Suchergebnisse

Der Verfasser skizziert eingangs den an der Spitze der französischen Kommunistischen Partei (PCF) im Dezember 1994 vollzogenen Wechsel von Georges Marchais zu Robert Hue. Er konzentriert sich im folgenden auf die am 25. Mai und 1. Juni 1997 durchgeführten Wahlen zur französischen Nationalversammlung. Zunächst werden die Gespräche zwischen der PCF und der Sozialistischen Partei über eine gemeinsame Wahlkampfplattform sowie der Verlauf des Wahlkampfs behandelt. Im folgenden analysiert der Verfasser das Wahlergebnis der PCF (9,9 v.H.) und arbeitet die soziale Basis und regionale Verankerung der Partei heraus. Abschließend werden die Diskussionen um eine Regierungsbeteiligung der französischen Kommunisten nachgezeichnet, die mit dem Eintritt von zwei kommunistischen Ministern in die Regierung des sozialistischen Premierministers Jospin endeten. (BIOst-Wpt)

In an excerpt from Bell's The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, 20th Anniversary Edition (1996), it is noted that so much attention has been focused on the notion of the Protestant ethic that it has obscured the original intent of Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904), ie, to explain why, in the past 500 years, a total transformation of society occurred only in the West. The reason behind that transformation, according to Weber, is the rationalization of life. Weber contended that the rise of capitalism, a rational economic order, was made possible by the personality type generated by rational ascetic Protestantism, ie, a disciplined & work-oriented individual. The ideas of Werner Sombart are also discussed; he argued that the motivating force behind capitalism, & all human activity, is love of money. It is argued that while both Weber & Sombart dealt with the origins of capitalism, they did not discuss its structural transformations. One such transformation, the 20th century's shift from production to consumption as the basis of capitalism, is discussed, & it is concluded that the ascetic Protestant ethic has now been replaced by acquisitiveness. J. Ferrari

Suggests that in the twenty-first century, focus of modern civilization will be the Pacific region -- including Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, & China -- which have witnessed explosive economic growth over the past two decades. Some analysts have suggested that the limits to growth have been reached & that a period of very high inflation will occur in the near future, increasing the region's importance in the world economy. Additionally, security issues in the region have yet to be resolved &/or adequately addressed. It is suggested that economic growth & technological development entail the development of more Western forms of cultural modernity that may erode traditional cultural patterns & that conjoining this process of liberalization & economic development may elicit the formation of more democratized & pluralistic regimes. D. Karjanen

THE 1980S WERE PARTICULARLY BAD YEARS FOR THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY (PCF) AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 1990S WERE EVEN WORSE FOR THE FRENCH COMMUNISTS. THE STATE WAS WELL SET ON 22 MARCH FOR A PROTEST VOTE AGAINST THE SOCIALIST PARTY. AS HAS BECOME HABITUAL AFTER ELECTIONS, IT WAS ANNOUNDED THAT THE RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE CURVE THAT IS CALLED THE PCF'S DECLINE HAD STARTED TO TURN, AND THE PARTY DAILY WAS TRIUMPHANT. THE ELECTION RESULTS CALL INTO QUESTION THE FUTURE OF A PARTY LINE OF EXTREME AND NEGATIVE PROTEST AND WHETHER ANYTHING CAN BE GAINED FROM ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ALLIANCE OF THE LEFT.

In Aug 1989, the German periodical Die Zeit asked whether the recent opening of a MacDonald's restaurant in Moscow (USSR) meant "the end of communism." In a reply to that question, it is proposed that communism & socialism have not failed because they have never been tried. In attempting to implement these syustems in such a backward peasant country as Russia, the Bolsheviks merely created a totalitarian state based on central planning. Also, it is not capitalism that is replacing what the Bolsheviks instituted in the wake of the Revolution; rather, it is democracy that is facilitating the unraveling of the totalitarian state. Rather than emphasizing the issue of capitalism vs socialism, attention should be paid to the ability of democratic governments to handle their economies so as to benefit their citizens as well as the global community. R. Logsdon

An inquiry into the depths of the imprints of the three German Reichs on the national character & social structure of a unified Germany, & Germany's ability to transcend its past. The nature of the postindustrial order & strategic resources that command power in the world today are considered in speculating whether Germany's fate is tied to nationalism or a common Europe. V. Wagener

It is proposed that four factors, evident in the 1990s, will define the twenty-first century: (1) the collapse of communism; (2) the reunification of Europe; (3) the end of "the American Century"; & (4) the rise of the Pacific Rim nations. The collapse of Marxist communism in the USSR resulted from a failed economic model, a failed ideology, & a crumbling empire. Communism failed in Eastern Europe because the imposed Marxist regimes had no internal support. The reunification of Europe will come in the form of the European Economic Community, a "commonwealth" composed of twelve nations, which is already taking shape. US influence will decrease as a result of: the reduction of military confrontations, the rise of Japanese economic power, the low investment & productivity of the US economy, & the failure to deal with domestic social problems, eg, crime & drugs. The rise of the Pacific Rim, particularly Japan, is due in large part to the reduction of the Soviet threat: Japan can now invest in their economy the money that the US had previously pressured them to invest in defense & military security. R. Logsdon

(For Part I see SA 37:1/89U3083.) A claim is made that the concept of ideology unraveled after the publication of The End of Ideology (Bell, Daniel; see SA 9:5/61A1008). China under Deng Xiaoping & the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev are discussed as displaying similar disenchantments, & new policies in both countries are said to have similar goals. The "widening gyre of passional discourse" has left the term ideology without the conceptual clarity that it presumably had in the past. A. Waters

In the history of socialist thought there is a remarkable paucity of discussion on the questions of the econ org of the socialist society: the questions of planning, allocation, management & the like. Kautsky & Lenin held the naive assumptions that all such problems were merely `technical' & that the rationality of socialism would simplify all problems of admin. When confronted for the first time in 1917 with the concrete reality of industrial manag, Lenin opportunistically, & with only the image of the Paris Commune as a model, adopted the idea df workers' control. The quick breakdown of the system led to a crucial debate in the Bolshevik party, with Trotsky at one extreme arguing for the complete militarization of the economy & the Worker's Opposition group for a syndicalist form of society. The decision of the 10th Party Congress in 1921 against worker's control was the decisive step which ended both innerparty democracy & the checks on the rising bur'cy in the USSR. the narrative is framed within the larger context of the failure of later Marxist thought to understand the problem of exploitation as more than an econ category, & to abandon some of the root insights of Marx on the meaning of alienation. IPSA.