Ten years of transition: a review article

Ten years after the launching of the transition process, many books and reports are offering a balance sheet of the transformation that occurred in Central and Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union area. The review article looks at some of them, particularly at Grzegorz W. Kolodko's book published in 2000, “From Shock to Therapy. The Political Economy of Postsocialist Transformation”. On the basis of this book and of some recent contributions, three major issues are discussed. First, why has there been such a recession in the beginning of the transition process in all countries, and was the recession inevitable? Second, due to the dire criticisms of the standard policy applied in these countries, dubbed the “Washington consensus”, has a “post-Washington consensus” emerged? Third, as we are already engaged in the second decade of the transition process, can we state when it is bound to be over, and what role is played by the European Union enlargement in accelerating the end of transition?     

论环境使用权交易制度

随着环境保护中的经济手段的广泛运用,环境使用权交易制度应运而生。这一法律化的经济制度起源于美国,其产生经历了由单项制度到综合性制度的发展过程,这一交易的标的是环境使用权。环境使用权交易制度在中国既有应用的必要和前景,也已具有相应的运用基础和条件。     

‘The Assembly Line and Cars Come First’: Labor Relations and the Demise of Nissan Car Manufacturing in Australia

This article examines the fate of Nissan's plant in Melbourne, Australia, which the company closed in 1992. Studies of Japanese car plants that were set up in overseas markets have generally been positive, outlining how these firms were able to thrive by setting up flexible or lean production methods. In Australia, however, the company was unable to establish lean production and executives complained bitterly about union resistance to non-traditional production methods. The plant was also dogged by poor worker morale and high turnover. This is the first study of Nissan's Australian plant and it shows that not all Japanese transplants were successful.     

Merging with the metals: an analysis of the role micro-political relationships played in the merger of the Printing and Kindred Industries Union with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union

ABSTRACT

In the spring of 1987, the Printing and Kindred Industries Union (PKIU), Federal Executive Committee, reluctantly concluded that membership decline and the resultant fall in income meant that the union needed to find an amalgamation partner. In common with many Australian unions, which felt similarly compelled to merge, there was initially a lack of consensus over a preferred merger partner. In most other unions these disagreements were eventually resolved, an amalgamation deal negotiated, and membership endorsement of the merger secured. This was not the case in the PKIU. Instead the union remained in intense internal conflict, throughout the seven-year amalgamation process. Scholars have suggested that the PKIU’s amalgamation fissures were caused by political, economic, industrial and institutional disagreements. Other authors have gone further and argue that dramatic shifts in the PKIU’s and other unions amalgamation policies, during the 1980s and 1990s, were the result of alterations in the strengths of different internal political factions, or the rejection of a union’s merger policy by the membership. This article, while accepting that political, economic, industrial and institutional factors all influenced the PKIU’s internal debate, puts forward an alternative hypothesis. It asserts that micro-political factors, specifically personal animosities, friendships and loyalties, played a significant role in determining the eventual choice of an amalgamation partner, and the contrasting results of its two merger ballots.     

Bolshevism,Stalinism and the Comintern: a historical controversy revisited

ABSTRACT

‘Bolshevization’ and ‘Stalinization’ have been used variously by historians of American and British Communism to designate and date the processes by which the Comintern and national parties were subordinated to Soviet policy. Despite their pervasive influence on the American and British left, this literature reveals little curiosity or consensus about the politics of Bolshevism and Stalinism, their history and relationship, indeed, these labels have sometimes been employed inexactly and interchangeably. In some narratives, Bolshevization dates from 1924 and was completed from 1929. In others, the Comintern and its affiliates were Stalinized from 1924, in still others, from 1929. The historiography of the Soviet Union, in contrast, includes forensic interrogation of Bolshevism and Stalinism, their meaning, periodization and consequences as well as the continuities and disjunctures between them. This work has been overlooked by historians of the American Workers’ Party and the British Communist Party. The present article assesses both literatures. It utilizes insights from Sovietologists to argue that Stalinism constituted a politics and practice connected with but distinct from Bolshevism. Reviewing Comintern and party history, it proposes a specific periodization. State Bolshevism, 1919–1923, saw subjugation of the American and British parties to Russian imperatives. Incipient Stalinism, 1924–1928, witnessed restructuring of the politics of subordination. From 1929, Stalinization accomplished a distinctive subordination. It enthroned a politics and practice foreign to that of Lenin and the Bolsheviks which endured, through different phases, until the 1950s.     

ISA Presidential Selection: A Discussion of Alternatives

During fall 2000, all ISA members will be asked to vote on a set of changes to the association's constitution. Most of the proposed changes are required to bring ISA's constitution up to date with current practices and association circumstances (for example, instead of having only the Editor of ISQ as a member of the Governing Council, one of the proposed changes adds the Editors of ISR and ISP to the council). In the course of examining and reflecting on possible changes to the constitution, the ISA Governing Council discovered that there was controversy among its membership regarding how officers are elected. As a result of this discussion, the Governing Council voted to put a referendum before the membership concerning the election issue and the other requested constitutional changes (though only the officer election issue is discussed in the following pages). To ensure that all members of the association are aware of what the election issues are, we have asked members representing the various positions to discuss their views in the pages of ISP . In addition, Craig Murphy, 2000–2001 ISA President, has written an introduction to the election debate that is printed below. ISA members will be asked to choose between these options in a mail ballot this fall.     

解读马克思的三种模式——我国理论界对《1844年经济学哲学手稿》的探索及我们的新见解

我国理论界对马克思<1844年经济学哲学手稿>(简称<手稿>)进行了深入的探索,特别是改革开放新时期形成了三派主要观点.在此基础上笔者试图提出六点新见:<手稿>研究最有代表性的是顶点论、不成熟论、起点论三种基本观点;导致三种观点的是三种不同的解读模式:"以西解马"的解读模式、"以苏解马"的解读模式、"以马解马"的解读模式;在版本结构上应当区分出相对独立的"第四手稿"或"哲学手稿";<手稿>的深层哲学主线是从异化观走向实践观;<手稿>的哲学底蕴可以称之为新唯物主义实践观论纲;<手稿>是马克思新唯物主义创新的历史起点和逻辑起点.     

中日两国在东亚区域内贸易中地位的变化及其影响

东亚区域内贸易比重的迅速上升是现阶段东亚贸易发展的一个重要特征。中国和日本作为东亚区域内两个最大的经济体,两国在东亚区域内贸易中的地位和影响力的变动对相互之间的经济合作以及区域内经济合作模式的选择,具有十分重大的影响。本文在分析东亚区域内贸易发展现状的基础上,从中间产品和最终产品的贸易结构与贸易竞争压力的角度,分析了中日两国在东亚区域内贸易中地位的变动及其影响。     

Switzerland in the European Research Area: Integration Without Legislation

From the point of view of modes of governance and constellations of interdependence, EU research policy offers ideal conditions for the flexible inclusion of non‐member states: it is based on transgovernmental coordination through policy networks rather than supranational legislation, it follows scientific rather than political imperatives, and cooperation is in the interest of both the EU and of Switzerland. This article analyses the degree to which these factors have allowed for Switzerland's inclusion into the regulatory and organisational aspects of EU research policy, and highlights the limits of such flexible sectoral integration.     

Global Economic Changes and the Commodification of Human Capital: Implications of Filipino Nurse Migration

East Asia’s economic prowess strongly impacted the research agenda of scholars studying the region. Whereas analysts had once focused on military governments, relations of dependency, clientelism, and low modes of peasant movements, they now investigate industrialisation. In East Asia, the Philippines is the largest contributor of migrant labourers to the global workforce. Following recent discussions by Robert Putnam on the social aspect of investment, perhaps human capital might then be considered part of the industrialisation process? Channelling human resources towards expediting industrialisation can be a catalyst for development. This article seeks to combine a variety of theoretical literatures with insights gained from conducting fieldwork and available empirical data, presenting its main findings in two major parts. The first focuses on the relationship between human capital, migration and economic growth, and suggests that social capital, particularly human resources, can help economic growth in developing countries if channelled appropriately. The second is a case study of the Philippines as the second largest exporter of human labour in the world, with human capital as its largest export commodity. A key feature of the research identifies the significance of commodifying human capital. The author argues that maximizing human resources, as a potential and un-channelled catalyst for improved economic growth is a good investment in social capital. By transforming human resources into a trade commodity, this economic transaction between labour-sending (parent) and labour-receiving (host) countries becomes a rational process that takes on emotional qualities, and must be considered where the trade of human labour is concerned.