Dr John Mohan Razu
Professor of Social Ethics
The root meaning for economy is Oikos and nomos are two ancient Greek words that together form the root of the modern world economy (oikonomia) meaning “household management”. In ancient Greece, the oikos was the fundamental social and economic unit of society, including the family, house, land, and enslaved people living together. Nomos means “law”, “custom”, “rule” or “management” (derived from the root nemein meaning to distribute or dispense. It simply means how a family or estate owner organise resources, food, labour, and budget within the money that he or she has.
Classical thinkers like Aristotle studies how managing a single home required principles of scarcity, allocation, and production be it a home, or a panchayat, or a district or a state or nation. Over, this concept scaled from a single home (oikos) to managing the resources and financial systems of entire state or country—from micro to macro. The prefix oikos is also the root of ecology, which combines oikos (house or habitat) with logos (study or reason to mean the study of the household of nature.
Economy is basically about what one does with the money and how the allocation takes place. It starts from home-to-panchayat-to-block-to-district-to-state-to-nation. Be it panchayat, Taluk, district, or state, or nation the financial resources that are available come from taxation or other sources. Those responsible in the business of allocating the financial resources should be judicious and prudent ways to what the money be allocated, how much, and reasoning and responding to questions why. So, right from micro-to-macro many transactions take place.
One finance and allocations crop up along with questions such as to what, why, and for who, all these questions revolve around politics. Polis does mean governance and oikos nomos means household management. Management of the resources when it moveout from households it then becomes political economy. Therefore, economy does not function on its own by the laws of supply and demand, it is something more than this type of understanding. Economy becomes political when the leaders and those who are responsible and work in the ministry of finance, chancellor of exchequer and others go by their parties’ ideological thrust.
As against the background, a question that emerges is when populists and autocrats lose, what prompts them to lose, is it because of the political and ideological positioning or economic reality? Umpteen number of researches supported by empirical evidence that the democracy is in danger. The Young voters are better informed to read election results from Brazil and Serbia as an endorsement of democracy. In Brazil, voters quite decisively denied Flavio Bolsonaro, a candidate who is supported by Trump with authoritarian tendencies and gave Lulu gave the term. Serbia is another classic case with 65 lakh people and $12 bn GDP because of the uprisal of students protest movement being supported by the civil society.
Harvard Prof Steven Levitasky pointed out that in 2024 that such results could chiefly be anti-incumbency. Even Lula in Brazil lost the first round to Bolsonaro, but came back and gave spirited fight and won. The trend has been clear since 2020, when COVID, and economic disruption, led governments to adopt easy-money policies. Then inflation hit and as a result it worked for the billionaires, the middle-class and those at the bottom were worst affected. Levinsky noted that between 2020 and 2024, the incumbent lost—outcome of the COVID inflation.
Take for instance, the young Serbians and Indians fighting and carry on their struggles for ideology and economic future? Likewise take the Labour Party in UK that won the lections with significant victory is now struggling to manage and thus becoming unpopular, within months. In Germany, social democrats are facing stiff fight and challenges from far-right parties. Similar trend is going on in the United States, Donald Trump, a populist and a far-right ideologue who bounced and won the lections is currently facing problems in the primaries, If democrats take over the Congress, then there are possibilities that Trump’s wings be clipped.
These uprisings and changes happening across the world where far-rights taking over and the liberals and democrats winning over are due to because the leaders have failed to check the cost of living, neglect of education, and rising unemployment of the young. Israel, another test case for democracy has voted to elect the next government. Post-poll predictions are the current PM Netanyahu’s coalition may not get the required majority to form the government and should go for alliances. Whoever wins will not go soft on the Palestinians.
The young Israelis who happened to be the first-time voters do not show sympathy for the Gazans either. The young Jews seem to have been fed up with frequent wars and conflicts with the neighbours, continuously facing psychological trauma and hardship and corruption. Young people are asking their leaders what they have done for their future and betterment. Therefore, the young voters are angry and go for alternatives.
Young citizens across the world combine ideology and economy if enjoined becomes political economy. Now we have awakened, conscientious, and vibrant young citizens across the world. With the help of modern communication tools they have the capacity and determination to get organised and collectively struggle for their betterment and common future. The traditional thinking has become obsolete and cannot work because the present conditions in which they are caught up, be it Global South or Global North posits hopelessness and bleak future. And so, have taken the mantle in their hands and started protesting against the ruthless regimes.
