The global financial and economic crisis in the south

This book is the outcome of a South-South conference jointly organized by the
Asian Political and International Studies Association (APISA), the Latin
American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Council for the
Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar, Senegal,
May 2012. The conference was organised in response to the financial crisis of
2008 which started in the United States and Europe, with reverberating effects
on a global scale. Economic problems emanating from such crises usually leave
major social and structural impacts on important sectors of the society
internationally. They affect living standards and constrain the well-being of
people, especially in poor countries. Persistent problems include high
unemployment, increased debt and low growth in developed countries, as well as
greater difficulties in accessing finance for investment in the developing
world. There is a need for countries in the South to examine the available
options for appropriate national and regional responses to the different
problems emanating from the economic crisis. This book attempts to provide
ideas on some strategic responses to the disastrous impact of the crisis,
while keeping in mind the global common interest of the South. It is hoped
that the book will contribute significantly towards the agenda to rethink
development and the quest for alternative paradigms for a just, stable and
equitable global political, economic and social system. A system in which
Africa, Asia, and Latin America are emancipated from the shackles of hegemonic
and anachronistic neoliberal dictates that have nothing more to offer than
crises, vulnerabilities and dependency.