Table 10.1. Paradigms of the Global Political Economy Today

	Neo-Liberal (Conservative) Paradigm	Social Democratic Paradigm
Main Loyalty	Business Corporations	The Public Good (Civil Society)
Economic Ethic	Economic Efficiency and Corporate Profits	High Employment and Economic Equality
Favoured Institutions	Transnational Corporations, the IMF, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization	Democratically-elected legislatures, citizen groups, labour unions, environmental organizations
Position on Government Intervention	“Night Watchman” State: Minimal government regulation of the economy; profits come first; skepticism about ecological concerns	Welfare State: Moderate to high government regulation; Keynsian interventions when needed; social equality trumps corporate profits; ecological concerns real
Public Services that should be run by the State	Police, Armed Forces, Primary Education, basic infrastructure (though not especially utilities)	Police, Armed Forces, Water, Gas, Electricity, Parks and Nature Preserves, Health Care, Education, Infrastructure (e.g. roads), some Transportation (e.g. national airline), some Communications (e.g. state-run television network), Post Office
Position on International Trade and Finance	Free trade; floating exchange rates; disciplining of weak economies by a “free” market and stricter controls on deficit-spending governments by refusing World Bank/IMF assistance	Regulated trade: national tariffs and subsidies are acceptable; regulation or fixing of exchange rates; more consideration to be given to developing countries which fall behind on loan payments