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Most of the After Capitalism concepts I investigated suggest the pathway and form of governance would be local, decentralized and involve some form of direct democracy. Overwhelmingly so. But, what if a country with a benevolent authoritarian government in effect “ordered” the switch to After Capitalism? Is that plausible?
We did some scenarios on the Circular Economy a few years ago and had a scenario where China led the way. Our reasoning was that government championing was likely needed to make it work. If the Chinese government decided to do it, they can mobilize towards a goal much faster than most – certainly faster than the US. We have the example of Singapore made the journey from third-world to first world led by Lee Kuan Yew. Today, several Gulf Coast nations, in particular the UAE, had made significant moves to futurize their societies. Could they decide to move toward After Capitalism and successfully move toward it?
It raises an interesting question of whether there is an inherently direct democratic nature of an After Capitalist society? One could certainly argue that the neoliberal variant of capitalism needs a big state to assist it. Marx talked about a dictatorship as a transition mechanism to an eventual withering away of the state.
My assumption has been that After Capitalism is 20-30 years away – despite the daily reports on its demise. The transition from a big state to direct democracy is an extraordinary one that is going to take time. The current trend is not good. Freedom House reports a 16-year decline in democracy worldwide. I realized I hadn’t properly considered the possibility of a more authoritarian path. To be clear, I am not endorsing an authoritarian approach, but considering it as an alternative future. Our job as futurists is to consider the full range of possibilities, even if we don’t particularly care for them. I don’t see it as very likely, but nor do I feel it should be dismissed.
What do you think?
– Andy Hines
[…] few weeks ago I published a piece on benevolent authoritarianism as a possible alternative to the prevalent preferred future of a direct democratic approach, which […]