A new article has been published by Judith Clifton, a member of the Jean Monnet team, together with Ron Martin (University of Cambridge) and Flavia Martinelli (Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria), on a key topic for our Jean Monnet module: what policies do the most vulnerable territories need?
The article, published in the Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, addresses the rise in geographical inequalities in economic prosperity and social conditions in most capitalist countries since the 1980s.
The authors argue that this increase in spatial inequality is explained in part by the significant changes observed in the role of the state and in public intervention in the shift from the post-war “Keynesian” regime of state regulation to the “Neoliberal” regime that has held sway over the past four decades. Most of the public policies enacted in this latter period have actually exacerbated socioeconomic and spatial polarization, favouring a few metropolitan areas and regions at the expense of a substantial number of what are now commonly referred to as ‘left behind places’. The article argues that we are now at a new juncture in the evolution of capitalism: in the space of little more than decade the global system has been destabilized by a major financial crisis (2008) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), both with enduring socio-economic aftershocks, while the climate emergency is reaching existential proportions. According to the authors, it would be necessary to “rethink” public action, and especially spatial policy, for which they make a series of recommendations for the implementation of more effective and inclusive policies.
The full article can be consulted by clicking on the following link: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsab037