A transformation in the French model of shareholding and management

This article explores the French model of shareholding and management, identifying a significant transformation in the pattern of shareholding in the largest companies. In earlier configurations of ownership, first the State and then the system of cross shareholdings were at the centre of French capitalism; the new pattern of shareholding operates under a different logic and motivation. In effect, France has undergone rapid change from a 'financial network economy' to a 'financial market economy'. This new pattern of shareholding has not only broken the traditional system of cross shareholding, but it has also facilitated the arrival of foreign institutional investors who bring with them new techniques and demands on corporate management.     

Cautious Surfers: The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Negotiates the Wave of the Information Age

Due to the ongoing information revolution, diplomats find themselves in an increasingly competitive information-intensive environment where they have to prove that they still are relevant and needed. The article explores this general development by detailing how the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has related to the technological challenge. Drawing on personal interviews with MFA staff, study of MFA documents including reports from Norwegian embassies and delegations, as well as participant observation, reasons for the relative tardiness and path-dependence in implementing IT-supported organizational change at the MFA are explored.     

中国共产党在土地革命时期的富农政策

在土地革命期间,中国共产党对富农阶层的划分经历了一个摸索、完善的阶段,从开始的认识模糊到后来的逐步清楚,终于制定并实行了比较正确的富农政策,为团结和影响尽可能多的人参加革命,起了积极的作用。     

毛泽东在新民主主义革命时期对列宁主义的认识和运用

毛泽东在中国新民主主义革命时期高度评价了十月革命的地位和布尔什维克党的榜样作用,正确认识和运用了列宁关于革命理论重要作用的思想、关于战争的理论、关于战略退却的理论、以及关于把马克思主义同本国实际相结合的经验等等,促进了毛泽东思想的形成和中国新民主主义革命的胜利。     

An undisclosed story of roses: church,state, and nation in contemporary Georgia

Since the Rose Revolution (2003), Georgia has encountered an unprecedented scale of institutional reforms concomitant with the rise of American and European involvement in the “democratization” process. Various scholars have suggested that Georgian nationalism developed from an ethno-cultural basis to a more civic/liberal orientation after the Rose Revolution. This paper analyzes Georgian nationalism under President Mikheil Saakashvili to demonstrate the significant divergence between political rhetoric on national identity, the selection of symbols, and state policy toward the Georgian Orthodox Church versus state policy toward ethnic minorities. The aim of this article is to examine the at times conflicting conceptions of national identity as reflected in the public policies of Saakashvili’s government since the Rose Revolution. It attempts to problematize the typologies of nationalism when applied to the Georgian context and suggests conceptualizing the state-driven nationalism of the post-Rose Revolution government as “hybrid nationalism” as opposed to civic or ethno-cultural.     

The ‘philanthropic’ gene: biocapital and the new green revolution in Africa

Climate change and population growth have prompted calls for African countries to embrace a ‘new Green Revolution’ in order to promote food security. What is ‘new’ about this new Green Revolution? What configurations of capital, the state, agribusiness, and the law define this period of agricultural transition? In this new Green Revolution, I argue, there is a proliferation of new forms of capital – biocapital and philanthrocapital – that integrate biotechnology with philanthropy to create market value. These shifts are engendered by philanthropic giving, in the form of donated genetic material for the development of ‘pro-poor’ biotechnology which normalises seed as commodity, and legislative reform that renders seed patentable material.     

民初政体模式失效的宪政文化反思

辛亥革命以革命的方式取缔了封建专制制度的合法地位,制定了资产阶级性质的宪法,设计了资产阶级的政体模式,是中国历史上制度文明的一次飞跃。然而资产阶级的政体模式并没有因为其历史进步性而获得实践的合法性,民初的政体模式以失效而告终。失效的深层原因在于宪政文化没有根基。清末民初广大民众的宪政文化是缺失的,而资产阶级革命派的宪政文化总体上是异化的,这使得资产阶级政体模式因缺乏宪政文化基础而不能成功。     

马克思人学范式革命的存在之维

马克思于"存在论"的根基处发动了一场人学革命.在西方人学思想史上,实体本体论的僭妄已经成就了一种难以撼动的强大传统,西方传统人学因为本体论的错位而失去了深层的人学统帅根基,处于各种各样的困境和悖论之中.费尔巴哈开启了感性直观本体论的新境界,但这只是实体本体论的内部颠覆与造反,是从理论人学的实体本体论阶段向实践人学的现代本体论阶段过渡的中介.实体本体论的彻底"崩塌"是在马克思开辟的"感性生活本体论"这一存在论的新境界中实现的."感性生活本体论"是一种新的理路和原则,它终结了实体本体论的强大传统,克服了实体本体论的困境与悖论,开辟了一条能够通达现实的人和人的现实生命的存在论道路.     

Colours of a revolution. Post-communist society,global capitalism and the Ukraine crisis

Abstract

The Ukraine crisis is usually treated either as Russia’s return to the old-style empire-building (the right) or as a clash of two imperialisms (the left). However, the essence of this crisis can be understood only from the dual perspective of the consequences of the Stalinist degeneration of the Russian Revolution and the fate of the modern global capitalism. The most rotten sections of the Soviet bureaucracy moved the society to capitalism. However, this effort could secure only a peripheral (Ukraine) or at best semi-peripheral (Russia) position in the capitalist world-system as a provider of cheap raw materials. Meanwhile, modern capitalism led to world economic crisis. In these conditions, the capital of the core capitalist countries obviously decided to strengthen its control over the periphery, and Russia’s aspirations to secure its domination over the former Soviet space were in the way. To thwart them, Western powers decided to provoke a Ukraine crisis, exploiting Ukrainians’ justified indignation at the backwardness and corruption inherent in their own peripheral capitalism. Hence, a study of the properties of the post-Soviet societies and their place in the world hierarchy is the key to understanding the Ukraine crisis.     

Revolutions: a twenty-first-century perspective

Abstract

We held the ‘Revolutions’ conference in 2017 to commemorate the Russian Revolution and redeem the actual record of revolutions in the Third World for the left. A quarter-century after the demise of the USSR, we found liberal capitalist triumphalism unwarranted. Two of the most important expectations to which it gave rise – that the world had become ‘unipolar’ and that it would enjoy a ‘peace dividend’ – remained unfulfilled. Instead, the world became multipolar and the West, led by the United States, engaged in unprecedented economic and military aggression against countries that contested its power. If this were not enough, social unrest and explosions in the First World as well as the Third underlined the relevance of revolutions. To trace their lineage, we recall capitalism’s intimate relation with revolution. It has needed revolutions to usher it into history and to usher it out. In addition to revolutions against developed capitalism, we also underline how important and necessary revolutions against nascent capitalism in various parts of the world have been. The contributions in this volume explore different parts of this lineage and vivify revolutions for our time.