It’s been on my list since it came out a few years ago, but just finished Thomas Piketty’s “Brief History of Equality”. I admit much of it flowed through my ears without being absorbed, but the last couple chapters offered solid ideas.
Half way through Chptr 9, he points out the way our nation-states are organized leads to accumulating of riches. We assume relationships across nations will be based on a free flow of capital while laws created within nations only effect each individual nation.
What he proposed brought to my mind a sort of “Declaration of Independence” for the world, that would replace the financial and commercial treaties that have organized globalization with treaties that promote genuine, sustainable, and equitable co-development (across nations). The treaties would set environmental and social goals with quantifiable targets. Trade would be subordinated instead of being a pre-condition. Indicators such as GDP and deficits would be replaced by indicators of inequalities, profit/salary sharing, or carbon emissions. They need to be stronger and binding, unlike the Climate Accords.
In Chapter 10 he points out China’s advantage of claiming to have built their wealth without colonialism, despite being victims of it, while the West loves to lecture the world on justice and democracy but can’t handle its inequalities and discriminations while simultaneously making deals with oligarchs.
A counter to this would be democratic socialism that is ecological and post-colonial, paying attention to the global south and our own inequalities and hypocrisies. This could include acknowledging that neo-liberalism is running out of steam. The financial crisis of 2008 and Covid have accelerated this. Growth through deregulation has been proven to be wrong for 40 years now. So any fear of these massive changes being difficult should be offset by almost certain predictions of failure of the current system.