The Debt Crisis

The Debt Crises – 3 case studies for middle income countries.

Three case studies from middle-income countries examine the historical drivers, current dynamics and devastating impact of indebtedness on national development. Austerity policies are hollowing out social and productive sectors; export-led resource extraction is prioritised, and national sovereignty is undermined. There are devastating impacts on human development, especially for women, girls and marginalised communities. The political nature and colonial origin of sovereign debt is a mechanism to continue extraction from the Global South. The roots of the crises are structural and historical and are exacerbated by recent developments, including the use of powerful narratives to justify indebtedness. Differences between the 1980s structural adjustment programmes and the current austerity and debt crises are examined.

A strong feminist counter-narrative is grounded in a human rights framework. While orthodox economists centre sustainability of debt in their analyses, feminist economists and human rights approaches centre the sustainability of people’s lives.