GLOBAL KEYNESIANISM AND BEYOND

• Published in: Journal of world-systems research Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 252 - 274
• Main Author: Kohler, Gernot
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 01-08-2015
• ISSN: 1076-156X; 1076-156X
• DOI: 10.5195/jwsr.1999.133

Something like "global Keynesianism" or "transnational socialism" has been mentioned as a desirable alternative to global neoliberalism (Redmond 1997). However, a definition of this kind of global Keynesianism is hard to find. Many leftists tend to associate Keynesianism with corporate power. However, there are also numerous other leftists who view this differently. For example, a member of parliament for the German Green Party stated in a recent interview that "a reformist party today has to be a left-Keynesian party which contradicts the logic of capital" (Ebermann 1998). A number of scholars from several countries, including Canada, pursue post-Keynesian-ism, in the sense of left-Keynesian economics (e.g., Seccareccia 1991). How-ever, available left-Keynesian literature, as I see it, is lacking a world-system perspective. I am trying in this article to synthesize the two perspectives-namely, left-Keynesianism and world-system theory, leading to a perspective of global left-Keynesianism. This leftist global Keynesianism can, perhaps, be described as an approach to economics which emphasizes responsible public management of economic problems in a world-system context. Common themes in global Keynesianism include the importance of public management, democratic politics, the mixed economy, global income distribution, the management of global demand, investment and money, ecological sustainability and the importance of multiple levels of public management-local, national, regional and global.