Brexit is not a choice about staying or leaving Europe, it’s a choice about who the UK wants to be. The world has changed since the days of a glorious British Empire, beloved of Leavers, but it’s also changed since the 2012 Olympics, beloved of Remainers. The West needs to navigate new questions that were not even up for debate just a few years ago: How Should We Run Our Society and Who Will Win?
The wholesale takeover by neoliberalism of western politics since the 1980s together with epoch-defining books such as The End of History (1992) and The World is Flat (2005) had settled the question of how to run things (capitalism in a variety of flavours) and who will win (all nations who embrace capitalism and free trade). The 2008 Crash decimated economies and lives resulting in approximately half a trillion dollar in bailouts to large corporations but still didn’t deliver agreement that there was anything other than more of the same.
Brexit, followed by Trump’s win, changed this, and now we are having a much-needed conversation of how we should run society. There’s a lot going on here, in the US in particular but the rest of the West is not immune: escalating inequality, unprecedented corporate power, declining rates of startup creation, increasing homelessness, unsustainable health systems (especially in the US but all are struggling).
Redefining capitalism: shifting power from corporations to cities
Searing inequality in the US and UK is due in large part to regulatory capture by large corporations, and policy makers who confuse being pro-market (good) with being pro-business (good if you’re a monopolist). Technology platforms forment resentment and allow control by captured media interests and advertising-optimizing tech companies. Unpicking all this is complex, but one thing is clear, capitalism is a mess. When even the FT says this, you know it’s time to address it. Voters are upset with the status quo, and when civil society fragments, tribalism and identity politics takes hold.
While the next chapter in capitalism hasn’t been written, it would do well to learn from the rise in identity politics and channel that energy into a more productive direction than lashing out at foreigners. Civil discourse is under attack, and people tend to socialize online rather than their neighbours. Could we change this? The one thing that unites the most rabid right and left wingers is their love for family and home town. The New Localism is part of a growing movement that describes how populism can be overcome by localism – red and blue workig together at the local level.
What this approach calls for is a rejection of corporatism and an embrace of localism. We can and should hold large corporations to higher standards, and note that in rural areas in particular large corporations are overwhelmingly the employer.
So to navigate Brexit, ask these questions of yourself and the politicians knocking on your door:
- Do you prefer to have power in local cities and communities or in big corporations?
- What is your attitude towards devolution?
- What do you think should be done to ensure that large corporations contribute more to society?
Next up? If we are seeing, and want, to shift capitalism towards a more civic flavour, rather than a corporatist one, who will be the winners in this new world?
