Peripheralization, Political Discontent, and Social and Solidarity Economy—Case Studies From Rural Hungary and Germany

The reintegration of Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies into globalized capitalism resulted in increasing regional polarization and the emergence of internal peripheries. The crisis of the globalized capitalist economy in 2008 resulted in the further peripheralization of rural areas, and the related crisis of representative democracies triggered rural resentment against the existing order. Inhabitants of peripheralized areas have a feeling of abandonment and political discontent. The rise of right-wing populism may be understood as a revolt of people living in precarious conditions in peripheralized areas both in Hungary and Germany. Left-wing populism, which builds on equality and social justice and is based on radical democracy, has not been able so far to reach the precaritized inhabitants of peripheralized rural areas. Solidarity economy, which is a contemporary social movement, refers to a comprehensive program aimed at transforming the entire economy, and may have the potential to address the political discontent of people living in peripheralized rural areas. In spite of the rising support for right-wing populism, social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives are being carried out in rural peripheries. These initiatives are based on the principles of participatory and economic democracy. Spaces provided by SSE initiatives can become forums for deliberation and co-management to develop economic democracy and become seeds of a solidarity economy movement in CEE. Therefore, based on a critical realist ethnographic approach, this paper aims to answer the question of how SSE initiatives may address the everyday material challenges and political discontent of people living in peripheralized villages by studying two SSE initiatives being carried out in two contrasting cases of peripheralization. Studying SSE initiatives in relation to 1) the locality they are embedded in, 2) “subaltern” groups within the locality, and 3) participatory, economic and 4) representative democracy helps to better understand in what ways SSE initiatives can mobilize political discontent to strengthen the solidarity economy movement in CEE.

Market Socialism: The Impossible Socialism

The idea of combining some form of social equality with markets goes back to the very origins of socialist tradition and also underlies most of the proposals currently being presented as “alternatives” to the capitalist social order. However, taking as its axis the organic relationship between commodity circulation and capital, as revealed by Marx, it is possible to offer a critique of market socialism (choosing David Schweickart's version of Economic Democracy as a generic textual reference) to demonstrate its inconsistency as a project for social emancipation alternative to the capitalist mode of production. And this for reasons of: i) economy: due to market inefficiency in allocation, and its tendency toward social polarization; ii) politics: because markets prevent citizen self-government and block the free development of human capacities; and iii) ecology: the market is incompatible with a social metabolism that is sustainable with nature. The conclusion is that a market-based production structure is incompatible with the conscious, rational, and democratic regulation of the economy.

LEGAL DUE DILIGENCE OF FINTECH AGREEMENT LAW TRANSFORMATION OF ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN THE NEW NORMAL ERA

Today, business transactions no longer have to be carried out face to face, instead through virtual or in a virtual world that is connected globally. One of the economic activities that affect the public interest is the activity of channeling funds which must be carried out fairly and in accordance with Article 33 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution, namely the economy. Financing Institutions have undergone a process of digitization, plus during the Covid-19 pandemic experienced a high surge in business capital needs so that financing transactions can be easily accessed online, financial technology (fintech) services are regulated in OJK Regulation No.77 / POJK.01 / 2016 concerning Borrowing Services Information Technology-Based Borrowing If the provider of Information Technology-Based Borrowing and Lending Services has been proven to have committed a violation, it may result in imposing sanctions on the agreement. The purpose of this research is to contribute from a conceptual perspective of business law in fulfilling economic recovery and to find out about sanctions arrangements for Fintech service providers in order to achieve legal certainty. The research method used is through normative law and conceptually socio legal. The results of this research analysis are expected that business people want to invest in a company with a fast process, so the need for Fintech services is to be able to transform in a Legal Due Diligence so that the economic recovery of a new national era is held based on economic democracy using the principles of togetherness, justice, sustainability, environmental awareness, independence. Legal Due Deligence is able to be a solution to minimize potential risks in the future. So that it will get benefits for finctech organizers and the public who use services as a result of the positive influence due to the Legal Due Deligence business concept.

Enabling Community-Owned Platforms: A Proposal for a Tech New Deal

At a time when regulators are seeking new responses to the dilemmas of world-spanning digital platforms, forms of community ownership such as cooperatives and trusts offer attractive benefits for workers and other users. Yet if economic democracy is to provide a counterweight to investor ownership in the online economy, it will require an appropriate policy framework. This paper argues that such a framework can come from radically generalizing and expanding on pre-digital successes in local and industry-specific policies from various countries and contexts—including policies for incorporation, financing, and coordination. Policy should use community ownership not just to solve specific problems but as a universal means of organizing innovation. It should also seek to repair past injustices to communities marginalized through under-investment. Community ownership could thereby become at least as available to the online economy as investor ownership has been.

Cooperative movement in the agricultural sector: retrospective, modernity, future

The article deals with historical aspects of the cooperative development from primary local forms to national and supranational cooperative structures. The author substantiates differences between cooperative and commercial corporate vertically integrated organizational forms in assigning the final economic result. The main factors of longevity and viability of cooperative forms are identified and substantiated, which include the principles of economic democracy, transparency, and solidarity in cooperatives; the unity of interests of cooperative members as its owners and cooperative services customers; the ability of cooperatives to adapt to rapidly changing external conditions; the impact of cooperatives on price stabilization and food affordability, which characterizes them as both economic and socio-humanistic essence; and solid economic and social connection with communities. The objective conditionality of the state support has been proved for the development of the cooperative movement as a factor in preserving the farming type of economy, promoting the rural population, the development of the rural areas, and strengthening the country’s food sovereignty. The author proves the conformity of cooperative forms of economic activity organization to the principles of sustainable development, which provides them with demand in the future of the agricultural sector. Generalized foreign practice of forming a favorable institutional and legal environment for the cooperative development, their financial support at the formation stage, staffing, and informational and advisory support. The main causes of the slow revival of the cooperative movement in the domestic agricultural sector are explained, and guidelines and ways of their elimination are outlined. Among them, the author identifies as urgent the aligning of domestic cooperative legislation with Western European legal practice and the introduction of long-term state support programs for the development of cooperative movement in Ukraine’s agricultural sector.

Economic Democracy and the Quest of Net Neutrality in Indonesia

Net neutrality has played critical issues in internet-based businesses, as it may stop Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from discriminating against certain legal internet contents, platforms, or services. This study argued that net neutrality has a strong relationship with economic democracy as the constitutional basis of the Indonesian economy. This study examined net neutrality and considered its possible adoption in Indonesia under economic democracy by justifying economic democracy required the state to build an inclusive economy as per political economy theory. It used a socio-legal method through an interdisciplinary study of law and political economy with conceptual and comparative approaches. The study showed that the idea of the internet as a level playing field was founding net neutrality. For instance, in the United States and across different Global South countries, net neutrality relied on three orders of no blocking, no throttling, and no paid prioritization, which provided equal access for everyone to create their opportunities. At this point, economic democracy and net neutrality made their cross-cut. Like net neutrality, a discriminatory action against a content provider violated economic democracy, where policy-makers formulated economic policies to enable a level playing field for economic actors. Minimum barriers to entering the market might create such a level playing field. Without net neutrality, ISPs could carry out arbitrary actions and abuse of power for business interests. This study concluded that the adoption of net neutrality into formal regulation created a positive climate of innovation in the digital business ecosystem in Indonesia. KEYWORDS: Economic Democracy, Net Neutrality, Digital Economy.

From European Federalism to the European Union, Insights of Nobel Prize Laureate, Maurice Allais

From 1945 to the end of his life, Maurice Allais, Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics (1988), devoted a large part of his work to the European question. As a staunch Unionist, Allais insisted on the fact that, while the threefold freedom of goods, people and capital was necessary to improve the well-being of individuals, it was also a very ambitious goal. Thus, he argued, it was necessary to promote a European federalism on the basis of a scientific criterion: economic democracy—and via an organized method: competitive planning. However, Allais was aware that political integration had to precede economic integration and that economic efficiency could not be ensured without a single currency. He argued that the introduction of the euro had to be accompanied by real monetary reform (credit system, indexation of future commitments, stock markets, international monetary system) in order to regulate the multiplication of financial crises.

डॉ. आंबेडकर आणि मुक्त अर्थव्यवस्था

Our country adopted democracy on January 27, 1950. Political democracy is the system of government formed by electing the people's representatives by the majority. If the foundation of political democracy is not social democracy, it will not last. Gautama Buddha's philosophy provides the values of freedom, equality, brotherhood, and justice. Apart from this, for the development of the whole human being, the solution of eradicating misery and misery from this world is the principle of Arya Ashtangikmarga. So social democracy can be established through the socialism of the Buddha. On this Dr. Ambedkar believed.Another democracy is needed for human life to be happy. That is economic democracy. Establishing economic democracy through state socialism is Dr. Ambedkar's main objective was. He said that there should be a provision for socialism in the state constitution itself. Ambedkar had an opinion. On August 29, 1947, Dr. Ambedkar was elected as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution. He said that even though he was against the incident, he could not incorporate state socialism due to the opposition of other members.He said that the heterogeneous caste system in India would not allow the creation of an egalitarian economy of landlords and industrialists. As Ambedkar was aware, his role was to ensure that it did not take long for the provisions of state socialism to be implemented for more than ten years after the implementation of the constitution.