How Insane is Global Trade? Here are the facts

Reposted from Local Futures. The way trade works in the global economy can be insane – it wastes resources, worsens climate change, and undermines the livelihoods of millions of small-scale producers worldwide. Yet it is an almost unavoidable consequence of de-regulatory ‘free trade’ agreements and the billions of dollars in supports and subsidies – many… Continue reading

11 Practical Steps Towards Healthy Power Dynamics at Work

In Part 1, I explained what I have in mind when I talk about “hierarchy” and “power”, introducing three different types of power: power-from-within or empowerment power-with or social power power-over or coercion In this second part, I get into the practical stuff: 11 steps towards healthy power dynamics. I’m primarily writing this for people that strive towards “non-hierarchical” organising, but expect… Continue reading

Energy democracy: taking back power

This post by Johanna Bozuwa was originally posted on thenextsystem.org Executive Summary: Electric utility (re)municipalization is gaining popularity as a strategy to shift away from a reliance on fossil fuel extraction in the context of combating climate change. Across the world—from Berlin to Boulder—communities have initiated campaigns to take back their power from investor-owned (private)… Continue reading

The Money Question

Introducing the Money Question, a new collaborative platform bringing together and amplifying heterodox approaches to improve the conversation on money. Coming 15/03/2019 Republished text from The Money Question Modern Monetary Theory Introduction In the space of little more than a decade, Modern Monetary Theory has spread from a relatively small group of academics to become… Continue reading

CfP: “Ethnographies of Collaborative Economi(es) Conference” – University of Edinburgh, 25 October, 2019

Call for Papers: “Ethnographies of Collaborative Economi(es) Conference” University of Edinburgh Friday 25 October, 2019 Website: https://ethnocol2019.wordpress.com/ Organisers: Penny Travlou (University of Edinburgh) and Luigina Ciolfi (Sheffield Hallam University) Background The terms “Sharing Economy” or “Collaborative Economy” have been commonly used in recent years to refer to a proliferation of initiatives, business models and forms of… Continue reading

The Rojava Revolution: Co-operation, Environmentalism, and Feminism in the North Syria Democratic Federation

Republished from Global University for Sustainability The Fifth South-South Forum on Sustainability (SSFS5) was organized by Global University for Sustainability and the Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, together with 10 co-organizers, on 13–18 June 2018, in Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China. SSFS5 focused on “Transformative Visions and Praxis”. On Day 3 (15 June 2018),… Continue reading

Self-Regulation and Regulatory Intermediation in the Platform Economy

Republished excerpt from SSRN.com Forthcoming in: Marta Cantero Gamito & Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz (eds.) The Role of the EU in Transnational Legal Ordering: Standards, Contracts and Codes, Edward Elgar 2019 Christoph Busch University of Osnabrück – European Legal Studies Institute Abstract Digital platforms are not only market intermediaries between different groups of platform users. They are… Continue reading