Socialist Register 2002: A World of Contradictions

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 creates 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 façade 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.

Contents

• Naomi Klein, Farewell to “The End of History”: Organization and Vision in Anti-Corporate Movements
• André Drainville, Quebec City 2001 and the Making of Transnational Subjects
• Gérard Duménil & Dominique Lévy, The Nature and Contradictions of Neoliberalism
• Elmar Altvater, The Growth Obsession
• David Harvey, The Art of Rent: Globalization, Monopoly, and the Commodification of Culture
• Graham Murdock & Peter Golding, Digital Possibilities, Market Realities: The Contradictions of Communications Convergence
• Reg Whitaker, The Dark Side of Life: Globalization and International Crime
• Guglielmo Carchedi, Imperialism, Dollarization, and the Euro
• Susanne Soederberg, The New International Financial Architecture: Imposed Leadership and “Emerging Markets”
• Paul Cammack, Making Poverty Work
• Marta Russell & Ravi Malhotra, Capitalism and Disability
• Michael Kidron, The Injured Self
• David Miller, Media Power and Class Power: Overplaying Ideology
• Pablo González Casanova, Negotiated Contradictions
• Ellen Wood, Contradictions: Only in Capitalism?

Leo Panitch is professor of political science at York University in Toronto. Colin Leys was for many years professor of political science at Queen’s University in Canada.