Oakland (Special to ZennieReport.com) – The question, I, Zennie Abraham, poses for Oakland, California, America, and The World is this: Is Oakland America’s First Neo Medieval Urban Economy? Well, the next question is “What is Neo Medieval?”
Well, the term has been with us since 1977, when it was coined by theorist Hedley Bull in The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics. It primarily refers to the decline in influence of national governments with respect to a growing world government. But I was drawn to write this after reading the June 2023 paper called “U.S.-China Rivalry in a Neomedieval World” by RAND Corporation researchers Timothy R. Heath, Weilong Kong, and Alexis Dale-Huang.
A Key Definition Of What Neo Medieval Is
So, while there are a number of closely related definitions of what Neo Medieval is, Professor Timothy R. Heath offers this one:
Power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of an elite few. Governments are becoming weaker. And pervasive threats, such as pandemics and disasters, are increasing. In other words, the recent era of prosperity and national strength is regressing.
“We’ve seen for many years now signs that this age of prosperity and national strength is eroding,” Heath said. “I had been trying to figure out how to explain it, and none of the theories out there were very helpful. This idea of neomedievalism really clicked for me. And once I started digging around, the pattern was unmistakable. Just about every social science field was reporting evidence of regression.”
The RAND article goes on to state that “This is not a prediction. Heath believes we’ve been living in a neomedieval world for around 20 years now. We just didn’t realize it.” Then, Heath wrote this paragraph that directed me to think about Oakland, because the entire focus of thinkers was on nations, without consideration for people in cities, which make up the national economies:
Power and wealth were concentrated in the hands of an elite few. Most people were disengaged, more concerned with getting through another day than with the affairs of state. Threats might come from within or without, from enemy armies, pandemic disease, famine, drought, disaster, or violent crime.
The final sentence was perfect: “Threats might come from within or without, from enemy armies, pandemic disease, famine, drought, disaster, or violent crime. “
That has come to describe the life of the common Oakland resident today.
Oakland Residents Have Suffered Under A Neo Medieval Existence
Oaklanders know the situation, with many fearful of walking the neighborhood because of violent crime (with some criminal acts described as “medieval” in their execution), law enforcement non-responsive in most cases, the COVID-19 Pandemic forcing scores of businesses to close, weather changes bringing flood disasters, and general feeling that Oakland’s Government doesn’t care to try and deal with the problems. And it, like the rest of us, is just trying to get through the day.
But, while some may see the idea that Oakland is a Neomedieval Urban Economy some kind of place where there’s nothing we can do, I see it as a position that causes us as a city to ask “Is this what we want?” And if not, then what comprehensive plan can we fashion to dig ourselves out of it? And its here that I address what I regard as the highly insufferable “left-right” crowd that could not bring itself to have an intelligent conversation about, well, anything.
In this addendum, the reason the “left-right” crowd can’t bring itself to have an intelligent conversation that’s policy-based, is that it spends an inordinate amount of time fashioning insults to throw at each other. So, no real focus on policy is done because the time required to do so is eliminated by that practice.
So, it’s no wonder that legislation that could solve a problem gets stalled, or if it’s approved, is not implemented in a timely fashion. Why? Because the understanding of how to implement it has been lost. To provide an example, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf explained that the reason TIF was not used to provide a subsidy to the Oakland A’s Howard Terminal Project was that the City did not have the staff talent that it possessed when California redevelopment law was active. Watch:
Meanwhile, the international economy continues its downward pull on the American standard of living. Eventually, the wealth that it takes to maintain our very infrastructure will be severely reduced – causing problems in various areas from transportation to water treatment.
The fact that this view of Oakland is based on how researchers have looked at overarching world events means this has nothing to do with the ideas of those I call coach-potato conservatives or fake progressives. Indeed, it has to do with how the spread and use of technology has pulled down the American standard of living under a crush of cheap labor providing products and services to scale from other parts of the World, thanks to The Internet.
I have long called for tax increment financing to be used to help small business in Oakland and America pay its employees and remain competitive on the World stage, but so far a tiny few economic development efforts in America are doing this, and certainly not Oakland.
But, especially in California, the tools are there in the form of Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District (EIFD) legislation. The problem is only 9 cities in California use EIFD, and Oakland’s one of the many that’s only paid political lip service to it, and nothing else.
Meanwhile, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is under the impression that the new downtown plan will make the difference, but it will in reality only force our city deeper into its Neo Medieval Urban Economic behavior. And it will not address the homeless problem, which only grows under the weight of socioeconomic inequality.
That’s because the new downtown plan does not call for EIFD use for small businesses and affordable housing and other functions. It rests on the idea that simple regulation of use, alone, can make change. A brief look at Oakland’s economic development history shows that redevelopment tax increment financing has shaped much of it, and that today the focus must be in the neighborhoods and on facilities like the Oakland Coliseum Complex, as much as downtown.
In short, and to close (with the idea of expanding on this post in the near future) we need a plan to reverse Oakland’s slide into its current place as America’s first Neo Medieval Urban Economy. In doing so, we can help America itself escape this obvious form of economic decline.