Signpost for the future

THE POST-CORPORATE WORLD - Life after capitalism: David C. Korten; Viva Books Private Ltd., 4262/3, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 595.

THE BOOK under review is not an ordinary, run-of-the-mill book on economics or management. It is a thought-provoking and epoch- making volume, which questions and quite often shatters the fundamental principles on which modern trade and commerce function and flourish. The author believes in, and brings forward the concept that capitalism is at the root of some basic inequities and injustice prevalent in our society.

According to him, in the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. The USSR disintegrated, and a federation of independent states came into existence. In the 1990s capitalism triumphed over economic democracy, and the free market economy. For those of us who grew up believing that capitalism is the cornerstone of democracy and market freedom, it has been a rude shock to realise that under capitalism, democracy is for sale to the highest bidder; and that the market is centrally controlled and manoeuvred by multinational corporations, some of which are larger than the smaller nation states in the world.

The votaries of capitalism intimidate the innocent and innocuous citizen saying that there is no alternative for him - ``TINA'', as Margaret Thatcher would say - the acronym stands for There Is No Alternative. The citizen, of necessity, must submit to the forces of economic globalisation (or economic imperialism).

Although the book under review can stand on its own feet, and deliver the message which the author wants to convey, in many respects it is a continuation of his earlier volume ``When Corporations Rule the World''. According to the author, the corporates are driven by a single-minded desire to generate ever greater profits for the benefit of their investors; and towards this they have converted their economic power into political power; they dominate the decision processes of governments, and rewrite the rules of international commerce. The writ of the commercial tycoons runs with the political parties, because the parties depend very heavily on the funds from the corporations to earn their franchise to rule the country.

The corporate captains may want us to appreciate that they are legally bound and obligated to improving the wealth of their shareholders; that the invisible hand of the laissez-faire economy will ipso facto translate their seemingly self-seeking endeavours into public good. Unfortunately, however, it does not happen so, because they are not operating in a free market economy, but in a capitalist and controlled economy, whose hand is neither invisible nor benevolent.

There is yet another myth which the author explodes in this context. It is proclaimed that innumerable investors hold shares in the business houses, and that all of them will benefit directly from the increase in the value of stocks. Of all the countries in the world, perhaps the U.S. has the broadest participation in stock ownership which can, therefore, serve as an example. Just five per cent of the families in the U.S. own 77 per cent of the shareholder wealth in that country. Globally, the participation in corporate shares is perhaps confined to less than one per cent of the total population. In other words, the triumph and tyranny of capitalism is such that the world's largest economies operate for the primary benefit of the one per cent wealthiest people on this planet.

Free market economy is a remarkable and self-regulating phenomenon for aggregating the choices of several individuals, so that an efficient and equitable allocation of productive resources are achieved to meet the overall human consumption. Recognising this unique power of the market, the corporate captains contrive to cloak their dialogue in the market rhetoric, while they have their own private agenda operating all the time.

Those who believe that there is more to life than making money, than shopping in supermarkets for products we did not know we needed until we saw them advertised on the television, this trend of events is demeaning and dehumanising. But then, what is the solution for this dangerous situation? What kind of actions should we take in order to direct our destiny on the right track?

We have reached a crisis point that presents us with the opportunity and the necessity to take conscious responsibility for our evangelical role in this context. ``Resolving the crisis depends on civil societies mobilising to reclaim the power that corporations and global financial markets have usurped. Our best hope for the future lies with locally owned and managed economies that rely predominantly on local resources to meet the livelihood needs of their members in ways that maintain a balance with the earth.'' This is the sum and substance of the thesis that the author advances in this book.

It is divided into four parts. Part one, consisting of three chapters, tells the story of how a perfectly and precisely organised universe has been captured, enslaved and endangered by man for meeting his self-centered purposes by using money and capitalism as the ways and means.

Part two again has three chapters, in which the larger story of life during the 15 billion-year cosmic journey right up to the present moment is described and discussed. It shares insights from the new biology, which reveals life's inherent capacity to organise itself in several ways to meet the needs of both the individual and the community.

Next part subtitled ``Envisioning a post-corporate world'', examines in four chapters and at length, the nature of the institutional and policy decisions we ought to take in order to eschew ``the economic pathology that plagues us'' and instead create a truly democratic, market-oriented, and life-centered economy - locally, nationally and internationally.

The last part, ``Coming home to life'', has four chapters in which the author takes a critical look at the processes already at work to bring about a metamorphosis. The objective is to create an altogether new civilisation, which will be able to function in harmony and balance, and get along with other organic systems in the world.

R. DEVARAJAN

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