Economic calculation in the Soviet Union

The article seeks to analyse the relationship between different forms of economic calculation in the Soviet Union, concentrating on monetary calculations used by the State Bank and on the use of ‘material balances’ and of input‐output analysis in planning the Soviet economy. It provides a critique of Bettelheim's analysis of the role of monetary calculation in the Soviet Union and, using the work of Lavigne, attempts to provide a foundation for a specific analysis of economic calculation (and hence, relations of production) in the Soviet Union. The article concludes by arguing that the variety of methods of calculating used in the Soviet Union, and the generation of ‘needs’ by organisational exigencies which may not be fully taken into account in the main methods of calculation, undermine the common conception of planning as the rational pursuit of certain ideal ends, a conception which is unfortunately still influential in many socialist conceptions of planning. Finally, in rejecting the view that one can conceive of socialism as a certain ideal state of affairs, the article argues that political critiques of the Soviet Union do not entail the rejection of the view that it is a socialist society.     

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.     

苏联解体的戈尔巴乔夫因素

苏联社会主义模式是人类发展道路上的奇葩,它使落后国家短期内走上工业化道路。面对苏联社会中的严重矛盾,戈尔巴乔夫上台后试图开辟新局面。他在苏联尚未作好改革准备的情况下,短期内进行全面改革,最终无力控制局势,导致苏联解体。     

苏联为何、如何亡党亡国--苏联社会矛盾和叶利钦搞垮苏联的步骤

苏联灭亡的一条根本原因是苏联自 １９３６年宣布建成社会主义时起就存在三大矛盾并且日益发展，而苏共领导一直未能正确认识和解决这些矛盾。叶利钦分三步当上了俄罗斯总统，利用苏联社会的三大矛盾，先后逼死了苏共，搞垮了苏联。     

Reforming Budget Systems in Countries of the Former Soviet Union

The countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) required considerable revision to their budget processes and procedures to establish systems consistent with transformation from controlled dependencies within a larger planned economy to independent governments of fledgling market-oriented democracies. This article considers the degree to which preexisting, reforming, and reformed budget systems in FSU countries deliver the basic expectations of a public sector resource allocation system. Evidence indicates failures to realign budgeting and finance systems designed for command and control environments to the demands of more market based economic systems, with effects often magnified by the hybrid economies of these transitional states. Significant difficulties and shortcomings in the ability of existing systems to perform basic public sector allocation, management, and control functions are the result, but some countries are ahead of others and their experience can guide reforms across the FSU.     

如何探究苏联剧变的根源

苏联剧变的根源,需要从人类社会发展的长过程中去探究,从社会主义发展的历史进程中去探究,从苏联改革进程中去探究,从苏联剧变的过程中去探究。     

The price of nationalism: Evidence from the Soviet Union

This paper investigates the effect of implicit subsidies from the Russian Republic to other republics within the former Soviet Union on voting behavior in the All-Union Referendum of March 1991. These subsidies comprised the difference between interrepublic trade balances at domestic and world prices. A model of voting behavior incorporating effects of ethnic composition and subsidies on voting yields the estimating equation. Regression results suggest voters are influenced more by economics (subsidies) than by politics (ethnicity), although ethnicity was an important determinant of republican cooperation with Soviet authorities. Analysis of estimation results suggests the level of implicit subsidies required to increase support for the Soviet regime from 60% to 75% would have equaled 10% of the Russian republic's GDP.     

Rhetoric and rationality: A study of democratization in the Soviet Union

Can political actors use rational strategies for political conflict when established institutions are unavailable to structure political choices because the institutions are themselves among the contested issues? In Soviet politics from 1985 to 1991, cross-cutting cleavages placed in question the possibility of any stable outcome. We argue that a multi-dimensional issue space was reduced to a single dimension, along which Mikhail Gorbachev could temporarily occupy a median, by the interaction between Gorbachev's own rhetoric and rhetorical tactics used by leaders of his nomenklatura opposition, by Boris Yeltsin as the leader of the democratic opposition, and by single-issue groups called neformaly. The match between these four players' rhetorics and the four strategic options identified by a simple spatial model offers empirical evidence that rational strategies were available despite institutional flux.     

苏联共产党认识共产主义的教训

在如何认识共产主义问题上，苏联共产党在国际共产主义运动中留下了两个方面的教训：一是脱离实际、教条主义地看待共产主义，主观地对遥远的未来作具体的设想和细致的描绘，从而陷入空想；二是放弃共产主义理想，从而改变了前进的方向。     

执政党与政治参与

政治体制改革的重要内容之一 ,即扩大人民民主。强化政治参与是扩大人民民主的重要方面。在我国目前情况下 ,正确认识执政党与政治参与的关系 ,具有重要的理论意义和现实意义。一方面 ,政治参与为执政党建设提供了丰富的政治资源 ;另一方面 ,执政党的建设又为扩大政治参与提供了有力的政治保证。     

苏联时代特权现象的制度根源及其启示——基于利益机制的分析

苏联时代实行的"官职等级名录制",揭示了苏联时代特权现象的制度化特点。依据于权力道德化的干部作风建设,而不是着眼于建立权力客观化利益机制的政治制度,官僚特权现象不但不能得到有效遏制,反而会借助于道德化的利益机制而滋生和蔓延开来。因此,通过政治体制改革适度引入竞争机制,同时建立相对公平的利益机制,清除制度性和政策性特权,将成为遏制特权现象的重要制度化机制,这就是从苏联反特权教训中得到的重要启示。     

苏联政治体制改革的错误及启示

苏联政治体制改革失败的原因在于放弃党的领导，造成改革的方向性错误，从而葬送了社会主义事业。我们要吸取这些经验教训，正确处理好政治与经济的关系，坚持党的领导不动摇，充分发扬党内民主、人民民主、基层民主等，使我国政治体制改革沿着正确方向前进。     

论时代主题转换与苏联解体

自1991年底苏联解体以来,国内外学界从诸多方面对苏联解体的原因进行了深入广泛的探究.本文认为,正是由于对属于高层次战略判断的时代主题问题认识有误,贻误了经济建设,最终把苏联拖上了解体之路.从时代主题转换这一新的角度来分析苏联解体的原因,对在全球化背景下推进中国特色社会主义事业具有重大的理论和实践借鉴意义.     

以苏联为鉴走好中国道路

作为世界上第一个社会主义国家,苏联探索出了社会主义式的发展道路,苏联模式曾被当作唯一的社会主义发展模式引进到包括中国在内的其他社会主义国家中,随着苏联的衰退直至最终解体,其多方面弊端也慢慢展现出来。改革开放以后,中国走上了有中国特色的社会主义道路,用实践证明了照搬硬套不能实现发展,只有结合本国实际,真正把握社会主义实质,走上符合自身发展的道路才是正确的社会主义道路。     

Gender and cultural citizenship among non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel

About 330,000 of partial Jews and gentiles have moved to Israel after 1990 under the Law of Return. The article is based on interviews with middle-aged gentile spouses of Jewish immigrants, aiming to capture their perspective on integration and citizenship in the new homeland where they are ethnic minority. Slavic wives of Jewish men manifested greater malleability and adopted new lifestyles more readily than did Slavic husbands of Jewish women, particularly in relation to Israeli holidays and domestic customs. Most women considered formal conversion as a way to symbolically join the Jewish people, while no men pondered over this path to full Israeli citizenship. Women's perceptions of the IDF and military service of their children were idealistic and patriotic, while men's perceptions were more critical and pragmatic. We conclude that women have a higher stake at joining the mainstream due to their family commitments and matrilineal transmission of Jewishness to children. Men's hegemony in the family and in the social hierarchy of citizenship attenuates their drive for cultural adaptation and enables rather critical stance toward Israeli society. Cultural politics of belonging, therefore, reflect the gendered norms of inclusion in the nation-state.     

The Soviet Union,the Middle East,and the evolving world energy situation

Surveying and summarizing the basic issues confronting Soviet decisionmakers in the next ten years as reflected in energy and international political terms, this analysis treats the capacity and constraints mediating Soviet influence in the resolution of the future world energy balance. A scenario highlighting a “Soviet-Preferred Future World” is developed that focuses on three classes of likely energy outcomes: (1) a gradual erosion of the Western commercial position in Middle East oil, (2) repeated shortages in oil-consumer states leading to a diversion of attention away from international matters and increased preoccupation with “domestic” energy woes, and (3) a deterioration of the terms of trade for energy importers vis à vis Soviet and noncommunist trading partners. The discussion concludes with an assessment of several of the key choices confronting the major oil-importing nations and requiring resolution.