Soviet venality: A rent-seeking model of the communist state

While the recent Fall of Communism has focused the interest of economists on the admittedly fascinating problems associated with the ongoing economic reform process, the study of the functioning of actual communist economies still seems mired in the conventional model of central planning. This model is predicated on the assumption that communist rulers are unselfish drones who single-mindedly maximize the public interest. Our article proposes an alternative, public choice model. We suggest that the Soviet-style system represents a modern incarnation of the mercantilist economies of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, and that venality, not ideology, drives these economies in practice.     

苏联马克思学、西方马克思学的历史贡献与历史局限(上)

苏联马克思学与西方马克思学是马克思学研究的两种历史形态。二者都取得了不俗的成绩,但都存在着诸多局限性。要构建中国马克思学,不仅要学习、借鉴苏联马克思学、西方马克思学,而且要扬弃、超越苏联马克思学、西方马克思学。     

苏联马克思学、西方马克思学的历史贡献与历史局限(下)

二、西方马克思学:启迪作用与重大缺憾"广义的西方马克思学"研究有两种形态。一是比较侧重于研究当代资本主义重大现实问题和马克思主义基本理论问题的西方新马克思主义;二是比较侧重于文本考证、文献研究的西方马克思学,可以称为狭义的西方马克思学。二者虽然对待马克思主义的基本态度有所不同,但二者在解读模式上却基本一致,多半都采取"以西解马"的解读模式,即按照西方哲学框架来解读马克思。     

Preparing for Armageddon: Jic 1 (Final) and the Soviet Attack on Canada

From 1945 to 1947 Canada shifted from a dependency on Great Britain for wartime operational intelligence to a junior partnership with the United States in the production of strategic threat assessments of the Soviet Union. Working through the Military Cooperation Committee the primary objective of Canadian and American officials was to update the wartime Defence Plan (ABC-22), with a Basic Security Plan for the post-war defence of North America. Each country was to produce a detailed 'Implementation' based on an intelligence 'Appreciation' of the threats facing North America in the 'air-atomic age'. Towards this end, the Canadian Joint Intelligence Committee prepared JIC 1 (Final), a report on when, where, and in what capacity the Soviet Union would strike Canada in the event of the next major war. The basic problem facing the Canadian Joint Intelligence Committee was to incorporate American sources in the assessment of Soviet capabilities without simply producing a carbon copy version of the assessment of their continental ally. Moreover, the Canadians were particularly concerned that they produce a 'made in Canada' assessment of Soviet intentions. The report was completed and approved by Canadian and American defence officials in 1947 and updated versions became the basis for continental defence planning until the signing of the 1957 Norad agreement.     

The Environmental Record of the Soviet Union

ABSTRACT

This article rethinks John Holloway’s emancipatory theory by “opening” his key concept of “dignity.” It argues that, while Holloway’s use of this concept works well for emphasising the uniqueness of human beings’ ability to both resist and challenge capitalist social relations, due to its underlying Kantian heritage, it is both excessively restrictive and limits the extent to which he can unlock the full potential of his theory, particularly when considering the development of new ecological sensibilities. To this end, the article explores the possibility of supplanting the concept of dignity with that of “Self-realisation.” While not entirely unproblematic, this concept not only reinforces the uniqueness Holloway associates with human agency but also helps unravel a more substantive virtue-orientated approach consistent with his thought.     

波兰学者霍尔泽谈社会主义的实质及苏东剧变后的发展趋势(上)

波兰科学院政治学研究所所长耶日·霍尔泽教授2001年11月来华参加国际学术研讨会。下面是教授接受笔者几次专访时所谈观点的综述。教授认为,社会主义源出于对合理和公正的追求,苏联模式瓦解后,这一价值依然存在。目前前苏东地区国家出现了两种发展趋势,一是怀旧,二是民主社会主义。中国走的是另一条道路,已经取得了伟大成就,但最后是否能获得成功尚待今后实践证明。 现将该文分两期发表,仅供参考。     

新科技革命与苏联传统模式的衰亡

从 17、18世纪至今 ,人类社会经历了三次新科技革命 ,尤其是第三次科技大革命 ,改变了国力效益的标准 ,改变了富国弱国的标准 ,改变了世界竞争的内容和手段 ,对社会和经济发展提出了深刻的内在要求。而苏联传统模式与这种内在要求形成了冲突 ,导致最终衰亡 ,给我们以重要的反面教训和启示。     

Dictator,Loyal, and Opportunistic Agents: The Soviet Archives on Creating the Soviet Economic System

Studies of the mature Soviet economy focus on the structuralweaknesses of rent seeking and corruption. Such an economy ispresumed to perform better in its adolescent phase under astrong stationary-bandit dictator, dedicated to growth andable to control rent-seekers. We use the recently openedSoviet state and party archives to show the process that beganin the 1930s of transforming the inner circle of the Sovietstationary bandit into a rent-seeking bureaucracy lackinglong-term goals.     

The (ir)relevance of unemployment for labour market policy attitudes and welfare state attitudes

Typically, associations between being unemployed and policy attitudes are explained with reference to economic self-interest considerations of the unemployed. Preferences for labour market policies (LMP) and egalitarian preferences are the prime example and the focus of this study. Its aim is to challenge this causal self-interest argument: self-interest consistent associations of unemployment with policy preferences are neither necessarily driven by self-interest nor necessarily causal. To that end, this article first confronts the self-interest argument with a broader perspective on attitudes. Given that predispositions (e.g., value orientations) are stable and influence more specific policy attitudes, it is at least questionable whether people change their policy attitudes simply because they get laid off. Second, the article derives a non-causal argument behind associations between unemployment and policy attitudes, arguing that these might be spurious associations driven by individuals’ socioeconomic background. After all, the entire socioeconomic background of a person is simultaneously related to both the risk of getting unemployed (‘selection into unemployment’) and distinct political socialisation experiences from early childhood onwards. Third, this article uses methods inspired by a counterfactual account on causality to test the non-causal claims. Analyses are carried out using the fourth wave of the European Social Survey and applying entropy balancing to control for selection bias. In only two of the 31 analysed countries do unemployment effects on egalitarian orientations remain significant after controlling for selection bias. The same holds for effects on active LMP attitudes with the exception of six countries. Attitudes towards passive LMP are to some degree an exception since effects remain in a third of the countries. Robustness checks and Bayes factor replications showing evidence for the absence of unemployment effects support the general impression from these initial analyses. After discussing this article's results and limitations, its broader implications are considered. On the one hand, the article offers a new perspective on the conceptualisation and measurement of unemployment risk. On the other hand, its theoretical argument, as well as its treatment of the resulting selection bias, can be broadly applied. Thus, this article can contribute to many other research questions regarding the (ir)relevance of individual life events for political attitudes and political behaviour.