Transcript Policy Space for Developmental States in a Multipolar World: In

Policy Space for Developmental
States in a Multipolar World: In
Search of Social Reproduction and
Economic Redistribution
Marina Durano, DAWN
WIDE Annual Conference 2009
Basel, Switzerland
World Growth Rate
Outline
• Double standards and power inequalities
• Politics of aid and limits of multilaterallycoordinated action
• Re-ordering towards a multi-polar world
• Expansion of policy space as implicit demand for
sovereignty
Double Standards
• Fiscal Stimulus versus Fiscal Discipline
• Trade protectionism versus trade
liberalization
• Liquidity expansion versus lack of
access to financing or new debt
obligations
On Fiscal Space
• Developed countries had the fiscal space to opt
for a fiscal stimulus package when recession hit
• Developing countries are typically advised by
Bretton Woods institutions to maintain
conservative fiscal deficit targets, particularly
during an economic crisis
On trade policy
• 78 Measures since the G20 Meeting in
Washington, DC
• increase in tariffs (Russia, Ecuador)
• non-tariff measures (Argentina, Indonesia,
India, China)
• “Green” policies, e.g. US subsidies to battery
production in US-based factories
On liquidity
• G20 Leaders agreed to $250 billion SDR
allocation but split according to equity shares
• In 1997, there was already an agreement for an
SDR allocation but never fulfilled
• Additional resources to WB and IMF for relending-- raising the possibility of new debt
obligations
• Searching for new sources of liquidity
Limits of multilateralism
• The politics of aid has set limits on multilaterallycoordinated action.
• WB-IMF-WTO are preferred by donors as
centers of macroeconomic policy discussions
and decision-making--”division of labor”
• The UN is seen as lacking capacity in this
subject area.
A multi-polar world
• Large middle-income countries are
creating new centers of power
• Brazil, China, India, South Africa,
Russia(?)
• As “new” donors, leading trade
negotiations, providing alternative
currencies for international payments
Int’l Reserves $Bn
2009 Growth %
GDP $Tn
Public Debt/GDP %
External Debt/GDP %
USA
70.57
-1.6
14.58
74.90
93.42
Canada
41.08
-1.2
1.34
62.30
56.74
UK
57.30
-2.8
2.28
47.20
458.53
Ger
136.20
-2.5
2.86
62.60
156.79
France
115.70
-1.9
2.10
64.40
209.63
Italy
104.00
-2.1
1.80
103.70
58.86
Japan
954.10
-2.6
4.49
170.40
32.25
G-7
1478.95
China
2033.88
6.7
7.80
15.70
5.38
Brazil
197.40
1.8
2.03
40.70
11.63
Russia
435.40
-0.7
2.23
6.80
23.69
India
274.20
5.1
3.32
59.00
4.91
Taiwan
280.90
0.89
0.76
28.20
13.08
S. Korea
231.20
0.7
1.31
27.20
19.05
Sing
170.10
-2.5
0.24
92.60
10.25
3622.20
Reproduction and Redistribution
• Political demands expressed as increased
spending on issues that matter to feminists
• Alignments with heterodox/alternative policy
proposals
• Expansion of policy space and fiscal space
serves as the vehicle for feminist demands
On sovereignty
• Increased policy space is an implicit demand to
secure sovereignty
• A reaction to the emasculation of state power
through its “marketization” or conflict
• Nation-state remains the key political target:
strengthening the state and regulating the
market
Gender-equitable Public Policy
• Policy measures that create
behavioural incentives so that there is a
re-balancing of responsibilities for
provisioning among social institutions
(e.g. care diamond).
• Protect and promote in the global
politico-economic order