From the “Battle of the Sexes” to the “End of History and the Last Man”: An Alternative Analysis of the Current Global Economic Crisis
Ioannis- Dionysios Salavrakos *
Command and Control Naval School of the Hellenic Navy, Hellenic Air-Force Academy, Greece
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The paper points out that throughout economic history the international economy faced numerous crises due to various events (war, epidemics, physical catastrophes etc). However in spite of various crises the international economy has been able to grow and transform from feudal to commercial, capitalism, industrial capitalism and finally post-industrial capitalism, thus justifying the Schumpeterian assertion which pointed out that capitalism is the system which can re-birth from its ashes. We argue that this dynamic process was based on five principles: 1) a gradual establishment of a state apparatus and bureaucracy which promoted growth, 2) a constantly evolving human capital via education and training, 3) a leadership which promoted science and arts, 4) ethics based on Christian values which focused on human values and triggered the rise of a humanistic society, 5) Random external shock events with positive or negative economic ramifications.
However the current crisis is totally different from those of the past since the West marginalized the above five principles and endorsed a technology / information driven growth model which is associated with quick decision making (thus high risk of error), absence of ethics (thus marginalization of human cohesion and solidarity) and a shift from the real sphere of the economy to the financial sphere creating immense private and state debts. This ongoing process is so destructive that affects even nature / biological issues. We argue that the deeper in-tacit factors are associated with the crisis thus making the current period totally different.
Keywords: Social sciences, economic history, political economy