scholarly journals The Limits of Capitalism: the Rent-Seeking Society as a Global Alternative

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 018-033
Author(s):  
Victor S. Martianov ◽  

The natural limits of capitalism are expressed not only in the global suspension of economic growth, which has been considered endless. It is also a crisis of its non-economic legitimization, of those political forms that have made possible smoothing of inequality generated by capitalism. The nation-state, the model of social state and representative democracy were the mechanisms of access for the most citizens to the fruits of the economic growth generated by capitalism. However, the growth limits of available public resources did not significantly change the strategies of political and economic elites. Attempts to redistribute the non-growing public pie were expressed in neoliberal rhetoric; devaluation of the political nation model as co-citizenship; reduction of forms of social policy; the crisis of democracy, expressed in a return to its narrow interpretation as Schumpeterian competition of the elites. The tendencies related to the fact that the elites would like to keep receiving an additional piece of the public pie at the expense of the majority, reinforce inequality and deprive capitalism of convincing value-institutional regulation that have earlier ensured its stable existence. There is a growing demand in society for return to a more egalitarian model of the distribution of public resources. Its options are less and less associated with capitalism as a society dominated by market metaphor that ideologically represents modernity, but for many reasons has ceased to provide acceptable prospects for the majority. It seems that rental society is becoming an alternative to capitalism without economic growth and with a shrinking labor market. In the rental society, the key mechanisms of stratification and access to resources are again moving from the market to the nation-state, non-market types of public exchanges are strengthening, and social policy is striving for a model of basic unconditional income. The room for social construction is reduced to local utopias and virtues of various minorities, while populism becomes the dominant form of political discourse, which instead of decaying economic classes turns to the majority and is compatible with both the right and the left political value systems.

Author(s):  
Jacob R. Gunderson

Scholars have long been concerned with the implications of income inequality for democracy. Conventional wisdom suggests that high income inequality is associated with political parties taking polarized positions as the left advocates for increased redistribution while the right aims to entrench the position of economic elites. This article argues that the connection between party positions and income inequality depends on how party bases are sorted by income and the issue content of national elections. It uses data from European national elections from 1996 to 2016 to show that income inequality has a positive relationship with party polarization on economic issues when partisans are sorted with respect to income and when economic issues are relatively salient in elections. When these factors are weak, however, the author finds no relationship between income inequality and polarization.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
László Marácz

Abstract The relevance of languages and multilingual communication for social policy and solidarity in the context of the nation-state has generally been recognized. However, in the context of Europeanization, this factor has been underestimated and neglected in scientific research. This paper argues that languages and multilingual communication are relevant for the design of Social Europe. In order to support this hypothesis, the paper relies on an analytical tool, the so-called floral figuration model proposed by De Swaan (1988). This model allows us to isolate social and linguistic actors and track down complex patterns of linguistic and communicative exclusion in Europe’s system of multilevel governance. These patterns also refer to international or global English or its technically adapted Brussels variety, ‘Euro-English’. From this, also follows that these patterns of linguistic and communicative exclusion must be rendered into inclusive ones before a European social policy can be realized.


1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özay Mehmet

The recent crisis in Turkey has been described primarily as a political crisis caused by an unworkable political system under attack from organized terrorism from both the right and the left. While this may be valid as an immediate cause, there are some structural and ideological contradictions in the Turkish economic system which must also be highlighted. These contradictions have evolved gradually over the last half century in the course of Turkey's efforts to achieve industrial and economic growth. They have been exacerbated in particular by a process of lopsided industrialization after 1960 which, as in most other developing countries, has resulted in increased poverty and unemployment while achieving overall growth rates of 6 percent or better.


FLORESTA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 971
Author(s):  
Rozane De Loyola Eisfeld ◽  
Julio Eduardo Arce ◽  
Carlos Roberto Sanquetta ◽  
Evaldo Muñoz Braz

The objective of this work was to analyze the legal arrangements on a very complex theme in the forest sector: the use of a species threatened with extinction, araucaria. After years of intense deforestation, linked to the country's economic growth, after 1960 decade, it was edited an array of regulations aimed to control the forest use through strict laws and expansion of the environmental bureaucracy. In 2014, MMA Decree 443, araucaria was included in the danger category, restricting any timber use, including the ones gathered under forest management. The justification for this inclusion comes from the population reduction, deforestation and logging. Regarding the justification of its inclusion, it is important to note the non-disclosure of official data, an obligation of the State, on the remaining area and number of individuals. Decree 443 collides with the Brazilian forest low removing rights, as forest management, not established by Law number 12.651 of 2012. It also defies the Complementary Law 140 which establishes reports and technical-scientific studies for framing the listed species. Nor does it comply with the steps required in article 5º MMA Decree 43, which precedes Decree 443. By analyzing the regulations regarding the araucaria and its commercial use: there is no law prohibiting the use, through management and planting; what exists are Decrees and resolutions. Whoever is in the messianic right to forbid the cutting of the species, subsidizes itself in Decrees and resolutions. Moreover, who believes they have the right to cut it, is not aware of the legislation.


Author(s):  
A. N. Ryahovskaya

As a result of the global financial and economic crisis, social problems have sharpened significantly. They affect the interest of the most population of the country. The efficiency of anti-recessionary measures and their productivity in the social field are analyzed in the article. According to the adjusted estimates of the RF Government, decrease in actual income of the people will continue and only by the end of 2012 a growth by only 3% to 2008 level is projected. The degree of elaboration and scientific justification of the state turnaround policy are getting special significance.


This paper examines the main challenges of the processes of space and social policy change present to current urbanization trends of Taiwan. The chapter argues that one of the main challenges is economic growth, increasing integration into the global economy and making Taiwan competitive in the global economy. This process leads to the growth of large urban regions that present many challenges to the urban development in the future. In particular, the paper focuses on the most fragile areas of the extended urban spaces are the rural and urban margins, where urban activities are expanding into densely populated agricultural regions. It is argued that in these areas, local policies should be developed that adapt to local ecosystems. The paper presents lessons of interventions in this field for Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai and Binh Duong Region for urban expansion.


Author(s):  
Svitlana Fimyar ◽  
Olga Shilvinska

Economic transformations of the country due to the development of market relations lead to appropriate changes in the field of social policy, the development of appropriate mechanisms of social protection, based on the principles of self-regulation and mutual support. The scale of economic growth is largely determined by the level of motivation of the behavior of economic entities both in increasing their own financial results and the general economic effect of creating a social product. In this aspect, the social policy of the state becomes a powerful factor in economic growth, with the greatest effect is given by the use of such forms of incentives that realize the public interests of all economic entities, which are not homogeneous in nature. The implementation of these priorities should be aimed at solving major socio-economic problems in order to prevent conflicts and promote sustainable development at the level of enterprises, regions, the country as a whole, so the problem of harmonizing the interests of all economic entities can be identified as a priority. The urgency of this problem is due to the need to increase the level of social protection of the population, which is achieved through the effective implementation of social policy and improving the mechanisms for its implementation from the standpoint of harmonization of interests of all economic entities. It is proved that to form a low-conflict model in which each entity has a clearly defined mechanism for meeting their own needs through the interests of partners, possibly by expanding the scope of market methods of self-regulation in combination with government leverage to influence economic behavior. To implement a more effective social policy, the government proposed a mechanism for expanding and harmonizing the socio-economic interests of the state, business and employees, which summarizes the result of the synthesis of natural and artificial responsibilities for various actors in social policy and social partnership. The proposed mechanism is able to neutralize the problems associated with low wages in the real sector of the economy, poverty and inefficient use of GDP, ensure the transparency of this process, and create a powerful motivational environment for workers and employers.


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