The Longue Durée of the Marxist Theory of Dependency and the Twenty-First Century

A critical review of the 50-year-old Marxist theory of dependency and its current situation includes discussion of its analyses of the world-system, the concepts of superexploitation and subimperialism, its reflections on development, democracy, and proposals for emancipation, and its perspectives on the rise of the Latin American left in the twenty-first century and the prospects of neoconservatism. It concludes that with the globalization of capital, Marxist dependency theory must oppose not only internal structures of dependency but the imperialist world order, and this will call for the socialization of the forces of production and the development of national, continental and global strategies. Uma revisão crítica dos 50 anos de debates sobre a teoria marxista da dependência e seu estado da arte, que inclui a discussão de suas análises do sistema-mundo, os conceitos de superexploração e subimperialismo, suas reflexões sobre desenvolvimento, democracia e propostas de emancipação, e suas perspectivas sobre a ascensão da esquerda latino-americana no século XXI e as perspectivas do neoconservadorismo. Conclui que, com a globalização do capital, a teoria marxista da dependência deve assumir sua vocação de luta não apenas contra as estruturas internas da dependência mas também contra a ordem mundial imperialista, e isso exigirá o desenvolvimento de estratégias nacionais, continentais e mundiais.

Territorial Cohesion and the Pandemic in Romania

Convergence and economic and social cohesion remain priorities for the EU, beyond failures to achieve the objectives of the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy. Convergence and territorial cohesion, as a prerequisite for sustainable and durable development, have been the fundamental objectives that generated and developed the strategic planning in the EU, including through the two global strategies, ‘Lisbon’ and ‘Europe 2020’. The sustainability of these processes, even in periods of high economic growth, is questionable since real national convergence is based in many countries, including Romania, on large and widening divergences between regions and counties. In recent years, Romania has seen one of the most enhanced improvements in convergence compared to the EU average, from 60% in 2016 to 69% of the European average in 2019 respectively. During the same period, disparities between regions and counties have deepened. More than 10 years after EU accession and participation in the Community cohesion policy, there is still a third of the counties with less than 70% of the national average of gross domestic product per capita. The health crisis has deeply affected economic activity, but in a differentiated way, depending on the specific territorial economic structures. As a result, the objective of improved and sustainable real convergence, by bringing regions and counties closer together in terms of their level of development, is receding. The economic situation in the counties in 2020 indirectly provides support for assessing the impact of the pandemic on the territorial cohesion process. The implicit conclusion revealed by the latest statistical data is that the level of development has been the support for better resilience to the health crisis. Although the restrictions on international movement and the closure of tourist and industrial capacities have had general validity, the counties with a higher degree of disparity have been more affected.

Pharma distribution challenges after the pandemic

Paul Timmer explains how end-to-end supply chain visibility and reverse logistics is helping pharmaceutical companies to reduce wastage and support global strategies for more equitable distribution

Impact of COVID-19 on hearing aid users

Purpose: An unexpected pandemic ‘COVID-19’ has arisen in the world which affected many lives either directly and/or indirectly. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory illness caused by the newly identified β-coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 virus.Methods: COVID-19 has proven challenging to the public health system. Taking into account thehearing healthcare, an internet based survey was conducted to understand the effect COVID-19 has on the usage of hearing aid among its users during the pandemic and conditions such as lockdowns arise due to it. This study was carried out by the Department of Audiology, MAA Institute of Speech and Hearing, India, during the period of June-August 2020. The questionnaire consisted of 13 questions, developed and presented via “Google forms”. The questions in the questionnaire was based on the presumptive but common problems faced by the hearing aid users. The nature of the questions was specifically focused on the effect that pandemic and the resultant lockdowns have on the hearing aid usage. The survey was self-administered and the time taken would be 5-10 minutes. The respondents were asked to answer the survey with the best of their experience.Results: Overall, survey results showed that respondents faced variety of problems with their hearing aid usage during the pandemic and conditions arose due to it.Conclusions: COVID-19 has negatively affected the lives of many people with hearing loss in variety of ways. Further research is needed to provide effective solutions and make global strategies to tackle hearing aid usage related problems in these.