INTRODUCTION

The Covid-19 pandemic, combined with the climate crisis, reignited a discussion on the urgent need to transform the economy in a way for it to work both for people and the planet. The consequences of the above-mentioned crises led to hopes that governments would finally undertake much-needed reforms to global economic governance. These hopes have not been realized – at least, not yet. The world is currently facing what economic historians refer to as polycrisis, namely “multiple crises … where the whole is even more dangerous than the sum of the parts” (Tooze 2022). The polycrisis includes rising global inequality, debt distress and political polarization; a worsening hunger crisis; the ongoing consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic; and a closing window of opportunity to prevent the worst impacts of global warming.

Several alternative models have been put forward, and platforms have been created to foster dialogue (Kothari et al. 2019), such as the one led by the Global Tapestry of Alternatives. A common thread is the understanding that the neoliberal economic model, which has dominated the economic policy landscape for the last four decades, has only further entrenched poverty and increased inequalities while fuelling the existential threat of climate change. There is a growing recognition of the need of a new model, system or social contract to tackle the intersecting and compounding crises that the world faces today. However, and as discussed later, there is mixed and patchy political support for these alternatives and divergence in emphasis on the critical elements of a new model across NGOs and social movements. The human rights framework also continues to be marginal to debates about economic alternatives, with some key exceptions.

This chapter summarize the efforts of the Center for Economic and Social Rights in articulating and catalysing a Rights-Based Economy. It explains CESR's vision for this area of work, and discusses a few alternative economic models that are gaining traction and the convergences and divergences that exist between them and an RBE. It concludes with a brief description of CESR's plans to take this work forward with social movements.