Green versus Ecosocialist Economic Programmes: The Market Rules OK?

Since the crumbling of the Berlin Wall there has been a chorus sounding the death of the command economy and the triumph of liberal capitalism. It does seem to be the case that ‘capitalism is everywhere receiving the flattery of imitation’. 1 It is also the case that socialist thought – both western and eastern – is undergoing a profound shake-up in response to the economic and ecological challenges of the late twentieth century. Whether a new socialism will withstand these momentous challenges and emerge as the political saviour of our time is an open question. What is clear, however, is that the growing momentum of the ecological critique of capitalism is likely to ensure that the 200-year-old debate concerning the respective merits and demerits of the market versus economic planning is not going to disappear, although the debate is likely to be considerably reformulated. This paper is concerned to review the arguments for and against the market economy versus the planned economy in the light of the social and ecological problems of the late twentieth century and to compare and evaluate the alternative economic programmes defended by ecosocialists and Green economists in response to these problems.