Search

Comments on papers presented at the American Political Science Panel on 'Transformation of Power in Communist Systems.' Comparative approach to succession in Communist regimes; Three aspects of periodization in any succession; Succession politics; Culture differences; Trend toward narrowing the pool of succession candidates.

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates factional arrangements within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the governing political party of the People's Republic of China. Using detailed biographical information of political elites in the Central Committee and provincial governments, we present a set of new empirical regularities within the CCP, including systematic patterns of cross-factional balancing at different levels of the political hierarchy and substantial faction premia in promotions. We propose and estimate an organizational economic model to characterize factional politics within single-party nondemocratic regimes and its economic implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper seeks to make a contribution towards a better understanding of the current global political unrest. It argues that this unrest reflects ongoing tensions between hierarchical and non-hierarchical interactions. It also argues that the opposition between hierarchical and non-hierarchical interactions is not ontological but rather is rooted in the way we approach reality and is, therefore, subject to our control. The tendency to exclude the process of construction from our frame of vision is characteristic for the view of reality that is dominant in our civilization. Contemporary theoretical perspectives that include, but are not limited to, systems theory, complexity theory, theory of self-organization, emergence theory and autopoiesis have much to offer in addressing and resolving this problem. The paper outlines some general organizing principles that should be part of this solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antonio Gramsci is widely celebrated for his conceptualisation of hegemony. This paper elucidates a related concept that appears frequently in Gramsci’s prison notebooks yet has been surprisingly under-emphasised: ‘conceptions of the world’. By conceptions of the world, Gramsci refers to things that inform our understanding of the world and our place in it. Each conception of the world is inherently practical and philosophical, relational and political. Gramsci argues that producing a new, effective conception of the world is the key to successfully building communism. It is therefore important to situate this concept in Gramsci’s thought. That is the aim of this paper, which elaborates on the implications of ‘conception of the world’ through a reading of Gramsci’s prison notes – particularly his commentaries on humanity and worldliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between mainstream development policy (and perhaps also development studies) and postcolonial theorists has often been characterized as a dialogue of the deaf. Rather like in the old ‘debates’ between adherents of modernization and neo-Marxist theories, the protagonists are often thought to be talking at or past one another, rather than with each other. This paper reassesses some firmly held views on both sides of the schism. On the one hand, many official development agencies appear to promote business as usual (often quite literally, as a recent War on Want report attests in the case of the UK's DFID using its aid budget to promote profitable opportunities for British corporations). On the other hand, some postcolonial purists rely on surprisingly modernist, totalizing discursive techniques while claiming post-structural credentials, or baulk at the prospects of practical engagement. Discrepancies between theory, discourse, policy and practice are not the preserve of one side. However, the middle ground is firmer and better trodden than most believe. Considerable progress has been made and the paper assesses examples of productive engagement and concludes with suggestions for carrying forward the challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses George Orwell's fictional story Animal Farm to make a comparison between Orwell's predictions and the Chinese experience with communism. An analogy is made between two characters from his novel, Napoleon the Boar, who attains power, and Boxer the horse, who does not. These are analogous to members and nonmembers of the Communist party, respectively. Readily available data by Griffen and Renwei (1988) are then used to compare the economic conditions of approximately 22,000 individuals. The empirical results strongly support many of Orwell's predictions. A theoretical predatory growth model that potentially explains the results is also introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an experiment in understanding the logic of communism from the perspective of political psychology. In Hungary, communism became a means for transforming the entire psychical make-up of a country in a moment of reduced intensity of consciousness, a transitory or liminal period, produced by the Second World War. In liminal conditions, unconscious impulses are set free that are channeled by the use of archetypical images. As an empirical case study, this paper discusses the speeches of the first post-war Hungarian Communist Party leader, Mátyás Rákosi, delivered in the years immediately after the devastations of the war, in an effort to discern the techniques and mechanisms by which the Communist Parry managed to capture the allegiance of a large segment of the population. The analysis of these speeches and their effects indicates that communism was not merely a consequence of Soviet occupation, and therefore the withdrawal of the troops did nor eliminate the lasting, mostly hidden but still predominant, effects of communism on the countries that were in its grip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new program in civic education was introduced in Poland in 1994 to foster support for democracy and a market economy among youth. This program was based on the active teaching/learning model of education, with frequent student participation in ‘democratic games’ and ‘market simulations.’ This paper focuses on a sample of students, ages 14 and 15, who participated in this program and contrasts them with students subjected to the traditional civics program. The main analysis of cross-sectional data (gathered in 1996) reveals two countervailing effects: Relative to students in the control group, students in the treatment group were less likely to take extreme anti-democratic or extreme anti-market positions, and they were less likely to take extreme pro-democratic or extreme pro-market positions. Additional analysis of panel data (1994–1996) supports the conclusion that active participation in civic education results in students `political attitudes regressing toward the mean, that is, in their rejection of extreme stances. These findings not only contradict the no-effect hypothesis but also demonstrate a peculiar, partially intended and partially unintended,impact of civic education in schools on political learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What has happened to incomes, inequality and satisfaction with living standards in the first stage of transition from a communist command economy to a market economy in East Germany? This paper tests six hypotheses about the transition to capitalism. Contrary to expectations, real incomes went up not down, net income inequality scarcely increased, and those who were previously advantaged did not become better off at the expense of the previously disadvantaged. A major reason for the last two results was that the Federal Republic's taxes and benefits, which were more progressive than the Communist regime's, had the effect of counteracting the increasing inequality of household gross incomes. It is also reported that, although real net incomes increased, satisfaction with living standards declined, probably because East Germans increasingly compared themselves with western counterparts. Optimism about the future declined in 1991-92 after reaching very high levels in 1990 immediately after the revolution. This paper is based on the first three waves of the East German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) conducted in June 1990 (N=4453 individuals in 2179 households), March-April 1991 and March-April 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that insights from Tocqueville help us to understand post-communism. Tocqueville is initially helpful in helping us appreciate the extraordinary vacuum that has followed the fall of state socialism. Vacuums tend to be filled, however, and the first part of the paper accordingly concerns itself with nationalism. But not every country suffers from nationalism, and the second part of the paper argues -- against currently dominant theory -- that instant democratization is not likely to stymie economic reform. The third part of the paper notes that the absence of a civil society is, in the long run, much more of a problem than a solution: the chances of successfully consolidating democracy depend upon destroying venal and cumbersome states and in creating leaner and more efficient replacements. The conclusion notes that a variety of regimes is likely to characterize the region once the initial period of vacuum has come to an end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comments critically on certain assertions about the relationship between racism and nationalism made by recent Marxist contributions to the debate about the nature and origins of nationalism. The ideas of 'race' and 'nation', and the ideologies of racism and nationalism, are shown to have certain common features which create the potential for their articulation rather than opposition. Thereafter, taking the particular example of England, it is argued that the ideology of racism can be used to define and sustain nationalism. 'These racial elements impose their modes of existence on nations circumscribing them within limits from which, like blind slaves, they do not even wish to escape, although they would not even have the strength to do so. They dictate their laws, inspire their wishes, control their sympathies and stir up their hatreds and contempts.'(n2) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that Marxist analyses in general, and those underpinned by a rationalist philosophy of science in particular, evince great difficulty in accounting lot the relationship between individuals and the social systemic constraints which influence their behaviour and consciousness. This is because of the assumption that such an account would necessarily be reductionist and empiricist. This paper argues that this is not the case and that a theorization of this relationship is a necessary correlate of a true science of the social. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses issues related to politics and employment relations as of 2003. Politics and employment relations have always overlapped. But postwar conceptions of political systems, rooted in pluralism, encouraged a separation of the political from the industrial, and the associated notion of an autonomous industrial relations system. Current debates within the study of politics and employment relations mirror the common legacies of the rise of neoliberalism and decline of Soviet communism. One consequence of the rise of neoliberalism on the one hand, and the dispersal of governance into a multiplicity of agencies and levels on the other, has been a discarding of the theories of corporatism that once dominated political analysis of economic policy and interest group intermediation. The developments in politics suggest areas of overlap between political and employment relations at the supranational, national and individual levels. First is the question of the extent to which supranational forces and institutions are reducing the scope for choice in national policy-making. Second, the role of the interests of employers and workers, and the way they are institutionalized in national public policy-making arenas, are central to network theory and conceptions of multi-level governance. Third, the increased role that the concept of social capital is playing in political analysis reflects in part a concern about falling individual participation in electoral politics, and about the meaning of citizenship in collectivist, more marketized, societies.

The nations of the industrialized capitalist world are characterized by a tendency to reduce the length of time employees normally spend at work. Through capitalism's long history mercantilists, classicalists, Marxists and marginalists have devoted a great deal of effort to attempting to explain why it is that standard times should tend to change. This paper overviews the major contributions to the debate. Various theories are examined and their emergence and fates placed in an historical context. Marginalism's preference argument which presently dominates the debate is challenged by showing that within Marxism there exists an alternative explanation for this phenomenon which is not based on income but on the innate limitations of human beings. Until the 1950s, it is argued, the human limits approach dominated the whole issue of worktime and the essence of this contribution has never been refuted but has been simply deleted from the discussion. Consequently the whole contemporary debate is being conducted on the basis of unjustified assumptions and this is rendering discussion increasingly sterile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an analysis of the role of language in historical class formation in light of the recent developments in postmodern social theory and historiography. Revisionists from within this perspective have questioned if not abandoned E. P. Thompson's class struggle analysis, arguing that he fails to account for the constitutive character of language in the construction of collective identities. They oppose his account of the making of the English working class with alternative histories emphasizing populist and other non-class identities. Drawing on the Bakhtin Circle of literary studies, and returning to Thompson's own writings, I argue that we can incorporate language into class struggle analysis as a critical mediating force. I maintain that class struggle occurs largely within a hegemonic discursive formation, and that class consciousness and identity thus in part are formed through counter-hegemonic strategies of resistance to ideological domination. To illustrate this theory I analyse the role of language in the class struggles of the silk weavers of the Spitalfields district in London in the 1820s. I analyse how the silk weavers articulated a class consciousness through their counter-hegemonic struggles with the large capitalists and the language of political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines several rather obscure but important thinkers who attempt a synthesis of revolutionary Marxism and empirical science They are relatively obscure because, we shall see, their non-Cartesian, dialectical empirical science never adequately connects revolution and empirical verification However, they are important because their nonreductive empirical studies open entirely new areas of historical and social research to Marxists heretofore obsessed with economics Empirical Marxism wall be traced through the work of theorists who self-consciously formulate an empirical Marxist alternative to orthodox dialectical materialism This strategy, unfortunately, excludes important Marxist historians, political economists, Sociologists, and anthropologists who productively make operational a (reflectively or non-reflectively) accepted empirical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first part of the paper, a model is proposed which places the Marxian and Sraffian conceptions of a capitalist economy in a general equilibrium framework. A central concern of these writers is that the economy be reproducible; this is incorporated formally into the equilibrium definition. Capitalists maximize profits subject to a capital constraint and workers are paid a subsistence wage. Equilibrium existence theorems are proved. In the second part, the welfare properties of the equilibria are examined—which, in the Marxian tradition, involve the notion of exploitation. It is shown that the possibility of exploitation is necessary and sufficient for all equilibria to sustain positive profits, if a certain technological condition holds. Finally, the notion of a subsistence bundle is dispensed with, and a Marxian determination of workers' consumption is proposed. In addition to placing the formal Marxian model into a general equilibrium context, the specification of production here is more general than the usual Leontief or von Neumann technologies: production sets are assumed to be only convex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a systematic introduction to the major themes of Jürgen Habermas' formulation of critical social theory. A discussion of his views on knowledge, cognitive interests, and scientific method is followed by an account of his social theory and his attempt to combine Marxism with mainstream sociology. In criticism it is argued that Habermas has not yet solved all the problems of a ‘realist’ approach to sociology and that his synthesis is incomplete. It is argued that sociology can progress through a critical dialogue with Habermas' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to grasp the process of modernization in rural China during a period of social transformation that saw the overlapping of Communism and Modernism. Founded in 1958, Weixing Commune was the first funded People's Commune and a group of architectural professionals participated in its design. The analysis of the concept and planning method of Weixing commune clearly indicates that, when facing the task of designing the commune in the 1950s under the communist ideology, the design group tried to adapt the concept of modern urban planning from the west. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop a simple model to study the effect of age structure on the interactions between the state and dissidents. Younger populations are more prone to protest. As the population grows younger, states that can discriminately target repression to different groups, but cannot concede discriminately, decrease repression. In contrast, states that can target concession, but not repression, increase repression. We test these results in nonmilitary single-party regimes and military regimes without political parties. Moreover, we study state response to dissent in East European communist regimes in the late 1980s, showing that state response was more repressive in countries with younger populations. ( JEL D74) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is frequently argued that unemployment plays a crucial role in the occurrence of right-wing extremist crimes (RECs). We test this hypothesis empirically using data from Germany. We find that right-wing criminal activities occur more frequently when unemployment is high. The substantial difference in the numbers of RECs occurring in the East and West German states can mostly be attributed to differences in unemployment. This finding reinforces the importance of unemployment as an explanatory factor for RECs, and it questions explanations based solely on the different socialization in former communist East Germany and the liberal West German states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Postsocialist nostalgia” among Turkish immigrant women from Bulgaria is not just strategic performance to negotiate the challenges that face working women in Turkey but is also cross-cultural analysis based on the migrants’ experiences of distinct gender regimes on the two sides of the border. I explore why the competition between established residents and newcomers over scarce resources becomes, in this instance, the ground for negotiation over proper gender roles. I also suggest that the migrants’ appeal to the communist legacy posits an alternative to either “normalizing” or “Orwellizing” communism and that it offers a more nuanced understanding of the norms and practices of gender and labor under communism, as experienced by this particular group of minority women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary topic in this discussion is the brief career of anthropological structural Marxism and the possibility of its continued relevance. That issue is framed by a more general one: on what basis are explanatory theories adopted and discarded in anthropology? The discussion of structural Marxism is framed within recent debates about the desirability of socio-cultural anthropology's traditional associations with other sub-fields of anthropology, and it is argued that the isolation of sub-fields is a regressive theoretical move. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) as well as its relationship with right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and conservative ideology was tested in three Flemish samples. In the first study conducted on a sample of ordinary voters (N = 208), a newly developed LWA scale was found to be internally consistent and to show high construct validity In the second study, another voter sample (N = 264) and a sample of political activists (N = 69) were tested. In the two samples of ordinary voters, only a few people obtained high LWA scores. Moreover, the aggression and submission items did not load on distinct components and LWA was positively related to RWA and cultural conservatism and negatively to economic conservatism. Conversely in the political activist sample high LWA scores were common among left-wing extremists and evidence was found for a two-dimensional LWA aggression-submission structure. LWA was negatively related to RWA, cultural conservatism, and economic conservatism. The concept of LWA and its theoretical underpinnings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the transition period in Hungary the role of the market has become more significant, and several market elements have appeared in education, as well. The growing social demand for schooling resulted in the huge expansion of secondary and higher education. Schools try to match the demand with the supply in a colourful variety of programmes. However, public education in Hungary struggles with very great problems of inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the end of the Cold War brought the transformation of the communist bloc, some states have resisted the ensuing wave of democratization. This study assumes that important mechanisms of continuity and change in communist states are situated in the belief systems of their leaders and that the years between 1985 and 1991 were a catalytic period. What did Fidel Castro of Cuba and Kim Il Sung of North Korea learn from the end of the Cold War? Their belief systems are examined prior to 1985 and after 1991, i.e., before and after the collapse of other communist regimes. If learning has occurred, it should be reflected in a comparison of their beliefs for these time periods. Our results from ANOVA analyses indicate that Fidel Castro engaged in some learning but Kim Il Sung did not. This finding is complemented by the results of a MANOVA analysis, which indicate that the end of the Cold War had only a modest impact on Fidel Castro and Kim Il Sung, independent of their specific personalities. We conclude by drawing attention to the ensuing debate between structural- and agent-level theorizing and by giving some suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

, ) theoretical constructs of Exit and Voice represent a useful way to think about citizenship. Exit refers to a desire to emigrate and can be construed as apolitical, private, and passive—a threat to citizenship—whereas Voice refers to political commitment and can be construed as ideal citizenship. A survey of 560 Bulgarian university students in 1998 explored their emphasis on Exit and Voice (as options for themselves in the future) and the association of each option with different economic, political, and psychological factors. One in four students wanted to emigrate, and half of them considered leaving the country for a period of time. Exit plans appeared mainly to be triggered by a wish to participate in the consumer culture, but were also associated with a critical view of the political system as well as a rejection of tradition in conjunction with a Western identity. Although most of the students shared vague or ideal Voice-related plans, few wanted to become actively involved in politics. An emphasis on Voice reflected not only a somewhat limited political engagement but also a more traditionalistic attitude associated with plans for a career and family. The findings indicate that a normative separation between Exit and Voice as theoretical concepts does not cover the complexities of the Bulgarian students’ emigration and political involvement plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article profiles economic historian Mark Blaug. Blaug was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in the Netherlands, where his father was a successful raincoat manufacturer, the Raincoat King of the Netherlands. Following high school, Blaug attended New York University, where he quickly became an avowed Marxist. The Marxist theory that economic interests and economic forces are the foundations of all social and political conflicts led Blaug to the study of economics, and to a rapid abandonment of his Marxist view. He graduated from Queens College of the City University of New York in 1950 and began Doctor of Philosophy work at Columbia. In 1962, still considering himself a European, Blaug joined the London Institute of Education as a professor in the new field of economics of education, a position he held for twenty-three years. Besides history of economic thought, Blaug also studies economic methodology. In 1980 he published The Methodology of Economics, or How Economists Explain. 16 In his autobiography, he describes himself as an unregenerate Popperian, 17 an adherent of Karl Popper's concept of predictionism, that is, the idea that theories must ultimately be judged by the accuracy of their prediction.

In 1990 the former communist trade unions in Russia adopted a programme of social partnership, the aim of which was to defend their members’ interests during transition while also maintaining social peace. But critics of social partnership within the union movement argue that it amounts to little more than an excuse for inaction. To examine whether social partnership represents a departure from the collaborationist habits of the Soviet past, I examine 33 case studies of conflict at enterprise level conducted between 1999 and 2000. This analysis reveals considerable continuity with Soviet practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the emergence of the Maoist revolutionary movement in Nepal. Launch of the so-called People's War by the Nepalese Maoist Party; Reason for the gradual weakening of the royal power in Nepal; Incident of regicide in the country; Elaboration on the political history in the country.

The Catholic Church could not compromise with Communist states due to ideological incompatibility between atheist Marxism-Leninism and religious beliefs. Christianity, in the perception of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), had been closely linked with "foreign cultural imperialism" This study examines the clash of authority between the CCP and Catholic Church over seminary training, elucidating the CCP's desire to retain institutional and ideological control over this particular sector of Chinese society. The findings highlight the ideological conflict between the dialectic materialism of the CCP, combined with the economic materialism (i.e., to get rich is glorious) mentality of the Deng Xiaoping-Jiang Zemin era, and religious idealism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the film `Ermo,' directed by Zhou Xiaowen, and its depiction of the new rural Chinese economy. Comparison of the chief's character to a deposed communist cadre and how he copes with the new privatized China; Modern technology as source of life's complications; Reflection of factional power struggles and competition for scarce resources in the film `Looking for Fun.'

This article informs that one of the great virtues of democratic capitalism is that it is hospitable to any form of economic organization, the solo proprietor, the several kinds of partnership, the non-profit corporation, the producer and consumer cooperative, even the communist commune, and finally the several types of corporation. If the modern private, for profit corporation has predominated, it is because it has won out in the marketplace. They discuss critical issues regarding the moral behavior of corporate executives and policy makers in society, in the corporation and as individual citizens. In our a-moral society, no study is more practical. We cannot achieve the good society until we achieve a just one.

Coinciding with the popularity of postmodern theory, the fall of communism appeared to offer further evidence of the exhaustion of modernity. Such analysis is grounded in a view that the Soviet system was the epitome of modernity. An alternative approach regards post-communism as opening new terrains of struggle for modernity. Thus Habermas and others suggest that post-communist societies are rejoining the trajectory of western modernity whose problems they now recapitulate. This alternative view implies that Soviet systems were something other than `modern', although their nature is not always clearly defined. However, even if post-communist societies do encounter problems of modernity, they do so in new circumstances where modernist notions of social development have become problematic. This article argues that, contrary to those who regard modernization or postmodernization as irresistible trends, core post-communist societies are likely to develop along an alternative path to that of western modernity. This is tentatively described as `neo-mercantilist'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the changing political philosophy of Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis since the publication of Schooling in Capitalist America and Democracy and Capitalism. Bowles and Gintis did not start Left criticisms of schooling, their achievement was to focus attention directly on the capitalist economy per se. In so doing, they tended in Schooling in Capitalist America to represent the economic base as having a series of social levels one of which is schooling, stacked on top. Understandably, the book attracted a considerable amount of criticism from neo-Marxists, sympathetic to its commitment, but critical of its economic determinism. Writing as Gintis and Bowles, their response was the formulation, in their article Contradiction and Reproduction in Educational Theory, of a theory of sites and practices. Site they define as a cohesive area of social life characterized by a specified set of characteristic social relations or structures. By practice they mean individual, group or class intervention to transform some aspects of social reality. The theory pinpoints three distinct sites--state, family and capitalist production--all of which they argue are fundamental to the dynamics of advanced capitalism. Thus they move out of economic determinism and also encompass an increased awareness of gender--the patriarchal nuclear family. Bowles and Gintis not only reject the determining effect of the economy but argue that social change is the product of the collision of personal and property rights rather than the result of the internal contradictions of the system of capitalist accumulation. A rejection of Marxism is also apparent in their theory of the state. In Democracy and Capitalism their theoretical position on the state is less easy to discern. They do describe it as scrupulously liberal yet now suggest that it has the monopoly of the means or coercion.

Explains the differential treatment of inequalities in socialist societies. Key problem that need to overcome in creating a socialist and a communist society; Distinctive patterns of inequality across different political-economic systems; Importance of political choice; Different dimensions of leadership of socialist system.

The article discusses neo-Weberian revolution. Social scientists, have long appreciated Max Weber, sociologist and neo-Weberian is a term that can be applied to many thinkers over the nearly three-quarters of a century since Weber's death. Moreover, it has been well known for decades that disenchanted Marxists often find suitable bourgeois refuge in Weber. But what have been witnessed in the last ten years or so is something much more dramatic, something characteristic of a very large segment of sociology. Rather than an attempt to replace Karl Marx, sociologist with Weber, the neo-Weberian revolution is a widespread move toward reappropriating and extending Weberian theoretical categories by thinkers who, for the most part, continue to see great value in Marxism. One fundamental characteristic of the neo-Weberian revolution is that the Max Weber being embraced is a rather new one, Weber the idealist, the Parsonian Weber, has been replaced by Weber the conflict theorist. Some of the most recent contributions to neo-Weberianism show it to be a mixed bag. If in regard to the state and the geopolitical arena neo-Weberianism advances the understanding in an important way, with respect to a solid theory of historical change it is still not up to Marxism's standards.

The original young Turks, political reformers and ardent nationalists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gave a term that for some time has had a wide and varied usage. In America, voices of young Turks have often been heard and sometimes heeded, in political parties, Congress, labor unions, professional and scholarly organizations. Frequently young Turks are taken to be merely youthful dissenters or youngsters on the rise. In the 1970s, Marxism and neo-Marxism flourished in history and the social sciences, especially among graduate students and young academics. Marxist sociologists are young Turks only in a restricted sense. The main target of their revolt lies in the area of scholarship, not in the organizational status quo. In research and theoretical writings they are bent to demonstrate the scientific validity of a Marxist approach and to challenge opposing conceptions and findings.

Copyright of Population & Development Review is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this article is, first, to examine how Marx's theory contributes to an understanding of' uneven rural development and, second, to use a historical case study of uneven capitalist development in cotton production in the American South during the period from 18701930 to inform the theory and to provide a better understanding of some of the obstacles to the capitalist development of agriculture. Through a comparative, regional analysis, some of the social, historical, and technical factors that accounted for this uneven development are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the tradition of Western Marxism-focusing upon key differences between Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt School-in an effort to suggest what it is about this tradition that accounts for its widespread appropriation in contemporary Christian political thought. The work of the Frankfurt School and Gramsci is representative of the shift within Marxism toward a concern with the politics of consciousness, the political-ideological role of intellectuals, the relation of theory and praxis, and the theorization of domination in advanced capitalist societies. These are concerns that serve as a bridge between Western Marxism and the Christian political ethics of such writers as Jose Miguez Bonino, Cornel West, and Charles Davis. Yet there remain important differences between the Frankfurt School and Davis on the one hand and Miguez Bonino, West, and Gramsci on the other. These differences can be seen in their divergent understandings of the nature and purpose of thought and in their divergent analyse of the relation between the state and civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regime change is closely connected to elite change, although classical theories of elite rule would predict considerable elite continuity. The basic question is how the downfall of communist regimes and introduction of democracy have affected elite patterns in the three Baltic states. The data indicate a combination of continuity and change: circulation of indigenous elites has taken place, while Russians are excluded from power in important state institutions. Elite continuity is explained by lack of "alternative elites" and a need for competent leaders in the state building process. Elite change is explained by ethnic cleavages which raise the issue of indigenous control over power positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the impact of the breakdown of Communism on liberalism in the free world. Difficulty in establishing liberal regimes in the Middle East and Eastern Europe; Recognition of the threat of Russia due to its instability as opposed to its position as a superpower; Emergence of a crisis from both external relationships between states and internal structures; Explanation of the phenomenon.

This article discusses the influence of the author Henry George's works on former Chinese political leader Sun Yat-Sen. Sun Yat Sen played a major role in modern Chinese political history. He helped to overthrow the monarchy in 1911-12, was the first president of the new Chinese republic and was a major founder of the Kuomintang as a powerful political organization, which combined communist and non-communist elements. George's references to China were not mere idle flattery, they helped to identify the problem. George stressed that this great civilization had experienced a rise and fall, which is the universal rule. The author of the article have stressed Henry George's direct references to China, his strong condemnation of imperialism, his dislike of the Malthusian theory, his strong criticism of contemporary capitalism and his vision of the better world which could be achieved by proper policies. In some instances, Sun followed George's lead directly. There were major differences, Sun favored tariff protection, reacting against the free trade policy, which had been forced on China by imperialist action from the western powers.

Henry George, the American economist and social philosopher, considered it an anomoly that, under modern industrial conditions, progress and poverty should march together. He recognized that the juxtaposition of wealth and want was a worldwide phenomenon and traced its cause to monopoly, particularly the monopoly of land and natural resources. Realizing that current taxes on consumption and production were disincentives to capital and labor, he proposed that governments tax the only true surplus, economic rent, through land value taxation This would enable the people to reassert their common title to the land-the earth. His message was accorded a more favorable reception abroad than at home. Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital in England but it was George, not Marx, who appealed to the British workers. Yet it was Marxism that swept half the world into State socialism, conquering by political power and bayonet-Leninism while George's followers pursued the democratic approach of public education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When nearly 1,000 American men, women and children lost their lives in a mass murder and suicide rite in 1978 staged by a madman, Jim Jones, a former Christian minister turned Communist leader, many Americans asked, "Why?" The press, overcoming earlier lethargy, amassed facts permitting a sophisticated psychological and sociological explanation. Neglected, however, was the question why was the Jonestown Communist utopia sited in the Guyana jungle? Given the human and geographical circumstances, its siting in the Guyana rain forest was highly probable, affording evidence that, to some extent, at least, people and their geography determine human events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent trends in historical scholarship view askance the reformers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Analyses, which range from the Pluralism of a Richard Hofstadter to the neo-Marxism of a James Weinstein or Gabriel Kolko differ markedly, yet contain similar viewpoints about the worth of a variety of American reform movements. Status anxieties, naive urges for capitalistic efficiency, racialist assumptions, and individual psychological make-ups, are imputed to the reformers of the Populist and Progressive eras. It is alleged that they failed to understand the forces of industrialization, and in time capitulated to the corporate powers that they apparently opposed. It is possible that by concentrating too strongly on the alleged failures of varied reformers, there is some misunderstanding of their accomplishment. The career of the businessman-reformer, Nelson Olsen Nelson, can sharpen one's awareness of those times, which gave various reform urges scope. It can trace a curve of acceptability, and provide a gauge for changing perceptions of debate and action. Nelson's persistent cooperative endeavors shed light on a complex strand of American reform, which has survived to play a continuing role in the formation of the world.