The Interenterprise Arrears Crisis in Russia

Two American economists discuss in considerable detail the critical problem of interenterprise arrears (overdue payments for goods and services) in Russia that undermines the transition to a market economy and privatization. The study is based on interviews involving directors of 32 industrial enterprises, managers of commercial banks, and Central Bank officials in Moscow, Novosibirsk and Sochi from May to mid-November 1992. In addition to analyzing the causes of the mounting accumulation of debt and highlighting the financial problems of enterprises coping with the crisis, the authors examine the anatomy of present-day banking and extension of credit to finance production in the former USSR. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: P21, Ol7, G20.     

资本主义与新兴世界秩序

西方长达两个世纪之久的霸权正在走向终结，曾经推动西方崛起的现代化革命，如今已惠及所有国家。因此，19世纪发展起来并为中心——边缘世界秩序（core-periphery international order）奠定了基础的国家间实力差距（power gap）正在缩小。这一变化带来的结果是世界由有中心的全球体系（centred globalism）向去中心的全球体系（decentred globalism）转变。与此同时，当权力变得越来越分散的同时，主要国家之间意识形态上的分歧程度也正在缩小。事实上，当代世界中所有大国在某种形式上走的都是资本主义道路，在兴起中的世界新秩序中，意识形态上的差异比它在过去一个世纪里所呈现的要小得多。问题是：意识形态上的相对同质性是否将在四种主要的资本主义国家治理类型（自由民主主义体制、社会民主主义体制、竞争性威权主义体制和国家官僚主义体制）中引起地缘经济或者地缘政治上的竞争？民主主义与威权主义类型的资本主义之间政治上的分歧是否会超越它们之间的共同利益？还是它们之间存在的共同利益消弭了彼此的分歧？当代世界会出现像20世纪初那种不同类型而互为冲突的资本主义模式吗？或者会产生某种形式的“协和资本主义”？在未来一段时间里，我们很有可能仍然会处在一个政治上分化的多种类型的资本主义世界。由此，对于决策者来说所面临的重要任务就是要确保地缘经济竞争将不会导致地缘政治冲突的发生。     

Roadblock to Economic Reform: Inter-Enterprise Debt and the Transition to Markets

Two American specialists on Soviet and East European economies examine the relationship between inter-enterprise payments for goods and services and economic reform in Russia. Based on extensive interviews with Russian governmental officials and enterprise directors, as well as unpublished documents, the authors trace and discuss the unsuccessful policies of the government and Central Bank of Russia to eliminate arrears during 1992-93. They also explain why financial underdevelopment poses a serious obstacle to economic reform, and why an effort to sharply tighten credit in 1993-94 could lead to cascading enterprise failures. The analysis includes references to the change after October 1993. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: P21, O17, G20.     

Booknote

Janet Biehl: The Politics of Social Ecology: Libertarian Municipalism. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1998.     

Twentieth Century Benchmark Dates in International Relations: The Three World Wars in Historical Perspective *

This paper builds on the author’s earlier work on benchmark dates in International Relations. The Introduction summarises this work and explains how this paper extends the analysis from suggestions made, but not developed, in earlier publications. The second section looks in detail at 20 th century benchmark dates centred on the three world wars (First, Second and Cold). It argues that the changes clustered around the Second World War are both deeper and more extensive than those clustered around either the First World War or the Cold War. The third section uses these insights to open-up a macro-historical perspective on the 20 th century, demonstrating the ways in which choices in relation to both time and scale affect the construction of macro-historical perspectives. The fourth section demonstrates the advantages of a two-century perspective on the 20 th century. Here, and in the conclusion, we argue that the key issues that underpinned world politics in the 20 th century are best seen as the downstream consequences of the dynamics and challenges ushered in by the 19 th century “global transformation.”