Ideology and the Evolution of Vital Institutions

* Article/Book: Ideology and the Evolution of Vital Institutions. A Synopsis. By Earl A. Thompson.

URL = http://www.dklevine.com/archive/jh_et.pdf

A very important interpretation of the evolution of institutions.

Context

It is important to have a concept of society and humanity that honors both the cooperative and the competitive impulse, the inner construction of nations, and their defense capacities against take over. This is the evolutionary point of view taken by this book and summary essay, applied to the welfare of nations and labor, with a view to have democracies that can defend themselves.

Discussion

Michel Bauwens:

This is from a differently ordered synopsis of a book with the same title.

I am largely paraphrasing the text here below.

"The major movements in social and economic history can be separated into

- those concerning the distribution of wealth, and

- those concerning the efficiency of the allocation of resources for a distribution of wealth." (p. 1)

The 1990s Clinton boom was marked by both an expansion of foreign trade and near full-employment, while real hourly wages fell, which constitutes an anomaly in 'modern' history.

This should be explained by an upwards shift in effective foreign labor supplies. This can be largely related to the IMF globalization policies which only became effective after the fall of the Soviet system.

The IMF attempted to:

1) remove barriers to foreign trade

2) increase middle classes at the expense of aid to the poorer sections of society

3) increase funds to combat crime and corruption

The combined effect was to significantly expand the world's literate and stable workforce.

The harsh IMF conditionalities, in the context of a contest to attract the masses in the Global South, would have been impossible before the fall of the Soviet system, which acted as an alternative attractor. The globalization regime imposes uniform tax rates so that states cannot effectively compete for people. After the end of the Cold War, higher productivity no longer led to higher incomes. This is a return to the situation that existed for five millenia under state regimes, until 1820!! It is only after the defeat of Napolean had instilled fear in the European elites, that a 150-year expansion of wages began, through a five-fold increase from 1825 to 1975. The cost of these wars had signified that warfare had become to costly.