Misinformation and fears about financial insecurity are undermining constructive conversations about economic issues worldwide. In this 35-minute video, Sara Cobb and Alexandre Marc of IFIT’s Inclusive Narratives Practice Group and Godfrey Kanyenze of IFIT’s Zimbabwe Resource Group discuss the role of narratives in obscuring economic realities, stoking conflict and securing power. Drawing on experiences from a range of disciplines and regions, they propose strategies for encouraging dialogue across dividing lines to promote more inclusive economic solutions. 

Using the examples of the 2021 protests in Colombia and the recent election in the United States, Sara points out that the ‘economy’ is itself a narrative, or rather a constellation of narratives anchored in people’s experiences and circulated within and across their networks. Drawing on narrative theory, she notes that dominant economic narratives are ones that evoke strong emotions, based on simple conflict stories about villains and heroes and ‘us versus them’. To weaken the power of these divisive narratives and increase the complexity of narratives regarding economic issues, Sara recommends promoting dialogue at local levels with a wide spectrum of parties, beyond those in direct opposition; circulating stories of economic struggle in social media and via leaders in local, regional and national settings; and introducing storytelling to humanise economic policy documents and their rollout to the public.

Discussing Southern Africa, Godfrey notes that the post-independence governments in the region, with and without the interventions of international financial institutions, ended up maintaining the dual economies established under settler colonialism by adopting neoliberal economic policies that resulted in high inequality, unemployment and poverty. He argues for the redistribution of resources and economic empowerment of the black majority populations and better management of natural resources for local development, while emphasising that dialogues are crucial for addressing divisive narratives and addressing polarisation. Godfrey advocates for thorough stakeholder mapping and analysis of power dynamics as part of the design and preparation for these dialogues, to ensure they are inclusive and contextually responsive.

Alexandre highlights that economic concerns alone rarely polarise societies and that narratives around inter-group injustices and issues of identity need to be in play to drive conflict. He argues that political and other actors either eclipse economic issues by bringing injustices and identity to the forefront, or promote narratives around economic issues to prove that their group has been unjustly treated. Using the practical example of debates around pensions in Ukraine and the Baltic states, Alexandre suggests strategies for addressing economic grievances through open, public discussion early on, in order to resolve them before polarisation sets in.