The de-growth utopia: The incompatibility of de-growth within an internationalised market economy

Abstract

A significant development within ecological thought and activism during the last 10 years or so is the emergence of the de-growth project, arguing for transcen-ding the contemporary world economy through a 'radical' reform within the market economy institutional framework, which involves reframing the present institutions according to different principles with the aim of downscaling the economy. However, as this chapter tries to demonstrate, such a seemingly desirable plan is simply non-feasible within a system of market economy and particularly so within the system of internationalised market economy, whose fundamental element, the open and liberalised markets, is crucially incompatible with de-growth. Growth is not simply an imaginary signification but an integral element of the dynamics of the market economy. Therefore, the realisation of ecological balance is not just a matter of changes in imaginary significations, i.e. of a cultural revolution, but of a new kind system of economy and society beyond the internationalised market economy, for which the Inclusive Democracy project has been proposing. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.