Prabhat Patnaik’s latest work is an essential textbook for anyone wanting to understand the world we live in, the rules and constraints that shape our policies, and our ideas and perceptions. What lies beyond the grand theories of economics? What’s the philosophy on which our economic models are based, and how do they affect our everyday politics are some of the basic questions the book grapples with.

The relationship between philosophy, politics and economics can be complex, but the author shows how they come together to determine political agendas, founded on political philosophy, seeking inputs from economics. And then there is the question of individual freedom. Capitalism has convinced half the planet that it is the true defender of individual rights and freedom, but is it so? The author dives back into the philosophies of classical liberalism, as well as new liberalism, to show the weakness in the foundation of their arguments.

To put it simply, to wish for freedom is to have money and time, and to gain the former you have to invest the latter, along with your own labour. Here comes the essential employer-worker relationship. The liberal theory assumes this relationship to be almost natural and one that has been arrived at voluntarily. But to sustain this relationship within the capitalist model, the liberal theory also seeks state intervention to ensure individual freedom.

The author also questions competition, and the idea of rationality. In fact, the system needs a ‘rational individual’ to be a ‘self-centred person’ who accepts the logic of capitalism and works objectively within it. Any individual not possessing the quality of ‘self-possessiveness’ would automatically be deemed ‘irrational’, an aberration. Neoclassical economics not only needs this sort of individual behaviour, it thinks of it as ‘embedded in human nature’ and not as a particular characteristic of capitalism that has evolved with it.

However, the author shows how according to the Marxist perception, it is the fear of being unemployed and the fear of destitution that leads people to accept work in the first place. And that is why a ‘reserve army of labour’, a pool of the unemployed, are always needed in the system.

Moving from the arguments of John Locke to Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes, Beyond Liberalism: Economics, Philosophy, Politics busts the myths of liberalism one after another.

Are individuals, or for that matter even capitalists, ‘free’ in the confines of capitalism? The author says no. To quote: “Capitalism while formally maintaining individual agency, effectively subverts individual agency. Individuals act as they do, not because of their own volition...but because…if they don’t act as they do then competition would drive them out of the position which they occupy within the system.”

“Competition among capitalists coerces each of them to accumulate capital whether they like it or not. The specific role played, in other words, depends on the class position of the individual; but the point is that the individual cannot act on the basis of his or her own volition.”

As capitalism becomes an all-pervasive system, governing all aspects of our lives, its routine workings are mythicised. Ideas such as ‘all trade is mutually beneficial’ become imperative and almost convert into social contracts. But this myth, like many, overlooks the coercive nature of capitalism, which from the beginning has been based on a cycle of plundering many for the benefit of a few. This coercion was further extended by imperialism, first via a colonised rule and then the institutions of global finance dictating policies to the global south.

Imagine a world, where independent governments seem to be indulging in ‘free trade’ with conditionalities imposed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Who lets them do it? It’s the same rationale rooted in neoliberal theory, ‘No one is compelled to trade, and all trade is mutually beneficial.’

What happens to democracy in such a scenario? Will such a system of global finance capital not undermine democracies world over? The needs and demands of global finance are very different from those of the people. No country would be able to genuinely improve the condition of its people when it depends on global finance. Even the states committed to ‘social democracy’ find it damning to lose ‘investor confidence’. In fact world over, countries adopting neoliberal policies have experienced a rise in inequality, along with poverty. Globalisation, while keeping the world’s poorest the worst off, has also snatched away their little ability to make any change to their situation.

If you are wondering about the current flavour of nationalism in different countries and the growth of neo-fascism, your answers lie in chapter twelve: 'Freedom in the Era of Globalisation'. Patnaik shows very succinctly how globalisation is also behind the rise of fascist politics and how such politics has no interest in delinking the country from global finance capital despite its nationalist rhetoric. As a matter of fact, contemporary fascism would be the ultimate limit, a real end point of globalisation.

Right now, the world’s poorest are looking at meagre opportunities, as global finance capital moves swiftly. They are staring at not just economic and political hardships, their lives have been stolen by the imminent threat of the climate crisis. Reading this along with a feminist perspective – where a whole population of women and the marginalised have not even reached the status of a ‘worker’ – it becomes imperative that our bearings need a shift.

In such a scenario, socialism, as espoused by Patnaik, is a transcending force the world needs immediately, to repair and to heal. Only in an economic and political system transcending capitalism and liberal ideologies, we may find true individual agency, rooted in direct involvement of people and collective decision making.

Published by Tulika Books, spread through 14 chapters in a little over 200 pages, Beyond Liberalism is written with care, meticulousness and a lot of heart.

This seminal work would benefit every reader and student of political economy who wants to understand the underlying assumptions that seem to guide our world, be it in the realms of policy, economy or politics.

Kavita Kabeer is a writer and a satirist, currently helming the show 'Cracknomics' for The Wire.

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