HELSINKI PROCESS: Consensus Against Neoliberal Washington Consensus

HELSINKI PROCESS: Consensus Against Neoliberal Washington Consensus
By Julio Godoy

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 28 (IPS) - One thing is clear from debates at the third Helsinki Process conference, underway here: there is agreement among economic development experts, civil society representatives and government officials attending the meeting that the neoliberal Washington consensus is not a solution to the problems of developing countries, but rather one of the causes of these problems.

In contrast to the neoliberal emphasis on privatisation, participants of the conference argued that the state has a central role to play in launching and supporting economic and social development.

"Neoliberalism is not the solution to the economic and social problems confronted by developing countries," said Josep Xercavins, professor of development economics at the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain, and co-ordinator of the World Forum of Civil Society Networks: an umbrella organisation of civil society groups studying economic and social development. "We are seeing in Latin America the devastating consequences of 25 years of application of neoliberalism," Xercavins added. "We need a new paradigm, with a new role for the state."

The Washington Consensus is the term commonly used since the late 1980s to describe the set of neoliberal economic and social policies imposed on developing countries by Washington-based international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, through structural adjustment programmes.

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http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40257

and bite us in the ass.

then we blame those who did the biting.

making the republick party war cry about taking personal responsibility a hollow noise.

kinda like family values.