A World of Contradictions: Socialist Register 2002 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1583670491 ISBN 13: 9781583670491

Publisher: Monthly Review Press, 2001

Synopsis

Radical politics have been defined in modern times-and distinguished from earlier traditions of protest-by the idea that economic, social and political structures are contradictory. Systems of exploitation create not only wealth and prosperity for the powerful, but at the same time bring into being the forces which ensure their own eventual downfall. But it is a large step from the general assertion that social forms contain their own contradictions to analysis of the specific contradictions which occur in a given historical context, their interaction and movement, and their possible historical outcomes.
This collection of essays examines social contradictions in the age of globalization in which old antagonisms often appear to be overcome, and new cracks are emerging in the facade of capitalist progress. Where do they occur? Where can they be expected to appear in future? How can they be grasped in a spirit of sober radicalism, which neither accepts the limits of the present nor overcomes them through wishful thinking alone? What possibilities do they offer for mobilizing resistance? These issues define an agenda which is critical for socialism in our time.
Contributors to this volume are especially concerned with capitalism as a global system today, dependent on the strength of the U.S. economy and currency and on global financial institutions such as the World Bank capable of carrying out the capitalist agenda. They provide a timely and critical analysis of what big corporations want and of the problems their agenda creates for their own continued dominance and prosperity.
Contributors include: Jim O'Connor, Ellen Wood, Gerard Dumenil, Aijaz Ahmad, Naomi Klein, Mino Carchedi, Reg Whitaker, Peter Golding and Graham Murdock, Mike Kidron, David Harvey, Pablo Gonzalez-Casanova, Elmar Altvater, Paul Cammack.

About this title

About the Authors

Leo Panitch is professor of political science at York University in Toronto and author of Renewing Socialism: Democracy, Strategy, and Imagination.

Colin Leys is Emeritus Professor of Political Studies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Edition details

• Publisher: Monthly Review Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1583670491
• ISBN 13: 9781583670491
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 308
• Editor: Panitch All Professors In Political Science Leo, Leys Colin