Is Relationship Between International Economy and Environment Best Described as One of Structural Hegemony or One of Hegemony of Economic Actors?

Introduction

This research gives the description analysis on the topic “International economy and the environment”. The international economy and the environment are such two topics which are closely interrelated to each other since the global liberalization and securitization has risen. This research would explain the relationship between these two topics and would highlight how these two are described as structural hegemony.

The term Hegemony is a terminology that is described by Scott Cumming as “a domination that occurs in an environment without involving direct coercion or even conscious aim on any ones part to wield influence.” (Cumming, 1988) While structural hegemony is concerned with the deep underlying conditions that are prevailed within the society and is one of the basic elements behind the unity in the social formation. Structural hegemony is one of the aspects of continual process, which is known to perform certain functions, i.e. it ensures the reproduction of social structures and structural ensembles and it secures unity of social formation. It may be known as the active element of representing as it not only known for conscious political projects but have interventions of unconscious process like social coercion and structural reproduction. (Joseph, 2002)

Relationship between International Economy and Environment

The relationship between these two was can be seen since the 1960’s, when number of popular books were written by famous authors like ‘Silent Spring’ which highlighted the impact of  humankind on environment and closely stated the relationship between the nature and the civilizations. Then later in America in 1970, Earth Day was observed the largest environment demonstration in the advent of history. It awakened millions of Americans regarding the impact industrialization was causing on the human life. It emphasized on the psychological stresses of nuclearisation, environment disasters, advancement in scientific knowledge, compatibility of environmentalism with other antiwar and the women movements. (Gaan, 2005) This day rose millions of people and since then measures have been taken by different people and organization for ecosystem protection because environment is such a factor that not only affects but also influences the international economy.

In July 1996, in Geneva the state department made fierce actions to reduce the emission of CO2. CO2 is a result of fossil fuels burnings and to decrease its harmful affects consumption of electric power should be decreased. (Singer, 1996)

When referring to the international economy, multinational cannot be ignored because on one point by improving the information technology they have created the environment that is establishing linkages throughout the world and is providing facilitations in the movement of finances as well as of goods and services. (Ramlogan, 2004) Similarly, they are known to exploit and exhaust the natural resources of the world which is causing environmental problems in the world economy. (Ramlogan, 2004)

‘Commodity Market’ is another environmental factor that causes a resolution in the international community. The international economy is dependent on certain products and the supply of these products precipitates the economic crises in the global market dimensions. The two products that are known to cause problems in the environment related factors are the Oil and Coffee. Oil is the basic ingredients in today’s economy, from the very small item to big industries all rely on oil. But oil crises in 1989 had caused serious environmental implications, as ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill effect on the natural world was devastating and it sent ripples throughout the international economy as there was a rapid rise in the oil prices. This oil crises lead to further Iraq-Kuwait war that further manipulated the prices and caused a bad effect on the economy of various countries. So this can prove that crises in one country can dictate the prices of the commodity on the international market. (Ramlogan, 2004)

According to an American environmental NGO, problems of over consumptions and consumerism also account for world’s environmental issues. The corporate capitalistic, (an environmentalist society) spreads the environmental issues in consumerist terms to gain popularity and support and this is highlighted by making different calendars which portrait the lustrous, dreamlike, fantastic images and landscapes of the nature. These pictures not only promote environmentalism but also eco-tourism. Different environmentalists emphasized about the threats of overpopulation because they are aware of the fact that when population increases it leads to an increase in consumption of fossil fuels and more depletion of natural resources and environment (Conca, n.d). Due to this efforts are made in every country to lower the population and for proper utilization of the production and consumption of goods should be met. There should be proper platform behind what should be produced, what should be sold in the market. Apart from that, the ecological constraints gives the lack of unending frontiers, infinite waste sinks and gives the inability to find a technical substitute for everything from petroleum to the ozone layer.(Princen, n.d)

Their relationship between the international economy and the environment can also be seen by the two competitive theories regarding the economic growth and the environment. According to the Doomsday Theory ‘the more goods and services we produce per capita, the more the strain we put on the environment per person because the natural resources and natural capital are depleted and we degrade our environment with waste’. The Pollyanna Theory on the other hand states ‘as the income per capita increase it would lead more people to protect and preserve the environment because the consumer demand for environmental amenities increases with income. (Hahnel, 1999)

Restructure our Economy

Scientific investigations have proofed that abusing the environment not only destroys and diminishes the ability to generate wealth but also removes potential sources of income from the economy. It adds the cost of generating wealth from other activities. According to the search, Mexico lost 15 percent of it s GNP as a result of population and environment degradation and China annual cost of population and ecosystem lies between Rmb 100 billion and Rmb 160 billon, i.e. it losses around 7 percent of its GNP. Economic losses and environmental abuse has some discerned reflection on the biological diversities, as previously 5000 species of plants fill the man’s nutrient needs but today only 150 species are performing the job. So if these species also succumb to disease then the economy would suffer a greater loss (Ramlogan, 85, 2004).

Global warming, which is the most important topic, while environment is being studied. Global warming is creating serious environmental problems and is responsible for serious economic danger. According to Sir John Houghton, global warming causes hazardous effects on the human environment and the society and he urges the policy makers to make certain objectives and standards that would eliminate the emissions of the greenhouse gases. According to the IPCC studies the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere should be reduced to 60-80 percent in its emissions. Global warming itself is also causing climatically changes, such as droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and spread of different dangerous diseases in different parts of the world. All these causes are affecting the international economy very negatively. (Singer, 1996)

In Kyoto, ‘Clean Development Mechanism’ (CDM) encourages the development of various environmentalist projects such as using solar energy for electricity consumption in the third world countries. They also ensured that credit was given only for those projects that were benefiting the environment. (Conca, n.d)

Global warming is also causing soil and cropland erosion and hydrological instability. But efforts are being made to overcome these issues. Iceland which was the first country that implemented the plan of converting the carbon based energy to hydrogen energy. Due to this, Denmark followed the trend and extracted electricity from wind turbines and this constituted of 18 % of the total electricity production. Then to stabilize the water tables drip irrigation technology is being used, Israelis used this technology and has now become world’s leader of using agriculture water most competently and efficiently. (Brown, 2003)

The environmental problems can be solved by the individual approach because every individual should be responsible. The best counteraction which an individual can perform totally n consumer-based work could be ‘buy a tree and plant it’. When the responsibility is levied on individual efforts then there is always room for improvement because when responsibility is individualized conversions such as consumerism and fragility disappears. As the consumers purchase and consume green or eco-friendly products which reduce the environmental impact and provides a light living on the planet (Maniates, n.d). Sustainable consumption has also been proposed for encouraging ecological citizenship and shrinking ecological footprints. As the government can improve the information flows, measure appropriate indicators of progress and introduce regulations to prevent backsliding in social and environmental performance. The ecological footprints can be reduced by the government makes alternative perspective to sustains the consumption through radical changes to lifestyles, infrastructure, social and economic governance institutions, redirect the developmental goals and reduce absolute consumption levels. (Seyfang, 2005)

When we consider the environmental issue it would not be wrong to say that science and technology have contributed a lot because they highlighted the main environmental issues that are causing serious threat to the environmental society, i.e. the increase in population, the pollution and the growth of chemical and nuclear which is producing micro toxicity (e.g. nuclear waste). (Brown, 1992)

Do to all the facts given above we need to restructure our economy and for that certain steps should be made by creating an honest market, shifting the tax system, shifting the subsidies and build a compatible economy. The need for honest market should be present so the truth about the ecological truth could be determined. Then need for tax shifting is also very important, i.e.  Income taxes should be lowered and taxes on environmental destructive activities should be raised. The environmental tax shifting would not only bring double dividends but would also reduce the income taxes which would create jobs for the general public and side by side protect the environment. The reduction in air pollution would bring a better healthy environment as respiratory illness, such as asthma and emphysema would be reduced. Shifting subsidies is another factor that strengthens and supports the economy. It builds a strong support for the country by releasing the investments in public revenues; this would bring economic and social development in the country. The greatest example is Iran, who encouraged the consumption of Gasoline when oil prices rose to a great extent. Other reducing or shifting subsidies includes climate disrupting subsidies and environmentally destructive subsidies. This shifting lead to economy expansion (in china due to reduce coal use), reduced burden on taxpayer and destructive activities, lead to the development of energy sources , solar power and geothermal power which helped in stabilizing the earth’s climate and lead to economic efficiency. (Brown, 2003)

Conclusion

From the study conducted above it can be easily stated that the two factors “International Economy” and “The Environment” have a close relationship with each other as when any negative effect on the environment is seen from any perspective their have always been a downfall or a down size in the international economy as well. The clear example would be the Oil Crises in one country, lead to recession of multiple other countries therefore causing an international economic imbalance, i.e. it is dominant on the other factor or it is influencing the other factor.

As according to hegemony, one factor or one group dominated over the other group, so in this case the environment is the ruling group which is influencing the international economy. So it can be concluded that the relationship between the two is described as one of the hegemony of economic actors, i.e. it is creating dominance while referring to certain variable factors while Structural hegemony is concerned with the reproduction of social structures and structural ensembles and it secures unity of social formation.

References

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