Planning for a world beyond COVID-19: Five pillars for post-neoliberal development

COVID-19 has shaken the world. Emergency responses across the world have led to drastic changes in local and global development trajectories within a very short period of time. Yet precisely how these changes will take shape depends on underlying historical and socio-economic forces that must become part of our understanding of, and plans for, a world beyond COVID-19. Indeed, we argue that this moment makes it incumbent on all of us to envision how the current situation could lead to more sustainable, fair, healthy, caring and resilient forms of (economic) development going forward. Dr. Giuseppe Feola and his fellow researchers propose five priorities for political strategies to achieve meaningful, sustainable and equitable transformation.

This article proposes five priorities for political strategies to achieve meaningful, sustainable and equitable transformation:

  • A move away from development focused on aggregate economic growth
  • An economic framework focused on redistribution and care
  • Transformation towards regenerative agriculture and convivial conservation
  • Reduction of consumption and travel
  • Debt cancellation

The five priorities aim to stimulate debate on the key levers needed to place communities, nations and indeed the globe on a different development path. The current hegemonic idea of development is, basically, capitalist development, with central pillars focused on economic growth, capital accumulation and increased consumption of goods, services and travel, all within an economic framework characterized by private property rights, dominance of markets and market logics, and the commodification of human and non-human life. The five priorities challenge and move beyond this neoliberal model explicitly, and the longer development trajectory within which it is embedded, while pointing towards its replacement with principles and priorities that place care for others, and for the planet, at the centre of local and global relations. This vision can be the basis for more sustainable and equal societies, that can better prevent and deal with shocks and pandemics to come.