Folke Dovring - Böcker

Development is necessary in all countries, not only the so called `underdeveloped' or `developed' countries. So begins this comparative analysis of agricultural growth and development around the world, not just in developing countries. Unique to this volume is its comprehensive coverage of numerous countries around the world and its in-depth comparison of economic change in relation to historical and geographic diversity. These features, along with ground-breaking conclusions put forth by the author, will interest not only economists, economic journalists, politicians, and business leaders seeking to understand the workings of the international community, but also scholars and students of development, agricultural economic, and comparative economics.

As domestic and worldwide petroleum reserves dwindle, America's energy situation continues to worsen. Farming for Fuel offers a major investigation into producing methanol from biomass to replace reliance on petroleum fuels. Dovring's treatment of the topic is thorough and well-reasoned. He suggests that current problems facing the U.S.--vulnerable oil imports, farm surplus production, soil erosion, and air polution--could be eradicated by methanol production on a large scale. The proposed solution, if adopted, would also bring about profound changes in the national economy, including more decentralized industrial location. Dovring's conclusions are revolutionary, challenging general agreement on methanol use, future energy supplies, and energy policy. His innovative work will supply policy-makers and academics with a unified perspective on energy problems and an up-to-date summary of recent data.

A worsening economic crisis due to the shift in wealth over the past decade is the central concern of this carefully documented study. It profiles the current status of income inequality in the United States and discerns disturbing trends for the future. A wealth of data are collected, evaluated, and simplified into a straightforward look at both the economic changes brought on by misguided reforms of the 1980s and a proposed system for measuring income inequality which may help clarify the issues pertinent to the debate.Folke Dovring perceives the current U.S. economy as an imminent threat to our democratic system, and urges increased awareness of the variables which will effect its return to a healthy state of balance where income inequality, necessary to a certain degree, sustains productivity and individual incentives. A general overview of the facts and problems associated with income distribution, viewed from historical, geographical, and sociological perspectives, establishes the study's priorities, and is followed by the development of criteria which can more accurately estimate the nature and extent of income inequality, moving the study closer to recommendations for systematic public policy which may promote continued economic growth. The urgency with which Dovring addresses this topic and the thoroughness of his presentation will compel scholars and policymakers, especially those interested in poverty economics, to give immediate attention to the issue of economic inequality through informed, meaningful discussion.

Leninism provides an in-depth analysis of the economic and political doctrines of Lenin, creator of the Communist Party that came into power in Russia in 1917. Based upon the author's comprehensive reading of Lenin's Collected Works (some 10 million words in Russian), the study dissects Lenin's political economy, and shows it to be pseudoscience, based on simple, arbitrary, and unrealistic assumptions. According to Dovring, Lenin was a politician, not a scientist, and his aim was power, not truth. The work begins by providing a brief sketch of Lenin's life and an overview of his career as a writer. Four substantive chapters analyze Lenin's treatment of the peasant problem, science, the proletariat, and democracy. Closing chapters deal with Lenin's personality, which is shown to be pathological in its inability to make concessions to intellectual argument, and the prevalence of pseudoscience in his doctrines. Lenin's doctrines became the groundwork of the Soviet system, and he is responsible for creating its absurdities. The subsequent collapse of the Soviet system, therefore, must be seen in this light.

Dovring explores the limits of science as causes of ignorance. Some topics examined in these essays are problems with our ways of knowing and the impact of emotion on objectivity. He argues that reality consists of designs—of things and processes. While most designs we might think of cannot exist, those that can exist add up to a tool box of creation which contains the detailed laws of nature, many of them synergisms. Reality must conform to this web of necessities, hence the danger of unchecked virtual reality.These lines of thought are then applied to evolution as creation and history. In a final essay, Dovring explores topics upon which science should concentrate. This book will be of interest to scientists as well as the lay public interested in the theory of science and questions of truth and faith.

Long before today's electronic media made us aware of articulate "world opinions" across the globe, there were other dramatic international com­ munications. One current of opinion was expressed by the many gener­ ations of different nationalities who "voted with their feet" and settled down in North America. To them and to many others, the hallmark of the United States since the beginning of the republic was the freedom of choice for common people. This image was inspiring enough to build up the free institutions which together with the country's open frontiers broke the hold of mass poverty. So, options brought to the masses are America's trademark in human civilization. Nowadays, when advanced industrialization and electronic media are penetrating the world and opening new frontiers everywhere, the chal­ lenge from the optional society - often called "Americanization" - be­ comes a source of global competition, imitation or opposition and shapes the profile of our time. What is the character of this new optional society so early displayed in the United States but today emerging in many other countries and com­ municated wherever nations confront socio-economic problems of their own? Can analysis of its economics and communications reveal its inter­ national message? More than two decades of research in those fields and our experience as Americans by choice have made us try.

Long before today's electronic media made us aware of articulate "world opinions" across the globe, there were other dramatic international com­ munications. One current of opinion was expressed by the many gener­ ations of different nationalities who "voted with their feet" and settled down in North America. To them and to many others, the hallmark of the United States since the beginning of the republic was the freedom of choice for common people. This image was inspiring enough to build up the free institutions which together with the country's open frontiers broke the hold of mass poverty. So, options brought to the masses are America's trademark in human civilization. Nowadays, when advanced industrialization and electronic media are penetrating the world and opening new frontiers everywhere, the chal­ lenge from the optional society - often called "Americanization" - be­ comes a source of global competition, imitation or opposition and shapes the profile of our time. What is the character of this new optional society so early displayed in the United States but today emerging in many other countries and com­ municated wherever nations confront socio-economic problems of their own? Can analysis of its economics and communications reveal its inter­ national message? More than two decades of research in those fields and our experience as Americans by choice have made us try.