Capitalism qua development in an era of planetary crisis

Ecological crisis, massive inequality and war: our world is at a dangerous tipping point. Yet the present global crisis defies simple description and is difficult to explain. To clarify, it is argued that the character of the world crisis today is triple: ecological, economic and political. Underlying all three dimensions is the capitalist form of world society. The consolidation of this capitalist form was accompanied by the emergence of the concept of development within liberal philosophy. During the 20th century, development came to define geographical regions and legitimate capitalist political economy on a world scale. Capitalism came to be taken as development: I call this ‘capitalism qua development’. Because of the triple crisis, capitalism qua development is beginning to undergo a profound change. In an era of rapid global heating and ecological crisis, the tie between capital and development is straining and likely to give way. Capital is becoming more closely attached to the concept of adaptation. I argue that, in the most likely scenario (‘Climate Leviathan’), capitalism qua development will be recast as adaptation. Some signs of this shift are already apparent. Since this is only a likely prospect, three other possibilities – fates of the concept and practice of development – are proposed.