Political Economy of Dissent

In 2020 Noam Chomsky asserted that the time to panic about the existential threats posed by nuclear war, global warming, and the stifling of informed debate in supposedly open and democratic societies was upon us, and that it was the duty of concerned citizens to act accordingly. Hastened by the lingering aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, the proxy war in Ukraine, the decline of US economic hegemony, and increasing hostility between the US and China, he concluded in early 2023 that unless the US could be persuaded to cooperate with its declared adversaries and capitalism could be overthrown or ‘defanged’, there was little hope for survival. The authors of this book argue that achieving these ends will depend greatly on effective individual and collective worldwide dissent.

The book analyses and exemplifies dissent in the main domains of institutionalised capitalist control and the manufacture of uninformed consent, namely: political economy; education; the media and IT; work and trade unions; the commons and communities; and culture. And thereby gives voice and hope to the downtrodden and marginalised, including indigenous peoples and those of the global south. It provides an uplifting counter to the otherwise seemingly overwhelming expression of uninformed consent, one that will inspire by example and be an antidote to the fear and defeatism instilled by capitalist intransigence, indoctrination, and control.

The book is addressed to students, scholars and researchers primarily, but its breadth of coverage, authenticity and plain writing style will appeal to activists, community organisers, and concerned citizens, both in industrialised countries and the global south.

Peter Blunt is Honorary Professor, School of Business, University of New South Wales (Canberra), Australia. Before then, he had held a senior position with the World Bank in Jakarta, Indonesia, and tenured full professorships of management in universities in Australia (Charles Darwin University), Norway (University of Nordland), and the UK (Cardiff University).

Cecilia Escobar has worked as a lecturer and researcher for the Department of Economics of the Central American University, El Salvador, and as an independent researcher and consultant. She holds a PhD and an MPhil in Economics and a BA in Archaeology, History, and Literature of Ancient Greece from the University of Athens, a Master in Economic Development from the Carlos III University of Madrid, and a BA in Economics from the Central American University.

Vlassis Missos is Research Fellow at the Centre of Planning and Economic Research in Athens, Greece, and a staff member in the Department of Economics at the University of Athens. He has served as a consultant to the General Secretariat of Fiscal Policy at the Greek Ministry of Finance and as a short-term consultant to the Government of Samoa on a development assistance project funded by the Australian Government.