, push for fairer trade and provide compensatory aid.

A programme of priorities

Over six years since the financial collapse of 2008, governments have yet to restructure financial and monetary systems or impose tighter regulations on the banking sector and speculative activity. Particular attention must be paid to establishing a balanced global financial architecture with a stable international reserve currency, and many proposals exist for money to be created through a democratic and transparent body working in the public interest.[61] Furthermore, popular calls to clamp down on tax havens and cancel unjust and unpayable debts in developing countries are long overdue, and remain essential to achieving a more equal distribution of the world’s financial resources.[62]

A more viable approach to managing national economies will require a significant rethink of Western notions of development, a more holistic vision of our relationship to the natural environment, and a reconceptualisation of financial measures like GDP as the main yardstick for national and social progress.[63] Environmental challenges – from climate change to the depletion and degradation of natural resources – mean it is inevitable that governments must reconsider the relentless push towards trade liberalisation, as well as the dominance of consumption-led economic growth over government policy.[64] Much needs to be done to dismantle the culture of consumerism, and investment much shift dramatically towards building and sustaining a low-carbon infrastructure, alongside a vast array of energy and resource efficiency measures.[65]

To counter the growing concentration of financial and economic power in the hands of a small number of multinational corporations, governments should also support policies that increase the control that citizens have over their local economies, especially in developing countries. State funding should be directed to local initiatives in order to help diversify economies and encourage social cohesion and local economic renewal, alongside greater support for cooperative businesses and mutual enterprises that redistribute economic activity back into towns and communities. An increased focus on domestic markets would also boost opportunities for stable employment in local industries, and help restore local and national self-reliance in meeting essential needs.[66]

The issues highlighted above provide only a snapshot of a comprehensive agenda for economic transformation, different aspects of which are widely promoted by various campaign groups worldwide. The challenge of enacting any of these reforms is essentially a democratic one that requires civil society to reassert their right to determine the future direction of economic policy, and to ensure that politicians honour their responsibility to serve the needs of ordinary people. For governance systems to be inclusive, effective and respectful of economic and cultural diversity, citizens must be given the opportunity to engage in the decision making process at all levels of society – from the local to the global.[67]

The following sections introduce the three major areas of focus for global negotiations highlighted above, and explain why these reforms will require an unprecedented degree of international cooperation and economic sharing to ensure their success:

  • Sharing the world’s food
  • Building a sharing society
  • Sharing the global commons

Sharing the world’s food

Despite the production of more than enough food to meet the nutritional needs of all the world’s population, life-threatening food emergencies continue to devastate many developing countries, and at least 842 million go hungry every day.[68] Clearly, global food systems are working against the principle of sharing at a fundamental level when widespread undernourishment co-exists with large surpluses of food in global markets. From the most basic perspective, sharing food in a world of plenty infers a family of nations in which no one is permitted to die of hunger, and that demands a re-ordering of government priorities to ensure that everyone is guaranteed their right to safe, sufficient, nutritious and affordable food.[69]

But the scandal of hunger is only the most egregious example of a broken food system that is in crisis at every level. Industrial farming practices have significantly degraded the natural resources upon which human life depends, and governments face enormous challenges in meeting future demand for food as a result of water shortages, fossil fuel depletion, climate change and environmental degradation. According to some estimates, the globalised industrial food system contributes over half of all greenhouse gas emissions.[70] The United Nations also reports that 75% of plant genetic diversity has already been lost as a result of the profound shift towards an environmentally destructive model of agriculture over the past century.[71]

A new paradigm in global agriculture is urgently called for. If we accept that food is an essential for life that should be shared at every level – family, community, national and international – then we cannot continue to treat grains and other staples as ‘commodities’, just like any other merchandise. Yet the entire edifice of the global food economy is based on the belief that food should be grown for profit, not human need, which has far-reaching implications for food and farming systems if sharing is to guide the process of global economic reform.[72]

This is starkly illustrated, for example, by the intellectual property rights regime, which is in many ways the antithesis of sharing – built as it is upon the belief that corporations have rights to privatise and ‘own’ the genetic commons, while smallholder farmers are even deprived of their right to share and save seeds.[73] Stock market speculation on basic foods is also a scandal when millions of people are starving in the world, with clear evidence now suggesting that betting on food prices in financial markets has caused drastic price swings in recent years, with catastrophic consequences for the poorest households.[74]

Transforming global food systems

Reversing these trends necessitates action and cooperation on a global scale. For example, there is an imperative need to establish fairer regional and global trade arrangements, which at present enable the largest corporate players to reap colossal profits from the international trade in agricultural commodities – especially in the midst of food price crises.[75] In a dramatic reorientation of agricultural trade policy, governments should rather aim to establish higher levels of food self-sufficiency, re-regulate markets and reduce dependency on imports, both within OECD countries and across the Global South.[76]

Put simply, a more just and sustainable food system depends on people and communities being empowered to grow and share food. This new direction is rigorously articulated by a food sovereignty movement that rejects the corporate vision of agriculture in favour of a more localised, ecological and people-led approach to farming.[77] Indeed the scientific case for small-scale, low-impact farming has already been won: in 2008, the conclusions of more than 400 experts was released in the UN-sponsored IAASTD study, which gave a damning verdict on modern systems of industrial agriculture and presented policymakers with an effective blueprint to confront today’s global food crisis.[78]

The practice of sharing has a pivotal role to play in a new paradigm for food and agriculture, but it clearly needs to be a true form of economic sharing that addresses the power structures and politics underlying an unjust global economy. It is imperative that governments finally accept their responsibility to guarantee access to nutritious food for all the world’s people, and thereby enact policies to democratise and localise food economies in line with the principles of sharing and cooperation. In sum, the political challenge for the international community could not be more critical and deep-seated: to reinstate the spiritual, non-material value of food that allows it to be treated as more than just a commodity – and ultimately shared universally as a basic human right.[79]

Building a sharing society

As a priority for longer-term global reform efforts, governments must ensure that economic systems are primarily geared towards meeting the essential needs of all citizens. An emergency relief programme and existing forms of overseas aid must give way to the creation of nationwide systems of social protection and public service provision, in line with longstanding international human rights commitments. Governments in both hemispheres – and particularly in the South – need to be empowered to develop more self-sufficient and sustainable economies, which must become the overarching goal of social and economic policy in the 21st century.

Systems of social welfare and public service provision are essentially complex ‘sharing economies’ that exist in a variety of forms throughout the world. Through the process of progressive taxation and redistribution, citizens collectively share a portion of the nation’s financial resources for the benefit of society as a whole. Although often far from perfect, national systems of social protection are an expression of solidarity and social justice that can redistribute wealth, reduce inequalities and strengthen social cohesion within countries.[80]

Many experts recognise that the universal provision of social protection (including health services, education, housing, water and sanitation, public infrastructure and transport, as well as social security benefits) has to be part of a country’s social contract and cannot be left to the private or charity sectors. This inevitably requires a strong interventionist role for governments, strictly regulated markets, the decommodification of public services, and the democratic participation of all citizens who need to be empowered to articulate their needs.[81]

It also depends upon strong tax authorities and effective financial administrations, which is a major challenge for many poor countries that have a large informal sector and internal problems of corruption and mismanagement. There remains a huge gap between how much tax revenue is raised by most low-income countries, and where they need to get to in order to end aid dependence and indebtedness.[82]

For many decades, poorer countries have been severely constrained in their ability to raise enough domestic revenue to guarantee universal access to public goods and services. Due to a combination of factors such as investment abroad, illicit capital flight and sovereign debt repayments, far more money flows from poor to rich countries than flows the other way.[83] The pressure towards trade liberalisation and tariff reduction – enforced by ‘free market’ economic programmes – has further deprived many governments in the South of vital income.[84] Indeed, the infamous Structural Adjustment Programmes in the 1980s and 1990s effectively dismantled the basic safety nets that existed across much of the developing world.[85]

A global sharing economy

Even in high-income countries today government policies are generally going in the wrong direction, particularly across Europe where IMF-led austerity programmes are rolling back systems of social welfare and undermining public services. To reverse the effects of these divisive and damaging measures that go against the very notion of a sharing society, a renewed social and economic model must invest in public services for all people and build fair and redistributive tax systems, founded upon an economic policy in harmony with the environment and climate.[86]

Yet even the most basic welfare taken for granted by those in developed countries is still a dream for the majority world population, with 4 out of every 5 people denied a minimal set of social protection guarantees.[87] Consequently, high-income countries have a responsibility to do much more to assist poorer nations to strengthen domestic taxation and social protection systems, while enabling them to develop the productive capacity they need to generate decent employment and a vibrant, diversified economy. As a minimum, the international community should urgently establish a global fund to provide financial support to low-income countries as they strive to develop robust and self-sufficient public sectors.[88]

In the longer term, it will remain impossible to pursue a sustainable and inclusive agenda for development until we extend the principles that underpin domestic systems of sharing to encompass the global community of nations. In other words, we need to establish an effective ‘global sharing economy’ based on national and international forms of redistribution that can ensure that everyone is guaranteed access to essential goods and services, which is the first major step towards realising a truly united world that upholds the human rights of all people.

Sharing the global commons

Guaranteeing access to essential goods and services for all people would go a long way to establishing a global economy that serves the common good, but it falls short of ensuring that the overarching economic framework is inherently fair and environmentally sustainable. New economic arrangements also need to reverse decades of privatisation, corporate control and profiteering over the Earth’s natural resources (such as water, oil, gas and minerals) so that nations can share the global commons more equitably and sustainably.[89] This presents an epochal challenge for the international community at a time when humanity as a whole is already consuming resources and emitting waste and pollutants 50% faster than they can be replenished or reabsorbed.[90]

Clearly this state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely, and governments may eventually be forced – through public pressure or intensifying ecological catastrophe – to abandon the current economic logic in favour of a cooperative strategy for sharing the world rather than keeping it divided. Two basic prerequisites will remain essential to successfully negotiating such a transition. Firstly, governments have to accept the need to limit resource use in both national and global terms. Instead of the endless drive to increase economic growth and maximise profits, the goal of economic policy must shift towards a sustainable sufficiency in which nations aim to maximise well-being and guarantee ‘enough’ for everybody, rather than encouraging the consumption of ‘more’ of everything.[91]

Secondly, nations will have to collectively formulate a recognition that natural resources form part of our shared commons, and should therefore be managed in a way that benefits all people as well as future generations. This important reconceptualization could enable a shift away from today’s private and State ownership models, and towards a new form of global resource management based on non-ownership and trusteeship.[92]

Transitioning to a sustainable world

New governance regimes for sharing natural resources could take many forms. For example, in line with the Common Heritage of Humankind principle that already exists in international law, many of the commons that are truly global in nature, like the oceans and atmosphere, could be held in a global public trust and managed by elected representatives, or else by newly created United Nations agencies. Another option for governments is to maintain sovereignty over the natural resources held within their jurisdiction, but agree to a coordinated international programme of sustainable use of those resources and the sharing of national surpluses.[93]

Such economic arrangements may finally make it possible for governments to progressively reduce and equalise global consumption levels so that every person can meet their needs within the limits of a finite planet. To achieve this, over-consuming countries would have to take the lead in significantly reducing their national resource use, while less developed countries increase theirs until a convergence in levels of material throughput and carbon emissions is eventually reached. At the same time, a progressively tighter cap on the overall rate at which nations consume resources could ensure that global consumption patterns are gradually but definitely reduced to a sustainable level.[94] To facilitate this dramatic shift towards ‘fair share’ ecological footprints, the international community will also need to adopt a low-carbon development strategy by significantly reducing dependence on non-renewable fuels and investing heavily in alternative sources of clean energy.

The implications of implementing any form of global mechanism for sharing natural resources cannot be underestimated. For example, the transition to an era of cooperative resource management is dependent on more inclusive governance at all levels, the democratisation of global institutions (including the United Nations), and a shift in power relations from North to South. An orderly transition will inevitably have to be negotiated and coordinated by UN Member States, which presupposes a degree of international cooperation that is increasingly lacking today. World leaders have yet to move beyond the self-interest and aggressive competition that characterises foreign policy, and are heavily invested in maintaining the dominant economic model that prioritises short-term business interests ahead of a healthy ecosystem and social justice.[95]

Hence we cannot wait for governments to rethink the management of an economic system built upon endless consumption and competition over scarce resources. A solution to global environmental and resource security crises can only be brought about by the active engagement of civil society, with concerted efforts to overcome the corporate and political forces that stand in the way of creating a truly cooperative and sharing world.

A global movement for sharing

In response to a call for an emergency programme of humanitarian relief alongside a wholesale restructuring of the global economy, it is possible to view such a proposition as utopian considering the political underpinnings of our world. At present, the dominant trend is still towards the centralisation of state and market power, and the shifting of real power away from ordinary people and communities towards largely undemocratic global institutions and multinational corporations.[96]

For too long, governments have put short-term political interests and commercial profits before the welfare of all people and the sustainability of the biosphere. Public policy under the influence of neoliberal ideology has created a world economy that is structurally dependent upon unsustainable levels of production and consumption for its continued success. Decades of failed global conferences on interconnected issues such as climate change, international trade and sustainable development have also starkly illustrated the sheer lack of cooperation and goodwill that exists between nations today.

A major reason for the failure of these high-level talks and summits is widely recognised: policymaking has long been captured by powerful corporations and business lobby groups that have the ability to maintain their vested interests at all costs. ‘Business as usual’ is the anthem of this lobby, and their influence over governmental decision-making – including negotiations at the United Nations – has now reached an apex.[97]

As humanity moves ever closer to social, economic and environmental tipping points, it is clear that we can no longer rely on governments alone to create the future we want. The hope for a better world rests with the participation of the global public in a call for reform that extends beyond national borders. As the worldwide mobilisation of people power since 2011 has demonstrated, only a united and informed public opinion is stronger than the private interests that obstruct progressive change from taking place. The responsibility to take a stand falls squarely on the shoulders of ordinary people, not just the usual campaigners and NGOs. It is imperative that millions more people recognise what is at stake and take the lead as proponents for change – the wellbeing of planet earth and future generations largely depends on this shift in global consciousness.[98]

A united peoples voice

Already, popular uprisings in almost every country are demonstrating in the streets for sharing, freedom and justice, and are connected by their revulsion against an economic system that has caused such huge inequalities in income and wealth. From Wall Street to Gezi Park to the Puerta del Sol, an implicit call for economic sharing is being expressed in many diverse forms. This includes the widespread mobilisations for an alternative to austerity measures; for the sharing and conservation of natural resources; for shared public spaces and the non-enclosure of the commons; and for the right priorities in public spending on behalf of the common good.[99]

At the same time, longstanding campaigns for tax, trade and debt justice all reflect the need to redistribute wealth and political power downward. All of these movements and many others are ultimately demanding a fairer sharing of wealth, power and resources and the protection of the natural world. In the crucial period ahead, concerned citizens from every walk of life must widely support these causes and activities if there is to be hope for creating a more just, sustainable and peaceful future.   Humanity as a whole still lacks a broad-based acceptance of the need for planetary reconstruction, even despite a growing awareness among civil society of the unfolding human and environmental catastrophe. Without a global movement of ordinary people that share a collective vision of change, it may remain impossible to overcome the vested interests and structural barriers to progress that we face.

In the end, the case for global economic sharing can be summarised with a simple appeal to our common humanity and compassion. Only a collective demand for a fairer and more equal world is likely to unify citizens of both the richest and poorest nations on a common platform. Hence the urgent process of world rehabilitation must begin with a united people’s voice that speaks on behalf of the poorest and most disenfranchised, and gives the highest priority to the elimination of extreme deprivation and needless poverty-related deaths.

If the case for sharing on an international basis captures the public imagination as quickly as the calls for redistribution within individual countries, then an end to gross inequality, ecological crisis and global conflict could finally become a realistic possibility.


[1] For example, see Dacher Keltner, Jeremy Adam Smith and Jason Marsh, The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness, W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.; Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009; Michael Tomasello, Why We Cooperate, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009; Frans De Waal, The Age of Empathy, New York: Harmony Books, 2009; Colin Tudge, Why Genes are not Selfish and People are Nice, Floris Books, 2013.

[2] David Korten, When Corporations Rule the World, Berrett-Koehler, 2001.

[3] There is a significant literature on the need to democratise the major global institutions that create and express the rules of economic globalisation. For an introduction, see John Cavanagh et al, Alternatives to Economic Globalisation:  A Better World is Possible, Berrett-Koehler, 2004; George Monbiot, The Age of Consent, Harper Perennial, 2003; Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents, Penguin, 2003; Richard Peet, Unholy Trinity: The IMF, World Bank and WTO, Zed Books, 2009.

[4] For an introduction to this debate, see Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone, Penguin, 2010; <www.equalitytrust.org.uk>; <www.thespiritleveldocumentary.com>

[5] See the next section on sharing locally and nationally.

[6] Peter A. Corning, Fair Shares: Beyond Capitalism and Socialism, Politics and the Life Sciences Vol. 22, No. 2 (Sep., 2003), pp. 12-32.

[7] Michael Edwards et al, Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism, The Young Foundation, 2008; Mary-Beth Raddon, Neoliberal Legacies: Planned Giving and the New Philanthropy, Studies in Political Economy 81, Spring 2008; <www.edgefunders.org>; <www.edgefund.org.uk/resources>

[8] Navdanya, Seed Freedom: A Global Citizens’ Report, October 2012.

[10] Marjorie Kelly, Owning Our Future: The Emerging Ownership Revolution, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Gar Alperovitz, America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty, and Our Democracy, Democracy Collaborative Press/Dollars and Sense, 2011; John Restakis, Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital, New Society Publishers, 2010.

[11] Derek Wall, The Commons in History: Culture, Conflict, and Ecology, MIT Press, 2014; <www.globalcommonstrust.org>

[12] For example, see: Robert Hopkins, The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience, Green Books, 2008; <www.transitionnetwork.org>

[13] Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers, What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, HarperBusiness, 2010; Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow,The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community, Nolo, 2009; Julian Agyeman, Duncan McLaren and Adrianne Schaefer-Borrego,Sharing Cities, Friends of the Earth briefing paper, September 2013.

[14] Share The World’s Resources, Financing the Global Sharing Economy, October 2012.

[15] Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Frequently Asked Questions on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Fact Sheet No. 33, Geneva, December 2008.

[16] cf. FIAN International, Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Heidelberg, January 2013; Rolf Künnemann, Twelve reasons to strengthen extraterritorial human rights obligations, FIAN International for the ETO Consortium, Heidelberg, June 2013.

[17] This issue is further introduced in part 2 on the environmental crisis and resource wars, and part 3 on sharing the global commons.

[18] Mohammed Mesbahi and Angela Paine, The UN and the principle of sharing, Share the World’s Resources, September 2007.

[19] For example, see: Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP), The Global Marshall Plan: A National Security Strategy of Generosity and care, California: USA (undated); UNCTAD, Economic Development in Africa – Doubling Aid: Making the “Big Push” work, Geneva: Switzerland, 2006; Franz Josef Radermacher, Global Marshall Plan – A Planetary Contract: For a Worldwide Eco-Social Market Economy, Global Marshall Plan Foundation, 2004; <www.globalmarshallplan.org>

[20] Share The World’s Resources, Financing the Global Sharing Economy, October 2012, see box 13 in chapter 5: Increase International Aid, pp. 96-7.

[21] For example, see Prue Taylor, The Common Heritage of Mankind: A Bold Doctrine Kept Within Strict Boundaries, in David Bollier and Silke Helfrich (eds), The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market & State, Levellers Press, 2013.

[22] See reference 3.

[23] Mohammed Mesbahi and Angela Paine, op cit.

[24] Alexia Eastwood, Revisiting economic man, Share The World’s Resources, April 2010.

[25] David Harvey, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, OUP Oxford, 2007.

[26] Jubilee Debt Campaign, The State of Debt: Putting an end to 30 years of crisis, May 2012; Robin Broad and John Cavanagh, Development Redefined: How the Market Met Its Match, Paradigm, 2008.

[27] Stuart Hall, Doreen Massey and Michael Rustin (eds), After Neoliberalism? The Kilburn Manifesto, Soundings, 2013; Mohammed Mesbahi, Commercialisation: the antithesis of sharing, Share The World’s Resources, April 2014.

[28] Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed, A User’s Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save It, Pluto Press, 2010.

[29] United Nations General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Paris, 10th December 1948.

[30] Coleman-Jensen, A., Nord, M., & Singh, A.. (2013). Household Food Security in the United States in 2012. USDA ERS; also see the US Hunger Cliff campaign, <hungercliff.org>

[32] Share The World’s Resources, Should We Celebrate a Decline in Global Poverty?, 16th March 2012.

[33] Contrary to popular perception, the World Bank’s poverty measurement is based on what a dollar would buy in the United States, not in another country like Ethiopia, India or Peru. For the 95% on $10 a day figure, see Martin Ravallion, Shaohua Chen and Prem Sangraula, Dollar a day revisited, World Bank, May 2008. Using 2005 population numbers, this is equivalent to just under 79.7% of the developing world population, and does not include populations living on less than $10 a day from industrialised nations. See Anup Shah, Poverty Facts and Stats, updated 20th September 2010.

[34] Share The World’s Resources, The Seven Myths of Slums, December 2010.

[35] Francine Mestrum, ‘Why we have to fight global income inequality’, in Matti Kohonen and Francine Mestrum (eds), Tax Justice: Putting Global Inequality on the Agenda, Pluto Press, 2009, pp. 25-44; Thomas Pogge, Unfair Share, RSA Journal, April 2011.

[36] For example, the UN estimated that developing countries as a group provided a net transfer of $545bn to developed countries in 2009. Furthermore, illicit capital flows from developing countries to the rich world totalled $903bn in the same year. Altogether, this was 10.8 times as much as the amount donated in aid over that period ($133.5bn). For references, see STWR, Financing the global sharing economy, part three (5): Increase international aid, pp. 93-4.

[37] Isabel Ortiz and Matthew Cummins, Global Inequality – Beyond the Bottom Billion, UNICEF working paper, May 2011.

[38] Ricardo Fuentes-Nieva and Nick Galasso, Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality, Oxfam International, January 2014.

[39] John Hilary, The Poverty of Capitalism: Economic Meltdown and the Struggle for What Comes Next, Pluto Press, 2013.

[40] Alex Evans, Resource scarcity, fair shares and development, A WWF/Oxfam discussion paper, 2011; Marin Khor, The Equitable Sharing of Atmospheric and Development Space, South Centre, November 2010.

[41] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis, Island Press, Washington, DC., 2005, p. 2.

[43] Alex Evans, op cit.

[44] Alison Doig, The Rich, The Poor, and the Future of the Earth: Equity in a Constrained World, Christian Aid, April 2012, pp. 6-7.

[45] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, op cit.

[46] Kate Raworth, A Safe and 4 Just Space for Humanity: Can We Live Within the Doughnut? Oxfam Discussion Paper, February 2012, pp. 5, 19;

[47] Proposal Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, from the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 2010, <www.pwccc.wordpress.com>; see also <www.therightsofnature.org>

[48] For example, see: HM Government, A Strong Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The National Security Strategy, TSO, October 2010; Charlene Porter, Energy Security a U.S. Foreign Policy Priority, Clinton Says, State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), 18 October 2012.

[49] William K. Tabb, Resource Wars, August 12, 2006.

[50] Dambisa Moyo, Winner Take All: China’s Race For Resources and What It Means For Us, Penguin, 2013, p. 198.

[52] Michael T. Klare, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy, Metropolitan books, 2008; Evi Ludi, Climate change, water and food security: Background note, Overseas Development Institute, March 2009.

[53] Michael T. Klare, Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict, Owl Books, 2001, pp. 223-226.

[54] Willy Brandt et al, North-South: A Programme for Survival, The MIT Press, 1980; see also James B. Quilligan, The Brandt Equation: 21st Century Blueprint for the New Global Economy, Brandt 21 Forum, 2002.

[55] According to global mortality statistics from the World Health Organization, around 15 million people die every year largely due to a lack of access to nutritious food, basic healthcare services, or clean water for drinking and sanitation – equivalent to more than 40,000 deaths every single day. Ninety six percent of all deaths from these causes occur in low- and middle-income countries and are considered largely preventable. Only communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional diseases have been considered for this analysis, referred to as ‘Group I’ causes. See the World Health Organization, Disease and injury regional estimates, Cause-specific mortality: regional estimates for 2008, <www.who.int>

[57] In 2012, humanitarian aid accounted for 8.1% of total DAC aid. See OECD statistics on ‘aid by major purposes (commitments)’, < www.oecd.org/statistics/>

[58] Roger Riddell, Is aid working? Is this the right question to be asking?, Open Democracy, 20th November 2009.

[60] Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2013, Development Initiatives, p.14, <www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org>

[62] Share The World’s Resources, Financing the Global Sharing Economy, October 2012, see part 3 / chapters 4 and 9.

[63] Since the 2007/8 economic crisis there is a significant debate around how we measure economic performance and social progress, as well as many proposals for new indicators. See the Sen-Stiglitz Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, <www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/en>; List of newer approaches to the measurement of (economic) progress, Wikipedia.

[64] Tim Jackson, Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet, Routledge, 2011; Richard Heinberg, The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality, New Society Publishers, 2011; Herman Daly and John Cobb Jr., For The Common Good, Beacon Press, 1994; <www.tjm.org.uk>; <www.citizen.org/trade>; <www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/en>

[65] Juliet Schor, Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, Tantor Media Inc, 2010; Chandran Nair, Consumptionomics, Infinite Ideas, 2010; Greenpeace International, Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook, 4th edition, July 2012.

[66] M. Shuman, Going Local: Creating Self Reliant Communities in a Global Age, London: Routledge, 2001; Colin Hines, Localization: A Global Manifesto, Routledge, 2000; John Cavanagh and Jerry Mander (eds), Alternatives to Economic Globalisation: A Better World is Possible, BK Currents, 2004, pp. 82-85, 147-164.

[67] Marianne Maeckelbergh, The Will of the Many: How the Alterglobalisation Movement is Changing the Face of Democracy, Pluto Press, 2009; Hilary Wainwright,Reclaim the State: Experiments in Popular Democracy, Verso Books, 2003.

[68] FAO, IFAD and WFP, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013: The multiple dimensions of food security,  Rome, FAO, Rome, October 2013.

[69] cf. Olivier De Schutter, ‘Assessing a decade of right to food progress’, Report presented to the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, 7th August 2013.

[70] GRAIN, Food and climate change: the forgotten link, September 2011.

[72] cf. Peter Rosset, Food is Different: Why We Must Get the WTO Out of Agriculture, Zed Books, 2006.

[73] Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte (eds), The Future Control of Food: A Guide to International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Food Security, Routledge, 2008, see part III; see also <www.seedsoffreedom.info>

[74] Murray Worthy, Broken markets: How financial market regulation can help prevent another global food crisis, World Development Movement, September 2011.

[75] GRAIN, Making a killing from hunger, April 2008.

[76] Helena Norberg-Hodge et al, Bringing the Food Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness, Kumarian Press, 2002; Sophia Murphy, Free Trade in Agriculture: A Bad Idea Whose Time is Done, Monthly Review, July-August 2009.

[77] The food sovereignty paradigm is well defined in the Nyéléni forums. For example, see Nyéléni European Food Sovereignty Movement, Nyeleni Declaration, 2011.

[78] International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), Agriculture at a Crossroads: Synthesis Report, United Nations, Washington D.C., 2009; see also UNCTAD, Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake up before it is too late – Make agriculture truly sustainable now for food security in a changing climate, Geneva, September 2013.

[79] Jose Luis Vivero Pol, Food as a Commons: Reframing the Narrative of the Food System, Centre for Philosophy of Law, Université Catholique de Louvain, April 2013.

[80] United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics, Geneva, 2010.

[81] For example, see Francine Mestrum, Building Another World: Re-thinking Social Protection, Global Social Justice, March 2013.

[82] Share The World’s Resources, No Tax, No Justice, 23rd September 2011.

[83] UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010, New York: 2010, table III.1, p. 73.

[84] Share The World’s Resources, Financing the Global Sharing Economy, October 2012, Part 3 / Chapter 10.

[85] Walden Bello, Dark Victory: The United States and Global Poverty, Pluto Press, 1998.

[86] Teresa Cavero and Krisnah Poinasamy, A Cautionary Tale: The true cost of austerity and inequality in Europe, Oxfam, September 2013; Emma Seery, Working for the Many: Public Services Fight Inequality, Oxfam, April 2014.

[88] cf. Olivier De Schutter and Magdalena Sepúlveda, Underwriting the Poor: A Global Fund for Social Protection, Briefing Note 07, United Nations, October 2012; UN General Assembly, Report of the Commission of Experts of the President of the United Nations General Assembly on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System, September 2009, p. 42.

[89] The global commons in this sense refers not only to supranational resource domains such as the oceans, the atmosphere and the Northern and Southern polar regions, but rather all of the earth’s natural resources that should be cooperatively shared among all nations. Many commons theorists define the global commons in a similarly broad way.

[91] Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill, Enough is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources, Earthscan, 2013, see chapters 5 and 14.

[92] cf. James B. Quilligan, People Sharing Resources: Toward a New Multilateralism of the Global Commons, Kosmos Journal, Fall/Winter 2009.

[93] There are many options available for how such a trust could be organised on a global level to incorporate the full range of renewable and non-renewable resources, including fossil fuels. For example, see James B. Quilligan <globalcommonstrust.org>; Peter Barnes <capitalism3.com>; Peter Brown and Geoffrey Garver, Right Relationship: Building a Whole Earth Economy, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009.

[94] For example, Tim Jackson has proposed that the ‘contraction and convergence’ model could be applied to the extraction of non-renewable resources, the emission of wastes, the drawing down of groundwater and the rate of harvesting renewable resources. Tim Jackson, Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet, Routledge, 2011, see p. 174.

[95] David Korten, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, Kumarian Press, 2007; Ross Jackson, Occupy World Street: A Global Roadmap for Radical Economic and Political Reform, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012.

[96] Paul Raskin, Imagine all the People:  Advancing a Global Citizens Movement, Kosmos magazine, Spring/Summer 2011; Paul Raskin et al, Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead, Tellus Institute, 2002.

[97] Paul de Clerck et al, Reclaim the UN from Corporate Capture, Friends of the Earth International, June 2012; State of Power 2014: Exposing the Davos Class, Transnational Institute, January 2014.

[99] Isabel Ortiz et al, World Protests 2006-2013, Initiative for Policy Dialogue and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, September 2013.

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