The convergent cycles of the prevalence of interventionist or laissez-faire concepts have alternated in economics, politics, & political & economic theory. Hayek's theory of Western rationality & liberal & democratic order is based on two communicational arguments: the price-earnings ratio enables maximum mobilization of resources & the optimal use of information. The author's opinion is that the current cycle will bring about the integration of the liberal communicational argument with the new concepts of regulation, & not the universalization of the liberal order. 42 References. Adapted from the source document.
Mnoge su ekonomske teorije bazirane na pretpostavci da su pravila tržišta rezultat »prirodne« težnje racionalnih pojedinaca da ispune svoje osobne interese te da takvi »prirodni zakoni« omogućuju tržištu da se samo regulira. Na drugoj strani, njihovi kritičari inzistiraju na većoj ulozi društva i države u reguliranju tržišta. Razlike između ova dva tabora su očigledne: prva se razlika temelji na racionalnom pojedincu, a druga na ukorijenjenosti tržišta u društveni i politički kontekst. Jedni smatraju da tržišni zakoni proizlaze iz ljudske prirode, a drugi da proizlaze iz društveno-političkih normi. Međutim, oba se pristupa baziraju na modernističkim dihotomijama između subjekta i objekta, pojedinca i kolektiva, prirode i društva, što im onemogućuje da predstave svu kompleksnost umrežavanja heterogenih aktera u tržište. Ovaj tekst će predstaviti akter-mreža teoriju kao jedan alternativni pristup razumijevanju tržišta. Takav pristup implicira da niti se tržište može samo-regulirati, niti ga država može regulirati. Tržište je radije viđeno kao akter-mreža u kojoj heterogeni akteri participiraju u njegovoj konstrukciji i održavanju. ; Many economic theories are based on the assumption that the rules of the market are the results of "natural" tendencies of rational individuals to gain their interests, and that those »natural laws« enable the market to be self-regulated. Their critics insist on a more significant role of state and society in the regulation of the market. Differences between these two camps are apparent: the first approach is based on rational individuals, the second one is based on the embeddedness of markets in the social and political context. However, both approaches are based on modernist dichotomies between subject and object, individual and collective, nature and society, which make it difficult to render the complexity of linking heterogeneous actors in the market. This text will propose Actor-Network Theory as an alternative approach to understanding markets. Such an approach implies that neither can market be self-regulated nor can a state regulate it. The market is instead viewed as an actor-network in which heterogeneous actors participate in its construction and maintenance.
The author regards his book Karl Marx and the Political Economy of Modernity, as a summarized polemical autobiography. For him, above all, Marx is an extremely successful key for a new understanding of the classical political and political-economic theory and for its applicability in future analysis and projections of ways out from the actual world crisis. Even though in his book he documented and elaborated ways of completing Marx's critique of political economy in accordance with Marx's plan from Das Kapital, and demonstrated also the possibility of founding a critical political theory on the basis of the critique of political economy. For Dag Strpic, a critical political theory, contradictory to Marx's planning, would be required already in building a concretized theory of markets and prices in the "competition of a multitude of capitals" on the "surface of civil society" -- based on Marx's methodology. Somewhat aside from that, in this article Strpic is focused on an extended clarification of the Modern Normal's meaning. The Modern Normal (MN) in his book was constructed in an analysis based on a combination of classical modern and contemporary political and political-economic theory. But also on analytical use of results of all social sciences and humanities in principle, and science as a whole -- especially by necessity of problem-solving public policy. With a fundamental and implementational focus on an integral political science. In this, Strpic holds on to the basic scheme of the Modern Normal, Fl, from his book. Strpic's Modern Normal in this basic form is designed as a cross-section view of a corridor of cyclical movements of changing orders and fluctuating processes in mutually structurized elements of modern nation-states and their world-system. Those orders and elements developed various foundations on classical modern political and political-economic principles. With various centers of gravity or normals and different formating dominants in a structure of sequential political/political-economic counterpoints of development in series of historically different variants of the Modern Normal. Strpic observes the conjunctures and crises of development of those processes and orders, and also the actual worldwide economic, political, social and cultural crisis, through cycles of the Modern Normal as a whole. This is most evident in semi-centennial and (multi)centennial cycles, and most striking in great crises and pics of conjunctures. Adapted from the source document.
U ovom diplomskom radu analizira se provođenje ekonomske politike unutar političkog ciklusa, odnosno pokušava se analizirati način primjene ekonomske teorije u stvarnim društvenim okolnostima na primjeru provođenja politike štednje u zemljama članicama EU koje su to postale od 2004. godine. Ekonomska teorija služi kao smjernica za provođenje određene ekonomske politike, no na njezino provođenje utječu različite okolnosti. Kao najvažnija egzogena odrednica (okolnost) može se navesti izborni ciklus gdje, u demokratskim zemljama, političari, koji su zaduženi za provođenje ekonomske politike, moraju biti ponovno izabrani na svoju dužnost. Stoga izbori predstavljaju svakako najvažniju odrednicu u radu određenog političara. Radi toga izborni ciklus služi kao dobra orijentacija za analizu utjecaja društvenih okolnosti na provođenje ekonomske politike prema danoj teoriji. U tu će svrhu biti pružen povijesni pregled razvoja teorije politike štednje, kao i prikaz njezinog provođenja u ekonomskoj politici. Nakon toga će biti dan pregled teorije javnog izbora i političkih ciklusa koji pružaju teorijski okvir za objašnjenje važnosti samih izbora u životu racionalnih ekonomskih agenata. Na osnovu dane analize moći će se provesti ekonometrijska analiza pomoću koje će se pokušati odrediti značaj političkog ciklusa u provođenju politike štednje, posebno u kontekstu razdoblja Velike recesije. Metodološki, panel analiza čini temelj empirijske analize diplomskog rada i bit će provedena nad uzorkom od 11 novih zemalja članica EU u vremenskom razdoblju 2004.-2019. ; This Master's Thesis analyzes the implementation of economic policy within the political cycle, i.e. attempts to analyze the application of economic theory in the condition of real social circumstances by using the example of the implementation of austerity policy in EU member states that have become so since 2004. Economic theory serves as a guideline for the implementation of a particular economic policy, but its implementation is influenced by different circumstances. ...
The author demonstrates the non-existence of a consistent theory of market and of the modern capitalist system. Only a conceptual analysis is possible which is more revealing of the methodologies of various theoretical trajectories and a comparative analysis of different viewpoints and theoretical contradictions in relation to historical reality. The fundamental theoretical accomplishment of Strpic's analysis is that it offers a fertile core of clarification of market society and capitalism. The search for modern political economy opens up three aspects of the crisis of capitalism and of its economic theory. The political strategy of laissez faire in the beginning of the 20th century brought about the Great Depression (1929-1933), and the theoretical and political turn to Keynesianism (1936). In the 1970s the great stagflation (1971-1980) cleared the path for the neo-liberal theoretical counterrevolution (1972). In the period of the Great Recession (2007-2012) the necessity is imposed on us of a new theoretical turn in the direction of anti-neo-liberalism. Market economy and its invisible hand cannot be simply suppressed into closed out theoretical systems; the economists overlooked precisely this simplification and abstraction from real relations. Strpic's theoretical project of the Modern Normal and matrix-capitalism makes it possible to read in a new way the incommensurability of theoretical paradigms, not as a unified theory but as a developmental project which is prerequisite for explaining the character of the present crisis and the dynamic development of the modern transformation of capitalism. Adapted from the source document.
Gospodarske i društvene krize prilika su za protestne stranke da dignu svoj glas i da se izbore za nove pozicije na političkoj sceni. Mnogi analitičari smatraju da su stranke radikalne desnice dobile zamah upravo na protestima građana protiv globalizacije, ekonomske deprivacije i utjecaja gospodarske krize. Pomnijim proučavanjem radikalizacije politike vidi se da pojednostavljivanje te teze nema naročito čvrsto uporište. U nedostatku jasnih metodologija politolozi i drugi društveni znanstvenici pokušavaju uobličiti teorije zasnovane na empirijskim istraživanjima. Jedan je od čestih teorijskih okvira odnos populističkih stranaka prema socioekonomskom stanju u zemlji. Prema toj tezi, u vremenu globalne krize postotak glasača za radikalne političke opcije raste, većinom iz protesta, a ne antisustavnosti. Ovo izlaganje prati i stanje u Srednjoj Europi, odnosno rezultate ovogodišnjih izbora u Mađarskoj, Latviji i Slovačkoj kao zemljama sa snažnom radikalnom desnicom. Na primjerima tih zemalja nastoji se utvrditi može li se socioekonomska teorija aplicirati ili se radi o većim izazovima liberalnoj demokraciji s krajnjeg desnog pola. ; Economic and social crises provide an opportunity for protest parties to raise their voices and to win new positions in the political arena. Many analysts deem that the parties of the radical Right gained momentum exactly with the protests by citizens against globalisation, economic deprivation and the impact of the economic crisis. A more detailed study of the radicalisation of politics reveals that the simplification of this thesis does not have a particularly strong justification. In the absence of clear methodologies, political scientists and other social scientists seek to formulate theories based on empirical research. One of the frequent theoretical frameworks is the attitude of populist parties toward the socio-economic situation in the country. According to this thesis, in the period of a global crisis, the percentage of voters of radical political options increases, mostly out of protest, and not as an anti-systemic phenomenon. This paper also examines the situation in Central Europe, as well as the outcomes of this year's elections in Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia as countries with a strong radical Right. By analysing the cases of these countries, the author seeks to establish whether the socio-economic theory can be applied, or whether these countries are facing greater challenges to liberal democracy posed by the far-right pole.
Autor polemizira s nekoć utjecajnim teorijama transformacije – najistaknutiji predstavnici kojih su Jon Elster i Claus Off e – koje su se temeljile na teoremu o tome kako je nemoguća istodobna uspješna privredna i politička – a negdje i državna – transformacija u Istočnoj Europi. Suprotno tim teorijama, u većini postkomunističkih država Istočne Europe demokracija se konsolidirala brzo. Tu postavku autor dokazuje mjereći konsolidiranost novih demokracija Bertelsmannovim indeksom transformacije (BTI) na četiri razine: na ustavnoj i predstavničkoj razini, te na razinama ponašanja aktera i političke kulture. Promašaje u analizi transformacijskih procesa pripisuje teorijama djelovanja koje su "tranzicijsku paradigmu" iz Južne Europe i Latinske Amerike naprosto presadile u Istočnu Europu. Teorije aktera su, pak, nastojale krajnje kompleksne promjene sustava u toj regiji izvesti iz vrlo formaliziranih i pojednostavnjenih konstelacija aktera, zanemarujući vrlo različite demokratizacijske potencijale pojedinih zemalja. U "teorijskom mraku" tako su ostale tri varijable – modernost, državnost i vanjski akteri – koje teorije modernizacije, teorije sustava i strukturalističke teorije stavljaju u središte svojih razmatranja, a koje su se pokazale iznimno važnima za razumijevanje transformacijskih procesa u Istočnoj Europi. ; The author polemises with once infl uential theories of transformation – whose greats are Jon Elster and Claus Off e – which were based on the theorem that a simultaneous successful economic and political – and, somewhere, state – transformation in Eastern Europe is not possible. Contrary to these theories, in most post-communist countries of Eastern Europe democracy has consolidated rather quickly. The author demonstrates this proposition by measuring the consolidation of new democracies according to Bertelsmann's transformation index (BTI) at four levels: the constitutional and representative level, and the levels of behaviour of actors and political culture. Failures in the analysis of transformation ...
In this article, the author relates the role of money & finances with the basic structuring of social relations. Money is the only universal form of social wealth, its measure & its meaning. Up to the present, however, the economic theory has been underestimating & overlooking money's politico-economic role. This is revealed most radically in periods of major financial & economic crises. Consequently, the author points out that today's economy of depression often depresses the economists themselves & their science. Bidet's theory of modernity, along with Habermas's, is the last large-scale attempt at theoretical explanation of the social totality, but his theoretical reconstruction of society by means of underlying "metastructures" is based on non-financial & non-monetary forms of social mediation. In contrast, the author of this article seeks to prove that precisely money & finances belong to the central metastructure of market society. What is important here is not only the subversive role of money as the monopoly-holding & political good in the exchange, but also its financial form of debt, resulting from the particular social role of debt accumulation. Society is connected with debt accumulation, & the economic sovereignty of money is its political legitimacy as debt. Therein lies its sociality, the foundation of underlying communication & of cooperation as metastructure of market society development. The present-day crisis has propelled the debt accumulation problem to absurd levels. It has brought to light that the greatest contradictions of today's market society are based on the economic & social globalization of finances. Contemporary capitalism is a genuine financial capitalism, which is why there can be no solution without a politico-economic & cultural reconstruction of the monetary regime & of financial economy. Accordingly, the author shows that the solution to the current economic crisis points precisely to the "metastructure" of market society. Adapted from the source document.
Of all the freedoms for which the Cold War was fought, free enterprise was deemed sufficient for acquisition of all other freedoms. The task of political science should now be to expose the loose & insecure moorings of economic ideology & to develop an approach more appropriate to the realities of our time. Our new millennium is a corporate millennium that has been interpreted in the hegemonic model to mean private & free (that is, unregulated) markets. However, any theory capable of incorporating the corporation has to be one of political economy. The first section of this article identifies six state-provided assumptions homo economicus has to be able to make prior to making or entering a market, without which homo economicus stays home. The second section puts the issue in a global context by identifying three developmental tracks -- macro, meso, & micro. Their existence denies the possibility of a pure economic theory of globalization. The third section describes the distinctive politics of each of the three tracks, demonstrating still more conclusively that political economy is the only approach competent to deal with the new corporate millennium. In conclusion, the author argues that political economy is & should be the new political science that this new era requires. 30 References. Adapted from the source document.
The paper examines the influence of neoclassical economics on the sociological approach to individual & collective behavior. The first part discusses the limitations of the Beckerian "hardcore" rationality model (homo economicus), leading to a dead-end street crowded with blinded economists & misled sociologists, as well as the virtues of the Simonesque "softcore" (or "contextual") rationality model, embracing the necessary sociocultural extensions. The second part of the paper confronts the "contextual," rational choice model with the "homo socioeconomicus" model of "embedded" rationality. Rejecting the "exogenous" (cynical) treatment of various effects of social interaction, displayed through the notion of refraction of rationality, the latter approach offers a more complex view of human motives partially molded by evolutionary (institutional) imperatives. 79 References. Adapted from the source document.
The paper examines the influence of neoclassical economics on the sociological approach to individual & collective behavior. The first part discusses the limitations of the Beckerian "hardcore" rationality model (homo economicus), leading to a dead-end street crowded with blinded economists & misled sociologists, as well as the virtues of the Simonesque "softcore" (or "contextual") rationality model, embracing the necessary sociocultural extensions. The second part of the paper confronts the "contextual," rational choice model with the "homo socioeconomicus" model of "embedded" rationality. Rejecting the "exogenous" (cynical) treatment of various effects of social interaction, displayed through the notion of refraction of rationality, the latter approach offers a more complex view of human motives partially molded by evolutionary (institutional) imperatives. 79 References. Adapted from the source document.
The author analyzes fundamental concepts of the school of rational expectation (RATEX, an offspring of the Chicago school of economics). Theoretical foundations of the neoclassical macroeconomy are set out: the hypothesis of rational expectations in the circumstances of perfect competition & the principle of strategic interdependence. Central to these are the hypotheses of variants, misallocation of resources, & neutrality of economic policy. Outlined are rent-seeking & direct unproductive profit-seeking as well as alternative models in the new theoretical economy: economic constitutionalism, deficitarians, the theory of political business cycles, & supply-side economics. 22 References. Adapted from the source document.
The author demonstrates the importance of public finances as a source of the theory of public choice. He identifies the contributions of the continental theorists of public choice from the late 19th & early 20th centuries, particularly that of the Swedish economist Knut Wicksell. The author considers his concept of the method of fair taxation the central source of the theory of public choice by James Buchanan & other representatives of the Virginian school. In the author's opinion, Wicksell's approach is basically normative, but the author's detailed analysis of Wicksell's key work on the theory of fair taxation points to a series of salient points that are redolent of the positive theory of public choice as it was mapped out in the mid-20th century. 18 References. Adapted from the source document.
One of the rules of international economic relations is that small countries are more dependent on intense international economic cooperation than are large states. This cooperation is not, in principle, completely liberalized, but depends on a number of multilateral & bilateral agreements. Aspiring to put in order its own economic position internationally, Croatia was first directed to regulate its relations with the European community. In these efforts, Croatia was faced with unequal treatment compared to Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, & Slovenia. The author shows that this unfavorable attitude toward Croatia is partially the result of political demands & the interests of the European community. Adapted from the source document.
In: Razvoj - development, international: journal of problems of socio-economic development, developing countries and international relations, Band 7, Heft 1, S. 5-19