(049) THE LONG SHADOW OF ORDOLIBERALISM: GERMANY’S APPROACH TO THE EURO CRISIS

Author(s): Sebastian Dullien,Ulrike Guerot / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2012

The new treaty agreed by European leaders in January reflects Germany’s distinctive approach to the euro crisis rather than collective compromise. Much to the frustration of many other eurozone count-ries, Germany has imposed its own approach – centred on austerity and price stability at the expense of economic growth – on others without considering whether the institutional flaws of monetary union beyond a lack of fiscal control may be the cause of some of the distortions and problems that the cur-rent euro crisis has exposed or whether its approach could have a negative impact on other eurozone countries. German economic orthodoxy has been widely criticised elsewhere in Europe. This brief explores the historical and ideological foundations of German economic thinking and discusses how it differs from mainstream international economic discourse. It argues that there is more to Germany’s distinctive approach to the euro crisis than the much-discussed historical experience of the hyperinflati-on in the Weimar Republic on the one hand and simple national interest on the other. Rather, there is an ideological edifice behind German economic orthodoxy with which Germany’s partners must enga-ge. While a change in the government after the next general election, in 2013, would lead to a change in German economic policy, it is unlikely to dramatically change the country’s approach to the euro crisis.

(Re)acting Together: Grexit as Revival of Intellectuals

Author(s): Gazela Pudar Draško / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2015

The paper explores the messages of engaged global intellectuals in the case of Grexit, the case of Greek attempt to break up with neoliberal practices and produce a left turn in politics and society, which was followed worldwide. How their words contribute to the general understanding (if there is one) and change (if there should be change)? What kind of action we can expect from intellectuals, as it is intrinsic to the concept? The issues examined in this paper deal with the intellectuals as bearers of articulating social critique, focusing on the specific Greek case in the time of temptations.

1 KASIM 2015 SEÇİMLERİNDE AK PARTİ’NİN SİYASAL KAMPANYASINDA YER ALAN EKONOMİK VAATLERİN SEÇİM SONUÇLARINA YANSIMASI

Author(s): Tuba Kalçik / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 30/2016

Political parties in a democratic system, are trying to get his/her vote by convincing voters. Parties make political campaign which is a political communication activities to convince voters. Parties use election promises as an important instrument of political campaign in order to be attracted the vote of the electorate. Promises which are made to answer the main problems of the country, the electorate’s expectations and demand’s, function as an effective tool to convince. In this study, it is appeared that how the economic promises which are used in AK Party’s political campaign in 1 November general election affect the election results.

12 Eylül 2010 Referandum Sürecinin Türkiye’deki Yazili Basinda Sunumu

Author(s): Levent Yaylagül,Cengiz Çiçek / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 68/2011

In this study, the way the political campaign process of referendum, held on September 12 (2010), was represented in the Turkish press is analyzed. From 1 to 13 September, the news about the referendum in the newspapers is analyzed through the technique of content and discourse analysis. Evrensel (a sample of radical left), Cumhuriyet (a sample of central left), Hürriyet/ Sabah/ Bugün (three samples of the mainstream newspapers), Zaman (a sample of pro-Islamist press) and Yeniçağ (a sample of ultra-right nationalist movement) were chosen as a sample of Turkish press. This study is based on the assumption that the content of newspapers are determined by the context of political economy of the conditions in which they operate, and their ideological orientations. Accordingly Evrensel, Cumhuriyet, and Yeniçağ have a critical standpoint towards the government’s approach and in their news texts they advice to their reader to vote for “No” in the referendum poll. But three newspapers, mentioned above, have different ideological rationale in their news texts in accordance with their ideological orientations. Accordingly, daily Evrensel, the sample of radical left, took the position in the news texts about the referendum process in accordance with the interest of labour class. Daily Cumhuriyet, the sample of left of the center or Kemalist left, focused on the changes in the structure of supreme court and the ideological changes in the structure of Turkish Republic, which constitutional amandment will bring. Daily Yeniçağ with an ultranationalist reflex, claims in the news texts that as a result of referendum poll the country would be divided and free Kurdistan would be announced in the South-east part of Turkey. In contrary to these critical standpoint, daily Hürriyet, daily Sabah, daily Bugün (three samples of mainsream newspapers in Turkey) and (pro-Islamist) daily Zaman supported the arguments of government that in the country there was a military guardianship and with the referendum, the country would be more democratic and as a result of democratization, the amount of foreign capital in the country would increase which would result in a rise in prosperity. Accordingly, the last four newspapers mentioned above, supported and reproduced the dominant discourse of the government. To sum up, the assumption that the contextof political economy of press, which directs the ideological orientation of the newspaper, determine the content and discourse of newspapers, was confirmed.

1919’da Bakü: İngiltere-Sovyet Rusya Hâkimiyet Mücadelesi

Author(s): Erdem Karaca / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 30/2016

The most strategic demand of the First World War was inarguably the oil. The places which the “Big Powers” mostly focused on for the supply of oil was East Europe, Black Sea, The Caspian Sea region. The operations which aimed to gain the dominancy over the region had continued after the war in 1919 as well as during the war times. The English who knew the strategic importance of the Caucasian Region, did not only control the oil regions in Baku but also caused major industrial losses in Soviet Russia. Apart from the Caucasian Region, the English also tried to gain the unilateral dominancy over the Black Sea, Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. The Soviet rulers who were trying to displace the Czarist Russia, also set eyes on the same region for it was vital for their future and to this respect fired the start of an extensive battle. On one hand, while the political, economical and military conflicts were going on, on the other hand, the ideological arguments had become the fundamental element of the expansionist policies. As the main sources of this study, Die Rote Fahne (Vienna), Pester Lloyd (Budhapest), Wiener Zeitung (Vienna) were thoroughly reviewed

1989: Szempontok a rendszerváltás globális politikai gazdaságtanához

Author(s): Márk Áron Éber,Ágnes Gagyi,Tamás Gerocs,Csaba Jelinek,András Pinkasz / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 21/2014

This article rethinks 1989 – the year commonly treated as a milestone of regime change. As contrary to this narrow view, and with the aim of laying out the conceptual foundations of possible future research projects, we give a short overview of the way Hungary became incorporated into the capitalist world system and of the key global, economic, and geopolitical factors that influenced its dependent development. For this we present a historically sensitive, global political economic narrative within which we pay special attention to the way public debt had been accumulated and how this, in turn, shaped Hungary’s position within the world system. After our analysis of the regime change we continue with an overview of the main structural dynamics of the last two decades. Finally, through two short case studies, we show how our perspective can throw new light on the political ideologies and economic policies of the era. The accumulation of state debt was not a Hungarian specificity: instead, we argue that it was rather a result of the global restructuring process and of its concomitant effect of decreasing national state-sovereignty. In the following manner, we also argue that the emergence of debates (which were central in evaluating the regime change, revolving around issues like „democracy” vs. „dictatorship” or „planning” vs. „market”) can be better understood within our global, historical, and political economic analytical framework. In the long run we identify two economic development strategies – namely, the strategy of liberalization and the strategy of protectionism – both structured around the, nonetheless entirely unfulfilled, hope of overcoming Hungary’s semi-peripheral position by „catching up” to its Western neighbors. These strategies then can be analyzed on the base of how they relate to global cycles of accumulation; how their shifts were influenced by changes in the world system; and, in turn, how these strategies organized both various elite projects shaped by global cyclical dynamics and the interpretations about our historically unfolding dependent position.

1990’lardan 2000’lere Rusya’da Devletin Dönüşümünün Ekonomi-Politiği: Bir Neo-Otoriter Düzenleyici Devlet Modeline Doğru

Author(s): Emek YILDIRIM / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: spec. 1/2018

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, by pioneering of the international finance institutions, “shock therapy” neoliberal agenda, which were previously applied to Latin America, has been actualized initially in Russia and then in all post-Soviet countries. In the same time, while the state, which commanded both political and economic spheres in the Soviet era, has been diminished by the neoliberal policies in parallel to be through with the economic and socioeconomic spheres, nomenklatura, which were Soviet elites, has turned into the oligarchs and the economic power has been acquired by the oligarchs owing to the actualized neoliberal agenda. By the beginning of 2000s, after the coming to power of Vladimir Putin, the process of the rising authoritarianism of the state has started under the name of “strong state” notion. So to say, by coming to power of Putin, who displays a Leviathan profile as the form of the Russian state and even the Russian society, both political and economic transformations in Russia have been guaranteed. Therefore, in this work, it will aim to discuss the changing situation of the Russian state under the Putin’s government within this political and socio-economic framework.

21. YÜZYIL ENERJİ SAVAŞLARINDA TÜRK CUMHURİYETLERİ’NİN YERİ ve ÖNEMİ

Author(s): Çagri Kürsat Yüce / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 17/2013

Energy consumption and the need to continue on a global scale, as in the past and in recent years. Oil and natural gas will continue to be the primary energy source until 2030 despite all the alternatives to meet this need. As a result of this situation, energy resources will continue to be one of the most important determinants of the twenty-first century. In addition, at least a half century, dominance of oil in the field of energy will continue to. Energy experts frequently reported that the “cheap oil” era has ended and price volatility in the oil market will continue to today.The Caucasus and Turkestan (Central Asia) regions including the Turkish Republics maintained its importance throughout history due to various reasons. Today, however, due to the rich energy resources, especially oil and natural gas, they took part in the world’s agenda. In this study, the important actors of the energy wars and reserve status of the energy resources of the Turkish Republics in the Caucasus and Turkestan regions were briefly described. In addition, as well as importance of energy resources for the region and the world’s nations, beginning in the late twentieth century and growing competition over energy resources of the Caspian Sea were discussed today.

A ‘Happy’ Coincidence: Cognitive Capitalism and Well-Being Enhancement in Schools

Author(s): James Reveley / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

‘Almost certainly we are witnessing a shift to...a market individualism of neoliberalism where the self is shaped as a utility maximiser, a free and contractual individual, who is self-constituted through the market choices and investment decisions that he/she makes....In the face of increasingly technical and functional forms of literacy and of schooling, we might inquire whether school in an age of consumerism promotes a relation to the self based on truth-telling or whether this relation has been replaced by another primary ethos: happiness, security, survival, success, ‘self-improvement,’ wealth.’ (Besley and Peters, 2007: 18)

A digitalis térbeli kiigazítás

Author(s): Daniel Greene,Daniel Joseph / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 23/2018

This article brings distinct strands of the political economy of communication and economic geography together in order to theorise the role digital technologies play in Marxian crisis theory. Capitalist advances into digital spaces do not make the law of value obsolete, but these spaces do offer new methods for displacing overaccumulated capital, increasing consumption, or accumulating new, cheaper labour. We build on David Harvey’s theory of the spatial fix to describe three digital spatial fixes, fixed capital projects that use the specific properties of digital spaces to increase the rate of prof- it, before themselves becoming obstacles to the addictive cycle of accumulation: the primitive accumulation of time in the social Web, the annihilation of time by space in highfrequency trading, and affect rent in virtual worlds. We conclude by reflecting on how these digital spatial fixes also fix the tempo of accumulation and adjust the time-scale of Marxian crisis theory.

A fáraó varázsol. A rezsicsökkentés beágyazottsága

Author(s): M. Tamás Horváth / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 3/2016

A Historical Development of Neo-liberalism

Author(s): Davor Paukovic / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

Neo-liberalism is, undoubtedly, today’s dominant economical and political ideology. This paper is an attempt to give a general outline of where it derived from, what was it based on, and how it became the leading driving force in the field of economy and politics.

A logit analysis of development and democracy. The Romania's case

Author(s): Mihai Mutascu ,Anne-Marie Fleischer / Language(s): English / Issue: Spec/2011

The paper analyzes empirically, in Romania’s case, the relationship between economic development (dependent variable) and its political factors (independent variables). The analysis is based on the construction of a linear “Logit Model” and the data set is covering the period 1926- 2007. The main results show that, in Romania’s case, which the economy has an expansive and competitive market, the economic development, can be accompanied, by high levels of democratization, with high political stability, on a republican base, but this is not a rule.

A Soros Alapítvány képzőművészeti támogatásai Magyarországon: A nyolcvanas évek második felének tendenciái

Author(s): Kristóf Nagy / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 21/2014

The following paper examines the influence of the Soros Foundation over the internal and external relations of the Hungarian art field form 1984 to 1989. More specifically, it investigates the forms and directions of fine art subsidization and their political and ideological contexts. The activities performed by the Soros Foundation in the second half of the 1980s can be seen as part of a regime change within the artistic scene. In their struggle for cultural hegemony various actors related to the Foundation were able to strengthen their counter-hegemonic artistic practices. Opposing the late socialist artistic hegemony of the Kádár regime, this also was the period when „contemporary” art appeared in Hungary for the first time. As a result, Hungarian art had been put into context with the Western art world: new dependencies were formed, within which Hungarian and Eastern European art found itself in a peripheral position. An important consequence of this was that Eastern European artists became forced to continually demonstrate their Europeanness both internally and externally.

Adam Smith’in Devlet Anlayışı Üzerine Kuramsal Bir İnceleme

Author(s): Kürsad Zorlu,Hale Kirmizioglu / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 22/2018

The purpose of this study is to throw light on the state, one of the most important structures in social sciences and its functions. This great structure on which the discussions have not been ended and which has been defined in terms of every social science. For this purpose, the ideas of Adam Smith who handled and examined the state in terms of its functions especially in economic realm were prioritised general overview of the state. Since, Adam Smith’s conception of the state presents a different content than the other prominent mainstream economic thinkers of his time. In order to understand Smith’s thought system and his views of state from a managerial perspective, his views in his two primary works – The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations and other discussions concerned with these views in literature were included in this study.

Adam Smith’s natural liberty system

Author(s): Janina Godlów-Legiedz / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

The aim of the article is to show the falsity of the dominant perception of Adam Smith’s doctrine. In the context of different interpretations, the paper draws attention to four issues. Firstly, the formalistic revolution in economics contributed to ignoring the institutional dimension of the market mechanism. Secondly, the idea of natural liberty emerged as a reaction to the mercantilist policy and was directed not against the sovereign as such but against policies advancing particular interests. Thirdly, the liberty was to serve not only the capital and the employer but, above all, the labor and the employee. Fourthly, the Smithian market order is a form of metacoordination, hence John Nash's game theory cannot prove Smith's ideas wrong.

Akumulacja pierwotna i czasowości kapitalizmu

Author(s): Joanna Bednarek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 16/2015

The main thesis of the article is the statement that capitalism is composed of many different, incoherent temporalities, as well as that apprehension of capitalism from the angle of primitive accumulation enables the more accurate grasp of the modes of its functioning, including the complexity created by the interactions of the temporalities mentionned. The problem of primitive accumulation is, as Sandro Mezzadra proves, a good starting point for analysing this issue. It allows us to pose two questions: first, the question of the relation between the historical dimension and the structural logic of capitalism; second, the question of hierarchical relation between the center and the periphery of the capitalist system. Dipesh Chakrabarty’s project of ‘provincializing Europe’ proves helpful here, as it’s goal is deconstruction of the categories of progress, modernization and the capital with its abstract structure. The aim is not to negate the fact that capitalist abstraction is a real force, but to show that this force develops by means of constant assimiliation of the other – redefined as ‘backward’ or archaic. The linear scheme is in force, because it is the main mechanism of imposing the power of capital; as such, it is not politically neutral.

Alex Gourevitch, From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth

Author(s): Szilárd Tóth / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2016

Alex Gourevitch, From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth - Labor and Republican Liberty in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2015

Alternative

Author(s): Branko Horvat / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 12/2001

Bruto nacionalni proizvod neke zemlje može se razdijeliti na različite načine. Konkretno, može se razdijeliti tako da bolje zadovoljava manje hitne nego hitnije potrebe. U tom je slučaju opće blagostanje stanovništva ispod objektivno postizive razine. Ovaj jednostavni zdravorazumski pristup potiče dobro poznate i goleme analitičke i teoretske probleme. Ako prihvatimo - kao što se to općenito čini - da međupersonalne usporedbe blagostanja nisu moguće ili opravdane, tada izgleda da nema objektivnih kriterija za prosuđivanje relativne hitnosti potreba. Uz to, opće blagostanje ovisi ne samo o raspodjeli, već i o proizvodnji. Stoga imamo zamku povratne sprege u sistemu koji ne možemo mjeriti - jasnu analitički mrtvu točku.

An Austro-Libertarian Critique of Public Choice

Author(s): Thomas J. DiLorenzo,Walter E. Block / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2016

We do not say that the Public Choice School has not made any positive contribution to political economy. It has. The originators of it, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, along with their many followers and collaborators, have done important work on rational voter theory, setting up a meeting agenda, game theory, etc. Nor can we object to the application of economic theory to political issues. Far from it. However, the present book seeks to uncover its many failures. For example, the fact that underneath the veneer of its supposed adherence to value-free positive analysis lies a value-laden support for statism. To wit, its emphasis and reliance on “theoretical unanimity” not the actual unanimity incorporated in every commercial act under free enterprise. We also take issue with its nomenclature “rent seeking” albeit not the concept itself. Why pick on innocuous “rent” to describe crony capitalism?