Posts
Regina Cochrane
University of Calgary, Canada
excerpt from section four,
Neoliberalism and the Political Trajectory of Post-Development Populism
The post-development populist notion of “culturally-perceived poverty” is problematic for a whole host of general reasons as outlined above. However, the problems do not end there. The situation gets considerably more complicated when this thesis is examined in the context of the current historical conjuncture of neoliberalism and rising fundamentalist and right-wing nationalist currents, North and South. The notion of “culturally-perceived poverty,” together with its populist baggage, readily lends itself to complicity with contemporary globalized capitalism in a number of ways. Moreover, in actual political practice, Shiva and the main populist currents/mentors feeding into her thesis of “culturally-perceived poverty” have all ended up engaging in various forms of “right-left” flirts with forces such as Hindu fundamentalism, racist nationalism, and/or the European New Right.