Europe abandoning capitalism
EUROPE’S two largest nations are currently competing to bring material progress into the realm of ethics.
In industrialized Germany, a party has come to power that is environmentally friendly from head to toe in its mood and attitudes. The ruling party is clinching deals with corporate sector to cut carbon emissions and bring down level of pollution. France is not lagging behind its neighbour as well.
The Macron government is urging the people to adopt a simple lifestyle. It’s talking about green transport and the use of bicycle rather than rushing for new car models. Plastic packaging of groceries has been banned. Meaning, compatibility with nature.
Although Europe is an ethnically diverse continent, but, surprisingly, the mindset of the nations living here works in the same way.
The freedom of thought movement was based on the principle of human dignity and changed the whole region. When the ways of the church and the monarchy were separated, then the doors of material progress were opened on Europe. The region became the centre of capitalism; the greed of capitalists was also harnessed through democracy here as well.
In the competition for material progress, the European nations set out in search of new markets and eventually conquered the whole world with the help of modern weaponry. Strict belief in democratic values helped Europe tore down the walls of colonialism with its own hands. Europe’s decision to keep the war out of the region was due to its strong belief in democratic values.
Capitalism was born in Europe but soon its centre of gravity shifted to America as the region fought off monarchies and dictatorship after lofty ideals of democracy (centered on the idea of human dignity) nurtured and propagated by the philosophers of Enlightenment.
The course of events, starting from French Revolution to World War II, led the region’s leadership to the conclusion that the war needed to be shunned and the world de-colonialised for the good of humanity. However, the dream could not be fulfilled as the region was dragged in a half-a-century long Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
Europe’s next big decision was to abandon the market to cut-throat competition rather than patronizing it by the state.
The globalization of economy made the Cold War a thing of the past. The Soviet Union collapsed. The Berlin Wall fell and Europe was united.
The power-hungry America is now overwhelmed by the forces of globalization unleashed by Europe. Now, both capitalism and its greatest patron, the United States, both are in crisis. Europe has come up with a philosophy of compatibility of material progress with the nature.
It doesn’t care what the United States thinks, what Russia is doing or where China is heading. The region is pulling itself together in the age of confusion and chaos in the global political arena. If it’s is reverting to natural law, then it will ensure moral values assume centre stage in international political discourse.
In fact, the European mindset has been deliberately created. There is a long history of intellectual movements and their imprints are clear on the politics of the region.
It was not easy to free politics from the clutches of the church and then the greed of capitalists. The narrative of human dignity was very carefully woven and nurtured in the garland of democratic values.
The story that began with the French Revolution has led to Europe’s consensus on common democratic values. The new model of international politics Europe has suggested obligates states to defend human dignity and not to protect the interests of the capitalists.
It’s about adhering to new concept of state sovereignty sharing authority and resources with the neighboring states to control crime rather than indulging in arms race and usurping others’ resources to enhance one’s own power.
Today’s Europe does not want to change the world but to be an example for it. Take the case of European Union.
Borders are open; there are no barriers to the movement of people and goods. Governments work together to combat crime, the financial crisis, and disasters. The currency has become one.
A new concept of sovereignty has emerged whereby the regional states are cooperating with each other in an exemplary manner while maintaining their individuality. So, many Eastern European states freed from the clutches of the Soviet Union become part of the European Union. In the rest of the states, the longing for European Union can be clearly felt.
Southeast Asia is the region in the world that has imitated Europe to a great extent while being under the umbrella of ASEAN.
Africa is also trying to follow in its footsteps. Though the SCO’s concept of sovereignty is different from that of the European Union, but the idea of sharing fruits of material progress is the same.
Following the failure of regional organizations in Central Asia and South Asia, countries in these regions are increasingly becoming part of the SCO.
Europe does not want to be like the United States, China and Russia and doesn’t even want to compete with them. The region does not want to indulge in arms race or become part of the US-sponsored capitalist system. At the same time, Europe does not want to compromise on its ideology and values.
The practice of avoiding religion and war frenzy also persists. Europe is taking refuge with Nature. The only thing that has come to the minds of the rulers here is to adopt the path of simplicity. Environmental pollution should be reduced and natural resources should be used sparingly.
Europe knows the enemy and that it can be defeated by its proximity to nature and not by its weapons and ammunition. Thus, Europe has intellectually returned to the scientific revolution of the eighteenth century with the conviction that matter of material progress cannot be left to the greed of capitalists. The protection of human dignity requires that economic development be subjected to ethical rules and principles. Politics, of course, can be separated from religion, but not from ethics.
—The writer is politico-strategic analyst based in Islamabad.
