ABSTRACT

Nonviolent Political Economy offers a set of theoretical solutions and practical guidelines to build an economy of nonviolence which implies a social state of peacefulness, involving minimal violence and minimal destruction of nature.

The book provides renewed reflections on heterodox economics, ecological economics, anthropology, Buddhism, Gandhianism, disarmament, and business ethics, as well as innovative initiatives such as Blue Frontiers. It also sets out feasible solutions to rebuild countries that have suffered prolonged conflicts such as Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan. Bringing together authors from around the world, this collection includes new perspectives on the abolition of profit; disarmament; obliteration of the consumer society; expansion of collective property; Buddhist and Gandhian economies; small-scale and artisanal production, the increasing use of clean energies; a gradual reduction in the human population; political processes closer to direct and radical democracy, and anarchy.

Discussing cutting-edge developments, this book provides valuable tools to build alternatives to the prevailing models of (violent) political economy. It will be of great interest to a public of critical citizens, students and researchers from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, and all those seeking to understand the fundamental concepts of nonviolent political economy.

chapter |24 pages

Introduction

Nonviolent political economy: a research and teaching agenda

part I|34 pages

A critique of conventional and violent economy

chapter 2|14 pages

The economic nature of man disputed

Anthropology and the ‘homo oeconomicus’

part II|60 pages

Self-organized collective action and preservation of commons

chapter 3|15 pages

Emergent collective action

61Complexifying the world

chapter 5|24 pages

Buds in the capitalist desert

Emerging socio-economic forms that are changing the world

part III|40 pages

Ecological economy, political ecology and degrowth

chapter 6|16 pages

Sustainable consumption and ecological sufficiency

120Discourses and power relations

chapter 7|22 pages

Holistic peace

A new paradigm for business

part IV|28 pages

Gandhian and Buddhist political economy

part V|51 pages

Disarmament, post-military systems of defense and transition towards a nonviolent social order

chapter 10|17 pages

Civilian-based defense systems

189Leveraging economic power to fulfill security treaty obligations

chapter 12|17 pages

How to break the spell? Sources of violence and conflict in an oil rent based economy

A case study of Iraq and the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan