Making the Best of the Crisis ! By Rupert Graf Strachwitz Writing about any topic of societal relevance is different than before the covid-19 crisis. Warnings from many sides, not least from philanthropists like Bill Gates and other civil society players, went unheeded, so we were unprepared. We know now that our lives will change for good, not necessarily for the worse, and not entirely due to covid-19. Stephen Heintz, President and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, speaking at a philanthropy conference organised by the Gulbenkian Foundation reminded us in September 2019 that “we have a crisis of capitalism, a crisis of democracy, and a crisis of the nation state.” Shada Islam, Director of Europe and Geopolitics with the Brussels-based civil society think tank ‘Friends of Europe’, put it like this : “The crisis had been coming, and all the pandemic did was to trigger it.” This is all very well, but what should we do about it ? Take the crisis of capitalism : From the 1980s, belief in Adam Smith’s theory mushroomed that if everyone looks after their own interests, common interests will necessarily be looked after. Academics like Francis Fukuyama declared that the end of history had arrived. Democracy, the rule of law, and a capitalist market economy would ensure happiness forever after. Governments reacted by selling off vital infrastructure to investors, while public services were reduced to the rules of the balance sheet. Emergency planning became a taboo, and shareholder value the yardstick by which all things were measured. Not just businesses, but doctors and lawyers, not to mention the ever-growing army of consultants, became obsessed with making a profit rath-
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er than providing a service, while multinational corporations were active in the tax-evasion business. Hitherto respectable providers of financial services distinguished themselves as money-launderers, and corporate managers’ priorities shifted from developing their company to securing short term profits for the sake of their bonus. Even civil society organisations were becoming increasingly worried about their impact in terms of numbers rather than how they were fulfilling their mission. Rereading John Ralston Saul’s ‘The Unconscious Citizen’ ( 1995 ) today, one is amazed at his prescience ; at the time, he was derided by the established business schools. But since 2007 at the very latest, it has become blatantly obvious that capitalism was in crisis, and that the alliance formed between the market and the state was not for the benefit of the citizens but for preserving the status quo. But nobody seemed to have the courage to say ‘Stop’. Big players in the global market talked about values and compliance, but were either insincere, or ignorant of the real issues at stake. Flagships of the business world were exposed for cheating their customers, the government, their own regulations, warnings on climate change, and what should have been accepted business standards. Nobody can contend that this does not spell crisis. In ‘The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism’ ( 2011 ), sociologist Colin Crouch argues that the checks and balances devised centuries ago by the theorists of democracy no longer work, and that civil society must take on a new role. This is not an entirely novel proposition. Many civil society organisations, including religious communities,