Solution to Calais Crisis lies in International Development

All the unpleasantness of the last few days' reaction to the ongoing Calais crisis is perhaps just a taste of the difficult challenge it will be for Liberals to uphold decency in the coming years. In my view, the best way to form a powerfully Liberal stance on this issue is to reinforce to the public that the solution to this crisis, as well as others (Islamic extremism, the environment etc.) lies in a field of policy often neglected by mainstream debate: International Development. But for us to form that policy, we must face some difficult home truths.

Every ideology has an extremist form. Every tool that can construct a better world can be used as a weapon to make a darker, crueller one. In the field of international development, it is time for Liberals like ourselves to recognise that we are not exempt from this fact. It is time for our party to develop a stance on development that differentiates us from the major parties and their blind stance to the free market fundamentalism of the current key institutions, the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organisation, so that Britain can play its part in reforming them when we return to government.

The core problem here is that the ideology that underpins these institutions bears our name. - Neoliberalism, a warped form of economic liberalism. Our commitment to economic liberalism remains vital, but it must not extend to supporting a fundamentalist version that has facilitated exploitation of developing countries and exacerbated humanitarian crises in many cases.

We must recognise that enforced privatisation of public services has exacerbated inequality in places like Ghana and Bolivia, and crippled the ability of governments to respond to humanitarian crises and poverty as it has in Haiti and across Sub-Saharan Africa. We must recognise that enforced "liberalisation" of trade and markets at inappropriate times in the development process means developing countries are crawling when they should be running. Infant industries from Sierra Leone to Somalia are unable to compete when exposed to the powerful winds of global markets, where (mostly western) TNCs are already fully formed and unshakably dominant. Free trade can seemingly only avoid exploitation when it occurs between economies of similar development.

We can as a party push international development up the agenda if we remind people that in a global society, we see at home the positive impact of a positive foreign policy. To lower poverty in, and improve the industry of Ghana and South Sudan is to reduce immigration into the UK. To stabilise the security and economy of Somalia is to reduce the security threat to the UK. The first step towards realising this is to show people that the current tools to this end are malfunctioning.

We have a bold commitment to both protecting the exploited and internationalism. We accept that there are fundamental areas where market forces are inappropriate in domestic policy. It's time we accepted that the same is true in foreign policy, and simultaneously shed light and set the agenda on International Development over the next decade and beyond.

* Guy Russo is a 17 year old member of the Liberal Democrats from London.