A Dangerous Transition to Hope

Abstract

The dawn of a global urban age is the beginning not the end of a challenging journey. Industrial capitalism it seems is finally mired in insuperable contradictions, and transition to a new human dispensation is inevitable and desirable. A two-stage transition awaits: first, a time of uncertainty and painful adjustment as the retrenchment of carbon capitalism begins in earnest, followed, it is to be hoped, by a new political economic order that provides humanity and the biosphere with the means for a safe and sustainable coexistence. My interest in this chapter is with the first stage – of painful adjustment – which will surely necessitate repurposing of state rationale and scope. My controversial submission is that we may need a strong ‘Guardian’ State to guide the transition and forestall attempts to reinstate the ruinous conditions that have caused the present crisis. In the neoliberal present, this idea is perhaps unthinkable, but neoliberalism is collapsing and the time for radical action has surely arrived. The Guardian State would seek a new human dispensation and represents therefore a postcapitalist response to the dissolution of neoliberalism.