On June 25 at 19:00, Gaidar Institute Library and the Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES) will host a discussion of Raghuram Rajan’s book The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Neglect Community.
Raghuram Rajan, former chief economist at the IMF and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, in The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Neglect Community, identifies three pillars of societies in a broad sense: the state as “the political governance structure of a country” and “central governments," markets as “all private economic structures that facilitate production and exchange in an economy," and local communities as “social groups of any size whose members live in a particular locality, are governed by a common authority, and often share a common cu According to the author, the key to a prosperous society in a broad sense is the balance of these pillars. Rajan notes that the modern state and the market have largely taken away the role of the community but have not been able to replace it completely. Therefore, Rajan argues, there is a need to “revitalize” communities by giving people at the local level more control over decisions that directly affect their lives. One of the central proposals is decentralization and “devolution of decisions downwards”.
A number of questions and contradictions arise when reading the book:
- Due to the lack of clear criteria of “inclusiveness” it is not clear how to achieve it in localism. The author declares the need for openness, but notes that communities by nature tend to be closed.
- Rajan suggests that communities' dependence on the state should be reduced, but that state control over local politics is necessary for local freedom to continue to function.
- It seems that some of the measures proposed in the book (e.g., licensing reform, easing regulatory burden) cannot guarantee a revival of civic culture.
These and other issues will be discussed at the meeting with the participation of:
- Anna Nijnik, Docent, IPH RSUH, Candidate of Philological Sciences, MA in Political Science and International Relations.
- Kirill Chernovol, Researcher at the International Best Practices Analysis Department, Gaidar Institute.
- Ilya Inshakov, Candidate of Political Sciences, Docent at the Faculty of Humanities, MSSES.
- Artem Zemtsov, Candidate of Political Sciences, Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, MSSES
Date and time: June 25, 19:00
Venue: Library of the Gaidar Institute and MSSES (Gazetny Lane, 3–5, bld. 1, floor 5)
To participate, please register. Please bring your passport with you to enter the building.