Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Technik Master in International and Development Economics (MIDE)

1. Religious Social Doctrines and Economic DevelopmentPersonal Experiences and Analytical Reflections HochschulefürWirtschaft und Technik Master in International and Development Economics (MIDE) Berlin, 19. November 2013 Manfred Nitsch Professor emeritus of Economics / Political Economy School of Business and Economics / Latin American Institute FreieUniversitaet Berlin manfred.nitsch@t-online.de

2. ReligiousDoctrinesandEconomic Development • Topic for an economist? • Max Weber: The protestantethic • Recenteconomiccrises: General soul-searching • Catholic Church doctrines: Pope fromArgentina in Brazil; newviews on modern society • General model in anyallocationofresources: Taboo – Force – Money; Persuade – Force – Bribe • Personal experiences • LatinAmerica – andbeyond • Conclusionsand open questions

3. General model ofresourceallocation • Market forapples: allocationbymoney • Crime: Allocationbyforce • Custom: Allocationbytaboo • Tripod: Access by different actors; here: Much Money, but littleTaboo (soft) power, andsome Force. Others: different mix. Money Force Taboo

4. Taboo • Religiousdoctrines in general • Not only “taboos“ in the extreme sense • Traditional customs • Contemporary cosmopolitan, universal norms, secular super-egomandatesandprohibitions • Human rights • Codes ofdecentbehaviour

5. Force • Also in a wide sense: Rules, judiciarysystem • Politics • Administration • Formal and informal violence • Crime, terrorism • Military affairs, Cold War

6. Money • Meansofpayment in goodsandservicesmarkets • Meansofredemptionfromdebt in financialmarkets • Meansofpaymentfortributes, taxes, ransom, andbribes

7. Personal CV: Fromnazismto FRG • Born in 1940; 1945 End of World War II • Shameof German churches: traditional anti-judaismhadcontributedtonaziantisemitism, murderousracism (holocaust) andmilitarism. • “Deutsche Christen“ (German Christians) on theprotestantsideandfascistslike in Italy, Spain andother countries on thecatholicside • 1948/49 Federal Republicof Germany • Tutelagebytheoccidentalpowersandreturnof Germans fromexile • Explicit blessing: Representative Democracy andSocial Market Economy • Contrasttoprevious “pagan“ nazi-fascismand also in contrasttothe “atheist“ communistSoviet-type rule in theneighbouring German Democratic Republic • Christian-Democratic (CDU) hegemony; Adenauer aschanceler: Comprehensive order withcongruenceofreligion, forceandmoney

8. University studies • 1959 Economics, businessadministration, pedagogics/educationandlanguages (businessteacher) in Göttingen (protestant North) • 1960 Internship in fascist Spain: “Francisco Franco – caudillo de Espanhapor la gracia de Dios“ • 1960/61 University ofGeneva, cityof Calvin; blessingsforprosperity (and Swiss banks? Vulgarcalvinism); family, not theindividuals, asthebasicunitofsociety – nosuffrageforwomen • Religion as a personal issue: Israeli girlfriend, daughterof German jews • 1961/62 University of München (catholic South), togetherwithgirlfriend • 1961 Internship / work in rural kibbutz in Israel • 1962/63 Fulbright scholarshipatMiddlebury College (New England, USA) • 1963 Work camp andtravelling in Colombia, visitatTabatinga, Brazil • 1963-1968 University in München; diploma (master) anddoctorate

9. Taboo-Force-Money Constellations • Summary of my personal experiences so far • Lutheran protestant family: “We are no pagans, after all.” • Economic spirit: Work as a “vocation”, prosperity as a sign of the grace of God, - like in calvinism • Political spirit (“taboos”): Traditional union of throne and altar, shame over support for racism and nazi regime, blessing for human rights • West Germany: Christian Democracy (CDU) and social market economy in sharp contrast to the taboo-force-money constellation in East Germany. Cold War with military confrontation on German ground • Alternatives in fascist Spain, calvinist Switzerland, Jewish Israel (“promised land”), USA (“God’s own country”), Colombia (“Violencia” between conservatives and liberals), and Brazil ("Tradição – Família – Propriedade“) • As a student of economics, languages and education (homo educandus is always also a homo religiosus) following the global processes: Campaign of Kennedy 1960 (“catholic”!?); decolonization with much violence; Cold War; “Development” as the new mandate of the UN

10. “Aggiornamento“ I • Research and teaching on Latin America • Since 1977 professorofeconomics / politicaleconomyofLatinAmericaatthe Freie Universität Berlin • Teaching “developmenteconomics“: also lookingat all theotherregionsofthe global economy • But: Special interest in the Catholic Church and itsSocialDoctrines • The Second Vatican Council of 1962-65 • University of München: Verycatholicambiente, strong in theology • Catchword and key concept: “Aggiornamento“ • Theology, liturgy and organization of the Catholic Church • Modernization of its social doctrines • Charismatic Pope John XXIII

12. Aggiornamento II • Northern Hemisphere • Overcome the fascist “statocorporativo“ of Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain) and Salazar (Portugal) as a norm • Make peace with liberal democracy and human rights (equal for women? – Reservations until now) • Accept (and bless?) the (social) market economy • Southern Hemisphere (Latin America, Philipines) • Overcome the traditional conservative doctrine and the quasi fascist Latin American “Integralismo“; in Brazil: “Tradição – Família – Propriedade”; poor woman with eight children: “Foi Deus quemquis.” • Adopt “Theology of liberation” with its “option for the oppressed / poor” and (class) struggle between “us” and “them” • Propagate “economiasolidária”, “comunitarismo”, if not open “socialism” à la Cuba • Position against the Vatican, against “capitalism” and often also against “bourgeois democracy”; more recently: “neoliberalism”

13. In an Irishpub: “In Godwetrust. Everybodyelsepays cash.“

14. Evita Perónas a quasi saint / idol / demigod

15. Consequences of the quasi schism of the Catholic Church in Latin America I • Expansion of traditional and evangelical protestant churches and sects, - but also of buddhism and islam • Active religious life of spiritism and of syncretic afro-indio-brazilian or -caribbean cults • Religious abandonment of the middle classes, - persons neither poor nor oppressed nor oppressors • No religious covering / blessing of the economic order (the market / development) and of the political order (democracy), as laid down in the liberal Constitutions of those countries • Appearance of secular / cismundane / non-metaphysical taboo structures around cosmopolitan values and norms

16. Consequences of the quasi schism of the Catholic Church in Latin America II • My own Don-Quijote-type quest, as an economist, for an orderly financial market – “bancarização” – as a frame of reference for reforms of the financial system in favour of the poor and against the privileges of the rich (since 1968). • The big ones: “They are soooo important!” - “How can you suggest that they pay market interest rates and repay their debts, when something goes wrong?!” • The little ones: “They are soooo poor!” - “How can you suggest that they pay market interest rates and repay their debts, when something goes wrong!? The big ones always get an ‘amnesty’ for their debts.” • The market = “neoliberalism” often seen as a heretical, quasi diabolical project • “Le monde va de lui-même” or “invisible hand”: classical metaphores for fundamental liberal ideas, - in Latin America anathema for both sides of catholicism – always with their respective “vanguards” • Condemnation of the “theology of prosperity” – in spite of generalized greetings “Prósperoano novo!” everywhere on New-Year’s day

17. Consequences of the quasi schism of the Catholic Church in Latin America III • Failure of the Christian Democratic parties in the political arena • The “InternacionalCristã-Demócrata” has supported the parties with christian orientation in many latinamerican countries, with help from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and others. • Chile, Guatemala, Venezuela, Franco Montoro in Brasil – but not much was left, and nearly nothing with a markedly Christian flavour, in the political arenas. • Religion remains a strong personal issue, - also at the evangelical churches –, but very little is preached and propagated, let alone widely and publicly debated, as a comprehensive “Christian Social Doctrine”.

18. Consequences of the quasi schism of the Catholic Church in Latin America IV • Incursion of problematic "taboos" into this vacuum: • The self-appointed Sheriff – with force / violence (pistoleiros) establishing “order” from above, mostly in favour of those with money • The self-appointed Robin Hood (individual or gang / ”Mara”) - with violence establishing “justice” from below • Petty and large-scale corruption, because “Everybody does it” without a bad conscience; no super-ego forbidding. • The existing and official constitutional order is not sacrosanct, i.e. not blessed but rather condemned, by both wings of the Catholic Church, - which is still the hegemonic religious institution.

19. Brazil as a pioneer of the universalization of the globally dominant cosmopolitan norms I? • Formation of a secular (agnostic), cosmopolitan Super-Ego on the global level, - a la brasileña? • Every year, Brazil opens the General Assembly of the UN • Immanuel Kant’s “categorical imperative”: Act always according to principle that you would want to become a universal laws! • Also from his kosmos of the 18th century Enlightenment: “Weltbuerger” (citizen of the world), “Voelkerbund” (League of nations/peoples) e “ewiger Friede” (eternal peace) • Brazilian slogans: “Deus é brasileiro”; “País do presente”, “cidadania”, “País paratodos”, redução das desigualdades, democracia, “sustenta-bilidade” (UN Conference Rio+20) • Recent presidents representating this taboo structure: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula, DilmaRousseff • A mission also for Europe: Cosmopolitan Norms (Sérgio Costa 2011) • Among the BRICS: International relations in the Chinese discours: “Harmony” in the present global order instead of the Westphalian order of 1648 with sovereign States waging war against one another with any global super-ego (NeleNoesselt 2012)

20. Brazil as a pioneer of the universalization of the globally dominant cosmopolitan norms II? • Secularization – irresistable tendency or fatamorgana? • Are the UN principles sufficient, as normative fundaments (taboos), as a cismundane civil theology, without an omnipresent and almighty God or many Gods, in order to domesticate force / violence and, above all, money in the world? • Wouldn’t that be a fatamorgana of the eloquent communities of the global faculty club culture (Peter Berger)? • Return of religion or secularization? – Which global tendency? • The agnostic meta-position (= I don’t know) – A viable solution? • Can a global super-ego with the universal norms of the UN and Hans Küng’s “World Ethos” (2009) establish itself between Earth and Heaven? • Tolerance a la brasileira as an essential virtue for our world – an idealist or a realist vision? • Having observed Brazil and other Latin American countries for 50 years: “Deus é brasileiro”? – Probably: “Yes”

21. Bibliografia I • Aubrée, Marion (org.): Dynamiquesreligieuses et renouveauxthéoriques, Cahiers du Brésilcontemporain (Paris), No. 75/76, 2010 (numéro especial) • Berger, Peter: O dosselsagrado: elementosparaumasociologiadareligião, São Paulo: Paulinas, 1985 • Berger, Peter (ed.): The Desecularization of the World. Resurgent Religion and World Politics, Washington, D.C. 1999 • Berger, Peter / Huntington, Samuel (eds.): Many Globalizations. Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World, Oxford 2002 • Costa, Sérgio: Weltkind in der Mitten. Nurmiteinerkosmopolitischen Vision kannEuropa seiner politischenRollegerechtwerden (Somente com umavisãocosmopolita, a Europapodelegitimarseurolpolítico), in: SueddeutscheZeitung, 20.07.2011, p. 13 • Craigher, Helmut de: Die Max-Weber-These im 21. Jahrhundert: „Die ArbeitmeinerHaende hat Gottangesehen“ (A tese de Max Weber no siglo XX!: „Deus ha mirado o trabalho de minhasmãs”), in: Haupt, Reinhart / Lachmann, Werner / Schmitz, Stephan (orgs.): GewinnendurchGewissen? ChristlichePrägungen und wirtschaftlicheNachhaltigkeit (Ganarporconsciência? Moldurascristãs e sustantabilidadeeconômica), Holzgerlingen: Haenssler, 2004, p. 57-96 • Freud, Sigmund: O ego e o id (1921), in: Id.: Edição Standard Brasileira das ObrasPsicológicasCompletas, Rio de Janeiro: Imago, 1987 • Hirschman, Albert O.: The Changing Tolerance for Income Inequality in the Course of Economic Development (1973), in: Id.: Essays in Trespassing, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1981, p. 39-58 • Kant, Immanuel: Die dreiKritiken (As trescríticas) (1787, 1788, 1790), Berlin 1910

22. Bibliografia II • Küng, Heinz /StiftungWeltethos: GlobalesWirtschaftsethos. Konsequenzenfür die Weltwirtschaft. Ein Manifest, Tübingen 2009; English translation: Global Ethics Foundation: Global Economic Ethic. Consequences for Global Business. A Manifesto, Tübingen 2009 • Nitsch, Manfred: Brasilien: Sozio-ökonomische und innenpolitische Aspekte des “brasilianischen Entwicklungsmodells” (Aspectos sócio-econômicos e políticos do “modelo brasileiro de desenvolvimento”), Ebenhausen: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik,1975, reprint in: Grabendorff, Wolf / Nitsch, Manfred: Brasilien: Entwicklungsmodell und Außenpolitik (Brasil: Modelo de desenvolvimento e política internacional), Muenchen: Fink, 1977, p. 7-144 • Nitsch, Manfred: De trabalho e luta a cidadania e democracia: “aggiornamento” da esquerda, in: Chiappini, Lígia / Dimas, Antonio / Zilly, Berthold (orgs.): Brasil, País do Passado?, São Paulo: Biotempo – EDUSP, 2000, p. 332-340; versão alemã: Von “Arbeit” und “Kampf” zu “Buergersinn” und “Demokratie”: Der Beitrag von Herbert de Souza, genannt “Betinho” zum “Aggiornamento” der Linken, in: Chiappini / Zilly (Hrsg.): Brasilien, Land der Vergangenheit? (Brasil, País do passado?), Frankfurt/M.: TFM, 2000, p. 361-368 • Nitsch, Manfred: „Deus é brasileiro“ – Ueber 50 JahreBegegnungenmitBrasilien (50 anos de encontros com o Brasil), in: GeographischeRundschau, Vol. 62, No. 9, 2010, p. 50-51; reprint in: Tópicos (Bonn; SociedadeBrasil-Alemanha), Vol. 49, No. 4, 2010, p. 60-61 • Noesselt, Nele: Is There a “Chinese School“ of International Relations?, Hamburg: German Institute of Global and Area Studies, GIGA Working Papers No. 188, 2012 • RodríguezMaradiaga, Cardenal Oscar Andrés: El desarrollososteniblefrente a los desafíossociales, Potsdam 2011 (Manuscritopara a palestra no Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies IASS, 9 de diciembre de 2011) • Stadermann, Hans-Joachim: Tabu, Gewalt und Geld alsSteuerungsmittel (Tabu, força e dinheirocomomeios de alocação), in: Schelkle, Waltraud / Nitsch, Manfred (orgs.): Rätsel Geld. Annäherungenausökonomischer, soziologischer und historischerSicht (Enigma dinheiro. Aproximações do ladoeconômico, sociológico e histórico), Marburg: Metropolis, 1995, p. 146-172. • Weber, Max: Die protestantischeEthik und derGeist des Kapitalismus (A éticaprotestante e o espíritu do capitalismo), Berlin 1905

23. Thank youAnd now: Discussion Manfred Nitsch Lateinamerika-Institut Freie Universitaet Berlin Manfred.nitsch@t-online.de