From Gold to Governance

There are many other wonderful articles by this author. H/T to PH for sending him my way

The author of this substack has an incredible amount of historical knowledge adding to his analysis of our modern history. His areas of interest are broad (even including One Health and the SDGs). Feel free to skim his work (it is very detailed, while he links to many earlier pieces so that you can spend hours reading one article thoroughly…) but there is a lot of meat to be found on these bones. For example:

In the final analysis, this system does not formally abolish the nation-state. It empties it. Monetary autonomy is bounded by BIS standards. Fiscal discretion is constrained by IMF ceilings. Infrastructure and land are governed through World Bank frameworks. All of it is presented as technical, neutral, and benevolent.

But the result is a world in which the most important levers of policy — money creation, public spending, land use, and development — are administered by institutions that exist above the level of democratic control. Over time, this structure facilitates a progressive monopolisation of global assets. As land, water, carbon, and biodiversity are financialised and collateralised under transnational frameworks, ownership becomes increasingly concentrated in the hands of institutions, consortia, and stakeholder networks.

Individual ownership, while not formally outlawed, is functionally eliminated through a combination of debt mechanisms, conservation restrictions, regulatory compliance requirements, and capital access barriers. The rhetoric of inclusion and justice conceals a reality of consolidation. The public, promised protection and sustainability, finds itself locked out of ownership and decision-making in the very systems built in its name.

From Gold to Governance