Public ownership in the form of nationalization of the banking sector has re-emerged on the
public agenda. Yet, there has been very little debate about the meaning, status, and function of
public ownership as an alternative strategy in the context of globalization and advanced capitalism.
Here, as a contribution to this agenda we advocate forms of public ownership tailored to
enhance democratic decision making in the economy, to achieve greater equality and social
cohesion, and wherever possible to encourage localized rather than central control and ownership.
A talk given at the World Social Forum 2010, Porto Alegre
The historical geography of capitalist development is at a key inflexion point in which the geographical configurations of power are rapidly shifting at the very moment when the temporal dynamic is facing very serious constraints. Three percent compound growth (generally considered the minimum satisfactory growth rate for a healthy capitalist economy) is becoming less and less feasible to sustain without resort to all manner of fictions (such as those that have characterized asset markets and financial affairs over the last two decades).
