The relations between politics, economy and sustainability: an analysis model based on historical materialism

Abstract

The essay aims at presenting a model that formally evidences the inseparability between economy, politics and sustainability in societies, based on Historical Materialism. Methodologically, the formulation of the model was carried out based on an analysis of the currently dominant conceptions of the relationship between economy and politics, which are clearly expressed in the category of economic efficiency. In the first section of the essay, we present an introduction to the topic. In the second, an analysis of the historical context of the emergence of the hegemonic category of economic efficiency is carried out. In the third section, the scientific foundations that support it and the main criticisms addressed to it are briefly presented, with emphasis on those related to environmental problems. The fourth section presents the model which grounds the concept that economic efficiency is inseparable from the political decisions taken in society about its material wealth, even those relating to natural systems. In the fifth section, some implications of the inseparability between economy and politics on democracy are discussed. In the sixth section, the final considerations are presented. The discussion carried out in the second and third sections indicates that only with the perspective of overcoming Capitalist social relations can the hegemonic category of economic efficiency be effectively replaced by another more adequate to the analysis of the material reproduction conditions of contemporary societies, even in what concerns their relations with the dynamics of natural systems. Adopting this perspective, the analysis carried out in the fourth section using the formal model shows that, due to the qualitative nature of wealth, economic efficiency cannot be defined independently of the political decisions taken by societies in relation to exploitation, production and distribution of its riches. In the fifth section, it is shown that this inseparability between economy and politics implies the need for a radical democratization of society.