Permacrisis: A plan to fix a fractured world. A review by Tasnim Rashid
A book written by three of the most internationally respected and experienced thinkers of our time. The book combines the perspectives of the three distinguished experts, each bringing a unique viewpoint from their extensive backgrounds in economics, politics and international development. The book addresses the ongoing state of multiple overlapping crises-, from economic, social, political and economical which in combination they dub a ‘Permacrisis.’ They address a whole host of issues from stagnant growth, surging inflation, poor policy responses, worsening global inequality, an escalated climate emergency and a decline in global cooperation.
The book is centered around the concept of ‘Permacrisis’, reflecting the persistent and enduring global challenges that we face.
We have just faced an international state of emergency, with a plethora of long-lasting problems. Covid-19, dire conflict, and geopolitics. It seems that our policy makers and bodies are perpetually in emergency mode, making thoughtful risk management and improvements in policy almost impossible. This is a book written by three of the most internationally respected and experienced thinkers of our time. Thus it is unsurprising that the book succinctly introduces the profound problems facing our global economic matrices.
The first section of the book looks at growth and its headwinds and tailwinds. It succinctly refers to global inequality factors driving the tailwinds of growth, from the lack of universal digitisation to an unbalanced scientific revolution and points to how the poorest countries require help to develop in order to be better equipped in adapting to changing technological conditions and reacting to exogenous shocks. The section concludes arguing that there is a necessity to rethink our growth models in a way that looks at the future in a realistic and pragmatic way, rather than reapplying previous thinking to future and modern problems.
The second section focuses on the issues seen in our current economic management models. The authors most notably critique the Federal Reserve for the role they had in exacerbating financial crises during covid, SVB’s collapse, or the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The authors do recognise that the current economic management systems does have positives, such as averting a depression in the GFC, pointing to the summit in London that Brown had called with leaders of the G20 in order to formulate a plan to mitigate the extent of the GFC. However it is important to note that Brown did not address any specific criticisms of his role in the handling of the GFC, such as the insufficient scrutiny of complex financial instruments such as derivatives. Despite this, the authors do stress the limitations of our economic management, arguing that artificially promoting growth in an insufficient manner, such as through quantitative easing, exacerbates global inequality and unrelenting inflation. The authors argue that we ought to reimagine economic management, and lists out steps that our institutions can take to have a more effective management system, from strengthening the architecture of policy formation, to being able to show more responsive and decisive leadership, resulting in leaving vicious cycles for virtuous ones that help underpin economic growth and development.
The last section focuses on global governance internationally, and the global order. It summarises the seismics shifts we have seen in the global power structures in the world historically, in order to describe how the conditions we see today arose. It points to how the USA no longer maintains the world’s only hegemony, with our global order shifting toward multipolarity, resulting in the economic interdependence and nation’s fates being intrinsically intertwined. However, the authors argue that our international institutions remain incapable of effective governance in the face of the return of neo-nationalism and the decline in international collaboration. They argue that institutions such as the WTO and UN need to separate from its reputation of serving the interests of the West and the wealthy, by embracing the diversity in economic models, and by being more inclusive of non-western attitudes and expanding the Security Council membership over time.
However, a notable feature of the book is its focus on solutions. The authors do not merely enumerate problems; they offer a detailed and pragmatic roadmap for addressing them. Despite widespread global inflation, international non-cooperation, and technological advancements that could render humans obsolete, they maintain that “it can be done.” They use the analogy of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, where the mended cracks are highlighted rather than hidden, to illustrate their proposals as a moderate, rather than radical, approach. Thus they remain optimistic about the issues they outlined and reveal permacrisis antidote in the conclusion, stating that we are at a turning point and have the ability to create a sustainably balanced world.