[p2p-research] Why Post-Capitalism is Rubbish

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Ryan,

I share your assessment that institutions are not necessarily evil, and that
it's better to have flawed ones that regressions to pathological tribal
forms, it is only when they can be replaced by something handling complexity
better than they can, that they will be overcome and supplemented and
sometimes gradually replaced by new types of p2p 'institutions'.

What I don't share is the idea that they are just a bunch of people doing
their best. Institutions are not neutral, but serve agenda's and concrete
material interests, even as they reflect a balance between these interests
...

The IMF officials who directed the destruction of local social and
governmental structures in Africa and elsewhere believed that it would be
better if these people's assets would be taken over by financial and
multinational groups from western countries, but this is not just a neutral
belief, it is something that is enforced, controlled, by an institutional
leadership. If you'd have gone against that, saying that a good education
and social security system would be a guantantee for a stronger local market
system, you'd have lost your job, and many did. Just as many pro-regulators,
keynesians, rooseveltians and others lost their jobs from the 80s onwards.

Michel



On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 3:44 AM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 10:29 PM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Ryan, I'm continuously surprised by your faith in the powers that be, you
>> always seem to assume that institutions are neutral, with our best interests
>> at heart. In truth, they are ideological and serve a particular balance of
>> power. This is not to say that are not good people in them, but they are
>> sidelined and eventually leave.
>
>
> What I do not assume is that institutions are inherently evil.
>
> I see daily lots of good work from government organizations.  I do some of
> that work.  I think we all have roles to play in society.  Some protest,
> some organize, some institutionalize.  There is an ecology to our existence
> and its develops and changes through many roles.  I trust in institutions
> because without them I feel society is anarchic--in the worst sense of the
> word.  Regardless of how I feel, institutions do still rule, and I am
> interested in people living as decently as is reasonably possible.  I've
> seen societies where institutions fail rapidly and it typically isn't good.
>
>
> I agree the IMF has made lots of mistakes in Africa.  But as someone who
> works on the cutting edge of government, mistakes are easy to see in
> hindsight and not so easy to avoid in reality.  Good people who believe in
> their ideas just as much as any of us come into those jobs and try very hard
> to make things work.  (Far too) often things don't work.  We try something
> new...or we try harder...or we leave and breakdown.  I've seen all those
> play out many times.
>
>
>

-- 
Working at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
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