Globalization has crested and begun to recede. In its place, a more regionalized and even localized world is taking shape. Faced with rising political discontent at home and geopolitical tensions abroad, governments and businesses alike are increasingly focused on resilience in addition to efficiency. In the coming post-neoliberal world, production and consumption will be more closely connected within countries and regions, labor will gain power relative to capital, and politics will have a greater impact on economic outcomes than it has for half a century. If all politics is local, the same could soon be true for economics.
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Instead of assuming that deregulation, financialization, and hyperglobalization are inevitable, [policy makers and business leaders] should embrace the coming era of regionalization and localization and work to create productive economic opportunities for all segments of the labor force.
– Rana Foroohar, “After Neoliberalism, All Economics Is Local” (Foreign Affairs, November/December 2022)
Could bioregional economies promote equality?
Consider me skeptical about much of the excitement about “onshoring production” and building “resilient supply chains.” It’s not as if building natural gas pipelines and automated industrial facilities closer to home is going to solve everyone’s problems. Even beyond the obvious climate and environmental concerns that would persist after another shuffle of the industrial checkerboard, it seems safe to assume that financial capital and the many (other) predatory forces in the economy will continue to find ways to exploit labor and appropriate value, even if the world becomes more fragmented.
But I do think there are a variety of structural reasons that regionalization will, in some form and to some degree, take place—as well as compelling political, ethical, and aesthetic reasons that it should happen. In that case, building equality within and between regions seems like a worthy goal to pursue, and a potentially useful framework for guiding both individual and collective choices.
So although some people (including a podcast I’m currently obsessed with) like to deflate the aspirations of localist foodies such as myself, I see plenty of need for building bioregional knowledge, cuisines, habits, relationships, and accountability. I think homemakers and home cooks have an important role to play in repairing our broken food system. Especially with the growing influence of independent food culture via social media, so-called “consumers” have reach and power to reshape our palettes, our kitchens, and our imaginations. Building local equalities should be a part of all that.