Elmar Altvater - Böcker

Europa upplever sin förmodligen allvarligaste kris sedan 1945. Den hotar såväl det europeiska integrationsprojektet som den europeiska och globala ekonomin, helt bortsett från den omfattande sociala ödeläggelse som krisen redan orsakat i länder i Europa. Vi upplever i dag en konflikt mellan nord och syd i Europa och på båda sidor om skiljelinjen finns ett missförhållande mellan det som tycks vara ekonomiskt nödvändigt och det som är politiskt görbart inom en demokratisk ordning. De rika ländernas valmanskår ser inte ut att vilja acceptera en långsiktig kollektivisering av skulderna eller andra storstilade former av gränsöverskridande omfördelning av bördorna. I söder vill befolkningarna inte gå med på vad en förbättrad bytesbalans och någorlunda uthärdliga budgetunderskott tycks kräva. Och både i nord och syd försöker populister slå politiskt mynt av krisen. Populisterna i norr avvisar skattefinansierade transfereringar och skuldavskrivningar, medan populisterna i syd häftigt värjer sig mot svångremsdiktat som går ut över löner, pensioner och offentliga tjänster. Finns det en väg ur denna europeiska fälla? I denna bok diskuterar ett antal framstående tyska intellektuella den europeiska krisen som uttryck för ett spänningsförhållande mellan kapitalism och demokrati. Hur kan finansmarknaderna bringas under demokratisk kontroll, finns det en väg tillbaka till en nationalstatlig demokratisk kapitalism eller är det en fördjupad politisk integration i Europa som är lösningen. Den frågan ställs på sin spets i debatten mellan det tyske sociologen Wolfgang Streeck, författare till den på Daidalos utgivna boken Köpt tid, och filosofen Jürgen Habermas. Andra bidragagivare är Claus Offe, Elmar Altvater, Hubert Zimmermann och Stephan Schulmeister. Till boken har Sverker Gustavsson, professor emiritus i statsvetenskap, skrivit ett förord som reder ut debattens positioner. "Den är upplysande, och oväntat underhållande. Alla är urförbannade. De flesta på Wolfgang Streeck som ihärdigt föreslår avveckling av euron för att rädda demokratin. Jag gapar när elefanterna tungt dammar på varandra." /Per Wirtén i Expressen "Runtom i Europa finns de som på allvar diskuterar problemen, och lyckligtvis har en del av det samtalet hittat in även i den svenska offentligheten tack vare boken 'Demokrati eller kapitalism?'" /Lisa Irenius i SvD

The Eastern European countries, and the Baltic States in particular, are facing difficult problems in the course of their economic and political transition: industrial decline, unemployment, institutional change, conversion of industries, etc. But most Eastern European states have available a well-developed human capital, so that scientific and technical cooperation with Western states can facilitate the resolution of parts of these problems. The contributors to this volume address their analytical findings and proposals to political decision makers in the East and West. The book provides insights into the processes of transition and transformation, and should therefore be useful to all those who are scientifically or politically engaged in East-West relations.

All former Soviet Union countries experience their past as a heavy burden. It led to the centralization of scientific personnel, the separation of research from teaching at universities, and a concentration of certain branches of technology in different parts of the Union. This has given rise to a one-sided technology and science potential which frequently cannot be sufficiently supported due to a lack of adequate finance. Co-operation between the Baltic States themselves is often hampered by an exaggerated sense of national identity, and international co-operation can be made difficult by linguistic problems. A critical issue is finance. The Baltic States themselves are experiencing budgetary constraints, and the West is cutting back on funding. The analytical issues dealt with in this book include specific questions, such as in the sectors of energy policy, electrical equipment and electronics, and environmental considerations. The transfer of technology is also discussed, as is security: there is the possibility that science and scientific results can be obtained from the former Soviet Union at low cost by the criminal community.

In this book Elmar Altvater, one of Germany's leading radical economists, considers the discordant state of the capitalist world today, drawing on both green and socialist economics.The end of 'actually existing socialism' has been widely hailed as confirmation of the supremacy of market forces. Yet both the post-Communist societies of the East and large parts of the South face a protracted crisis to which the apparently victorious West offers no solution. Against this background Altvater explains why Soviet planning ended in failure, having reproduced many negative features of the Western model without being able to sustain a global challenge to it.Altvater examines the claims currently made for the market, both in the history of capitalism and in the globalized market economy today. Has a free market ever existed, in the sense of imposing itself on the will of political actors? Can the free market ever lead the debt-ridden societies of Africa or Latin America out of mass poverty? Can the world crisis of civilisation, in all its dimensions, be overcome by relying on market models of production and consumption? These questions are addressed in the context of an economic theory that puts human needs and capacities, and a sustainable model of development, at the centre of analysis.

The world is facing several serious challenges at the close of the fossil and nuclear energy regime: the limited resources of cheap conventional oil can only be surmounted by tapping unconventional oil reserves, e.g. deep sea oil. The explosion of the oil platform Deepwater Horizon in 2010 and the subsequent oil spill caused enormous damage, which even a year later cannot be fully estimated. Another even more important threat emanating from the fossil and nuclear energy regime has been brought to our attention by the Fukushima disaster. Last but not least, the problem of climate change caused by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions is looming, despite the fact that the international community has agreed on a considerable reduction of these emissions. Is this poor result of the Kyoto Protocol and the failure of successive climate conferences the consequence of a preference for the use of market-based instruments? The majority of climate scientists, economists, and politicians believe in the efficiency of "cap-and-trade" regulations. They even conceive them as a constituent ingredient of a "Green New Deal" or "Global Green Recovery".The contributions in this volume provide a critical examination of the theoretical foundations, the political implications, and the empirical experiences of the application of market mechanisms and financial instruments to climate policy.

All former Soviet Union countries experience their past as a heavy burden. It led to the centralisation of scientific personnel, the separation of research from teaching at universities, and a concentration of certain branches of technology in different parts of the Union. This has given rise to a one-sided technology and science potential which frequently cannot be sufficiently supported due to a lack of adequate finance. Cooperation between the Baltic States themselves is often hampered by an exaggerated sense of national identity, and international cooperation can be made difficult by linguistic problems. A critical issue is finance. The Baltic States themselves are experiencing budgetary constraints, and the West is cutting back on funding. The analytical issues dealt with here include specific questions, such as in the sectors of energy policy, electrical equipment and electronics, and environmental considerations. The transfer of technology is also discussed, as is security: there is the possibility that science and scientific results can be obtained from the former Soviet Union at low cost by the criminal community.

The scientific-technical potential of the Baltic States and their possibilities for co­ operation with Europe require in-depth, specific analysis. With the deterioration of the structures of science and technology of the former Soviet Union, the severance of communications with former clients, industry and science and technology, the Baltic States - the leaders of the former Soviet Union in this area, faced a difficult new situation. The government budgets of these countries, due to economic decline, are not capable of financing scientific research and project studies, and industry has lost a large part (in some branches this loss reaches even 2/3 or more) of its potential, losing both funds and interest in the sciences. The conversion of industry in the Baltic States is tied with the whole of its restructurisation, which still has not attained more precise directions for a new specialization or connections to the international market. The earlier dominant branches, such as machine production, electro-technology, radio-technology and the electronics industry, require essential modernization, which is possible only through co-operation with other developed countries, especially with the EU and NATO countries. This co-operation could include new mobilized capacities of science and technology. A longer period of stagnation and separation may adversely affect these capacities and lead to their dilution and weakening, due to the "brain drain" of more qualified scientists and specialists to the commercial sector, which does not require high intellectual levels.